BOTHER

Dear All of Us,

"Oh bother!"

 Winnie the Pooh

sure pegged things

    gone wrong

       right.

They more than

      qualify

        as

    BOTHER

In these torturous times

    

    all sorts of wrong

  bothers the liv'n heck 

       out of us!

    

Well, not always "out."

We can get bogged down

          "in" it,

         literally

     be-deviled by 

      the evil of it.

 

 Currently and tragically, 

        the heinous 

           wrong 

             of

 

          Empire

      bothers many 

            into

     Moral/Spiritual

          Inertia.

     "Why bother!"

    "There's nothing 

 

     I can do about it" -

Putin, XI Jinping, Trump,

environmental dangers,

"Rupture" of the

Western Alliance,

Gaza, Ukraine, Iran

AI, economic fragility,

cartels, gestapos,

most for the few,

some for a select some,

not nearly enough

for most worldwide.

"There's nothing 

 I can do about it."

  "Why bother?"

  Au contraire!

     There's 

mountains much

     we all 

can do about it.

So, let's go to 

God's First Bible,

     Nature 

 and check out 

those mountains

      much

and see positive 

     Bother

Zillions of zillions 

beyond count of

miniscule molecules

      BOTHER

 to stick together.

 

They are rock solid

      in union

   and we have 

     The Alps.

  No one molecule 

   can be what 

  The Alps are.

  Molecules fused 

  in community

        are 

  monumental.

So it is with us

    in these 

difficult days of

    Empire

days more like 

deadly dark night.

  We can let 

  

  The Spirit

   fuse us 

        

     ONE

    in the 

  rock-solid 

 community 

   that is

    The 

 Kingdom 

  

     of

 

    God

  right in 

the midst of

Evil Empire -

a whole 

new range 

of living.

We adhere 

to each other 

    living 

 God's love

 practically, 

where we are, 

as we are.

 That shared 

   dynamic

       is

local and vital.

We look out 

for each other 

and "others" 

beyond our 

community of 

  God Good 

  Cohesion.

    "Nice-Nice" 

     feel good

      religion

 has flunked out, 

     doesn't

 cut it, count 

       or 

  

    qualify.

We're talking here,

    not words 

    but actual, 

     for real

  action based,

  experienced

  

 living together 

         as 

The Body of Christ.

As a community 

  we joyfully 

      and

practically live 

  The Sermon

 On The Mount.

 We learn live 

    together

     those 

  Beatitudes

We take a pass, 

indeed bypass, 

as in heart bypass,

anger, lust, 

an eye for an eye. 

As tough as it is,

we love our enemies.

We are subtle humble 

in giving to the needy.

We don't waste on worry 

nor judging others. 

   Matthew 5-7

We enter Kingdom Living

through the narrow gate 

        of actuality 

       rather than 

       spin out at 

   "wide the gate 

 and broad the way 

that leads to destruction" 

     Matthew 7:13

 

We gather for 

prayer, scripture, 

reflection,

Communion.

We are a village 

raising our children.

We regularly

gather for meals.

We share space

and means.

We weave in 

single parent 

families,

the alone elderly,

isolated singles.

We fit in misfits.

We share tools,

table, gardens,

stories, song,

celebrations.

We shovel out 

those unable  

in snowstorms.

We gather for 

the arts 

and learning.

  We do 

life together,

  God Life

 One day all this 

   positive plus

     BOTHER

  will molecule 

   by molecule

   overspread

   and replace

 the rot rock of

  monumental 

    Empire 

       by

  God's Love 

     Lived

In the meantime,

 we've "got a life,"

   we give a 

    BOTHER

   

   

   Eventually 

   the night

       of 

    Empire 

 will be over 

 and all that 

 will be left 

      is a 

Land of Light,

The Kingdom 

        of 

      God 

come on earth 

as in heaven.

We can make 

the difference

It sure is worth 

       the

    BOTHER

    ******

               

               Speaking of

                "BOTHER"

             

 We experienced one last week 

when our email editions of this blog 

             did not go out.

Supposedly the hitch is cleared up

and last week's missing post,

               FRESH

is being posted with this one.

In any case, if the email edition 

does not arrive on time Fridays, 

please go online for it at  

       frankly speaking

  spirituality for the street

johnfrankshares.blogspot.com

    Thanks for your patience.

What a goodness 

that we all bother 

to be together here 

    each week.

ONLINE POSTINGS

Thursdays

East Coast USA time.

PREVIOUS POSTINGS

      AVAILABLE

            by

  scrolling well down

        beneath 

      this posting.

     All the best.

       See you 

     next week.

     Love to all.

     God Bless,

     John Frank

         

       ******

 

  

FRESH

      Dear All of Us,

     Where I grew up

  a common maxim in

The Lexicon of Parenting

            was

  "Now, don't be fresh!"

Well, my parents 

are long gone and 

I've never really 

bothered to

 grow up 

     but

I have come 

to realize 

how important 

it is to be

 FRESH

not sassy 

   but

sparklingly, 

vibrantly

 FRESH

Pilots take refresher courses.

We freshen up before dinner.

We refresh our computer.

We come up with 

fresh solutions 

for old questions.

Nature seasonally 

refreshes itself.

Marriage and friendship 

depend on being

regularly refreshed.

Dear old Pope John XXlll

called the church to

"aggiornamento"

urging that we 

throw wide 

the windows 

and let the 

fresh air of The Spirit

      free flow

to renew, to refresh 

a dusty, musty church. 

The German people practice 

           "Luften"

Twice a day, no matter 

the season or the weather, 

they open wide the windows 

to let out stale air 

and welcome in fresh.

It so improves health

  (body and spirit).

That's what 

we are doing 

right now in 

    Lent 

and does it ever 

improve things.

Stale, fetid, foul air 

of soul and society

is blown out 

as The Spirit

winds us 

clean and fresh,

renewed and reinvigorated. 

We're energized free of 

lifeless routine and ritual,

of sinful stifling strictures,

of all that pollutes 

head and heart,

of poisonous relations 

social and interpersonal,

of suffocating injustices,

of faux and phony religion.

Balmy spring days 

and bracing fall ones

make Luften easy.

Humid hot summer days and 

blustery frigid winter ones 

are opposite hard.

  So it is in 

    Lent,

our spiritual

    Luften

Hard or easy 

we throw open

the windows of 

soul and society

for pure real.

On our own 

and as community

we test the quality

of the air

that oxygenates 

our living.

    Two Central Helps

A slow, honest measure of 

soul and society registers

spiritual air quality 

as we open to all of

The Sermon on the Mount

and the trilogy of love

 God, neighbor, self

with their purity and gusto.

Two clear cleansing exercise

and examples:

- "Blessed are the pure of heart

   for they shall see God."

      Matthew 5:9

   Only sparkling purity 

   at the heart of 

   who we are 

   and what we do

   will clear the air 

   pure enough 

   to see God,

   Pure Good.

   In Lent 

   we air out the real

   reasons/motivations,

   and dynamics that

   power our consciousness,

   our relationships, 

   business, politics, religion, 

   lifestyle and work,

   our spirituality.

- The beauty of Lent is that 

  it puts before us 

  what often gets lost in the 

  hurry/scurry of daily life.

     We are called to

          love

    in who we are 

         and 

    what we do. 

  The flow fresh 

  of The Spirit is

         to 

    Love God 

with all our heart, 

mind and soul and

     To Love 

  our neighbor 

  as ourselves

(because they are).

Matthew 22:37-40

In the fullness and 

intensity of God Love 

we are wind swept

in the surging's of

The Holy Spiritus, 

the wholey energy,

   for full living,

     window 

     FRESH

    ******

   For those who wish it 

       

      LENTEN LUFTEN

      Each day of Lent 

       we open wide 

   the windows to deep.

      We breath in 

       Spirit Fresh

  as it blows clean in the

  Sermon on the Mount 

       Matthew 5-7

           and

    The Love Trinity 

   Matthew 22:34-40

A Few Prompts/Examples:

- Matthew 5:3

 "Blessed are 

  the poor in spirit, 

  for theirs' is 

  the kingdom of heaven."

 

  We don't have to wait for 

  some long off by ad by.

  The kingdom of heaven is

        move in ready

          right now

         if we are.

All it takes is to 

completely move out of

every habit and habitation 

of significance and security

less than kingdom living. 

We vacate 

self-reliant, 

self-centered 

systems and structures

   - poverty of spirit -

for the grandness of 

residence rich living 

right now, right here.

We have a completely new 

location and address 

and way we address life. 

It's the paradox of poverty 

clearing the way for 

limitless enrichment.

We just need to break 

the lease of less.

- Matthew 5:43- 48

  " Love your enemies."

Right now people are 

mad as hell at each other, 

literally "mad" 

and "hell" it is.

They are 

"loaded and cocked",

attitudinally and 

too often more

to do in the 

heavily hated/feared

       others,

those on the 

radically different side 

of the hate/fear divide.

Jesus is offering us 

a heaven of a deal 

for a hell of hatred and fear.

We do not have to accept 

the manner and ways of

those dreaded "others". 

We do have to 

dive deep 

through our anger, 

fear and hatred,

through their 

ideas and actions

to the core 

of who they are -

children of God,

temples of the Holy Spirit

and embrace them in love, 

the God of love 

at their center,

whether they 

know it or not.

It's the only way 

to peace.

It's hard.

It's also perfection.

Jesus offers it.

We move out of

the hell of now 

to the perfection of it

           in 

The Love That Is God.

- Matthew 22:34-40

           Love

   God, neighbor, self

   with all you've got!

We are what we love.

God wants us to be 

in love with

God, neighbor, self.

Love means intimate union.

Love means oneness.

I like shrimp scampi.

I don't dare love it.

I want to be 

a lot more than

shrimp scampi.

God doesn't want us 

to be in bed with,

in love with,

power, stuff, pleasure,

a pretend, cardboard self,

with anything less than 

          LOVE

God neighbor self 

          a

 Divine Oneness.

Jesus underscores 

this wisdom of the 

Hebraic Tradition.

In it we discover that 

all creation is neighbor,

proteins to planets,

that other is God

present in 

unique diversity.

Then I get to love 

shrimp scampi in our 

 Loved Oneness!!

We get to be in love 

with all that is.

That means 

peace and joy.

So, as we move 

through lent 

we breath in 

each bit of 

freshness in

      The Sermon  

     on the Mount  

           and

         Love of 

  God, neighbor self.

On Easter Sunday, 

we find ourselves

     lite lifted

        up 

      freed

     FRESH

     ******

It's a breath of fresh air 

being here together each week.

Online Postings

Thursdays

East Coast USA time

A sampler of past posting

       is available

            by

   scrolling well down

        beneath 

      this posting

     Thanks to all 

 who share this blog 

     with others.

     All the best.

See you next week. 

     Love to all.

     God Bless.

     John Frank

      frankly speaking

  spirituality for the street

johnfrankshares.blogapot.com

           ******

  

 

 

  

AS IS

   Dear All of Us,

         Bill 

   The Bard Boy 

         of

       Avon

     penned

        life 

     playing 

    itself out.

   He scripted

        life 

comedic to tragic,

  As You Like It

       or don't.

    

    So are we

      as we 

    play out

our spiritual lives

        and

 there's a lot of 

       "AS" 

      to how 

   we script it

   and how it

   plays out

Spirit Script

Play Prompt:

      First of all 

      and always

      we deal with

           God

     and all that is 

         AS IS

           not 

as we wish it were

as we think it should be

as we're trying to make it be

as it used to be

as we hope it will be

as social pressure pushes it to be

as media presents/mispresents

as pop culture persuades

as spiritual fashions proliferate 

       if not pontificate

as pride and/or fear demand.

If we do, we are either 

dancing with the wrong partner

                  or 

            playing God.

           

         NEITHER WORKS

            BOTH DEBILITATE

They slow, misdirect, 

waste our spirits 

        and  

the God Good 

that wells up 

deep down

from our 

God base 

and emanates 

from us.

Our soul's 

Reality Check 

is first of all 

and always 

   are we 

dealing directly 

with everything 

      self

      other

      object

      condition

      cause

      place

      people 

       and 

   most of all 

      GOD

     AS IS

That's the 

first connection 

if there is to be 

connection.

When it comes to 

       God 

 the first thing 

    we do is 

  is align with

   with God 

as God presents,

as God gives himself - 

         God

       AS IS

As an old man now,

I see so clearly 

in the rear-view mirror 

how I wasted years of

spiritual energy 

and grace

trying to be a 

spiritual success

with a god that isn't,

a god I had to achieve,

a god for whom I had to perform,

a god denominationally defined demanding -

a god quest

up to me,

powered by me,

directed by me, 

mega-watts  

of soulful

Strum und Drang.

All kinds 

of intensity

to be Holy 

to rack up 

promotion points:

fasting, self-denial, 

mortifications,

pious practices 

tripping over 

each other,

read every syllable 

of Merton and

a whole library 

of writers on 

the spiritual life

best seller list,

lots of monastery stays, 

numerous spiritual 

retreats and workshops,

tries upon tries at being

constantly conscious 

and responsive to 

the presence of God,

grasping at contemplation, 

a full court press to win 

the Biggie - to be a 

spiritual super star - 

       MYSTIC

Was I ever misaligned.

God just patiently waited 

         for me

    to fall in line, 

    to fall in love,

accept his embrace

   as he offers it

when and where

   He offers it - 

the smile of a baby,

sticking with 

someone 

writhing in chaos,

in a phrase of scripture,

in the affection and also 

in the needs of 

spouse and children,

awash in the 

ebb and flow of chant,

in cooking a dinner 

that goes just right,

during prayerful intimacy,

in Nature revealing and reveling,

transfixed in the arts,

making love,

as per Matthew 25:31-46

   in feeding the hungry,

        (body, soul, psyche)

   in caring for the sick, 

        (bodily, emotionally)

   in visiting the imprisoned,

        (the isolated in

         nursing homes)

    in welcoming the stranger,

         (the newbie at work

          or in the land)

    in a tiny acorn 

    in the mighty oak,

    and ...

        Now, 

    like a child

      I simply 

stop, look and listen. 

      I follow

        the

 words and way 

     of Jesus

     AS IS

  The Gospels

pure and simple

The conditions, 

direction,

timing, tempo,

experience and results

are God's not mine.

    Whatever

    Whenever

    However

It is beautifully freeing

           to 

       God Go

          not 

        me go

     (as in ego) 

      and that

   nowhere fast.

God has been  

incarnate

face forward, 

heart warm 

to me 

in my 

Mother and my Wife,

my daughters, relatives, 

friends. associates,

all the way to the

cashier at the supermarket.

I have been 

immensely blessed 

by Richard Rohr 

      and 

  Franciscan 

 Spirituality.

They help me 

understand 

and align with

     Jesus

      and

Kingdom Life

    AS IS

    in the 

   Gospels

    not in 

highly processed 

spiritual food fads

  or with heavy

 church cultural 

   overlays.

I am also 

profoundly 

blessed 

by my 

Spirit Brother.

He and I 

Soul Huddle

every Saturday

seeking to 

align with God -

God and us

    AS IS

Yet another blessing -

 I am immersed

    in for real 

spiritual community.

We are a bunch of 

  all sorts of us 

slowly saying yes 

      to God 

      AS IS

All of what 

I share here

about myself is not 

at all proscriptive.

It is offered 

in witness

and support.

There are other

spiritual kin, 

other for real

Gospel Communities, 

other Richard Rohr's,

other traditions of 

responding to God

      AS IS

   May we all 

   get out of

 our own way

      and 

while we're at it, 

     get in 

  God's "Way"

    and let 

 God be God, 

loving us to life,

   joyous life,

   Gospel Life,

   Kingdom Life,

      God life

       AS IS

  offered in the 

     Gospels

       and

Kingdom Living

May we be 

a wide open 

    YES

writ large 

played out

  in God

  AS IS

******

So good for all of us 

to be here together 

       AS IS

ONLINE POSTINGS

Thursdays

East Coast USA time

LAST FIVE POSTINGS

       AVAIABLE

           by

  scrolling well down

       beneath 

     this posting

     

     LENT LEAD

Should you care for a

Second Cup Of Blog,

please do brew up

a bracer for 

       LENT

   SWAP OUT 

      

 Judgment jawing

          for 

affirmative accents.

        Buzz

         for 

        chill.

Demolition derbies

          for 

    barn raisings.

      Jealousy

         for 

     diversity 

       relish.

    Grouch'n

        for 

     Glow'n.

   Gotta have

        for 

   can't wait 

    sharing.

    Anger

     for 

   pulse 

 positive.

   Downer

      for 

  delighter.

Attention grabs

      for 

others promotion.

   Ticked off

       for 

   harmony 

     hum.

   Injustice 

      for 

    RIGHT 

      on.

Social apathy 

      for 

     all in 

participation.

Soul slough

     for 

Spirit vigor.

 

  Anxiety

    for 

"In God

we trust."

 Selfish

   for

 share

  and 

  help.

Media mania

     for 

calm beauty.

        As we 

  stop look listen 

         this 

        Lent

may we catch on to,

  get caught up in 

Spirit Connection

aligned right tight 

     with God

       AS IS

     ******

Every goodness.

See you next week.

    Love to all.

    God Bless,

    John Frank

     ******

            WELCOME

                 to

        frankly speaking

   spirituality for the street

johnfrankshares.blogspot.com

*