Absolute romance finds a Beloved worth absolute commitment. The good God needs nothing, so when God decides to love us, we need only give consent to find joy.
This is the good news: God is there, came in the person of Jesus Christ, and reveals Himself to us each week in His Body and Blood. We can see Him. We can see the True Light. Nothing can stop the true Light when the people of God, the beloved community, gather together. We say ancient prayers and there is no magic there: just a deep reality.
The reality continues, but we can grow bored with reality. We can talk ourselves into anything if we cut ourselves off from deep time, physical reality, and the global church. We cannot cover up the Light, but we can shut our eyes.
The world is a broken place and I am part of that brokenness. If I were to attempt to do something new, to listen to the spirit of this time, then I would end up cynical and broken. The vision of one particular moment is too small, too discrete. Imagine taking the wisdom of one people group and trying to make those few truths govern the peoples of the entire world. Instead, one must look to the universal church, a gathering from many nations, times, and places.
Our present issues will look different in the True Light.
Nana once pointed out that many people, believing they were suffering for God, were just wrong and irritating. They create an Armageddon and they battle for the Lord, but end up battling for the spirit of the age, missing real, cosmic Jesus worshipped in Athens, Antioch, Alexandria, and Aksum. They are forever dated by trying to be up to date and their notions of justice require denying obvious realties.
Nothing is so good that we cannot break the goodness, but nothing broken is beyond repair. For this repair we need the ancient things that have endured centuries of our errors.
The prophets can and must point to our present errors, but we can know a false prophet if they point away from the ancient truths. They will expose some highly marketed product for another, usually charging interest for the education.
The false prophet often gains power through the exposure of real injustices. Fight injustice without compromise, but with mercy as we hope to find mercy. Instead of the false prophet, come back to the place where one finds the only Prophet, Priest, and King: Jesus ruling in the City of God kept in safety for all time. The Kingdom of Heaven, the beloved community, is here, was here, and is coming.
Do not expect so little. Look for the ancient Light, the true Light that comes each year from the Holy Tomb to give us life. Christ is risen now. We do not have to be afraid, but can meekly take courage. We have good examples. The monks on Athos have endured almost as many falls of empire as there have been recorded empires. The ancient ways persist. The monks pray the ancient prayers, look to patriarchs that are powerless in worldly power, and do not just endure: they find absolute romance.
Those who receive the True Light gain justice, others natter for fairness. Those who find the True Light gain love, others look for equity.
Let us see the True Light and not expect so little.
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