Dear All of Us,
Your grandchild showed up for
Thanksgiving dinner
with florescent orange hair.
The neighborhood crank
throws a block party,
everybody welcome,
everything covered.
The pastor gives
a super sermon
in under ten minutes.
Fun examples of
"Well, that's different!"
And it is.
And it has a bunch of cousins!
And they pop up all over the place.
Some easy does it.
Some tough as nails.
Lots of them, lots of times.
At the deepest level
Difference
is a dynamic of creation.
Simple example - our legs.
They sure are different.
Their difference means
we get to dance,
and stand, and move,
and run and lift.
A wonderful
Difference
Difference gives
dexterity to life.
Difference shows us
endless views and angles
on what is and as is.
Different tonalities of
understanding and feeling
sound ranges of reality for us.
Different shades of enlightenment
color our sight inward and outward.
Different traditions, politics,
religions, sexualities, ethnicities,
customs, arts, ideologies, languages,
landscapes majestically different -
geographic, ideological,
societal, spiritual.
- each speak a spark of
what is, how is
and they all do that
in their different ways.
It's like our
ten different fingers.
Their difference helps us
get a grip.
So difference does
for us in life.
Hydrogen and oxygen
are quite different.
When they share
their differences
we are life sustained.
We come in all sizes, shapes,
sorts of souls, personalities,
traits and ways -
marvelous differences.
Difference - a dynamic of creation.
Difference isn't dangerous
unless we deny it's goodness
and damage it.
Sad to see and say,
such is so and
too much so just now.
Yet, very much in the mix
are the embrace and blessing
of complementing differences.
Look at all the differences
surfaced in the span
of our three generations
these days
- young, adult, aged -
Since the Second World War
(my childhood)
The Marshall Plan in Europe.
The benefit of an
expanded middle class
with the G.I Bill and college,
Levittown's with
a Chevy in every driveway.
A narrow sector of vast wealth
for the privileged few.
Both booms somewhat, if not more,
at the expanse of a vast class (caste)
of not so camouflaged
enslaved workers world-wide,
suffering grinding poverty
(as they make our pajamas
in Bangladesh).
Differences
Some life enhancing.
Some deadly because
they twist their good wrong.
Differences
Women's rights
honored and denied.
Social stretches struggling
to make a difference
for racial justice,
to understand and integrate
a more differentiated landscape
of sexual understanding,
living and loving.
A liberalizing of law and social norm.
A Media Sunami flooding communication,
a difference distracting and conflictual
and yet opening positive connections
(e.g. the media that connects us here).
The diluting of truth - a terrifying,
destructive, deadly difference.
The Common Good regularly relativized
to chaotic individualism.
Religion in the comfortable pew
shown to be more ritual than real,
more a belonging station
than a Beloved Community
and now largely rejected.
Giant leaps in science,
space exploration and travel,
in medicine, many making
significant differences
for shared good.
Capital stormed, democracy damaged,
Education confused and confusing.
Domestic and foreign terrorism.
Instead of "A chicken in every pot,"
a gun in every other hand.
Wars world-wide and widening
in the shadow of possible
nuclear incineration.
Lies used to claim lies
that don't exist.
The land raped and yet
a growing therapy of Earth Care.
The atmosphere poisoned,
some alarm at Climate Change
with movements to modify.
A surge in spiritual seeking.
And so much more..!!!
The whole era
from my childhood to that
of my Grand Son,
Ollie the Younger,
has experienced
seismic differences,
a lot of good,
a lot of damage.
It's like a societal rubber band
stretched and stretched by
decades of decided differences
and now snapping in contraction.
Less and less stretch.
Difference Fatigue and Fear.
Difference Dunning.
Fearful folks cluster in
ideological, excluding, communities
locking out difference and other.
That's so dangerous.
It amputates wholesale sectors
of human excellence
in their wondrous variety
of differences.
In difference denied,
fullness and communion are aborted.
What can we do?
Well, here are a few things
I find positive and practical.
Perhaps they might
prime some pumps.
Being basically
a progressive traditionalist,
I make it a point to mix it up
with associates and friends
definitely different than I am,
ones far to the left
and far to the right
of where and how I am.
We need each other
to balance out right and stable.
We all have different instruments
to play in the Symphony of Society.
There's no such thing as
a solo symphony.
I read and watch documentaries
about people and groups
quite different than I am.
They have parts of the story to tell
that I haven't head yet.
I hold in loving prayer
people and groups
who are twisting
difference destructive.
I try to model openness
and respect for the
wondrous differences all about,
the many fibers in the fabric of Us.
In younger days,
I hosted dinners of opposites
- people of different religions or none,
conservatives and liberals -
just to enjoy meals,
get acquainted,
talk shared interests -
kids, sports, movies, music.
If the group clicked after a time,
I invited us all to invest
time and sweat together
on some Saturdays working at
Habitat for Humanity.
After a good while,
when we were safe enough,
we shared our deeper
and different selves.
I arranged a Speaker Series locally
always focusing on the positive,
what we had and valued in common
and only later delved into
our different persuasions, religions,
customs and even later
our fears and concerns.
There were shared prayer groups,
sacred scripture studies,
visits to each other's spiritual services.
We were different and
we were complimentary to closeness.
Differences don't divide.
They expand and unite.
God has lots of different ways
to be present, inviting,
creative and unitive.
Rather than running away,
locking out, or destroying,
embrace of other makes
A WORLD
OF
DIFFERENCE
Your brother,
John Frank
******
Please be sure to see
WHILE WE'RE AT IT
below the last of this posting.
Thanks!!
A Warm Welcome
To Us All
Interestingly,
today as I write this
we are gathered here from
Australia, Canada,
Germany, Netherlands,
Singapore and the USA.
It varies from day to day,
always, though, a
Blessing of Difference
******
"This just in!"
For the first time
we were just joined
by folks from Hungry.
WELCOME
We are blessed!!
******
frankly speaking
spirituality for the street
johnfrankshares.blogspot.com
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******
Please consider sharing
frankly speaking
with family, friends,
colleagues,
fellow congregants.
It's the only
advertising affordable
given the
non-existent budget
here!!
Thanks
******
"WHILE WE'RE AT IT"
A while back I experienced a surge of
rampant aging
and shared that these sharing's
might need to be a touch
less frequent and briefer.
Well, we haven't missed
a week of postings
and some of them are decidedly
not all that brief -
this one a prime example.
While my body slows
my mind and spirit
can still outrun
anyone in the neighborhood.
SO
this happy old man
will give you what I've got.
That will be the long and short of it.
Thanks for your patience
while I learn how to be old.
Love you all
Looking forward to
our time together
here next week.
******
