PROOF POSITIVE

    Greetings All,

    As promised,

 this is a wrap up of 

 last week's posting,

       "PROOFED"

That posting is available 

  by scrolling down 

  past this offering, 

      or going to

     Blog Archive,

     June 17, 2021.

  This week's offering 

continues our reflection on

     John 13: 34-35

        Discipleship

           ******

Dear All of Us,

Actually flying an airplane 

proves you are a pilot.

Actually serving up a 

gourmand's delight

proves you are 

a master chef.

Actually writing 

a best seller

proves you are 

a popular novelist.

Actually loving 

the socks off

your fellow disciples

proves you are a 

disciple of Jesus.

   "This is how everyone 

    will recognize that 

    you are my disciples - 

    when they see 

    the love you have 

    for each other." (1)

         Jesus

       Actuality,

 and only actuality, 

           is

 PROOF POSITIVE

          of

what we're all about.

  

Training, certifications, 

credentials, memberships, 

positions, testimonials,

are all fine thank you, 

but they don't mean 

that one is a master chef.

       A superb 

beef bourguignon does.

          It is

  PROOF POSITIVE 

  

So it is with being 

disciples of Jesus

      actually

- genuine and real -

Roles, robes, rituals,

dogmatic statements,

theological degrees,

denominational status,

don't cut the mustard.

Personally, practically, 

         actually

     -  and only  -

   living Jesus Love

   for fellow disciples

           does.

Hum!

Let's check this out.

We want to make sure 

we get it right.

Just about everything 

rides on it.

In Jesus' time and place,

rabbis had disciples.

Those disciples lived 

with the rabbi 24/7,

travelled and ate with him.

They were apprenticed 

to the rabbi to become rabbis.

They were to become rabbis

by becoming like their rabbi.

They learned from his teaching 

and they leaned from his living.

The goal was to become

a who and how like the rabbi.

Rabbi Jesus is the 

     Son of God 

         and

  " God is love." (2)

Rabbi Jesus 

   is God, 

is God Love,

in our midst,

God Love humanized,

God Love in "person," 

God Love in the flesh,

    our flesh.

Rabbi Jesus is 

   God Love

and does he ever 

    share it.               

That's who he is.

That's what

he's all about.

That's what he does.

It's personal.

It's communal.

It's actual.

       Rabbi Jesus

       calls disciples 

- long ago and right now -

      Rabbi Jesus

   loves his disciples 

        into love.

      He wraps us

     into his love for 

    our fellow disciples.

To be a disciple of Jesus 

  is to be drawn into 

who he is and how he is 

        ACTUALLY

 so much so that it shows: 

    "This is how everyone 

    will recognize that 

    you are my disciples -

    when they see the love 

    you have for each other"

              It's

        Proof Positive

that we are disciples of Jesus

     It's the only proof 

      that's positive.

All this means 

that as disciples 

we are blest

to become one 

        in

  Jesus' Love

and that we live 

it out together,

    actually, 

  and not just 

notionally claim it.

Jesus Love means 

we reverence,

we give what we have

for what other disciples need.

In practice  ( actuality ) 

it means things like::

     - to cut them slack 

       when they come up short 

     - to see and reverence God 

       in another disciple's 

       disfigured body or psyche 

     - to "deep listen" 

       to each other

       until we hear 

       our Oneness

       articulated 

       quite differently,

       even if uncomfortably

     - to rejoice in the 

       preferment of another

    - to gratefully take 

      what we need 

      and generously give 

      what others need.

    - to make space and 

      encourage others 

      to grow fully into 

      who and how they are 

      by God's giftedness,

      even we don't "get it."

   -  to live modestly 

      and share so that others 

      can live adequately

      ( to pony up rather than 

        trot off insensitive

        and self indulgent )

     - to host with heart and home

     - to boil/bake "Everything Bagels"

       as a community -

       to be a mix of 

       all sorts, styles, types,

       ages, orientations, tastes,

         and persuasions -

       conservative, liberal, 

       gay, straight, 

       well off, poor,

       refined, rough,

       reserved, rip roaring,

       poetic, scientific, athletic

       or a mix of much

     - to love enough to challenge evil

       and to accept frailty among us

     - to be "in touch" -  connecting, 

       to check, care, comfort,

       support, celebrate each and all

       way more together than for just 

       a Sunday morning hour

    - to gather together for meals, 

       mission, and certainly mirth

     - to pray together,

       to share Holy Communion

       by bread and wine,

       by acceptance, embrace 

       in community

We need to be together

to be and do all this.

Showing up Sunday morning 

with large numbers of strangers

doesn't bake the bagel.

We either form small groups

within large congregations,

or we start home churches.

We live, as the Italians say,

"faccia a faccia,"

up close and personal,

lovingly, actually.

To be disciples is 

to be church and 

church is way more 

than organization,

or belonging system.

Loving the socks 

off each other

is so dynamic 

that it fuses 

and propels us 

as individuals and 

as a community

in mission 

and ministry.

We do what we are.

In reflective prayer,

with candor and clarity,

we see what Jesus 

sets before us

in John 13:34-35,

and how we are with that.

How fully, how actually,

how really are 

we living 24/7

with Rabbi Jesus?

What's that look like, 

or could it look like?

Let's be quite clear, 

candid and specific here -

the wheels we ride, 

dealing with hurt feelings,

being relationally frustrated,

forgiving a massive screw over,

putting out time, energy 

and money for someone 

at the bottom 

of the totem pole,

together going wild over

a summer flower field,

holding a fellow disciple's baby 

and being touched by God

( Oh Yes, Ollie touches me God ).

Are we learning him 

from that immediacy?

Are we learning him 

from his teaching 

and life style

as we together we let 

The Spirit open

the Gospels to us?

Are we woven tight 

into a fabric of 

lived community

    with him 

and his disciples?

Do we mix it up

really, personally,

in close, with vigorous 

love for each other,

the way Jesus loves us? 

When someone walks 

into our church 

for the first time,

and then after 

being there six months, 

what kind of lived love, 

Jesus Love,

disciples love

for each other

will they see?

Will they find it is

     ACTUAL?

What does this mean 

for church life,

for church renewal,

for church growth?

What will we do 

about that?

Loving each other

as Jesus loves us 

identifies us as

his disciples,

and does our world 

just now ever need 

actual disciples and

that kind of

  PROOF POSITIVE

 Your fellow apprentice,

      John Frank

            ******

(1) John 13:35

(2) i John 4:8

       ******

This week we had 

a first time visit from 

    Kuwait

and large scale

participation again from 

    Indonesia.

How wonderful!

Welcome,

and welcome to all 

newly with us 

and letting us 

be with you

here at

    "frankly speaking"

 spirituality for the street 

          Thursdays: 

early morning 

online posting, 

east coast USA time

johnfrankshares.blogspot.com

please consider bookmarking

            Fridays:

automatic weekly email version

please consider signing up, 

top right of online edition

           Anytime:

all past postings accessible at

           Blog Archive

online version, lower right column

               ******

What would be ten practical, 

        actual ways to

      "Love each other 

    as I have loved you" ?

      See you next week! 

            ******

  

     

Church membership 

is rather easy and not 

all that demanding.

Being in actuality 

a disciple of Jesus

is quite different and 

one heck of a lot 

more demanding.

  It means that 

  in actuality 

  we fervently, 

  passionately, 

  practically 

    live love 

       for 

fellow disciples.

 It's functional 

      and 

    obvious.

The context for what 

Jesus shares here

      is critical.

In his time and place

only the brightest 

of the bright

made the cut to be 

a rabbi's disciples.

They has to persuade

the rabbi to accept them.

Jesus comes along 

and invites less than 

bright lights

to come follow him 

  - still does 

In ancient Israel 

a disciple was an 

   apprentice.

The disciple had to learn 

the teachings of the rabbi,

travel with him and the band 

of other disciples.,

live with him,

model his whole life on him,

- his manner, values, 

  value system, life style.

  That meant all sorts 

  of study and erudition.

For Jesus it meant  

to live the love that is God

with and for your fellow disciples.

That was your credential.

That was your I.D, your 

    PROOF POSITIVE

      as a disciple.

      

       IT STILL IS

Doctrines, rituals, 

practices and polities

a disciple do not make.

     

PROOFED

 

Dear All of Us,

I'm telling you,

it was surreal, 

but it sure was fun.

There I was

in the supermarket

to buy a bottle of wine,

and I got proofed.

Yep, proofed!

"Company policy,

no exceptions"

the young clerk explained,

not even for one as 

long in the tooth as me.

Been years!!

What a hoot!!

Speaking of "spirits,"

we're all getting proofed,

not about spirits 

in a bottle, 

but about the spirit of 

our discipleship:

    "Let me me give you 

     a new command: 

     Love one another.

     In the same way 

     I loved you, 

     you love one another. 

     This is how everyone 

     will recognize that you 

     are my disciples - 

     when they see the love 

     you have for each other."(1)

That's Jesus' proof policy

about our discipleship -

no exceptions.

That's also the 

everyday public's proof policy

about our discipleship -

no exceptions.

Loving each other 

with a Jesus love 

is proof positive

of genuine discipleship.

It seals the deal.

Now, this is 

major league matter.

So much depends on it

for us and for others.

So slow we go.

Let's take time 

in the next while 

to unlock

all we can with

these keys from Jesus:

    - command

    - love

    - disciple

      COMMAND

  "Let me give you 

   a new command..."

There's a donation, 

not a demand here. 

It's a gift, a "give"

from Jesus to us.

"Let me ..."

Allow me says Jesus.

Ah, but!!

Consciously or otherwise,

most of us bristle and buck 

at a command - 

even from Jesus.

That damnable arrogance

we inherited from 

the first moma and papa

back in the good old 

garden days gone bad!

Where/how are we 

in our right now with

     "command"

   we as a disciple

   we as a community 

   of disciples

          ???

Well, it would be just that 

          - well -

 to scope out what 

that means with Jesus.

He's not a general 

ordering us around.

In it's purity, 

and certainly 

in the purity of Jesus,

     "command" 

means what

the root words mean:

   (L) com   =  with

       manus =  hand

Free translation,

no need to go it alone.

Let's team it, 

go it hand in hand.

Jesus wants to walk us 

right and real

as his disciples,

show us the way,

companion us.

Will we and our churches

accept his lead and hand,

his "command"??

          LOVE

If we do and as we do 

     that means 

loving the socks off 

     each other.

Put another way,

we are only disciples

if and as much as

we love on each other.

Take that to the mirror.

Take that to church.

 How so?

The measure of the matter 

from Jesus to us is:

    "In the same way 

     I loved you..."

And Jesus is anything but 

a timid, tentative, sort of, 

so so, measured, metered

             LOVER.

He's a total, unqualified,

unrestricted, flat out,

passionate, no hugs barred.

consistent, persistent,

totally self giving

       LOVER

He's hot wired.

The Love that is God

surges through him

right to us.

  " I've loved you the way 

    my Father has loved me.

    Make yourself right at home 

    in my love...

    This is the very best 

    way to love.

    Put your life on the line 

    for your friends." ( 2 )

      WOW and WHOA

 That's a million miles from 

moving over and letting 

a fellow parishioner 

have the aisle seat

and thinking that 

we scored as a disciple!

Loving fellow disciples 

gets personal, practical 

and fervently real.

Will we baby sit kids 

so an exhausted couple 

from our church

could have a weekend 

off together?

Will we forebear 

the arrogant loud mouth 

who tries to dominate

at church meetings?

Will we stay up all night 

with a dying parishioner 

who has no family?

Will we pitch in with others 

to cover the rent for 

a family about to be evicted?

Will we socialize regularly 

and freely and joyfully with 

our mirror opposites:

gays, straights, 

conservatives, liberals,

wealthy, poor,

sophisticated, unlettered -

have them over for supper,

go bowling, have play dates 

for the kids?

Will we make it a mix,

kids to seniors, 

all sorts of worship modes,

multiples of ethic foods,

plenty of shared prayer 

and prayer styles?

Will we go all out for

the disabled?

Will we love each other

so much that we 

really are a viable, 

for real community,

vibrantly interacting

not just folks meeting 

Sunday mornings

at formalized worship?

Can it be said of us 

as was said 

of the early church:

"See how they love 

one another."

  Tertullian

People will only count us

disciples of Jesus 

if we're red hot in love 

with our fellow disciples.

How many can look at us,

see and feel that?

A spiritual exercise 

to check out how 

we check out

follows.

Hopefully next week 

we can turn 

the third key: disciple.

Hey! I love you!

As a matter of fact

fatigue and a double sty

in my left eye

have meant 

three false starts 

on writing this posting 

and an extra day at it.

But, then, so what!

I really want 

to love you,

to prove out 

and be a real disciple

with you!!

     John Frank

      ******

(1) John 13:34-35

      The Message

(2) John 15: 9 & 13

       The Message

  A SOUL SEARCH

Over the days ahead 

let's pray and ponder 

our way through

what The Spirit shows

about our discipleship,

that of 

         self 

and that of our 

       church.

How is/can it be

put into practice

in our right now,

right here living.

Let's be specific and 

concrete about this.

Might help to do this 

with pen and paper.

First time through, 

   how can I live love 

   so noted 

   as a disciple.?

Second time through,

    how can we live love 

    so noted

    as a church of disciples?

Let's see all that is shown.

That means honesty, 

openness, courage,

taking Jesus at his word

and a slow go in this 

   SOUL SEARCH

 I Corinthians 13:4-7

      The Message

   Love never gives up.

   Love cares more for others than for self.

   Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.

   Love doesn't strut,

   Doesn't have a swelled head,

   Doesn't force itself on others,

   Isn't always "me first,"

   Doesn't fly off the handle,

   Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,

   Doesn't revel when others grovel,

   Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,

   Puts up with anything,

   Trusts God always,

   Always looks for the best,

   Never looks back,

   But keeps going to the end.

And now, what are/will we do about it?

                      ******

A warm summer welcome to all,

those here every week and 

those here for the first time.

A special joy is our 

first ever connect from 

          China.

              

          "frankly speaking"

      spirituality for the street

posted early Thursday mornings

east coast USA time

johnfrankshares.blogspot.com

please consider bookmarking for ready access

an email version goes out Fridays

sign for it is top right online version

all past postings are retrievable at

              Blog Archive

right column online version 

The only valid ID 

we have as disciples

is our love for each other.

So let's slow it!

Great to get PROOFED!!

         ******

                      

            

   

 

                  

Did you ever get in on

any of those sure fire            

"fixer-uppers" 

guaranteed to set 

soul and church

right and real?

Over the fifty plus years 

I pastored there was

an unending stream 

of them -

pastoral approaches, 

programs, projects, 

studies, experiences 

promising 

renewal to real:

Folk Masses, Cursillo,

Marriage Encounter,

Disciple Bible Study, 

retreats, Holy Years,

Revivals, pilgrimages,

"I'll bet ya!

Oh no!

Not me.

I prefer a sure thing.

My betting has been limited to

church car raffles 

and "Fifty-Fifties,"

with an occasional stray 

to a state Lottery ticket

at the local Seven Eleven.

Notch all that up. way up, 

and there is the surest of

sure things. 

In the best sense of it

"You can bet on it."

It's the trifecta 

Jesus shares in John j

SOW SO

 

Dear All of Us,

Few of us are farmers.

All of us are planters.

We sow seeds 

in plentitude,

hundreds plused daily.

It's never a matter of if.

It's always a matter of what,

and that with consequent effect.

         "As you sow,

        so shall you reap."

              Jesus

Every thought, word, deed,

motion, emotion, choice, 

decision, action, reaction is 

seed planted as such

and reaped as such.

          Sow So

          Reap So

It's cause and inevitable effect.

      Plant it. Get it.

These seeds are pulsations of 

the energy we are - 

           positive 

           negative

always consequent in kind.

They can be 

    ordered to disordered

    real to unreal

    good to far from it

The specifics are particular 

to us and our ways.

There are as many pulsations

as there are the energies in us.

They percolate in us.

They go out from us.

There is always 

a consequent effect,

be it in us or beyond us.

In prayer, and with candor,

let's check out 

what seeds we plant.

The "we" is two tired

        individual

        as a society

Being as specific as we can,

  - might help to do this 

    with pen and paper - 

what's our sowing and reaping 

when we scatter seeds of:

      joy          acceptance

      anger      gratitude

      care        enthusiasm

      love        creativity

      support   patience

      truth       pettiness

      hatred     selfishness

      violence   sympathy

      rejection  compassion

Catherine of Genoa said

 "God is my deepest self."

If how we are,

if what we say and do,

springs, pulsates from 

that Center,

that Goodness,

that God,

what we sow 

will harvest to Good.

Conversely, if we violate

the energy,

the Goodness of God

at our Center,

twist it unreal, 

what we sow 

is twisted 

and so are we

and so is 

what is reaped.

Good comes from good.

No good comes from no good.

           Sow So

           Reap So

Jesus spoke a corollary

to this stark truth.

 "By their fruits

  you will know them."

What fruits are 

we producing?

It's critical to honestly

see our harvest -

 our individual one

 our societal one.

What are the effects 

of what is pulsating from

          me

          us

What are the fruits of 

our life style

our work,

our choices,

our actions,

our spiritual life ?

What are the fruits of

our churches,

our governments,

our society's 

social structures,

our effects on 

planet and climate,

our society's 

wealth distribution,

our media,

our entertainments.

Whatever they are,

they are the fruits

of what we plant.

We have a choice 

in sowing.

We have no choice 

in reaping. 

    "As you sow

    so shall 

    you reap."

     Sow So

     Reap So

Here's to good planting.

         John Frank

                 ******

Greetings and Welcome

to our first time visitors.

Among others this week 

was a large group 

from Indonesia.

Thanks for stopping by.

You are always welcome 

in our little community

here at

     frankly speaking

spirituality for the street

A new posting goes online 

early Thursday mornings

east coast USA time

johnfrankshares.blogspot.com

easily bookmarked

an email edition 

goes out on Fridays

the sign up is 

at the top right 

of the online edition

past postings 

are accessible at

Blog Archive

lower right column

online edition

    ******

All the best with 

your field work.

See you next week

      *****

 

 

      

TRUTH

 

     A  FOREWORD  AND  MORE

    about a whole lot of words 

           that follow. 

   It has taken a month 

   of uncomfortable effort

   to prepare this sharing. 

   It's not been easy to write.

   It's not going to be easy to read.

   I hope you will. 

   It will mean a bit more of time 

   and a lot of Soul Stretch.

   It's a long hard look at 

   what's before us.  

   In The Love Who Is God

           John Frank

             ******

 

   

Dear All of Us,

Remember those attractions 

at amusement parks

that simply spun you out?

Prime was the one where 

the very floor under you 

was totality in turmoil,

constantly undulating 

and bucking.

You just could not 

stand up straight 

and move forward

without falling.

Nor could you keep

from crashing

into others.

Rather freaky.

It's not amusing 

but its current.

The very foundation

of our shared life 

is in terrible turmoil.

It is constantly 

undulating

and bucking.

It's terrifyingly difficult 

to get a sure footing,

stand up straight and 

not crash into others.

It portends a freaky future.

Sanity, spirituality, society

     stand or fall on 

         TRUTH

  It is foundational.

It is being undermined.

Hitler knew all about that.

He more than 

pulled the rug out

from under a whole nation.

He initially came to power, 

as Abraham Heschel noted,

not with guns and tanks.

They came later.

Hitler came to power with words.

Those words were lies,

deliberate distortions of 

            TRUTH

He played to fear and pride.

He cut the ground out 

from under his nation.

He set up a downfall 

by making innocents

into scapegoats and positing 

a supreme fatherland -

the white supremacy of his day.

Hitler's lies, his perversion of 

           TRUTH 

meant murdering over

five million human beings

and traumatizing millions more

in the Holocaust,

plunging the Western World 

into the hideous devastation 

and slaughter of the

Second World War.

It all started with 

undermining the 

     TRUTH

Political and 

church leaders

fell in line as did 

too many citizens

and so fell millions.

This blog is not about 

partisan politics.

It is about principle.

It is about foundational

          TRUTH

that which undergirds, 

supports, upon which depend,

sanity, spirituality, society, the

           TRUTH

     Jesus is and offers;

      

      I am the way,

      the TRUTH, 

      and the life.(1)

      Then Jesus turned 

      to the Jews 

      who had claimed 

      to believe in him. 

     "If you stick with this, 

      living out what I tell you, 

      you are my disciple for sure. 

      Then you will experience 

      for yourselves the truth, 

      and the truth will free you." (2)

    Truth is what is 

    real and actual.

It is participation in the 

        "Is-ness"

       that is God.

Jesus is that incarnate.

       He offers it. 

       If we live it

       (not talk it)

 we are his disciples

 and we will experience 

     the foundational 

          TRUTH

        that he is

and that truth will free us.

Sanity, spirituality, society

are today being undermined

by words, dirty words, 

words that are a perversion 

            of the  

           TRUTH

Those words are deliberate 

    public misinformation

    and divisive diatribe.

   They are chipping away 

      the grounding of

            TRUTH

    which we need to be 

sane, spiritual and a society.

It is fearfully similar to what

Hitler initially did as he lied, 

playing on people's fear and pride.

It is pitching us at each other

in terribly destructive ways.

Sadly and dangerously

many politicians and their tribes,

many religious leaders,

many ordinary people 

are falling, falling for 

        UNTRUTH

Our personal and collective 

sanity, spirituality, and society

suffer this tumult cracking

our foundational footing.

It's way beyond surreal.

       It's unreal

and making us that way.

We and our society 

are in a drift not unlike 

that which lead to Hitler

and attendant devastation.

Examples:

              POLITICS

      - Saturday, May 30, 2021 

        Dallas, Texas

        For God and Country Roundup

        

        Retired Lieutenant General,

        former National Security Advisor,

        Michael Flynn called for a 

        Myanmar-Type Military Coup

        to take over in the United States.

        That is not only sedition.

        It is blatantly untrue to 

        democratic governance

        and The Common Good.

        Flynn also said he's 

        "not a conspiracy theorist,"

         but then declared:

        "Trump won! He won! 

         He won the popular vote, 

         and he won the

         Electoral College vote." (3)

            None of that is true.

         It is all a lie.

         Never has there been 

         an election more monitored,

         recounted, often more than once,

         with no evidence of fraud

         and  judiciously verified

         each and every of many times.

         The Electoral College vote was 

         duly certified and judiciously upheld

         state wide and nationally.

         Flynn produced not one iota 

         of proof, nor have others like him.

         

                  RELIGION

     

      - Pastor Greg Locke

        Global Vision Bible Church

        Mt. Juliet, TN

           He recently preached 

        that the Covid vaccine

        " is not FDA approved."

        He preached that anyone 

        who believes that

       "political elites actually got 

        that vaccination" 

        is "smoking meth in 

        your mom's basement" and that 

        what was actually injected into 

        those political elites was 

        "sugar water." (4)

        The FDA approved 

        Moderna and Pfizer 

        in December 2020 and 

        Johnson and Johnson 

        in February 2021.

        There was subsequently 

        a temporary pause 

        on Johnson and Johnson 

        to clear up questions

        about side effects.

        It is now fully approved 

        and in wide use.

      Words unfounded

    attack manifest truth 

         social stability

             sanity,

           spirituality

They pitch us at each other.

  

 IN TRUTH

we are one 

in the One God.

As Paul said, we are 

One Body, 

The Body of Christ.

Jesus shows us how 

to do unto others 

as we would 

have done to us.(5)

He presses 

the Oneness,

the togetherness, 

that we are in him: 

    Whatever you do 

    to the least of these, 

    you do unto me." (6)

Words unfounded on 

         TRUTH

       sicken soul,

make us like a body 

that is tearing itself apart.

There are among us people

determined to override

Jesus and life in him, the

          TRUTH 

he is and he offers as 

foundation to wholeness

of person and society.

They are determined 

to dictate a society

captive to their ideology, 

dominance and privilege,

to the exclusion of 

other and different.

They are lying 

their way to it.

They are perverting 

        TRUTH

and that means God.

So depraved, they often 

invoke God in an attempt

to legitimate and bless 

their demonic doings.

So horribly Hitler-like,

and see what that begot!!

This is no time 

to pull the covers 

over our heads trying

to avoid freight

or the task of

     TRUTH

Multitudes did that 

in Hitler's 

time and country.

It allowed him to brutalize. 

What can we do?

How do we react?

Before we ask 

what we stand for,

we need to answer 

the question 

what do we stand on.

Noting but nothing 

will hold up but 

being four square 

on sheer

    TRUTH

We need to ask 

The Spirit 

to free our fears

and purify our sight

so we can find our way 

to stand up straight,

secure and stable,

founded, on the 

      TRUTH

  that is what is

   that is God

On a practical, 

functional, 

every day level 

we need to discern

if what is before us 

is actual and factual.

Is it baseless say so 

or is it solidly so?

Is it founded on Jesus 

and life in him and his

           TRUTH

We remember he said:

      "If you stick with this, 

       living out what I tell you, 

       you are my disciples for sure.

       Then you will experience 

       for yourselves the truth, 

       and the truth will free you."

Are we and others really, 

         TRUELY, 

       living out 

  what Jesus tells us?

We don't want to bend the Gospel 

to our persuasion and politics.

We bend them, found them,

         on for real 

"living out what I tell you."

So we hold up every

persuasion, action, reaction

of ours and others

to the bright light 

of what Jesus tells us,

to the Gospel.

We need to band with others 

doing the same.

Do I "attend" church,

or am I in living communion 

with for real disciples

in a Gospel community?

We refuse to hate people 

doing and saying 

hateful things.

We do are darndest 

to draw them into 

    a mutuality 

of concern and care.

We get busy trying 

to get us together 

doing things that help 

those in need. 

The more we live 

the truth together 

the more we will live 

in a society founded on 

and flourishing in

      TRUTH

We may prefer a more 

conservative form 

of government,

or a more liberal one.

That's politics 

and that's relative.

What's absolute is 

   GOD'S TRUTH

So we never ever 

let up on leaders,

holding them 

to say and do 

exactly that, 

    sheer

   TRUTH

In non-belligerent ways 

we challenge people, 

media, movements 

that savage 

  TRUTH

It's risky.

it's necessary.

We pray in the

most profound way

for our society 

and its viability,

one built on a base of

        TRUTH

We do all we can 

to work with others

as together we struggle 

to deal with 

the actual,

the underlying factors 

that are the real, causal,

if often denied, 

factors in our current chaos 

and instability:

       - in a few years the United States 

         will be less than half white.

       - the white people coming 

         to these shores centuries ago

         to claim this land

         committed genocide

       - white people built slavery 

         into our way of life

         as a nation.

The people trying 

to lead by lie 

are so far 

unable/unwilling 

to deal with these.

Nothing will change 

for the better, 

for our viability 

as a society,

until we do so together.

That's going to be wrenching.

It will take nothing short 

of a massive spiritual 

reckoning and renewal.

It ain't pretty.

It's essential.

Continue to duck it 

and we will go down 

in flames,

flames scorching

the earth of how it is.

Our society is on the line.

We may or may not make it.

In either case, 

nothing can keep us from 

working for the Common Good,

for the rock solid foundation of

               TRUTH

In the meantime 

and all the time 

and beyond ever time,

we are invited, 

empowered to live 

right here, right now,

in the kingdom of God.

We have Jesus and his word on it:

      For behold God's kingdom 

      is in your midst. (7)

               Truly Yours,

               John Frank

                 ******

Oh My!

That was a drill.

Thanks for hanging in.

( 1) John 14:6

(2) John 8:31-32

     The Message

(3) Newsweek Online

     May 30, 2021

(4) Newsweek Online

      May 24, 2021

(5) Matthew 7:12

(6) Matthew 25:40

(7) Luke 17:21

A wonderful goodness this week

was that a sizable contingent of

people from Turkey joined in with us.

Welcome to you and all new to

             "frankly speaking"

         spirituality for the street

it is posted online 

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Please invite others to share

     "frankly speaking" 

as detailed above

May we all have 

the wisdom and courage 

to be based on 

   The Truth

     ******

                  

           

     

 

 

      - 

           

   

      

       

    

Turkey 118

not suggesting a do nothing get everything social compact

you do evil to us we won't do evil to you, but we will put you were you can't hurt other but you will have an opportunity to reform.

If you don't/can't, you can't leave.

John 8::31-32

Tenn pastor: sugar water

Michael Flynn, former Trump Nat Sec Director