INSIDE OUT

      This is the sixth in our

          Summer Series

We are exploring how to more fully

        FOLLOW THROUGH

              living out 

 THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT 

              ******





Dear All of Us,

I can't find it anywhere in the Gospels.

But, dimes to donuts,

Jesus wasn't jarred even a bit

those summer mornings when, 

late for breakfast and rushing,

he came downstairs, his blue

Fruit of the Loom T-Shirt 

             on

      INSIDE OUT.


Check it out.

Jesus was a total

   Inside Out

   kind of guy:

     -"So, the last shall be first,

       and the first shall be last." (1)

     -"The greatest among you

       is the one who 

       serves the rest." (2)

     -"Truly I tell you, 

 

       unless you change and

       become like children,

       you will never enter

       the kingdom of heaven." (3)

     -"...Father... you have 

       hidden these things

       from the wise 

       and the intelligent

       and have revealed them

       to children..." (4)



Jesus' life and teaching 

are the flip of the world's 

pecking order, prominence 

and power push - 

all proceeding from the

predominance of self -

        "ME"-ism

top of the pile,

front and center,

top drawer.

With Jesus it's paradox

all the way, all the time.

He grows by giving.

He wins by loosing his life.


Shinning the light of right

on getting life real,

on our attitudes 

on how to be, the

    Be Attitudes,

Jesus tells us we will be

ripe roaring happy 

when we live from the 

       INSIDE OUT

    
       Happy are 

       

       the pure in heart, 

      

       for they will see God." (5)

The way of the world is 

to skim the surface,

seek stimulation, satisfaction 

and supposed success.

Jesus flips it.

Jesus takes us to 

the heart of the matter,

our heart and God right there.

Get it right there at our core  

and it's right all the way out

       INSIDE OUT

     all the way out

     to seeing God.



The Message translation

puts it so clearly:

  
     "You're blessed when 

      you get your inside world 

      - your mind and heart - 

      put right.

      Then you can see God

      in the outside world." 



At our core is God.

Let no one, nothing 

blind us to that.

Let no one, nothing, 

take the place of 

total and pure 

centeredness in God 

- purity of heart -

God is our Lover 

and we don't have any 

mistresses or messrses,

be that preferment 

of person or possession.

Self centeredness, arrogance, 

greed, lust, besmirch, and 

dim being  

     "pure in heart."

Purity of heart:

have that clarity, 

see that, live that 

and we will see God 

and see as God sees.

Clean it up 

on the inside and

see clearly on the outside,

        then it's  

          God

    inside and out.

That's the attitude.

That's happiness.


Purely God centered,

we do see as God sees.

We see God in everyone 

and in everything.

It just gets 

fuller and better,

and will do so until 

we and our world are 

matured into the

Kingdom Coming.




We see God in 

the beautiful and whole,

in people and planet plus, 

the plus of God's goodness

and presence to infinity.

That could be a blade of grass.

It could be Walt Whitman's

      Leaves of Grass.

It could be the findings of

an astrophysicist.

It could be finding a life lover.

It could be staying at 

a beach house for a week.

It could be signing a hymn.


Paradoxically, we also see God

in the distorted and fractured.

We see through schizophrenia

to a loved child of God suffering.

We see God in Mother Earth,

victim of greed's abusive relationship.

By no means do I mean to push 

my political persuasions,

but I see God in the 

chaotic crew up front 

in the driver's seat 

here in Washington.

Yes, I see that they endanger us.

Yes, I see that they and we all

are brothers and sisters of the 

Same Sacred Source,

yet each and all 

with frightening flaws.



All the Be Attitudes have

the same truth variously applied:

     God is our center.

     Be there.

     Be loved there.

     Live that.

     From there on out it will be

            "Blessed" 

    From there on out we will be 

          Rip Roaring 

             "Happy"




A closing opening:

What comes out of

Bruce Springsteen

is wondrous.

When asked how 

he sings so, he said: 

   "You have to inhabit 

    your song." (6)


    
       INSIDE OUT



Don't be afraid to borrow 

a tee shirt from Jesus.

It'll be inside out, but hey, 

isn't everything important,

and so Godly So!!


      John Frank

        
       ******

(1) Matthew 20:16

(2) Matthew 23:11

(3) Matthew 18:3

(4) Matthew 11:25

(5) Matthew 5:8

(6) WETATV, Beyond the Canvas

     July 26, 2020, 7:30 PM

         ******

In the past few weeks 

we have been blessed

with a great many 

first time visitors from Romania, 

Great Britain, Russia and Germany. 

A word of heartfelt welcome 

to them and all joining in 

for the first time here at

      "frankly speaking"

    spirituality for the street


- it is posted each Thursday,

  usually by mid-day,

  east coast USA time

   johnfrankshares.blogspot.com

- arrives Fridays by automatic email -

  the sign up is top right above

- past postings are available at Blog Archive,

  right column bottom 

                          ******


WISHING ONE AND ALL EVERY GOODNESS

           SEE YOU NEXT WEEK

                  ******