Given the temper of the times,
and that has more than one meaning,
we do well to deal with immediate urgencies.
Hopefully we will soon continue our series
FOLLOW THROUGH
******
Dear All of Us,
Please permit the personal.
You and all the folks
who are part of our weekly
SoulShare
here at "frankly speaking"
are front and center with me.
I think of you every day and a lot.
Even more and better,
I hold each and everyone in prayer.
I join God in loving you.
I do not know all of you by name.
I do know all of you in my heart.
As an old man and
a not altogether retired pastor,
you
are very much my concern
and my virtual parish.
As I join in with God
looking around our little parish
here at "frankly speaking",
and the one just outside
my door here in Washington DC,
and the one spread worldwide,
what I see and hear and feel are
upset, uncertainty,
fear, fright, fatigue.
It registers in all sorts of ways.
A few examples.
Do any come close to how you feel
and what you sense in others
where you are?
- "I'm sick and tired
of being sick and tired
of all this damn craziness.
So, the hell with
patience and caution!
Let's go dancing.
Enough is enough."
- "This just isn't fair!
I play by the rules.
I'm busy raising kids,
I work hard and have put together
a good portfolio to safeguard our family
and now this madness!!
Will the market hold?
Will the government hold?
Will my kids get a good education?
Will we ever find a safe way to socialize
with our relatives and friends?
Will we ever get back to regular church?
WILL WE EVER GET BACK TO REGULAR
ANYTHING?"
- "Man, I'm almost out of gas.
I'm a single parent.
I was just making it with rent and food.
Then Pandemic.
No school for for my children.
Job for me
Now I need to leave my kids home alone
if we are going to hold on.
That scares the live'n heck out of me.
- "I'm old and the thought of COVID
sending me off to the hospital
to die a painful death without my family
has me tensed all the time."
-"Oh, it's not as bad as the media makes it.
Once we get past this election
and have a vaccine things will settle down."
(in case you read that too fast,
it's naked fear dressed in dense denial
and it just isn't gonna go like that)
So just how do we go then?
We go deep spiritually and that together,
or we go down in turmoil
and in shared and tragic company.
No magic fix religion intended here.
Rather, a for real embrace of
The Embrace
is essential.
Call that Embrace what you like:
Allah, God, Yahweh, Vishnu,
Your Own Divine Nature, The Great Spirit.
The hymn, God of Many Names, has it right.
Take your pick.
In fact, we do well to emulate the ancient Jews.
They referred to it as The Utterly Other One.
They didn't dare try to name or define.
Way better, they breathed
The Breath of Life
in and out -
all consonant sounding as
Yah-weh, Yah-weh.
By whatever name or no name,
the reference is to
- that which holds us together,
- that which is the creative force
and energy of the universe
- that which is bedrock Reality
- that which is Substance of substance
- that which is the baseline Being
in which so many and much "be"
- that which is really and fortunately
beyond sufficient naming
or possible grasping
At best, name is a tiny handle
we fashion by which we try
to get a bit of a hold
on how to think about that
which holds us and all in existence.
That's were we go spiritually deep.
It's impossible to name or grasp.
It's wonderous to experience.
My personal little "handle" is from
the ancient Greeks:
- "mysterion" - a reality so vast that
the human mind alone
cannot grasp it, but rather
can only describe
the tiniest portion experienced -
it's like the Pacific Ocean -
it's real and really impossible to grasp
by hand or eye -
just can't take it all in -
what is possible, though,
is to see the sea we're in
and enjoy the swim.
Rumi said we are a drop in the ocean
and the ocean is in the drop.
In my Christian experience it goes by
Spirit
Breath of Life, Energy, The Dynamic.
In this terribly conflicted and
dangerous time, accepting
ever more fully and deeply
THE EMBRACE,
steadies and strengthens.
It doesn't make everything "nice nice".
It doesn't take away the pain.
It does give the energy
to deliver the baby.
To mix the metaphor, we all need
to midwife each other
(we macho sorts need to get used to it -
our existence and everybody else's
depends on it).
To fuss with metaphor
one last time - I promise -
we go into the love chamber
and let
The Embrace
have us all the way in,
love us to Life,
then we go out and deliver
the life sparked in us.
We don't dare lone wolf it.
We make sure to get together
with folks who are
"all in"
We personalize
oneness with
THE EMBRACE
and we share
all the deliveries
of life that are birthed.
To put all this "speciousness"
in the vernacular, it means
private prayer
and
spiritual community.
We open to fulfillment in prayer,
like Jesus when he went off
to be wrapped up with his Abba.
We make sure our preferred
spiritual (energy) gathering
- church, synagogue,
mosque, temple, society -
is for real and has
honest energy (Spirit ) to it.
If it doesn't, time to make haste
and get the hell out of the illusion.
We plug in where there is current!
On our own and with others,
we face facts these hard days
and dark nights, frightening as some are.
A lot of our comfortable assurances
have vaporized, not to return.
It's on to new realities,
and like getting used to
a pair of new shoes.
That may take some time
and mean discomfort,
but we'll make a go of it.
We're a lot more fragile
than we assumed.
That's sure a reality check
we're being forced
to face and pay.
We accept that we're
becoming, not arrived.
We see what's our actual now
and know we'll get banged
against the wall of what is
if we don't.
That is not to settle for a failed fate.
It is to go through the painful birthing
of our new now.
This going deep spiritually will present
and power in all sorts of varied ways.
We'll rejoice in the wonders all about us.
Where I am that includes
a divine palate of autumn color.
We'll let others help us
and we return the lift.
We'll find new ways to travel and connect.
For me that's more books than ever,
the internet for concerts, lectures, and travels
to museums and distant lands,
The PBS Evening News and Encore,
ZOOM visits, periodicals,
phone and email sharings,
a daily walk in our beautiful
neighborhood and parks.
Like the early Christians in Rome
we find ways to avoid being fed
to the lions for lunch.
We discover our own versions of
catacomb community and communion.
We face the danger before us
and refuse to deal with
the thousands of dangers
that could/might befall us.
For us in DC that means
not to worry weary
that there may be
civil distress in our streets
around and following the election.
Of course, we make sure
to have some canned beans
and flashlights at the ready.
If it happens, we'll help
each other cope,
share our beans and lights.
What's it like where you are?
If going forward we get more restricted
time and place wise,
we'll write poems and paint pictures.
We'll platy cards and board games.
We'll record our family history.
We'll write letters.
We'll take naps.
We'll tutor students.
We straighten out closets, attics,
garages and basements.
We'll call and comfort
the elderly and home bound.
What we won't do is
just roll over and die
in any way, at any time.
We will live different, but we will live!
In short, we'll face any lemons
that come our way
and do our darnedest
to squeeze out some lemonade.
We'll do our best even when
we already know
it's not really going to be enough.
We'll live the reality
that we are a pilgrim people
and that we have here
not a lasting kingdom.
We'll accept it's a rocky road
and know that it goes
somewhere wonderful.
We'll keep going,
help others do the same,
let them help us til we all
get to the real promised land,
not the one politicians, pundits,
blind guides in media and market
push and promote.
Thanks for letting me share
this rather candid
and rambling run on
in free flow from my love for you.
We'll get where we need to be.
We'll get there together.
We'll get there powered by
THE EMBRACE
Your Brother
John Frank
******
If you are new here,
we are blessed.
WELCOME
******
"frankly speaking"
spirituality for the street
-is posted each Thursday
by mid-day, east coast USA time
johnfranhshares.blogspot.com
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-Blog Archive contains all past postings
bottom right column above.
"Abide in me as I abide in you.
Jesus
*******************
