100TH POST - SPECIAL EDITION

52 years ago yesterday, Smokin' Joe Frazier defeated Muhammad Ali in "The Fight of the Century"

"Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise. Without having any chief, officer, or ruler, she prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food in harvest." Proverbs 6:6-8

This is the 100th post of the official Rhythm of the Sword website! 

Fun fact - the current most-viewed post on the site is The Ending of the Year. There are several posts tied for least-viewed with 0 total views, such as the classic Field Report #021.

Yesterday marked yet another restart for me in the Rhythm of the Sword pursuit. After a lull lasting several days, I am looking to get my longest-ever streak in all 3 categories simultaneously started today, God-willing. We are shooting for 120 Burpees, the Rhythm of the Sword - Daily Office (without too much concern for time of day), and strict 0 Entertainment. This will also be supplemented with other physical activity and memory work. I'll take Sundays off burpees, making up for it with the extra 20 in the other 6 days.

At the end of The Dark Knight, we see Batman take the fall for Harvey Dent, and drive off on his Batmobile-cycle with Gordon voicing over the scene with the famous words:

"Because he's the hero Gotham deserves, but not the one it needs right now. So, we'll hunt him, because he can take it. Because he's not our hero. He's a silent guardian. A watchful protector. A Dark Knight."

The original image for Rhythm of the Sword was the Night Watchman. And that's not too different from what you have in Batman - the Dark Knight. Combine the two ideas, and you get The Dark Watchman.

The Dark Watchman is awake and prepared. He is on guard and active. He does not require praise, recognition, or the directives of an overseer. He simply does his duty in life and in death, trusting Jesus Christ as his champion and serving the people God has given him until Christ returns. He is constant in prayer, and meditates on the Word of the Lord, day and night. He is a warrior whose strength is not in himself, but in the Lord his rock, who trains his hands for war, and his fingers for battle. He is a dark and broken sinner, reborn in Holy Baptism and called to be a watchman until the return of the king. For freedom Christ has set him free - so he stands firm, and does not submit again to a yoke of slavery. Rather than becoming enslaved to the flesh once more, he pummels his body and makes it his own slave, lest he be disqualified from glory. Lest the king returns and he has fallen into a deep and slothful sleep. He stays awake, as Jesus commanded.

And yet every Sunday morning, and every day, he is able to rest in peace through the Word and Sacraments of Christ alone, knowing that it is not his labor and wakefulness that justifies, but the Son of God in whom he has hoped. Whoever eats His flesh and drinks His blood has eternal life, and Jesus Christ will raise him up on the last day. The Dark Watchman is, before all else, a baptized son of God. An inheritor of the Father's eternal gifts.

In this Dark Watchman, I see echoes of saints like Noah, Elijah, Paul, Sebastian, Krčméry, Liddell, and so many more. Each has a lesson to teach for men today, from Noah's lonely centuries-long faithfulness, to Elijah's faithful service and forerunner's zeal, to Paul's great faith in the midst of great weakness, to Sebastian's warrior faith in the face of death, to Liddell's strength and a faith that flowed out in selfless love, to Krčméry's faith in the midst of suffering. As we read in Hebrews 11, these remained faithful, despite not fully receiving God's promises in their lifetime. Indeed, their faith ultimately points it all back to Christ, who trusted the Father, submitted to his will, and not only set the perfect example of manhood for us but saved us from our effeminate boyhood once and for all.

It is finished. Remember that.

Every Christian is the Dark Watchman. Rhythm of the Sword is just one man-made set of disciplines to help you remember that, and live according to it.

You stand upon the heights of the city of God's people. You have been called to stand watch, and the night is cold and dark and deep. Outside the gates, wide is the path that many wicked have followed into destruction. And within, you and your brothers and sisters wrestle against the powers of darkness that lurk in the city and in your heart. The devil entices you, your heart betrays you, and death awaits you. Your legs tremble beneath you, and the serpent whispers for you to collapse again into his warm, soft bed, to fall asleep and embrace his pleasurable and easy world for a short while.

You have fought this battle before, and consider once again that you could simply give up. Your mind flies away to marvelous dreams of glory, anything but here, anything but the cold and miserable work he has given you to do. You fall to the stone and retreat from the biting wind until you are good and warm, leaving a gap at your place in the line. Having escaped your post once again, you huddle half-within the doorway of the guardroom where a guilty fire begins to warm your back.

And then, into the battle line steps a man, clothed in the dark garments of a true warrior. He is tall, strong, and purposeful as he takes your place in the line and stands firmly upon the stone. A double-edged sword is on his back. Helmet, breastplate, shield, belt, boots, and all, he is prepared for his task. And from that moment on, day after day, you watch him. 

When the cold night wind cuts across the high mountains, he stands watch. When the darkness deepens and weary eyes begin to surrender to sleep, he stands watch. When the days stretch without end and weary legs tremble beneath every man, he stands watch.

When the wall is broken, he mends it. When a watchman stumbles, he raises him up. When the enemy attacks, he destroys them. When a watchman becomes weary and falls asleep ere the coming of the morning, he stays awake and bids him stand. When the day's work is done, he unsheathes his sword and repeats the rhythms of battle. On the seventh day, he rests. And without ceasing, prayer and supplication he makes to his Lord and God. He does not fear the enemy, for he has defeated the enemy already, and only waits now for the time appointed by his father to claim his rightful throne as judge of the living and the dead.

It is finished. (Although it wasn't between Frazier and Ali - the latter won two subsequent rematches)

Thus you watch him. On warmer days, you come and venture close to the battle line. But as the wind rises and weariness sets in again, you return to the doorway and huddle close to the fire, away from the endless wind and watch.

Days become weeks, and weeks become months - perhaps years. And still the Dark Watchman diligently takes your place in the line. And still you huddle there in the doorway, venturing out, venturing back in, waiting and wondering, sleeping and imagining.

Until one day, the Dark Watchman turns and looks into your eyes with love and pity. He comes and stands before you, then extends a hand. 

"Follow me."

You stay where you are, looking longingly back at the fire. You turn your eyes to the Dark Watchman, then beyond him to the cold winds on the heights. Snow begins to drift down through the night air. You make no reply.

"Follow me."

He has prayed for you. He has preached to you before. And despite the beckoning fire, by his grace, you finally reach out your hand.

He takes it, and pulls you to your feet. He touches your clothing, and with a start, you remember that your warrior's garb is all in white, as white as the snow that swirls through the winter air around you. In fact, all the night watch is clothed in white, but the Dark Watchman is still in deepest black. You stand before him.

"But Lord, I am only a beggar, and unfit for the task you have given me."

He replied, "You are a baptized son of God. You eat my flesh and drink my blood. You will never die. Now come. Follow me." 

He leads you out into the biting wind, and the a rush of cold air steals the breath from your lips. You stand behind him, in the battle line again, staring out over the lands of darkness below. Your legs tremble, then steady themselves on the solid rock beneath. The winter gales are miserable, but somehow, standing there with the Dark Watchman, you find yourself alive and filled with a purpose that you had long since forgotten. A new warmth blossoms in your chest, not the tired and guilty warmth of the fire behind you, but the light of hope and purpose and peace. Almost without thought, your hand strays to an old sheath on your own back, and you draw a double-edged blade, shining and gleaming sharp despite years of relative neglect. 

"What shall I do, Lord?"

"Watch and pray, that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. Go to the ant, and willingly do the work you have been given to do. Pray without ceasing. Love the Lord your God, and love your neighbor. Repent, and turn to me with all your heart. I have redeemed you, my son. Stand watch, and join your fellow dark watchmen at the battle line. Stay awake."

So you stand firm in the battle line, your King in your place and you following beside him.

And you pray:

“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. 

Into your hands I commit my spirit; you have redeemed me, O + Jesus Christ, faithful God. Father in heaven, make me to be like the ant, in the name of Jesus. Amen.”

From that day onward, you continue to struggle with sin, sometimes inching back toward the warmth and escape once again.

But you do not abandon the battle line. You do not fall asleep. You do not forsake the watch. You do not deny your Lord. You do not submit again to the yoke of slavery, which was your former way of life. You have been redeemed. You resist the enemy with courage because your Champion stands in the gap and fights for you. He is the very blade in your had, and it is the blade that lifts your heavy arms, not your arms that lift the blade. And so it is truly Jesus Christ alone who fights for you; you have only to be silent. Again and again and again, you put your hope in your Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and ask him to teach you what it is to be the Dark Watchman, until that day on which your faithful watch is rewarded with angel cry and trumpet sound.

“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. 

Into your hands I commit my spirit; you have redeemed me, O + Jesus Christ, faithful God. Father in heaven, make me to be like the ant, in the name of Jesus. Amen.”