CONTEXT III

                                                 
      THIS IS THE THIRD

  IN A FOUR PART SERIES

                 ON

  CONTEXT CONDITIONS.


IT WOULD BE OPTIMAL

 TO HAVE READ BOTH

         CONTEXT I

              AND

        CONTEXT II

IN PREPARATION FOR

THIS THIRD OFFERING.

       JUST  GO TO

    BLOG ARCHIVE

    TO THE RIGHT

               OR

 SCROLL DOWN HERE.

         THANKS

            *****

  

         

                    


Hi There,

So, how do you

dance a ballet

in a battle field?

In a crazy way that's

the question before us.

How live our spiritual lives

in the current context

of conflict, hostility, turmoil

and various forms of violence?



Given the

times and troubles,

to say nothing of

our basic human

 nature and need

for community,

we cannot go it alone.

Spiritual community -

  com (L) = "with "

  unus (L) = "one"
           
      = community

      is essential.

It is not as a way to hide,

but as a way to live

        unity,

to put into practice

the foundational bedrock

that Jesus offers.

*  "Do unto others
   as you would
   have them
   do unto you."

         and

* "Love your neighbor
    as yourself."

* "What you do to others
     you do to me."




Putting into practice here

means "practical."

Right in our spiritual community

we determine to live out

that foundational bedrock.

We do that in all the

sweaty to sublime instances

of everyday life.

We support, we confess,

we forgive, we share,

we listen, we help,

we encourage, we search,

we pray and worship.

We take care of each other's kids

and of the elderly among us.

We are patient with

the slow and weak.

In one way or many, we

 "build each other's barns."

We pay the rent

when one of us is broke.

We really listen

when a needy one just

talks and talks and talks.

We get around and behind

our young people

as they try to find

their adult footing.

We suffer with

those among us caught in

alcoholism/drug addiction,

loss or grief.

We embrace those of

 a different sexual or

political orientations.

In other words,

we get personal

and practical.

In still other words,

what we do within

our spiritual community

we do for others beyond it.

We reach out individually

and as a community to those in

our wider community.

We participate in,

        or start,

all sorts of community

services and projects.

We welcome and include

the shut outs of our neighborhood,

we have them over for dinner and

to our community celebrations,

we help them figure the system,

we find common ground

with the "other,"

people with "other"

politics, life styles, religions,

ethnic/racial backgrounds,

sexual orientations, incomes.

We work with "others"

(who rally aren't )

to have optimal schools,

libraries, social services,

health care, environmental

responsibility, protection

and support for

the marginalized,

endowment for the arts,

recreational facilities,

in our communities.



Looking to the

wider community,

we do what we can

to positively effect

the national and

international situation

and the makers

and shakers there.

But we don't wait for them

to catch up with us.

We vote with

all the wisdom

we can grow into.

We communicate regularly,

clearly, in a civil manner

with those elected leaders.

We support social justice

organizations and efforts.

We are selective as we invest

in the corporate/financial sector.

We communicate

with the leaders there as

we work for economic

balance and justice.

We adjust our purchases

to our consciences and call.

We let the media moguls

hear our regular reminder

to always reference

The Common Good,

making it a priority

over popularity and profit. 

"We think globally,

    but act locally."



To say it again,

we live out

our commitments

to justice and care in the

"right here, right now"

of our everyday lives.

 We blend and bond

  with others

 ( who really aren't)

in our for real,

sweaty to sublime

spiritual community.

As individuals

and as a community

we connect, care and serve

in our immediate area

and as far out

as humanly possible.

Wherever, however, whenever,

we recognize the "other" as us.

We do unto them as

we sure hope they will to us

and everyone else.

We love them as ourselves

 because they are!!




Like I did with the

hellishly hot attic bedroom

of my long ago youth,

we recognize that

   CONTEXT

         CONDITIONS,

but we won't curl up

in the corner

and settle for a negative one.

That goes for the

hellishly dangerous context

in our country and in

too much of the world

these perilous days that are

more like dark, stormy nights.

    See "The Atlantic,"

    October '18 issue for a series

    of article on our cultural,

    governmental distress).

We are effected.

We will effect.

As I did with that

hellishly hot attic bedroom,

we do all we can to improve the context.

I did it with my bedroom so as to sleep.

We do it with our world so as to live.

After all and always, we are

              One.

One in community, we

    "Do unto others as we
      would have them
      do unto us"
   
because "other" is us

in another way.

We

   " Love our neighbors
      as ourselves"

 because they are we,

 we are they.

 We realize that

  whatever we do

   to others we

   do to God.

God is One and so are we!!

Love God, neighbor, self .

        It makes for a

 
   " ONE"- DER-FULL

RECONDITIONED CONTEXT

                 AND

          COMMUNITY.




       NEXT WEEK:

       WE COMPLETE

THIS CONSIDERATION

            OF HOW

CONTEXT CONDITIONS.

WE WILL FURTHER DETAIL

       OUR CURRENT

 DISTRESSED CONTEXT.

     WE WILL EXPLORE

       WAYS FORWARD

   THROUGH A SERIES OF

   REFLECTIONS PROMPTS.

 



It is a real goodness to be together

in our little community

of sharing and support

    weekly here at

"frankly speaking."

        Thanks!!


   Holding us all in

  God's Dear Love,

      John Frank

        *****


       For those new to us,

       "frankly speaking"

- is posted each Friday online at

    johnfrankshares.blogspot.com

   and can be bookmarked

   for ready access

- is automatically delivered by email

   each Saturday - Sign Up is at

   the top of the online version.

- past postings are available at

  Blog Archive, right column here.


       Please do give a bit

     of time and attention to

   * "What's Going On Here?"

                     and

     "Consider Your Source."

           ( Right column)

Hopefully they we give a sense

          of our soul here.

              THANKS!


*************************************************************************

CONTEXT II

   THIS IS THE SECOND

   IN A SERIES OF FOUR

                  ON

 " CONTEXT CONDITIONS."

 IT WOULD BE HELPFUL

   TO READ OR REREAD

           CONTEXT I

BEFORE BEGINNING HERE.

   JUST SCROLL DOWN

THROUGH THIS POSTING

            OR GO TO

        BLOG ARCHIVE

        TO THE RIGHT.

            THANKS

               *****

                             

                

                                             
                                                         


Hi There !

So, last week we started off

with a tale about my

teenage efforts to cool off

in a hellishly hot attic bedroom,

so I could simply get to sleep.

It was a practical,

personal experience

         of how

CONTEXT

           CONDITIONS.

In my case it took

a fair degree of effort

to cope with

that torrid context

of sleep depriving heat.

                                         


Today millions upon

millions of us

are trying to find a way

to cool things down so as

to live peacefully,

indeed to continue to live

    in our hellishly

over heating world context.

It's a world threatened by

a volcanic eruption

of our shared life.

The very grounding

of societal stability

shakes and shifts.

Hateful word incinerates

concern for the common good.

Fear and anger,

like molten lava,

overspread.
.
It destroys structures

of civility and culture.

As noted last week,

fully one third of likely voters

in the United States expect

a second Civil War here

within the next five years.

This disruptive, destabilizing,

            dangerous

  CONTEXT

                   CONDITIONS

just about every aspect

and dimension of our lives.

It will take way more

than a fair degree of effort

to deal with this conflagration.

Heroic effort of epoch proportions,

and then some, is requite.



In this context

how do we  make

our way spiritually?

How be real in

a context of

     flaunted unreality?

How live love in

     a hateful setting?

How be transformed beautiful

as we together seek to be part

of God's transforming evil

      to glorious good?

How can we

       live together

 rather than

       devastate and destroy

            each other

                and
   
            our world?

How can we cope with this

       context of crisis?

How do we modify it,

          if we can?

How do we modify ourselves

as we must simply to survive.

   HOW RECONDITION

         CONTEXT??





The first and most pivotal thing

that comes to my mind and heart

                   is the

       foundational bedrock

                   of

                Jesus.

Please lets come to it afresh

rather than give a quick glance of

    "Been there, know that."

    It holds the way forward,

I would say the only way forward.

          It's just that key!!

So, let's hear it again

          for the first time

               while we still have time.




The Foundational Bedrock of Jesus:

 
         * "Do unto others as you

           would have them

           do unto you."

           ( Matthew 7:12 )


         * "Which commandment

            is first of all?"

           Jesus answered,

          'The first is

           'Hear, O Israel:

           the Lord our God is

                   one;

           you shall love

           the Lord your God

           with all your heart,

           with all your soul,

           and with all your mind,

           and with all your strength.'

           The second is this,

         ' You shall love

           your neighbor as yourself.'

           There is no commandment

           greater than these."

             (  Mark 12:28-31 )

         * "...whatever you do

            to the least of my

            my brethren,

            you do to me."

            ( Matthew 25:40 )


 

 The granite of

this bedrock foundation

    is that we are

           one.

   That's because

      God is one

         and

     we existed

       in God.

 " ...you participate

 in the divine nature."

   ( 2 Peter 1:4 )

    We are one,

      we exist

           in

   God's oneness.


   "...Yet for us
    there is but
    one God
    the Father,
    from whom
    are all things
    and for whom
    we exist,
    and one Lord,
    Jesus Christ,
    through whom
    are all things and
    through whom
    we exist."

 ( 1 Corinthians 8:6 )

      All exist together in

         God's Oneness.

      We are one because

          "God is love,"

          ( 1 John 4:8 )

      and love is union,

           oneness.

We are invited into

   God's Oneness,

     God's Love,

 invited to love God,

  neighbor, and self

   with every bit of

 who and how we are.

 We are invited to a

RECONDITIONED

    CONTEXT.

      
    It builds on

    ONENESS,

       God's

        and

       ours

        in

     . God




 While united,

we are unique.

Unique and unity are

two ways of being

          one.

Unus ( L ) means

       "one."

It is the root of

      "unity"

      and of

    "unique,"

both as words

and even more so

of the diversity

in oneness they speak.

Each of us is the

     one God

 uniquely present,

  personalized.

As Bonaventure,

mystic and theologian

          said:

 "You are not God,

and you are not not God."

This paradox is like

the one sun having

countless unique rays.

Each of us is a unique ray

and at the same time

the one sun is our source,

our shared, same substance.

It shines through us all

    and altogether.

You are me another way,

and I am you another way.




 This beautiful bedrock

   foundation of unity

   gets covered over by

         the trash of

   selfish individualism,

       pride and greed.

People and peoples stumble in

that trash, crashing into each other.

Adam and Eve had the problem

          and we caught it.

Actually, we get caught up in it

and start separating from each other

                   into

            "us and them,"

          "mine and thine."

That makes us threats to each other

and as threats we start swinging

      with everything from

            words to war,

            with heaps of

            hurt and horror

            along the way.

Yet, if I hurt you I hurt myself.

If you kill me we both die.

That's the real threat

      because we are

        one in God.




The makers and shakers

      of our world,

   those setting our

   societal context,

         miss this

and mislead to ruination.

Right now there are few

we can count on whether

in government, religion,

commerce, education,

entertainment, letters,

the arts and sciences,

    or the  media.

Most don't see the problem

and are sadly a large part

     of the problem.

We need to hold them in love

and set them an example of a


RECONDITIONED

                         CONTEXT,


  a cooperative, loving, caring

            oneness.

We need to again and again

     and always invite

    and challenge them

to grow from split to unity.



As for us,

we need to see ourselves

in more than just the

mirror of individualism

and self interest.

We need to see ourselves

as one with all others,

who aren't all that "other."

We need to see others

as us in another way,

as God incarnate in them.

We need to see in a whole,

      as in holy,

                      new way.

It's quite a conversion.

We really need

to help each other

convert to a corrected optic.




   That means


 COMMUNITY.


Real spiritual community

is not a luxury.

It is essential.

If it isn't present

in your religious setting,

get the hell out of there -

literally, actually, now!!

Find or found

an honestly loving, spiritual,

unitive, serving, caring

        community.

We're not talking about

feel good religion,

churchy tribalism,

ecclesial elitism,

institutional ever

 "biggerness"

 and busyness.

We are talking primal,

for real gathering as

          one

           in

      The Spirit

          and

    going forth

 with the impulse

          and

     direction of

     The Spirit

   as did the first

Christian communities.

They were noted for it.

First century members

of the Roman Empire,

when commenting on

the Early Christian Church,

were recorded as saying:

" See how they love

      one another."

(Turtullian's Apology,

 Chapter XXX1X)


Community is of our essence

and is essential as our context.




So much here to ponder, pray,

to mull and meditate over.

In our various ways and places.

      Let's do just that.




Next Week:

         CONTEXT III.

We'll consider very immediate,

personal, practical, communal ways

to live our oneness,

to embrace a context

that relishes our

        Oneness,

              a


   RECONDITIONED

       CONTEXT..



Good to be together here seeing

       just how it is

      where we are,

      where we can be,

             the

      CONTEXT

          that so

     CONDITIONS

     our spiritual life

     here on the street

     of everyday living.



     Holding one and all n

       God's Dear Love,

         John Frank

            *****


Welcome to those new to us.

Thanks for your company!!

     
     Please take the time

     to catch the spirit of

      "frankly speaking"

     by reading over both

 "What's Going On Here?"

                 and

  "Consider Your Source"

They are in the right column here.


   
  
        "frankly speaking"

- Is posted online each Friday at

      johnfrankshares.blogspot.com

         and can be bookmarked for

              ready access


-Is available by automatic email delivery

              each Saturday

 Sign Up at the top right here


- Past postings are available at Blog Archive,

   bottom of right column here.

********************************************************************************

CONTEXT I

  THIS IS THE FIRST OF

  A FOUR PART SERIES.

  IT ADDRESSES OUR

  CURRENT SOCIETAL

  CONTEXT AND ITS

  CONDITIONING OF

  OUR EVERYDAY

  SPIRITUAL LIVES.

              *****      






Hi There !

So, as a teen back in the '50's,

( No, not the 1850's!  )

I lived in a lovely,

large, old house

in Montclair, New Jersey.

My bedroom was

on the third floor,

attic surrounded

on three sides,

with a sloped

slate roof overhead.

Oh Man,Woman and Child!!,

was it ever hot summer nights.

That slate roof

and the trapped air

in the wraparound attic

held the day's heat

like a brick oven.

Brick ovens

are ideal for pizza,

but not so cool for sleeping.

To make it possible for sleep,

I replaced the whole window

with a homemade screen,

moved the bed right under it,

and aimed a fan directly on it.

          But wait.

       There's more.

I filled the tub

with ice cold water

and stayed submerged

 'til a credible lobster blue.

Then I jumped into bed

and fell asleep

before the arctic

reverted to the tropics.

Forget about reading,

listening to music,

even praying,

before bed.

It was too hellishly hot.

More than sixty years later

here I am before bed

writing this to you

in the cool, dry comfort

of an air conditioned townhouse,

and it's 97 degree outside

with matching humidity.

Soon it'll be bed

with some reading

and praying

before hand.

No need for

being iced to sleep.




Why this account

of my hots and colds?

Partly because

I like to tell stories,

but mostly to illustrate that

CONTEXT CONDITIONS.

It makes all kinds

of differences.

While it doesn't alter

our essence,

it surely does effect

our attitude and action,

the living out of that essence.

Context tones thinking,

feeling, eating, working,

making love, praying,

planning, playing, paying bills,

inviting you mother in law

over for dinner  -

the whole panoply

of human being and doing.





That's certainly so

with our spiritual lives.

CONTEXT CONDITIONS.

The myriad and varying contexts

of our lives condition

the terrain of our spiritual transit

from birth to death:

- upbringing and family life,

- educational and

  cultural endowments,

- ethical and religious heritage,

- health and wealth,

- geographic region,

- and miles more.

Cumulatively and immediately

they condition

the right here,

the right now

of our spiritual lives.

CONTEXT CONDITIONS.




Right here, right now

that is happening

in an upending way

in the United States

and many other

countries around

our global village.

This the context

where we try to live out

our spiritual lives.

Here in the states,

our shared

social/cultural context

is in seismic shift.

It's mind boggling

and soul shaking -

a point 12

on the Richter Scale

of societal shift.

Government, finance,

social discourse, religion,

mass communications,

politics, public ethics,

industry and finance,

ethnic groups roil.




A survey issued

this summer

by Rasmussen Reports

finds that fully one third

of likely American voters

expect a second Civil War

in this country within

the next five years.

That's maddening.

Imagine what that says

about our souls.



We are effected

in multiples of concern

as we try to negotiate

our spiritual lives

out here on the street

of everyday living,

one so jarred and

jarring spiritually.

For sure.

 CONTEXT CONDITIONS.



What kind of a future

do we have?

Do we have a future?

How do you live a marriage

and raise a family,

or navigate your final years,

in this kind of context?

Can youth and young people

establish a stable adult life?

How do you secure safety -

         can you?



The world order put in place

after the Second World War

      is crumbling.

Worldwide, masses want

the life style, prosperity

and benefits we and

many other nations have.

       However,

for the whole world

to live as we do

in this country

would require

the resources

of 4.1 planet earths.

We only have one!!!!

That' a context for conflict.

It "conditions"

all kinds of things.

It means migration,

militarism, rejections,

gates, walls, violence,

haves and have nots,

dictators,

aggressive nationalism

and the threat of economic

and nuclear war.

( See Popular Science, Daily Infographic:

"If Everyone Lived Like An American,

How Many Earths Would We Need,"

Emily Elert, October 19, 2012

for the resources matter noted above).



It is frightening.

How do you live

a wholeness,

a holiness,

in this churning, conflicted,

combustible context?

It certainly isn't by putting on

your Sunday best and

going to church every week,

sleeping  only with

your duly married spouse,

of the opposite sex of course,

working hard, raise a family,

be honest and eventually

make at least one pilgrimage

to Disney World

before you die,

and then go to heaven.

Nor is it to head

for a monastery

on some remote Greek isle.

Nor is it to stop thinking

and join others in

some sort of frightened,

fundamentalist bunker

of blind certainty seeking.

Nor is it to numb out

in some esoteric,

not so new age

spurious haze.

Can we be people of peace?

Can there be justice?

Can we gather into

communities of depth,

care and support?

What about meditation

and contemplation?

How be a mystic

in all this mess?



Next week Part II of this series

will focus on being real

in a context of unreality,

on loving in a hateful

social setting,

on being transformed beautiful

as we together seek

to be part of God's transforming

of evil into glorious good.

In the "mean" time,

and right now it is,

hang on tight and together.

Even better, let

Love hold us

and hold us

together.


Next Week: CONTEXT II

Hopefully and prayerfully,

   John Frank

      *****


                                            

A warm welcome

to our newest participants.

They hail from many lands.

New to that list this week are

Bulgaria and Chile.

Thanks for your welcome to us.

.

For all those new to our

weekly gathering here,

please do take a few minutes

       to get a bit of

       "soul sense"

     by considering

"What's Going On Here?"

             and

  "Consider Your Source,"

      right column.

They offer an orientation to

     "frankly speaking"


- It is posted online every Friday at

     johnfrankshares.blogspot.com

        and can be bookmarked

             for easy access.


- It is automatically delivered

       every Saturday by email.

           Sign Up above.




- Past postings available at

          Blog Archive,

           right column.

   

       
            *****

 


  

WRITERS

Hi There !

Fair warning!

I'm excited!

I'm really dying to share

some truly good news

with you.

Let's make that

"enthusiastically living"

to share some truly

good news with you.



 Last Saturday I got

to go to a block party

like none other ever.

Actually, it was

a two city block,

300,000 square foot,

four level

block buster of a party!

Carla Hayden and

her superb staff from

The Library of Congress

treated over 100,000

of us to the

     National Book Festival

                    at

The Washington Convention Center.

It was the finest  program

I've been to in years, and

I have a lot of those years

piling up on each other!

Pardon the play, but

in every way and detail the

National Book Festival

was truly capital!!

Over eighty authors

presented across a

spaciousness of genres:

fiction, history, national

and international matters,

poetry and prose, biography,

children and young adult.

Forget "page turners."

These were "chapter turner."

Among others writers

I got to hear:

   - Justice Sonia Sotomayor -

      a love, so warmly wise

   - Doris Kearns Goodwin -

     candid, comprehensive,

     personable

   - Jon Meacham -

     encyclopedic exposition,

     discerning description

   - Brendan Kiely -

     so clearly gets it and

     so effectively gives it

   - Matt de la Pena softly says it,

     Loren Long gently draws it.




It was for sure a

Festival of Books.

Even more, it was a

Festival of Life.

All those writers

addressing

the same thing in

exquisitely varied tones,

each a unique articulation of

          LIFE

- the vastness of it

- the mystery, majesty,

  and sometimes,

  the mess of it

- the numberless

  experiences of it

- people and place

   evolving in it

- questions and

  conflicts about it

- its progress and potential

- the matter and spirit of it

- the dynamic of its

         ENERGY

        whatever the

  form, manner, mode

             of it.

      Those authors

     aptly an deftly

      Write Life.




Drenched in the art and craft,

the whit and wisdom,

the insightful expression

of all those fine writers,

something wonderful

occurred to me.

I realized that

all of us are writers.

We read each other and

 others sure do read us.

Sometimes the writing

        is in word,

always in attitude and act.

Whatever the script,

     we all write

          Life

    for each other.

 And we certainly

     do have a

following and effect

on our readers:

       family and friends

       neighbors

       co-workers

       fellow shoppers

       other drivers

       school mates

       religious congregants

       teammates

       Facebook Friends

       the mix at parties, games,

            art galleries, the theater

            and concerts

        any and all those who read us

        in our everywhere.

They "read us like a book,"

by our imprint  -

          our words

          our moods

          our values

          our aspirations

          our choices

          our actions

          our reactions.

Setting and style differ,

    but we all write

        Life large

  and are widely read.




Our spiritual lives

out here on the street

of everyday living

are in good part

getting the word out

about the mystery and

magnificence of Life,

even when there is mess.

Our shared stories become

    a block buster party,

    A Festival Of Life.




Every goodness

and blessing.

Holding one and all in

God's Dear Love,

the Love that is Life,

   The Love/Life

    we write out

    for each other.


      John Frank

         *****


A heartfelt welcome

to those new to

our little community

         here at

 "frankly speaking"

-It is posted online

  each Friday at

    johnfrankshares.blogspot.com

    and can we bookmarked

    for ready access.

-It is delivered by automatic email

  each Saturday - Sign Up,

  top of online posting.

-Past Postings are available at

         Blog Archive,

right column, online posting.

*******************************************************************************





         

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