Dear All of Us,
I've never been accused of being
either good looking nor a trend setter.
There was, however,
one exception years ago.
But in no way did it come even close
to qualifying me as good looking.
Oh not so well!
It was at the beginning of the '60's.
I was in the midst of college.
And what do I do?
I took a Gap Year
before there was such a thing.
Scared the heck out of
my family and pastor.
The one and only time I ever
came even close to any sort of
trend setting.
I was twenty and just didn't know
what to do - ministry, celibacy,
religious life, marriage and kids,
social work, farming, teaching,
broadcasting, writing?
For all the puzzling, though,
I had to earn my keep.
So, I sprung for some
expensive haberdashery
and was in sales for a spell
at an upscale, uppity
department store.
Hated it.
Had to talk the idle rich
into wasting their money
on over-priced things
they didn't need.
One plus was it convinced me
to be darn careful
about truth, specifically,
who's talking whom into what,
and what's the follow through.
I came to see that
our lives,
individually and collectively,
are more than a bit
like a giant experience of
SIMON SAYS
To be genuine,
to be real in life,
we need to be both
particular and precise
about who's having
the say and sway
in our living
and how we respond.
Well, it's Lent.
Good time to have a look at
who's our Simon?
Does that Simon
"say" the truth
in words and all otherwises
or not, and do we do as
SIMON SAYS
Out here on the street
of everyday living
there are a lot of Simons
looking for folks
to do life as they say.
It's critical to have
one who stands
for and upon the truth,
one rock solid genuine,
Reality based and biased.
It's equally critical
that we carefully
and really do
just as such a
Simon Says
Otherwise, we loose
a lot more than
a fun party game.
Sadly there are
Simons saying
to self and society:
Arrogance
Consumerism
Self-Indulgence
Pride
Entitlement
Privilege
Lust
Materialism
Gotta-Have-Ism
Me-First-Ism
Truth-Bending-Ism
Domination
Classism
Earth-I-Don't-Care-Ism
Racism
Deliberate, lying Misinformation
Elite-Ism
Media Madness
Do we fall for it?
Happily, there are other
Simons saying
to self and society:
Altruism
Compassion
Simplicity
Universal-Ism
Justice
Equality
Self-Giving
Environment Caring
Forgiveness
Encouragement
Soulfulness
Community
Nurture
Generosity
Truth
Media Maturity
Unity in Diversity
Do we do as they say?
During Lent we see Jesus
in the desert
sorting out truth
from its perversion.
He refused to do as
Satan Simon Says.
It freed him for his
life giving mission.
Lent is our turn
to be out in the
Desert of Decision,
sorting out the truth,
seeing what Simon has
the say and sway
in our lives,
and see full face
our actual follow through.
Jesus tipped his hand,
opened his heart,
to share why
he is among us:
"I've come that
you might have life
and have it to the full."
John 10:10
Being and doing as
Jesus Says
will mean
in fact and experience
that we will truly have
"life and have it
to the full."
During these forty days of Lent
out here in the Desert of Decision
it would be wonderfully helpful
to hear Jesus and
to hear about Jesus
afresh.
As we do that
we examen
how we are doing
with what
Jesus Says
and our actual
follow through.
We look to our
- value system
- life style
- consumption
- expenditures
- relationships
- prayer and meditation
- shared spiritual community
- practical efforts for
social justice, earth care.
A good way to go about this
would be to slowly Soul Savor
The Gospel of Matthew
little by little over the course of Lent.
A help to do that would be
"the twofer approach,"
daily reading Matthew
from a standard translation
complemented by reading
Matthew from
The Message
translation.
The Message
is available
for free online.
It is a "right now,"
American English,
plain speak articulation
from the Aramaic/Hebrew,
Greek/Roman
time and culture
of Jesus to ours.
It offers a much needed
contextual and tonal quality
to hearing the Gospel.
Slowing, settling,
opening, centering
we absorb
The Word
as translated these two ways.
We then ponder what is shared
and see how that gets translated
into our actual living here and now.
We'll hear Jesus again
for the first time.
May we then do just as
Jesus Says.
. John Frank
******
UKRAINE
"Peace is the tranquility of order."
Augustine
No such in Ukraine.
People and place are thrown
into painful, excruciating disorder.
Empire evils forth horrendously.
Ordered reality is ripped and raped.
Our "answer" to this is not just
armchair anger from safely afar.
We need to be careful that
foul doesn't foul our souls.
Hate of Putin will just
put us in bed with him,
tossing and turning,
not in love,
but in hate and hurt.
We need to best him with
Full Souled Love
He is terribly sick
and dangerous.
He is writhing in the
emptiness of illusion.
A LENT LETS
We focus on Putin.
We join God in loving him
to awaken from the
nightmare that possesses him.
We focus on the people of Ukraine.
We feel their torment.
We join God in loving them
to strength in their torture.
We do everything
we possibly can
from where we are
and how we are
to support them
actually and practically.
We hold in prayer
the people of Russia,
captive to madness.
We look to the entire world
as order and its peace
are in question
in this so unstable moment.
This Lent Jesus is back
on the Cross.
That's where we need to be.
One with him in his agonizing
through evil to Good.
One with him in his stretch.
One with him in his response:
"Father, forgive them
for they know not what they do."
One with him in knowing
what he is doing -
suffering through evil
to the rebalance of the world.
******
A great big
THANK YOU
to all gathering here
each week and
to those joining for
the first time this week.
Together we make this a
holy communion.
******
CORRECTION
Last week's posting,
Change Call,
had an incorrect citation.
The correct citation
for the quote from
The Common English Bible
is
Matthew 4:17
******
frankly speaking
spirituality for the street
johnfrankshares.blogspot.com
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******
There's a bunch of Simons Saying
what to do all over the place.
"What'a we say"
to what
"Jesus Says"
Have a great week!
******
