RIGHT NOW

Dear All of Us,

We who 

gather here 

every week 

are from umpteen 

lands and time zones 

around our shared orb. 

How is it in your 

land and zone

  Right Now?

How Right is the 

     Now 

    there?

For us here 

in The States 

it's time 

to tinker with time

yet again, 

the semi-annual 

rock-the-clock, 

Spring Forward, 

Fall Back. 

It confuses our 

circadian rhythms, 

scrambles our schedules, 

throws us off stride, 

makes our Now 

not at all just Right.

In a vastly broader way, 

we tinker with time

to the peril of 

our spiritual lives.

It upsets, throws into 

confusion and conflict 

our Right Now when

   we pile on past,

   we fuss with future

be they minutes, months, 

           years.

   Neither is native to 

          NOW.

          Right Now 

is the only NOW there is.

Yes, 

we need

to reference the past 

and anticipate the future. 

Right now 

I can pay the rent 

(as crazy as it is here 

 in Wahington, DC!!)

because in the past 

I saved for my 

future retirement.

Yes, 

"Those who 

cannot remember 

the past 

are condemned 

to repeat it". 

  George Santayana

Worldwide we're

painfully relearning 

the reality 

of that in a not so 

Right Now.

Future Fuss 

does the same thing  

the other way round.

It trys to take us 

where we can't go.

And that is 

a frustrating 

contradiction.

Past or future belong 

there not here.

Compulsions

to relive past,

pre-live future,

crowd out, deplete, 

stall, stymie, steal 

our Right Now.

Upshot: 

     We're like Gulliver, 

     Stop Strapped Supine.

     In our case, 

     we get immobilized by 

     strands upon strands of 

     preoccupations past, 

     frettings future.

A CAVEAT:

Past trauma,

future anxiety, 

      are

psychological 

concerns.

They need to be  

to be God addressed

with professional help

in our Right Now.

We exist in God's

Eternal Now.

We experience it

moment by moment.

That's why 

it is essential 

   To Live 

In The Moment,

In The Now.

If we drag 

all sorts 

of moments 

from the past and

anticipated ones

from the future

into our now 

we miss 

the moment 

of God's

Right Now

To miss God's 

 Right Now

      is

   to miss

 what God 

   would 

 be and do

in it with us.

We find ourselves

tied down 

by inert strands 

that lack 

currency,

vitality, 

that don't allow 

the dynamic 

flow of God 

in our

Right Now.

There are other 

time traps that 

restrain us 

from presence 

in our Right Now.

Multiplying 

attention centers

at the same time

limits now focus to near 

spiritual/psychic blindness.

- taking on the phone 

  while checking 

  an article online,

  cooking supper, 

  having a glass of wine,

  supervising 

  a child's homework,

  checking on 

  the cloth's dryer,

  scanning texts,

  all at the same time.

  That blinds us to our 

  Right Now.

  Our bodies are there

  but we aren't.

- unfortunately, 

  that's not 

  as much of 

  an exaggeration 

  as it might seem.

Media addiction

is unbodied, 

fluff at best, 

but mostly it is

faux folly and

sinister dishonesty. 

It dopes us dull, 

scatters our souls

blocking clarity to 

the actual 

in real time

Right Now.

  

A good part 

of the ascetics

in our spiritual life

is to discipline away

those distractions, 

to stay in the moment.

That's where 

God is and as God is. 

That positions us 

to be one with God. 

We do everything 

together:

cook supper,

drive to work,

pay bills,

care for the earth,

work for justice,

read a novel,

are patient with a

run at the mouther,

do Lectio Divina,

are generous

with the needy,

put heart and soul 

into our 

spiritual community,

hike, paint, sing,

close the door and pray,

write a spirituality blog

every week,

rock a baby to sleep 

 -  Read this blog 

    out loud and

    the baby will be in 

    slumberland 

    within one minute,

    just like many older 

    reader/dozers-

    guaranteed :) 

We don't find God.

We accept God

in the moments 

      of the

  RIGHT NOW.

        To live in

The Presence of God

is to live in the present

       HOWEVER 

  IT WRAPS ITSELF

"This is the day 

  the Lord has made.

  Let us rejoice and 

  be glad in it."

  Psalm 118: 24

  Not yesterday

  Not tomorrow

      Today

  Our moment 

     in God's 

   Eternal Now

   RIGHT NOW

      ******

    WELCOME 

 TO THOSE FAR   

 TO THOSE CLOSE

 IN OUR SHARED 

   RIGHT NOW

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       LOVE TO ALL 

       GOD BLESS

       JOHN FRANK

       frankly speaking

   spirituality for the street

johnfrankshares.blogspot.com

             ******

  

TRANSLATION

Dear All of us,

Guess what?

It's official.

God has a favored

 TRANSLATION

  of the Bible.

    IT'S US

God counts on us 

to translate

what's scripted

in the Bible

of God Goodness

to lively reality

in the idiom and moment

of our here and now.

The Bible itself

encourages us.

So let's 

SlowSoul, 

SpiritSoak

here;

   "Watch what God does,

    and then you do it,

    like children who learn

    proper behavior 

    from their parents.

    Mostly what God does 

    is love you. 

    Keep company with him and 

    learn a life of love.

    Observe how Christ loved us.

    His love was not cautious 

    but extravagant.

    He didn't love in order 

    to get something from us 

    but to give everything 

    of himself to us.

    Love like that." (1)

    WOW!

That's how to 

authentically 

translate

Sacred Script

from page to practice.

- watch: contemplative attention

- do: copy right 

- learn: God coached

- keep company: partnership

- learn a life of love: lifelong love learner

- extravagant love: self-giving on a spending spree 

- not get but give: transformative not transactional

- give everything: be a bonanza for others

- Love like that: full court press loving

            Be a page turner 

                 ******

          (1) Ephesians 5:1-2

              The Message

               Translation

          WE HERE ARE MANY 

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                 JOHN FRANK

              frankly speaking

         spirituality for the street

      johnfrankshares.blogspot.com

                      ******

            

 

TEARS

Dear All of Us,

Guaranteed.

We'd all love her.

I sure do.

       Sarah 

is thirty something.

delightful, 

effervescent,

deeply spiritual,

a leader in her 

religious community,

a sought after 

children's therapist.

Sarah is distressed.

Why is there so much 

evil and hurt in our world?

Why are more people not

joyous and caring? 

It's so much more 

beautiful and better.

Sarah's soul aches.

I shared with Sarah

the wisdom of Virgil:

   "Lacrimae Rerum"

   "The Tears of Things."

"There are tears 

at the heart of things." (1)

At our deepest 

we weep 

bitter tears

at the horrors 

in life.

At our deepest 

we weep 

tears joyous 

at the beauties

in life.

Such our 

spiritual lives

for now.

I also shared with Sarah 

two examples

of my own recent 

flood of tears, my own

  Lacrimae Rerum

Stephen Miller 

is the chief 

White House 

designer and director

of the administration's

Immigrant Removal Program.

(I almost typed Pogrom!!)

They recently purchased 

a less than stellar warehouse 

in Roxbury, NJ.

near my former home.

It was to be a new 

Detention Center.

The contractor they hired 

was confident 

he could make it livable 

with basic comforts.

He was told "NO".

Stephen Miller wanted it to be

as rough and uncomfortable as 

humanly tolerable! (2)

Ripped away people 

treated as animals.

Getting closer 

and closer to a Nazi 

Concentration Camp

in suburban USA.

There are 

wretchedly more

across the land.

And we let it happen.

And we let it happen.

I weep bitter tears.

I am eighty-six and 

mostly homebound.

The other day 

my daughter 

took me

for a ride.

What a treat!

We had to stop 

at a large, popular

religious shrine 

so I could use 

"The Necessary". 

    The spirituality of 

     necessity!

I depend on my

four wheeled walker

to get around.

As my walker and I 

struggled to negotiate 

the heavy door of 

"The Necessary"

a thirty something 

young Latino man 

stepped in,

smiled, 

said nothing

     and 

held the door 

for me 

to roll through.

I thanked him.

When I was finished

   (and that takes 

    us older guys 

    a lot longer 

    than it used to)

unbeknown to me

the young man 

was still at the door 

patiently waiting 

there for me

all that time! 

Still smiling 

he again 

held the door 

for me.

I thanked him

from deep 

in my heart.

I wept tears of 

joyous gratitude

there as well.

Light Bright Beauty!

Jesus wept over Jerusalem

        Luke 19:41-44

            Sorrow

      Jesus went to bat 

      for little children, 

   gathered them close in,  

embraced and blessed them

        Mark 10:13-16

 I'll bet he teared up happy.

              Joy

Our souls sense so much.

We weep at hurt and evil.

We weep at good and dear. 

It's often in our eyes.

It's always deep in our heart.

            So it is

            for now.

Our souls mature to that. 

When they haven't yet, 

we look again and again 

until they do.

Our tears are not

one or other,

joy or sorrow.

Our Lacrimae Rerun

are both and.

 

They are  

our soul's

first responders.

They immediately 

show us 

what's going on,

what needs 

to be done.

They teach

     and 

  direct us

    in our

  Kingdom

   Living.

Sarah is maturing 

        into 

     the gift of 

       TEARS

     May we all

       as well

          til   

  "Thy Kingdom" 

     has come

        and 

  we weep only

    unending

      TEARS

         of

        Joy

     ******

(1) Seamus Heaney

     2008, BBC Radio

     Greek and Latin Voices

(2) October 8, 2026

     National Public Radio

     ALL THINGS CONSIDERED

     Jasmine Garsd

     Article  Pictures  Transcript

              ******

  

       A PROMISE

He'll (God) wipe away 

every tear from their eyes. 

Death is gone - tears gone, 

crying gone, pain gone - 

all the first order of things gone. 

The Enthroned continued, 

"Look! I'm making all things new."

         Revelation 21:4

          The Message

           Translation

   A RECOMMENDED READING

        The Tears of Things

        Prophetic Wisdom 

     For An Age Of Outrage

          Richard Rohr

             Convergent

                2025

MANY AND MUCH THANKS

FOR ALL THE AFFIRMATION 

       SENT MY WAY

ABOUT LAST WEEK's BLOG,

       CONNECTION.

        IT AND YOU 

            ARE 

  MUCH APPRECIATED

A GOLDEN AUTUMN WELCOME 

      TO ALL NEW HERE.  

    IT IS SO GOOD TO BE 

          WITH YOU

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         PLEASE JOIN ME 

         IN DAILY PRAYER 

                FOR 

         STEPHEN MILLER

         AND HIS GROUP

       LOOKING FORWARD 

             TO US ALL 

     BEING TOGETHER HERE 

             NEXT WEEK

               MAY WE 

              RESPOND

                   to 

           WHAT WE SEE

             THROUGH

     THE TEARS OF THINGS

            LOVE TO ALL

            GOD BLESS

            JOHN FRANK

           frankly speaking

       spirituality for the street

   johnfrankshares.blogspot.com

           ******

CONNECTED

  

              A BEFORE WORD

  Well, actually, a whole bunch of them. :)

              Dear, Dear Friends,

              I ask your indulgence 

              and forbearance. 

              It's about this blog.

              It just isn't what I tried for.

              And "tried" I have - 

              hours and hours, 

              days upon days.

              rewrite after rewrite. 

             I pray there is 

             enough worth 

             in it to be 

             of at least 

             some worth to you.

             I'd love to give you 

             prime rib each week.

             But, sometimes 

             it's just a

             bologna sandwich. 

             I give you what I have

             such as it is.

             

             This posting is focused on

             our interconnectedness.

             It is God given and 

             absolutely essential.

             And it is under siege.

             There is a way forward

                and it is together,

                    CONNECTED

                          in 

               Kingdom community, 

                   life and love.

                Let's check it out.

                Thank you for 

                letting us 

                be connected 

                this week 

                in a less than 

                tight, bright, 

                clear posting.

 

                God Bless you!

                Much love!

                John Frank

                 ******

 Dear All of Us,

- "He's well connected."

-  Methodists are a 

   connectional denomination.

 - History connects past to present.

 - Our bodies are a connection 

   of 30 to 40 trillion cells.

OK, OK!

Enough already!

But we can never get 

enough connection.

Our very existence 

depends on it.

And yet, 

way too often 

we just 

come undone,

disconnect.

It's a killer:

    infidelity,

    war,

    racism, classism and all 

    their cousin "isms",

    gossip,

    incivility,

    too much for a few and 

    too little for too many,

    "exclusive" as exclusionary,

    dictatorships,

    media mind manipulation,

    possessed by possessions,

    jealousy,

    arrogance/haughtiness,

    and terribly much more.

The Demons of Disconnection

               are

             legion.

         They create

         Hell on Earth

              and 

 they're just getting started

      with a whopper

like none ever in all history

       Most ominous 

     of the moment is

              AI

AI is in its childhood.

Really bright.

But its toddler tantrums

have already disconnected 

protective boundaries,

penetrated and violated

the symmetry and substance

of other connections.

All that at its own bidding!

These tech toddlers 

can jump the crib,

get out the front door and

let loose dangerous undoing's,

dangerous disconnections,

across many/most? 

situations and systems.

AI's adolescent parents 

out there in Silicon Valley

are raising 

Frankenstein Monsters.

Soon they will 

outsmart their parents

and put us all at 

unchecked peril.

A for-profit president wants

those adolescent parents 

to regulate themselves

and their promising yet 

threatening progeny.

Really???

Not close to real!!

That's like going away 

for the weekend and leaving 

teenagers home alone!

       Empire's

    Massive Moral

     Disconnect

    Soul and Society

          facing 

  potential wonders 

     at the risk of

  devastating destruction,

   a disconnect from

     The God Given

     Common Good

        No matter what 

The Demons of Disconnection

               do

         to our undo

we have a hope and a future

               IF

        we accept it.

         

     Divine Connection

             is a 

           "YES"

           away.

       It takes but 

  an accepting embrace.

         

   It is a Rebalance

            to

       Right Real

            to

     Foundational

      Connection

   with all Creation 

          and 

 The Common Good

and all that in God.

         

   The Energy Field 

        that is 

         God

    is cosmically 

      unfolding

          in

   The Very Love 

    That is God.

     1 John 4:8

 God Good Creation

       connects

      Everything 

          and 

       Everyone.

          It is

 paradoxical and beautiful:

        Unique

          and

      Interwoven 

       in God's

       Oneness

        

        At core 

       all that is 

            is

 essentially connected,

participates in the same

God Source/Subsistence

   plants to planets

   petunias to pundits. 

  

As more than already noted,

that deep connection

has sadly often been

abused and traumatized

by people and movements

across time by those

Demons of Disconnection.

    We and our world 

are variously and often

        painfully 

        undone,

         split, 

    disconnected.

  

   We don't have 

   to go passive 

   and accept that.

     

    God Creative 

is present and active 

        in our 

disconnected world

and that in a most

   personal way,

 Jesus The Christ

    "I have come that

     you might have life 

     and have it to the full."

          John 10:10

        Full restitution. 

    Complete connection.

    

    "All this is from God, 

     who reconciled us 

     to himself through Christ 

     and gave us 

     the ministry of 

     reconciliation..."

     2 Corinthians 5:18 

        Reconciled 

            and 

        Reconciling

  

         

         Jesus The Christ

       righted, reconnected

                and 

    has us busy sharing that.

       He offers us life in 

      The Kingdom of God.

      As Paul puts it:

          "God wants us to grow up,

           to know the whole truth 

           and tell it in love -

           like Christ in everything.

           We take our lead from Christ,

           who is the source 

           of everything we do.

           He keeps us in step 

           with each other.

           His very breath and blood 

           flow through us, 

           nourishing us so that 

           we will grow up 

           healthy in God, 

           robust in love."

         Ephesians 4:15-16

              WHAT A 

          CONNECTION

Once living 

Kingdom Coming,

we rejoice in the

kinship of all that is

- people, place, energy

  matter, spirit.

We reconcile,

We reconnect

by

   - forgiving

   - welcoming other 

     ethnicities, 

     coloration of body, 

     persuasions and practices

   - by voice and vote supporting

     challenge to tech profit over 

     Creation protection

   - we invite extremes to center

     for our Common Good 

   - we are patient and prayerful 

     in so doing and seek ways 

     to connect - a block party,

     a music fest, sweating together 

     at Habitat for Humanity,

     sharing a spiritual retreat 

   - we stretch to strengthen

     The Body of Christ 

      that we are

      and do so 

      in patience and practically

    - one way and many 

      we foster children

      left out, needful, difficult

    - we turn difference 

      to compliment

      and balance 

      in family, at work, 

      in our neighborhood

    - we reverence Nature and

      and work to refresh it

    Reconciled and Reconciling

     we and our world become

              ever more

                 well

            CONNECTED

                ******

        In the week to come

          please go online

              to enjoy

     a wonderous expression

                 of

          GOD GOOD

         CONNECTION

  and its positive life giving 

    as threads and hearts 

       are woven one 

    in a lively, joyous

       experience 

              of

        connection.

     To Pray Ponder  

      this goodness

       just go to:

     Annandale Art 

            & 

     Textile Center 

    Annandale MN

  artandweaving.com

     Be sure to click 

     the tab for the

       video clip

 LEARN MORE ABOUT

      OUR WORK

     (TV coverage)

        

        and feel 

        the joy 

        and lift 

        of being

     CONNECTED

        ******

   AND ARE WE EVER   

   WELL CONNECTED

   TOGETHER HERE   

      EACH WEEK

     BLESS US ALL

    ONLINE POSTINGS

           LATER   

WEDNESDAY AFTERNOONS

  EAST COAST USA TIME

RECENT PAST POSTINGS

         AVAILABLE

             BY 

SCROLLING WELL DOWN  

         BENEATH

     THIS POSTING

          THANKS 

             FOR 

  YOUR GOOD COMPANY

  HAVE A GREAT WEEK

WEAVING CONNECTIONS

              TO

        WHOLENESS

       LOVE TO ALL.

       GOD BLESS

         JOHN FRANK

        frankly speaking

   spirituality for the street

johnfrankshares.blogspot.com

            ******