Spirited Human Beings
frankly speaking
spirituality for the street
Wednesday, September 9, 2026
SEE AND SAY SPIRIT
Spirited Human Beings
Wednesday, September 2, 2026
DAY
Brothers and Sisters.
Having written, rewritten,
revised and revised
this week's blog,
I feel a need for an Intro.
This blog is a double
if not a triple header.
It is longer and
more strenuous
than usual.
Its focus and concern are
vitally important.
I pray we all take time,
give head and heart to
slowly and prayerfully
engage with it.
For those who chose
to take a pass,
here is a
Soul Search
for prayer
and meditation:
" IF I WERE ON TRIAL
FOR BEING A CHRISTIAN,
WOULD THERE BE
ENOUGH EVIDENCE
TO CONVICT ME?"
James Turro
Now to the
hard work
at hand.
We face peril.
We find ways
to live it
to life in Christ.
Here we go.
In all cases,
I love you!
John Frank
******
Dear All of Us,
Hope we're all having a
Hey of a Day.
It would be great
if that were so for
everyone everywhere.
But of course, it isn't.
For
too many,
too often,
too much
it's not a heaven,
but a hell of a day.
They all are.
It may be so
for us all
sooner than later.
Worldwide
things have
snapped,
broken loose,
are untethered.
It's like trying to navigatean
an international highway
with high-speed traffic
careening across
and
up and down
all lanes
in chaotic mayhem.
A DEMOLITION DERBY
We absolutely need
to find our way free of
crash crush.
Worldwide we are in
a sea swirl of
DESTABILIZATION.
We see it operative in
just about every
zone of daily life.
And it is a lot deeper
than any and
all of them together.
We just
don't dare
get used to it,
take it for granted,
settle for it,
ignore it.
If we do,
we and our loved ones
will be sucked under,
drowned dreadful dead.
Please see:
A New World Order
Is Coming.
We Aren't Ready
by
Margaret Mac Millan
New York Times
Guest Essay
Op-ed Page
September 1, 2026
Here in my homeland,
The Not At All
UNITED
States Of America,
The Ship of State,
indeed, the whole
social order,
is listing badly,
is splitting apart,
in hateful extremes
Left and Right,
is taking on water,
is starting to sink
(and the waters are
a lot deeper than a
Reflecting Pool).
To change the metaphor
(yet again)
it's like a couple that
hate and despise each other
but can't find a workable way
to divorce.
They end up living a
dreadful divorce together.
It's a hell of
a day,
and night
- all of them are.
Here and worldwide
this destabilization
is the loss of a
CENTER
It's the absence of a
CORE
It's the lack of
SOUL
It's a spiritual
VOID.
We absolutely must
do something
and we sure can!
Despite all the
SCREEN SKREECH
and
CHURCHY CHATTER
and
POLITICAL TWIST TALK
this lack of core
is not primarily,
political,
economic,
governmental,
moral,
cultural,
environmental.
Each and all
of those are
containers,
carriers,
loci
of a core
of a center,
of a soul fire,
and the fire
has gone out.
A container fix
isn't a fix.
It was like this for
the followers of Jesus.
He was dead.
They were in a
free fall stall.
What to DO???
They did what we need to do
Huddle
Humbly
Empty Out
fixes
that don't.
Into that openness
and their togetherness
FLAMED THE SPIRIT
It energized them.
They took to the streets
preaching, inviting
Kingdom Life.
Small home churches,
that were
for real, close, loving,
Gospel Living
communities,
sprang up,
ever more and more.
Despite seeming
impossibility,
The Flame
forthed
wider and farther.
Fired by
The Spirit
it flourished
as together people
lived
CORE GOSPRL
simply,
really
practically
believably
Same for us.
We huddle
and humbly so
as they did.
If we empty out
our fixes
that don't,
admit our core void,
then
into that openness
and our togetherness
THE SPIRIT
WILL FLAME US
FIRM
FREE
FORTH
Centered
in the dynamic,
the energy field,
of
GOD"S LOVE
we and our world
will be
renewed
inside and out.
To do that we need
to fully face
some tough stuff,
some fixes we're in,
take some hard looks.
"The Christian ideal
has not been tried
and found wanting.
It has been tried
and found difficult
and left untried."
G. K. Chesterton
Another hard look.
Christianity has done
much good and much evil.
It has not done
radical real
CORE GOSPEL
LIVING
Christianity
has come to be
a cultural institution
with many good,
Christian elements.
But since soon after
the early days
it ceased to be
fundamentally a
New Testament
Church,
a basic way of life
together
in Christ.
It was coopted by
Platonc Dualism
and became
lackey to
Roman
Imperialism.
It is done
and
it has done in
a needful world.
We need to be
radically honest
about it.
Please see:
How Western Christianity
Got It Wrong
Replacing the God of Fear with a
Spirituality of Healing,
Randy Woodley
Broadleaf
2026
WE CONSIDER
WE FACE
HARD TRUTHS
For most church goers
The Beatitudes are not
our attitudes,
our operational
approaches/slants
on life.
Those of us
middle class to wealthy
are not so
"poor in spirit"
that we
actually live
a simple lifestyle
so others
may simply live.
An honest check of
our closets, garage,
vacations, address,
portfolio,
credit cards and
it's painfully clear.
We possess way, way
more than enough
and painfully many most
don't have nearly enough.
When people deal with us
and our community
just how genuinely
are they mixing it up
with
God in person,
God in us
How really
are they encountering
"The Body of Christ"?
1 Corintians:21-31
"I am the vine.
You are the branches...
This is to my Father's glory,
that you bear much fruit,
showing yourselves
to be my disciples."
Matthew 15:1-8
We need to be honest about
how really and fully
we allow the life
of the vine
free flow
in us branches.
What quality is the
"fruit"
we bear in everyday life?
Just how beautifully obvious
is it or not
at
work, at social gatherings,
wherever we are,
whatever we are doing?
"By their fruits
you will know them,"
Matthew 7:16
So yes, we assess
what kind
of "fruit"
we serve up
for others
in daily life.
We look to see
what we are known for?
Is it discipleship?
Just how vibrantly
is it a presence of
Divine Love
in our person,
in our community??
"I was a stranger
and you invited me in"
Matthew 25:31-46
Personally,
and as
a community,
how genuinely do we
welcome and include
(not tolerate)
"strangers"
into our lives:
people of various other
colorations, sexualities
ethnicities, persuasions,
politics, cultural manners,
spiritualities, immigrants,
odd balls,
the disabled and distraught?
Yes, this is hard.
And yes we're at an
axial moment.
We swing true
or
we and our world
swing in the breeze,
dead done.
Individually
and as a
community
we go through
a profound, spiritual
conversion
or...
So, we stay close to each other.
We live not as an organization,
but as a God given,
lively and joyous
spiritual family.
We pray together,
really pray,
really together,
really more and deeper than
The Lord's Prayer
in under thirty seconds and
Joys and Concerns
that are more than
community announcements.
We ponder together and deeply
over the holy scriptures.
We apply them to us
in our here and now.
We hold as much
as possible in common.
We share, from
watching each other's' kids
to wrapping in
lonely and needful elderly.
We do all we can
for people and needs
in our area and beyond.
Our lives are
an open invitation
to shared
Gospel Community
and
joy.
We do this in tantum with
people and communities
of other faith traditions
as they too
CORE RENEW
SPITITUALY
RESET
CENTER
in
GOD GOOD
however they see
and
experience that.
Our world's
plight and peril
will be righted
not by grand
plans and programs.
It will be righted by
a profound
spiritual reset
Centered in God Goodness.
That righting
will rise up worldwide
from communities
vigorous, joyous, inviting.
That rising will
lift, center, be core,
spark soul
for
society
"Thy kingdom come
on earth as in heaven."
Matthew 6:10
IT CAN
IF
WE WILL
What a hey of a day
that can be for all.
******
BLESSINGS FOR ENGAGING
WITH ALL OF
THE ABOVE
A WARM WELCOME
TO OUR TOGETHERNESS
HERE EACH WEEK
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WE HAVE A LOT
TO BE
AND BECOME,
A LOT
TO DO
AND REDO,
SPIRIT FLAMED.
"COME, HOLY SPIRIT.
FILL OUR HEARTS
WITH THE FIRE
OF YOUR LOVE."
SEE YOU NEXT WEEK.
LOVE TO ALL.
GOD BLESS.
JOHN FRANK
PS:
NEXT WEEK
SHORTER,
BRIEFER.
I PROMISE!!
******
frankly speaking
spirituality for the street
johnfrankshares.blogspot.com
******
Wednesday, August 26, 2026
KIDS
Dear All of Us,
So, what's the
absolute best thing
that could be said of us?
He/She's :
- smart as a whip,
- a real looker/hunk
- loaded,
- patient as a saint,
- a go getter/high achiever,
- a rock star,
- way out front,
- smooth as silk,
- rock solid,
- totally reliable,
- successful
- wise as an owl,
- life of the party
- a living saint
- really nice,
- totally loyal,
- generous to a fault
???
According to Jesus,
the absolute
best thing that
could be said of us
is that we are
"Kids at heart."
How 'bout dat??
It sure rates
a good,
old fashioned,
Phil Rizzuto
"HOLY COW!!"
KIDS AT HEART?
Yep!
That simple.
That definite.
That definitive
That unequivocal,
That absolute,
Period Paragraph.
Ultimately
The only ones
to make grade,
to make the cut
are
KIDS
In Jesus' time,
as in in ours,
this just doesn't
culture click.
I guess that's
exactly why
Jesus puts kids
front and center.
Then as now,
our cultures are
cockeyed,
off center.
They need
a corrective.
Jesus offers life in the
Kingdom of God
as wondrous corrective.
It makes all the difference
in the world and forever.
Admission is for kids only:
The people brought children to Jesus,
hoping he might touch them.
The disciples shooed them off.
But Jesus was irate
and let them know it;
"These children are at
the very center of
life in the kingdom.
Mark this.
Unless you accept
God's kingdom
in the simplicity of a child,
you'll never get in."
Then, gathering the children up
in his arms, he laid
his hands of blessing on them"
Mark 10:13-14
The Message
We don't need to be
scripture scholars
to understand this.
We do need to be, well,
like a child
to accept it,
to experience it.
In the whole
spiritual journey
this is essential,
is a sine qua non.
It's foundational:
A child's simplicity
and acceptance.
Spiritual we ain't
if we don't
and
spiritual we is
if we do.
Which is atrocious wording
for an absolute of
Kingdom Admission
and wondrous life
together in it.
Children as a group are
free, pure.
immediate,
trusting, open.
They are dependent and
that's just fine, thank you!
They excel at free form,
exuberant play.
Sidebar:
Imagine what our world would be like if
Donald Trump, Vladamir Putin, Jeff Bizos,
Mark Zuckerberger and pals lightened up
in high energy, pure play in the backyards
of governance and commerce.
Children rejoice to be
cared about and for.
They delight in gifts
and jump right in
with zesty
kid go.
They "yes"
the adventure of
love and life offered.
Again, it's a go
and go they do!
It's like this.
They love to go
for rides in the country
and they have no illusions
of being in the driver's seat.
They're full of wonder at
all the marvels along
LIFE"S WAY.
We bring
this simple acceptance,
this soul-full attitude,
this diving into gift given,
this refreshing freedom,
this kingdom love living,
to our day to day
"adult" doings.
This liberating spirit
animates us
where and as we are -
Day Laborers, CEO's,
collars and callings
blue or white,
married, single,
leaders, followers.
It brings kingdom life
to our work sights,
living rooms,
and community sharing.
Kingdom Life suffuses us,
in our relationships
to nature and people,
to all our daily living.
However serious,
substantive,
important,
ordinary
or challenging,
our settings
and situations,
we get to be
KINGDOM KIDS
KIDS AT HEART
******
KIDS OF ALL KINDS AND AGES
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HAVE A WONDERFUL WEEK.
"COME ON.
LET"S GO OUT AND PLAY!"
. LOVE TO ALL
GOD BLESS,
JOHN FRANK
frankly speaking
spirituality for the street
johnfrankshare.blogspot.com
******
Wednesday, August 19, 2026
RIGHT AT HOME
Dear All of Us,
Across the spread of
eighty-six years
I've lived in a whopping
twenty-nine homes.
No, I wasn't delinquent
with the rent and always
a step or two ahead
of the sheriff.
Dad's work had us
on the move
when I was a kid.
Then it was seminaries,
various religious communities,
clergy residences, parishes
and retirement relocations.
A lot of homes
for sure and
many were
just that,
home.
It's so good to have
a place and way to be
RIGHT AT HOME
It grounds us
to the heavens.
It stabilizes us
expansive.
It makes
all the difference
in our swirl of world.
Sadly, there are
increasingly
huge migrations
of souls without
a home base.
They are lost in
a pandemic of
loneliness.
As mentioned here
in a past positing,
it's like an orphan train
with nowhere to go.
And this is happening
in a world coming undone,
in a world increasingly
at a loss for even
basic community.
It is traumatizing.
In 2023 the
Surgeon General
issued a report that
said sad so and
clearly affirmed
the vital importance of
home,
community.
It was entitled:
Our Epidemic of
Loneliness and Isolation,
The Surgeon General's
Advisory on the
Healing Effect of
Social Connection
and Community
Steven Charleston (2)
frames things this way.
There has been a loss of a
WE
leaving us with only a
ME
That's
ME-ISM
That's
solitary confinement
even if in a crowd. (3)
That is unnatural.
That makes for
madness.
Indigenous peoples,
and people across
tribal lands and ways,
know a whole lot better.
Example:
A highly regarded
Australian scholar
was lecturing
at a tribal gathering
in Africa.
He shared that there was
rampant loneliness in Sidney.
His African interpreter
interrupted,
telling the speaker
that in these lands
and tribes
there was
no such word as
"loneliness". (4)
Would that it were so
for us all!
Well, it can be and
well that would be
in these severing times.
By God's gift
to be human
is to be
RIGHT AT HOME
an individual in community.
That balance is
under siege,
largely lost
in many lands.
The communal has been
devastated, eviscerated
by an exclusionary
individualism.
Beginning in
the Western World
with the so called
Enlightenment,
metastasizing in
The Industrial Revolution,
it has become
pervasively lethal in our
Technology Age,
the age of the
"Screen Caged."
It's Me-ism Madness.
Happily and hope filled
in the midst of this madness
is the gift of community.
Jesus invites us into
shared life,
lived in community:
"The time is fulfilled,
and the
kingdom of God
is
here.
Change your life
and believe the
Message." (5)
Jesus underscores
the dynamic of
community living in
the kingdom -
living his love together:
"Love one another
as I have loved you" (6)
and that's one heaven
of a lot of "lov'n"!
We care.
We share,
never stopping
to count, be it
tools, time,
talent shared.
We offer,
blend,
who we are,
share
what we have.
At The Last Supper
Jesus prayed
that all in
the community
" ...be brought to
complete unity..." (7)
We're invited to
tie in tight,
prosper,
one in diversity,
a mosaic
of unity,.
Paul reminds us that
together we are
The Body of Christ (8)
Cooperative unity in
complimenting uniqueness -
day laborers or CEO's,
Tex-Mex or Blue Zone dining,
Shakespear or Daniel Silva,
down home or uptown.
The Early Church was called
Ecclesia
"The Gathered" (9)
We can be too.
Gathered in
prayer, service.
hospitality, study,
The varied
Body of Christ
1Corinthians 12:12-27
In the early days
of the church
Tertullian recorded
the radical and
sacrificial love
the early Christians
had for each other:
"See how they love
one another." (10)
Was then.
Can be now.
Here in The States
and world-wide
things are really rough.
They are going
to get a lot rougher.
We need each other.
Jesus calls us
to be together,
to be community,
living Kingdom,
"kin"- dom life.
Thus, the oft
urging here,
and yet again now,
that we find or found
a true, a for-real
spiritual community.
It will correct and restore
the God given balance of
individual and communal.
"Wherever
two or three
are gathered
in my name
there I am
in their midst." (11)
What great company
and what a
Center!
That's what it takes
- close in community -
to be
really,
spiritually,
humanly
RIGHT AT HOME
******
For those who might have
time and interest,
A FEW NOTES ON THE
"HOW"
OF A
SMALL GROUP
COMMUNITY
are offered below
at the conclusion
of this posting
NO EXTRA CHARGE :)
******
(1) Gallop: Weekly Religious
Attendance/USA
1950's = 76% of the population
2025 = 20% of the population
(2) Member of the Choctaw Nation,
former Dean,
Episcopal Divinity School,
Cambridge, MA,
Episcopal Bishop of Alaska
(3) We the Lonely People,
Searching for Community,
Ralph Keyes, Harper and Row,
1973
(4) Sorry. I failed to note
where I read this recently.
(5) Mark 1:15, The Message
(6) John 13:36
(7) John 17:23
(8) 1 Corinthians 12: 27
(9) 1 Corinthians 16:19
one of numerous
uses in Paul of
"ecclesia" for church
(10) Tertullian (160-240 AD)
Apohogetus ch 39 sect 7
(11) Matthew 18:20
******
It's so
God Good
for us to be
"The Gathered"
here each week.
******
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******
Please continue to share
frankly speaking
with others.
Thanks!
******
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For those interested and
for consideration
over time
A FEW NOTES
ON THE
"HOW"
OF A
SMALL GROUP
COMMUNITY
We start where we are.
If there is an
established church
in our area that fosters
small groups,
we explore the possibility
of developing one
along the lines of
John Wesley's
Ecclesiola in Ecclesia,
Small Churches
in the
Larger Church
or
The Third Order (Lay)
Franciscans.
If that is not possible,
we reach out
to a few
like-minded,
like-hearted,
like-spirited
others.
We have dinner and
talk through the
posting above and
these notes here.
If it's a go,
we meet once a week:
to pray,
reflect together
on scripture and
our living of it,
share Agape or
Holy Communion,
have a meal together
(cum vino is just fine!!),
sharing how things are.
Monday to Friday,
if possible, we
Zoom Share
Morning Prayer
We care for each other,
help as needed
and possible.
We individually and
as a community
serve needs in
our area and beyond
We ask one
in our number
to serve as
convener and organizer
and
a discernably matured
spiritual guide
in our area to serve as
overseer
as per the early church
with a local servant leader
presbyter
and an area overseer
of small home churches
episkopos
As in the early church,
they have day jobs
for their support.
We ask the Spirit
to vivify us as
The Body of Christ.
1 Corinthians 12:12-31
Again and again
we revisit,
refocus on
our raison d'etre as
Jesus prays for us:
"The goal is
for all of them
to become
one heart and mind -
Just as you, Father, are
in me and I in you, ...
Then the world
might believe that
you sent me...
then they will mature
in this oneness
John 17: 21-23
The Message
"Abide in me,
and I in you."
John 15:4
All the best.
See you
next week.
Love to all
God Bless
John Frank
frankly speaking
spirituality for the street
johnfrankshares.blogspot.com
******