Morning, Gentle Readers! Miles had asked Pastor Frank if he might contribute a short liturgical note on Sundays—nothing compulsory, nothing too ecclesiastical, and only when the Spirit, the headlines or the breakfast coffee moved him.
Frank said he would, and this morning’s announcement of what better actually termed “a Reciprocal Pause,” in combat operations over in the Strait of Hormuz gives us brief interlude of something like it. The Saudis are involved in this, so something might be different than it has been for the last five decades.

He had once been a Naval Intelligence officer alongside Vic and served in two Air Wings with Rocket and Splash. That gave him a practical understanding of distant ports, unfamiliar customs and the occasional exuberant excursion toward the outer limits of good order and discipline.

After retiring in 2009, Frank attended the Wesley Theological Seminary which had just opened their doors down on Mass Ave. He was able to study there and at the HQ while supporting research into the workings of the Patriarchal Faiths. There he earned his second master’s degree (with an MS in Strike logistics from NDU) while studying how prophetic voices could speak in the public square.

Wesley is proudly affiliated with the United Methodist Church. Frank’s theology, however, was also shaped by years spent moving through the wider world—where faith, culture, politics and human nature routinely collide in ways no tidy doctrine can completely explain.

He now serves as “minister” to our loose congregation of free-thinking individuals: people with deep roots in the Christian faith, but also a modern appreciation for the complicated multicultural world in which that faith must operate.

That brings us to Ceuta.

Europe is not actually preparing to throw Spain out of the club, although some European governments are acting as if Madrid left the continental front door open. Italy restored temporary border checks, other governments demanded tighter controls, and the European Union called an emergency meeting to discuss what happened.

What happened was extraordinary.

Something on the order of 50,000 to 60,000 people—mostly young Moroccans—crossed into Ceuta, the little piece of sovereign Spain perched on the North African coast. Ceuta normally has only about 84,000 residents. Adding another population approaching that size in a matter of days was bound to create difficulties involving food, shelter, security and, as the practical members of the congregation immediately observed, restrooms.

Most of the visitors have reportedly gone home. Spanish authorities say tens of thousands returned to Morocco after discovering that reaching Ceuta was not the same thing as reaching mainland Europe.

But people also died in the attempt, and that removes some of the humor from the arithmetic.

So, Pastor Frank opened the Book, looked out across his unconventional congregation and offered the morning’s proposition:

“Compassion does not require confusion. A border may be guarded without surrendering mercy, and mercy may be extended without pretending that numbers, geography and human nature no longer matter.”

He paused, possibly wondering whether the Galley was prepared for the service to conclude.

“Even the Good Samaritan,” he added, “had to find an inn with room.”

That wrapped the service for this Sunday. Miles says a decent balance in the product line should include the full spectrum of the social movements and strata currently on display. Along with the emergence of the Democratic Socialists, there is something much larger in motion in America. It is a return to faith in a way that connects our future to the honored traditions of our quite revolutionary past.

And if someone wants to contend it isn’t, we can step out back of the chapel, you know? Frank may be old but he is still quick.

Copyright 2026 Vic Socotra

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