frankly speaking: FULL BODIED

Dear All of Us,

Life is glorious.

It's participation

in the majestic mystery

that is God.

Hold a newborn baby.

Get lifted by a desert sunset.

Fall wildly in love.

Share pasta and wine with friends

(making sure, of course,

the linguini is al detente

and the wine a robust red).

Get lost in the mystical

embrace of God.

Life is so glorious

when we take it

as God gives it.

Of sad course, though,

that's too terribly often

not what happens and

then life becomes hideous.

Even though my Mother

taught me to never hate,

I do hate.

I fiercely hate the hideous

in me, in others, in our culture,

in what we sometimes

do to each other and to nature.

It's a disfigurement

of God present and glorious.

Hideous.

Even as a kid I abhorred

the hideous.

On Halloween I would

never wear a gross, hideous,

or monster-like costume.

It had to be something

good and positive -

a cowboy, or a doctor,

a clown (yes, even way back then!!),

a teacher, farmer or pastor.

Now as a growing up,

I delight in life ever more

as God gives it.

I see God gloriously present

in an unending panorama of

people, places and ways.

Ever so special is it

to see that in us.

Unified

Full Bodied

in our diversity,

we actually are the very

The Body of Christ

We have God's Word on it

1 Corinthians 12:27

"Now you are Christ's Body,

and individually members of it."

Yes, how glorious when we take it

as God gives it.

It sure is participation in the

majestic mystery that is God.

These days,

so often more like

deep dark nights,

do we ever need to be

who we are,

and does our world ever

need us to be

who we are,

The Body of Christ

We are privileged to presence God

to each other and to a hurting world.

That's so necessary right now.

These days a lot of God's glorious life

is grievously, hideously disfigured.

Truth is trashed.

The Republican National Committee

last week went on record stating

that the January 6th.attack

on the Capital and the

democratic process was

a" legitimate public discourse."

Oh, no!

It was a mob effort at insurrection.

The democratic mayor here in DC

repeatedly lauds the

public school system

as vibrant and effective when

in fact it is in disarray and chaos

with staff outpacing each other

heading for the doors.

Big Bold Bad Lies!

What a hideous disfigurements of

God given Truth.

Millions upon millions worldwide

live in horrid squalor and poverty

while people like

Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg,

and too many others,

corner and hoard billions

upon billions of dollars

they can't even spend.

Adding pain to pain,

so many in our society are

so used to this hideous horror

that disfigures God's life

in his children

that they think it is laudable.

Horrendous!

There's a too familiar

and a too long list

of the hideous just now

in politics, the church, governance,

commerce, social injustices

and their denials, culture wars,

raping of nature and

and so sorry sad more.

Dark indeed.

As The Body of Christ

we get to shine God's light

in that dark.

We get to touch the disfigured

and be channels of God's

healing refreshment and vitality.

We don't do it alone

because we aren't alone.

We are one unified people,

Full Bodied

just as a body is a unified whole

in all its wonderful diversity.

We've all got a part to play,

just like the various parts

of a physical body do

in their diversified unity.

"God's various gifts are

handed out everywhere

but they originate

in God's Spirit.

God's various expressions

of power are

in action everywhere.

Each person is given something

to do that shows who God is:

Everyone gets in on it,

everyone benefits.

All kinds of things

are handed out

by the Spirit, and to

all kinds of people!

The variety is wonderful..."

1 Corinthians 12: 4-7

The Message

translation

Some of us have a gift

for public service -

we can run for mayor,

serve in the legislature,

on local boards and agencies.

Some of us have

money and means

way beyond the needs

of a modest, Gospel level lifestyle

and can direct them

strategically and liberally -

tipping the Instacart deliverer $25

(and in cash at our door

to make sure they get it),

funding a college education

for an impoverished young person,

subsidizing an After School Program,

sending $200 a month

to Catholic Relief, UMCOR

Some of us can host

regular dinner parties

bringing together folks

shaded red and blue

setting aside divides,

swapping stories,

sharing remanences,

singing, playing cards,

enjoying each other's families

and facilitating a

holy communion

of differences.

Others of us can mentor

youth and young adults

in their spiritual, academic

and career pursuits.

If we have the gift

we can be scout leaders,

coaches, we can lead

discussion groups

at the local library,

organize and lead neighborhood,

ecumenical or inter-faith groups.

We can adopt a lonely senior adult

welcoming them for dinner

and to our family gatherings.

We can model and invite others

into a simple,

expansively shared lifestyle,

eschewing the media and merchant

perversion of a lavish, self-indulgent one.

We all can hold in God's love

family, neighbors, the church,

world issues and leaders,

the down and out.

Each in our way and place

can share who we are

and what we have

just as the various parts

of a body cooperate

and complement each other

for the life, health

and function of the body

and what the body can do

as a corporate, unified whole.

Full Bodied

God was present and incarnate

in Jesus of Nazareth long ago.

It was a dirty, dark, rotten world then.

That didn't slow Jesus down at all.

Jesus was The Light of the World

then and is so now.

In this Now and Here

God wants to be present

and incarnate in and through us,

offering the light hope and help

for our dear, darkened world.

Front office folks in Washington,

Moscow, Beijing, Wall Street,

corporate and media centers,

denominational headquarters

don't seem to get it at all well,

if at all.

But we

The Body of Christ

give it where we are,

as we are.

We rejoice that

life is glorious

and we take it

as God gives it.

We don't get stopped

by the hideous disfigurements

of God's presence in our world.

We be and do as

we are gifted and able

The Body of Christ

in our diversity wonderfully

Unified

FULL BODIED

Thanks for the chance to share.

John Frank

******

Here's embracive

and delighted

WELCOME

to one and many.

What a blessing to regularly

have such a

Full Bodied

participation from Indonesia.

frankly speaking

spirituality for the street

johnfrankshares.blogspot.com

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Wednesday, February 9, 2022

FULL BODIED