frankly speaking: TIME OUT

Dear All of Us,

In sports when the going

isn't going so well,

it's sometimes best

to call a

Time Out

catch our breath,

reassess,

adjust the game plan

Such so for sports.

Such so for soul.

Such so for society.

Such so right now for both.

So let's have a go

at what's going on

TIME OUT

Today the turf, teams

and terms are

radically different than

when we first took the field

in the world's series

of shared living seasons ago.

Seismic shift in just

a generation or two.

So, play as was, we lose.

And losing we are,

losing to losers, to

Team Terrible

See scoring:

*" ...humanity is just

one misunderstanding,

one miscalculation from

nuclear annihilation."

Antonio Guterres,

United Nations

Secretary General

AP August 1, 2022

That's not only

a game changer.

That's no more

game at all,

nor field, life,

never mind a win.

*"The effects of

human-caused

global warming

are happening now,

are irreversible

on the timescale

of people alive today,

and will worsen

in the decades to come."

Current website of

NASA GLOBAL

CLIMATE CHANGE

There could go

the field of dreams -

no go grounds!

*"Historians privately

warn Biden that

American democracy

is teetering"

Headline

August 10, 2022

The Washington Post

Things going south.

What was in play

isn't playing at all well -

loss looms large

and what a loss

it could, would be!

It doesn't get more current

or critical than these scorings

in our world's right now

series of shared living.

- August 2022 -

We're up against

Team Terrible

and

they're winning a loss

for us all.

The challenge for

our spiritual lives

in this current,

volatile, dangerous

season and series

isn't so much how

to solve the terrors

of the times

as it is to learn how

to play clean

in the midst of

dirty plays,

to stay in the game.

That's not to say

we shouldn't try

to break free,

but manifestly

there is not the

social cohesion and will

to do so at this

stage of the game.

Few of us have much of a

national/geo-political say so.

We don't get to call out

the foul plays of

Team Terrible.

We don't have to settle

for their threatening

foul ups, but

we do have to live

in their midst

and deal with them.

We really can't leave

the field.

So what do we do?

We do as do

The Baltimore Oriels.

We keep on keeping on.

We play hard, real and clean.

We don't leave the field.

We don't cede the series to

Team Terrible.

If The Bible

was being written today,

The Oriels would be

an apt image for

the faithful remnant,

The People In Exile,

the Suffering Servant,

the Kin-domain of God.

In their 118 seasons of play

the franchise made the playoffs

14 times

and won the championship

3 times.

Not much of a win yet

for all that time and try.

Yet, they play to win and

will play until they do win.

So us.

That's the call of

our spiritual lives right now.

Our world is in

the greatest danger

of all history.

Just because

real and right

are not winning

doesn't mean

we forfeit the series.

Right now, many

are tempted to, though.

Frightened, depressed,

confused, disillusioned, unsure,

they more than know

the dangers,

and even more they know

they can do little about them,

that they can't wish or work

back to some sort of

supposed security and sanity

of a long-ago season and series.

They are tempted to quit,

curl up and hide.

That would be a win

for evil and a loss

for them and all of us.

We all need to know

what's come down

and stand tall together.

Like the early Christians

who lived in the terror

of the Roman Empire,

of the Russians who lived

in the sickness of Stalin,

of the Italians who lived

in the madness of Mussolini,

of the Germans who lived

in the Satanic evil of Hitler,

we may have to live

under neo-fascists

in lands degrading to death -

theirs and ours.

For all of that and more,

Team Terrible

may, even likely,

will foul play away,

but we will still

take the field and

eventually the series.

Our playbook

has a winning strategy.

In every moment, move

and way we put into play

practices strategically paced

with the focus and energy of

Love

God

neighbor

self

- the way and what we drive

- as much as possible

developing a

plant based diet

- being grateful for enough

and sharing the rest

so others have enough

- bonding deeply and actively

in a for real spiritual community

- committing to active contemplation:

Letting God show us around and

get us in on it

- soaking in sacred scriptures

- giving family, friends, partner

priority of time, attention

- really living Shabbat

- in every interaction

doing to others as

we would have them

do to us - at work, voting,

talking about another,

dealing with a real stinker

- giving full hearing, head and heart

to what another is saying

in words or otherwise

- giving children toys, experiences,

media exposure, recreation

that is non-violent, real,

creative, expansive and positive

- lavishing respect and care on

the elderly with the completeness

we give a newborn as the elderly

slow to stop and

start anew - a new forever

- taking time to give God

the chance to make love

- facing future fear straight on

- rather than be slowed down

carting around any kind of

security blankets,

being Reality Based

- not letting phony or faux

anybody or anything

fake us out -

Reality TV that isn't,

but is vulgar and demeaning,

social media not at all social,

nationalist Christianity

that is neither,

unfounded, non-factual claims

that fly in the face of truth,

that undermine public trust,

throwing the populace

into chaos and conflict

- adjusting to what is,

not insisting on what isn't

- admitting danger

and learning to lean into it,

however difficult/painful

- courageously responding

to whatever

Team Terrible

may inflict on our league

knowing they're winning

some games and that

we'll take the series.

For now, what's ahead of us

most likely is not going to be

middle class nice.

It probably will hurt

a lot

BUT BY GOD

we're going to outplay,

outlive

the death dealers.

That's because

we are based,

enlivened,

empowered,

Wednesday, August 17, 2022

TIME OUT