LEFT OR RIGHT

Dear All of Us,

There's more than a stir 

here in the states just now.

We are about to vote,

vote us a future,

one that will stir here

and cross the seas 

effecting other futures.

It will be a swing 

LEFT OR RIGHT

       Actually, 

it's about way more 

than partisan politics.

It's about 

      who we are 

         and 

     how we are

         and 

        will be 

     as a people.

It will mean that

we here and many there 

will be a lot better off, 

or a lot worse off.

If Left, will it be a lift 

or a letdown?

If Right, will it mean 

getting things right or

downright wrong?

  LEFT OR RIGHT

A bunch of years ago 

Shane Claiborne

wrote a book entitled,

  Jesus for President.

How about that?

Well, yes!

How about that indeed!

    Actually, 

we are very much 

voting for  

   or

not for 

 Jesus

right now,

right where we are.

It determines 

    who we are    

         and

    how we are

         and 

       will be

     as people 

        and 

    as peoples.

We are voting with 

our heads and hearts,

our values and lifestyles,

our treatment of each other,

our care for Creation,

our practical, personal

incorporation in Christ

      and being

 gathered together 

   here and now

          in

The Kingdom of God

  

   Unfortunately, 

in spheres spiritual 

      there are 

     some of us

   making a turn

       HARD

 LEFT OR RIGHT

Both are off the page 

and over the edge

in this old man's view.

The Hard Right is scared silly.

They are locked up 

in what they think 

are cemented sureties.

The Hard Left is fogged in.

They fuss and fumble

about cause upon cause.

Both get nowhere fast. 

Both are doctrinaire,

demandingly so. 

Both want "nice nice" 

and they want it 

their way and now.

But guess what?

"We have not here 

a lasting city, 

but we are looking for 

the city to come."

Hebrews 13:14

        Hard

Lefties and Righties 

are missing the bus,

just at different stops.

Empire rules the world.

It always has.

It always will 

      yet

"Thy Kingdom come... 

 on earth as in heaven."

    Matthew 6:10

 Well, it has and is 

      and that 

right in the midst of the

mad mess of Empire.

For us, it's not 

    LEFT OR RIGHT

 For us it gets to be

    the real deal

    pure and simple

    here and now

    Kingdom Living

    with largeness 

         for all

     for all sides 

for all sides of a whole.

 

A concern and caution:

         So many 

  Hard or Soft on the

     LEFT OR RIGHT

are actually living the values 

and enjoying the perks 

of Empire on their way to church.

Lefties fume about the environment

yet drive pricey vehicles, 

jet away to vacation spots, 

buy way more clothing 

than needed,

go to meetings about the poor

and make sure 

not to live near them, 

are so open minded that 

solid values don't stay put,

liberally spend 

discretionary funds 

on preference and pleasure.

The Righties substitute 

ritual and dogma

for sweaty, on the ground faith,

throw some money at the poor, 

but make sure they stay 

on the other side 

of the tracks,

they disallow difference, 

they ban books,

they live in the dollhouse 

of a pretended past.

Do I exaggerate?

To a degree, 

but not that much.

Both Hard and Soft

Lefties and Righties

enjoy Empire living that has 

a Bible on the coffee table.

Their votes for Jesus,

are hedged to impotence.

Same sad so for their churches.

    

   Church Leaders 

   LEFT OR RIGHT

need to ditch 

their robes and rubrics,

titles and canned cliche talk,

their corporate management,

their Rolodex of reports and plans,

their careerism, their clericalism,

the overload of church real estate,

                  then

            do things like 

stay in a college dorm 

for a weekend,

baby sit a week for a single, 

working parent,

then stay a week 

in a youth detention center,

next shadow a day labor 

and then an office worker

for a week each, 

curb out to curb home

sunrise to sunset

              then 

go to a Retreat Center for a 

thirty day guided retreat

learning how to 

honestly vote for Jesus,

focused on learning 

how to practically live 

The Sermon On the Mount

          ALL OF IT

          ALL OF IT

You can't give what you don't have.

Pastor people not programs.

"Feed my lambs..." Jesus  (John 21:15)

"Give them Christ." John Wesley

What will really make a difference 

for each of us and 

all of us as a people 

is an honest election of Jesus

"The way, the truth and the life"

We need to face up to the truth that

we can't have it both ways, 

Empire perks and actual Gospel living.

We have to deal with Empire.

     "Render unto Caesar..."

          Mark 12:17

We live in

The Kingdom of God

       "...and to God what is God's."

We are freed to follow 

    Jesus - "the way"

as we go about life -

his manner

his teachings.

We are freed to base 

ourselves on 

    Jesus - "the truth"

calibrating our 

lifestyle and values on

his manner 

his teachings  

We are freed to live 

      Jesus - "the life"

our center and dynamic,

enfleshing, making present 

his manner

his teaching

Where and how we live

      get to be 

    Jesus Tuned

money, transport, 

real estate, 

furnishings, food,

recreation  -

all simplified, 

enlivened in 

generous and 

generative 

God Love.

We are also freed 

to move away from 

over institutionalized religion 

to small groups of disciples

           bonding in 

           face to face

           life sharing

           gritty real

            church

     "Followers of the Way"

More than we care to face 

hangs on how we vote on

  November 5, 2024

Certainly the future.

Perhaps our continence.

Vastly more hangs on 

whether we vote for Jesus -

our shared now and forever

we vote with living 

            really

          practically

           honestly

        with our lives

      in real community

      caring and sharing

          vigorous in

         the Kingdom 

       coming on earth

               No

       LEFT OR RIGHT

              to it

  "just as it is in heaven."

   

   Now that's really right.

        Nothing left out

           ******

          A rich autumn

             Welcome

                  to

         frankly speaking

    spirituality for the street

johnfrankshares.blogspot.com

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October 8, 2024

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We hold in love our Jewish 

brothers and sisters 

in this time of the

High Holydays.

Shalom!

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        Right beside you 

     in life's voting booth.

     Hope to see you here 

          next week.

          Love to all.

          God Bless,

         John Frank

          ******

 

AFFAIR

 

Dear All of Us,

I'm eighty-four and

I'm having a red hot

      AFFAIR

     YES I AM

   WONDERFUL

    NON-STOP 

   PULSATTING 

   PASSIONATE

Can't get enough of it!!

I realize that might 

surprise you, and that in

more than one way,

am I right?  Hum?

        Ta Ta Now!

Well, it's the 

God's honest hottest truth.

And yes, my wife knows 

all about it and 

she encourages it.

Now before you try to call 

Dr. Ruth Westheimer 

back from the beyond

to interpret a tinky 

old man's coupling,

let me do some 

explaining about this

        AFFAIR

I had nothing to do 

with starting it.

     Actually, 

I was nothing.

I wasn't.

And then 

LOVE ITSELF

started me,

shared itself as me,

has been luring me

ever since and unabatedly 

into a completeness, a 

      ONENESS

hotter and tighter than 

on anybody's bed in all history.

It took me awhile 

to catch on and 

start to say yes.

It was warm wonderful,

that graduated to off 

the charts past hot.

Sometimes I stupidly 

left the love chamber

responding to the

    Call of Cold

      me-ism 

    apart from 

      us-ism

That meant alone,

naked in frigid darkness.

     

     LOVE ITSELF

just waited and wanted, 

welcoming me hot back,

no questions asked,

passionate embrace

       enfolded.

If all this strikes you 

as a bit much,

let me lovingly lean on you.

It is more than a bit much.

It is much more, it's more

on its way to endless 

          ALL

At eighty-four 

I see it, I say it 

like never before.

It's so simple.

"God is love."

1 John 4:8

    That's 

     who,

     how, 

     what 

       is

     God 

The only way God 

      ever 

    has been 

        is  

      will be 

      LOVE

Bible writers, theologians, 

spiritual guru's, preachers 

      - and me here -

always understate, misstate

the marvel that is 

       LOVE ITSELF

Too often all sorts of 

angers to pettiness 

are projected onto

           GOD

At best we God Talkers

only catch a ray of the sun.

       

       LOVE ITSELF  

is the dynamic of existence.

It is the only thing that is.

Everything and all are a wrap in. 

The only thing God knows 

        how to do is 

            LOVE

The very etymology of 

          AFFAIR

    from the Latin is

         ad = to

         facere = to do, to make

  All God wants "to do" is

           have an 

           AFFAIR

         MAKE LOVE

          endlessly

          

As for us, we do sometimes 

mess up, pervert the purity of

         LOVE ITSELF

We misconstrue, misdirect

The Energy of the Universe

We screw up

us, other, planet.

That's anything that 

is not pure love.

We all know it: 

- me before you and over you, 

- twisting people and nature 

  to our isolated and 

  isolating selfishness,

- suckering into faux realities 

  such as grabbing 

  power and privilege,

- tolerating, even supporting, 

  the slaughter of multitudes 

  used as fodder between hatreds,

- settling for surface satisfaction 

  rather than substantive, 

  solid goodness -

- living excess costing 

  people and planet poverty

- gotta be the center of things 

  rather than swinging and swaying 

  with people and place in the 

          Dance of Existence

                    of 

               Love itself 

It gets so real 

and really good 

   - So God -

when we do accept 

Our Lover's embrace:

rocking a baby to sleep,

enjoying a good meal,

working our toes and 

all other parts off raising a family,

letting our gifts pour out for others,

calling out evils new or old such as 

anti-Gospel white nationalism,

"My country, right or wrong"

    (sadly a direct quote 

     of Cardinal Spellman),

- taking no more than I need in life

  so that others may have a life,

- making life a party for others 

  rather than dragging them to 

  a wake of war and all sorts of it,

- taking hits for others,

- speaking up, paying up,

          voting up 

              for 

  people and ecojustice,

- being marinated in Scripture,

- merging with others 

  in Christian community 

          so real it's 

  a Holy Communion in

        LOVE ITSELF

- regularly closing the door of busy

  and opening the door intimate

  to naked inter-penetrating

           ONENESS

Sitting here typing to you just now

I am, as old men often are - cold.

So I just put an Irish wool throw

over my knees.

That's a material presence, 

       embrace of

      LOVE ITSELF

Once we catch on that

        anyone, 

        anything 

that is essentially good 

     is a moment, 

   is a motion in our

    Love Making

          in

   LOVE ITSELF

At eighty-four, both 

the calendar and body

signal the soon breakout 

           to

      Divinely All 

Between now and when

I intend to go wild in 

   God's Love Bed

           of

    everyday life.

Let's all pile in.

It's meant to be 

one heaven of an 

      AFFAIR

      ******

If you're up for a much better,

in fact, a divinely inspired

version of all this,

do spend heart and time with

   The Song of Songs

I recommend the version in

      The Message

       translation.

It's titled there as

The Song of Soloman

It's hot stuff!

It's free online.

Here's a trailer:

"Restless in bed and 

 sleepless through the night, 

 I longed for my lover..."

     Chapter 3 Verse One

"...I'm a walled-in virgin still,

     but my breasts are full -

     And when my lover sees me,

     he knows he'll soon be satisfied."

            Chapter 8, verse10

   

     Told you so!

     Hey, in all my years 

     I've never heard such 

     read in church.

           HUM!

         ******

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East Coast USA Time

October 1, 2024

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Friday

October 4, 2024

The Feast Day of 

St. Francis.

He lived Jesus so simply,

so lovingly, so completely.

Lots of new friends joined in 

with us this week,

lots as in double 

our usual gathering.

What a goodness!

They are from many 

peoples and places 

around our global village.

Especially numerous 

were many from my 

home place, the 

         USA,

    and from the 

United Kingdom

      and from

       INDIA

      and from 

         Peru

To one and many

           WELCOME

                to

       frankly speaking

   spirituality for the street

johnfrankshares.blogspot.com

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       Praying us all a

           vigorous 

           practical 

             actual 

              YES 

  as we accept ever more 

       the embrace of 

         LOVE ITSELF

                What an 

            AFFAIR!

    See you next week.

          Love to all.

          God bless,

         John Frank

           ******

              

           

KIN DOMAIN

Dear All of Us,

It's really good.

Thank God there are

so many fine folk

generously intent on

social and planetary justice.

They work hard for us

and our world.

These noble souls 

do make a change 

for the better, 

lots of them, actually.

Regrettably, though, 

such good efforts 

can't make possible 

a radical righting 

in society and 

for our planet.

It’s like trimming 

wilted leaves

off a rotten, 

dying tree.

The only thing 

that will save 

peoples and planet

is a genuine, 

radical,

change of heart 

by the populus.

That means 

a profound 

spiritual reset.

Huge changes 

would flow from it:

attitudinal, lifestyle, 

allocation of recourses, 

embracing diversity, 

priority given to 

The Common Good, 

economic and 

civic parity, 

reordered and 

realized community, 

converting spears 

into plowshares

 - loving people 

   and planet.

I believe in miracles.

I pray that we all 

keep right at it

working for 

social and planetary

justice and health.

And I also doubt 

the populus 

is willing for the

change of heart 

needed.

They prefer 

to keep watering

that dying tree 

rather than uproot it 

and plant a completely 

new and health tree.

Put another way, the

military-industrial complex, 

media meanness/madness,

the haves and too bad

for the have nots, 

polluted power politics,

anti-Gospel 

white nationalism,

me-me-ism,

systemic racism,

gated communities 

of head and heart

will trump 

goodness and real,

will foil and fowl  

Good and Godly Ways.

Our societal structure 

is designed by and for 

the benefit of Empire.

While many of us work

to care for 

people and planet, 

Empire has a 

steel strangle hold 

on the

values, structures, 

and operation 

of society and 

our treatment 

of planet.

It is degraded,

controlled 

thinking, doing, 

and abusing.

It is power and opulence 

for an elite

less than one percent.

It is bread and circus 

for their middle-class 

support system.

It is crumbs for the poor.

It is devastating, 

dehumanized 

squalor and scraps

for vast million

world-wide.

 

Establishment Religion 

has failed.

Mostly it has signed on as 

chaplain to Empire.

We carefully read 

the Gospels. 

Not much of that 

shows up in 

Establishment Religion.

The Beatitudes 

don't make it 

off the biblical page 

to communal and 

prevailing attitudes 

much less 

substantive actions.

Establishment Religion

does not have a heart 

for a radical change of heart 

and all that it would mean.

Too invested and comfy.

 

For all of that, 

there’s a heaven of 

a lot more and better.

Jesus pointed us in prayer 

for right and real:

  “Thy Kingdom come 

    on earth 

    as it is in heaven.”

    Matthew 6:9-10

Well, it has!

The Father answered

and is answering 

that prayer.

From Jesus 

into our now 

many much 

have embraced 

Kingdom Life.

They are living 

the alternate to and 

opposite of Empire.

It is real community 

living actually 

and practically

living Jesus -  

what and how 

       he

lived, taught 

and initiated.

It is a 

  Lived Love 

       of

God, neighbor 

    and self.

It is embracing 

Beatitude Attitude 

and putting it into play.

It is the

Sermon on the Mount

actualized at work and home.

It is people gathered, bonded,  

in deeply loving and caring 

Christian community,

warts and all.

It is people doing to others 

as they sure hope 

others would to them.

It is constant companionship 

with Jesus and the Father, 

for real "abiding" in each other,

tight togetherness.

It is a "pearl" of great price 

at the cost of all they have.

It is a no-notice "seed" 

springing up 

to towering fullness.

It is being last, ending first.

It is greatness 

   being servant of all.

It is Passover anew.

It is loving enemies.

It is living as family.

It is sharing and supporting 

    people, place and planet.

It is a vibrant

     "kin"

   domain 

of all Creation.

It is taking a pass 

on judging others and 

getting a pass 

on being judged.

It's together being 

counter cultural, 

with each one of us

supporting all in that.

It is a readiness for 

the Master’s return.

It is caring for 

the least and the lost.

It is full Gospel living.

It is people welcoming 

the promised 

Rush of the Spirit.

         It is

 “Thy Kingdom come” 

      that has.

It is light in 

the midst of dark.

It is life giving 

in the midst of 

death dealing.

It is community in Christ,

   real, practical, 

   accepting and supporting

   each and all in a 

   GOD GOOD

   ONENESS.

It is hope 

lifting above despair.

It is home and way of life.

It's here and now.

It is working for 

a just society and 

a healthy planet.

It is our real residence. 

It is God's

KIN DOMAIN

      ******

       CHOICE

"I have set before you 

life and death, 

blessings and curses.

Now choose life, 

so that you and 

your children 

may live 

and you may love 

the Lord your God..."

Deuteronomy 30:19

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September 27, 2024

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Thanks for our

time together.

It so good

for all of us

from many 

lands and ways  

to connect and 

share here. 

Every week 

we welcome

first time visitors.

Among them this week 

was a large group from 

      Hong Kong 

   A Warm Welcome 

         to you 

       and to all.

No matter our address, 

may we all be

Kingdom Resident.

Have a good week.

Love to all.

God Bless,

John Frank

DRESS

 

Dear All of Us,

One of the first things 

most of us need  

to figure out 

each morning is

"What shall 

I ware today?"

Not me.

Never has been.

For the first half 

of my adult life 

it was 

required black, 

toe to top,

with a tiny 

window of white

fronting Adam's apple.

With a midlife

denominational reset

came a new uniform.

This one self-selected.

        L.L.Bean 

all the way and always.

        L.L.Bean 

khaki slacks,

light blue shirt, 

navy blue sweater.

Day in, day out.

Summers the sweater 

switched out for a

navy blue polo shirt.

Simple and durable

and that's how I hope

I am inside as well.

Whatever our daily garb,

we do well

to follow the fashion 

put forth by Paul.

  Colossians 3:12-14

   The Message

It's dress for success.

It's being dressed to the nines

and mighty more.

It's dress up - really UP.

It's how to address life, 

within and without.

It's putting on Christ in practice:

"So, chosen by God..." 

   - We are God selected. 

   - It doesn't get more special 

     and we really are! 

   - Talk about making the team!

   - Feel what that means!

"...for this new life of love,..."

     - This is a major change 

     of more than socks or status.

   - A completely new life, 

     top to bottom, 

     inside and out.

  - 100% made of Love 

     and that's divine 

    (God is love - 1 John 4:8)

"...dress in the wardrobe 

 God picked out for you: 

   - Clear out all the old closets 

     of attitude, approach, 

     value and action ware.

   - God has a whole new 

     life arrangement 

             and 

     arraignment for you.

  - Inside and out 

    be decked out 

    in what God has

    picked out for you.

  - Check it out.

  - Put it on.

   - It's a perfect fit 

   for the new you.

"...compassion,..."

   - Get real close.

  - Feel what others are feeling.

  - A tight fit.

  - Get so close, 

    care so much, 

    that you'll be one 

    in God's Oneness.

"...kindness,..."

  - Embrace our "kin"- ness.

  - We all have 

    the same DNA - God's.

 - "Do unto others as 

    you would have done 

    unto you" (Matthew 7:12) 

    because we are one,    

    because degrees of separation 

    are not core. 

    At worst they are 

    illusions of alienation. 

    At best they honor 

    uniqueness in unity.

    We are woven one.

"...humility,..."

  - We're all made of 

     the same humus and

     in the same image of God.

  - Live a circle, never a pyramid.

  - That deserves 

    more than a second look:

    Live a circle, never a pyramid. 

"...quiet strength,..." 

  - It's a tight weave, durable.

  - "I can do all things in him 

     who strengthens me." 

       (Philippians 4:13)

  - No bombast or posturing required.

"... discipline..." 

  - Never a know it all.

  - A life learner -

   (L)"disciplina" learning.

  - Learn the way and walk it.

  - Appropriate, disciplined measure 

    in all things.

"...Be even-tempered,..." 

    - Steady as we go.

    - That way we'll get 

      where we need to go.

   - No flash floods or outbursts 

     in attitude or behavior.

" ...content with second place,.."

   - There is no such thing 

     in a circle of unity.

   - Growth is from the bottom up

     in that circle of unity.

   - "The first shall be last and

      the last shall be first." 

        (Matthew 20:16)

   - linier living 

       (Me first, you last")

       needs to get 

      straightened out to 

      circular oneness -

      product paradox.

      

"...quick to forgive an offense. 

Forgive as quickly and 

completely as 

the Master forgave you."

     - Forgive - "give for" the other 

       what was lost,

       ripped out in the hurt.

     - Develop a quick reflex for it.

     - No pauses that don't refresh.

     - No half measures. 

     - Half a bridge 

       doesn't do it. 

     - Nothing halfhearted.

       Half a heart is dead.

    - Check out Jesus and 

       check into his quick, 

       complete forgiveness.

   - To get out of a ditch 

     and back on the road 

     a car needs a complete 

     set of four tires. 

     Only complete does it.

    - no loose threads 

      in our threads.

"...And regardless of 

what else you put on, 

wear love. It's your basic, 

all-purpose garment. 

Never be without it."

 - "God is love" (1 John 4:8)

 - Be all wrapped up in it.

 - It's so basic 

   that without it 

   anything we put on 

   is like putting on 

   a scarf when we are 

   buck naked.

- Love is all purpose, 

  all weather. 

- Ware love. It's woven of 

  recognition, respect, 

  care, unity.

- It never wares out

  and you won't either.

            

Hey, we are going

to look so good, 

so well put together

because we sure 

know how to

        DRESS  

       ******  

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      September 17. 2024

 

      

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       September 20, 2024

           WELCOME 

                to

       frankly speaking

   spirituality for the street

johnfrankshares.blogspot.com

A special Hello to the group from

               IRAN

that blessed us with their presence

this week.

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    THANKS 

for passing on

frankly speaking.

I's a big help and 

much appreciated.

Really neat to be with 

such well dressed folks.

See you next week.

    Love to all.

    God Bless,

   John Frank

     ******