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
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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
