A submarine with screen doors immediately invokes a hilarious image of engineering absurdity. Of course, the moment this brand-new billion-dollar boat is launched, it will immediately sink.
What is the problem with this design? It may have been engineered with simple incompetence, or it may have been socially engineered, or it may have been designed with good intentions. But in the end, the design failed because failure was the only possible outcome. The moment the designers disregarded reality, it was doomed to fail.
Some real submarines sink – but the vast majority of them do not. It is because they are designed not to sink. The father of the nuclear submarine, U.S. Navy Admiral Hyman Rickover, said he designed them to be “sailor proof.” He also trained his crews to have iron-clad discipline and a tested, thorough, real-world knowledge of their boat.
Our Priory will not fail because those who have been entrusted with our mission literally lay awake nights making sure our design is sound, does not ignore reality, and is not ultimately engineered for failure. We literally meet together almost daily to achieve success.
So what do we carefully inspect daily in the Priory of the Temple Church? We begin by praying for Divine guidance from our Commanding Officer, Yahweh.
We scrupulously search for any sign of division among us so that it can be settled immediately.
We design all our activities to encourage acts of selflessness, sacrifice, and true chivalry.
We discourage planning for events that lead to self-promotion, glory, or selfish ambition seeking.
We examine these things because, if allowed to continue, such activities will eventually lead to the installation of very large screen doors on our Kingdom Vessel.
Instead, we work hard to keep all of you involved as much as is possible, planning for connections and enhanced engagement of every member. Our goal is to design an active, viable Priory that does not require the expenditure of hundreds of dollars to participate in most of its activities.
When we finally are able to sleep each night, we dream of you – that you are engaged and working beside us for our vital mission. That mission is articulated in the 21st century exactly as it was in the 12th century – that together we will:
“Protect Christians at risk, particularly in the Holy Land and the Middle East, and keep the road to Jerusalem open to all people.”
“Non nobis, Domine, non nobis, sed Nomini Tuo da gloriam” Psalm 115:1