Dear All of Us,
Seems that God is
Cosmic
and
Infinitely Beyond.
Don't and can't know
a whole lot about that.
It's quite clear, tough,
that God wants to be
Local
Creation, Incarnation,
The Kin-Domain of God -
variation and verification
of God's local residency
in our here and now.
That we can and need to know.
Tip O'Neil used to say
"All politics is local."
So is spirituality.
It's very much
a here and now
opening to a
then and there -
Continuum
and
Consequence
How we are
here and now
is the beginning
of our
then and there
forever.
Our spiritual life is a
marvelous flow of
co-occurring,
complimentary
currents:
Prayer
and
Practical
Lived Love.
This week
we focus
on the latter.
Jesus
Talks The Test
lays it out,
describes the
tipping point
we commonly
reference as
The Final
Judgement.
Jesus details
the questions
on
The Final Exam,
the
truth
and
consequence
of our
Life Course
which eventuates
as our
All Forever.
Jesus
pivots to
parable poetry -
the sheep on the right
and all right
the goats on the left
and left out.
The criteria:
whatever we
do/don't do
to people on
the bottom
of the pile
is what we
do/don't do
to
God
The bottom
of the pile is
where God is.
The bottom
of the pile
is where
we connect
with God.
Successful life
is being with
the unsuccessful.
There we care
and share.
There we live
The Love That Is God.
There we meet
and merge
with God
as we meet
and merge with
the left outs,
the damaged,
the deprived,
the needy,
the vulnerable,
the deformed,
the abandoned.
There we meet
and merge
with God
as we
- feed the hungry,
- quench thirst,
- welcome strangers,
- cloth the naked,
- care for the sick,
- visit the imprisoned.
Matthew 25:31-46
Our Forever
hinges on
our lived responses
in the just now.
This is more than
moderately serious.
Over the next few days
let's take each "location"
Jesus maps out,
refocusing, recommitting
our lived responses.
For Jesus they tally
Pass/Fail.
This is not easy,
feel good,
soothing,
self-sculpted
spirituality.
It's what is.
It's how is.
How we are
is how we will be
forever.
So, being honest,
real, practical, and
given our givens,
what are the
God Spots
at the bottom of
life's pile on
and how can
we respond to
those there:
- the hungers: of body, of spirit,
for opportunity, justice, notice,
inclusion, forgiveness?
- the thirsts: for acceptance, truth,
a second or twenty second chance,
being taken seriously and respected?
- the strangers seeking welcome:
those different in tastes, styles,
temperament, color, ethnicity, religion,
lifestyle, sexual composition,
political persuasion,
those seeking the immigration many of
our families sought and found
moments of history ago?
- the nakedness: of poverty,
of powerlessness, of diluted,
even denied, education, medical
and childcare, of fair wages,
the vulnerability of
of neglect, of abuse?
- the sickness: of racism,
white nationalism,
religious intolerance,
locking libraries,
phallic fear erecting gun hysteria?
- those imprisoned: by loneliness,
depression, addiction,
by the need to dominate,
to be popular,
those locked up in
fabricating fiction as fact,
manipulating media untruthful,
those imprisoned in
gated communities of prejudice
and privilege?
Put another way:
As best we can,
How and Where
Live Love Practical,
Being with,
Carig for:
- a friend going through a divorce
- self-appointed librarians who
selectively want to ban books
per their persuasion
- a single parent who can't afford
childcare
- the church council blow hard
- a needful elderly parent
- the neighbor with the messy yard
- supporting agencies that
respond to hunger local and global
- a teenager grieving the death
of his first romance
- an eighteen-year-old
aging out of foster care
- a spouse riding an
emotional rocky road
- a friend who really isn't
Our spiritual life is simply
to get on over to
God's local presence
and neighborhood,
to the people and place of need,
being and doing what we can.
It's not a matter of mounting
huge programs, or of solving
every need.
It's a matter of doing what
we can, as we can, where we are.
It means showing up
for the downed and downing.
It gets us wrapped into God
now and forever.
It's a matter of
Living Love
Local
******
A Great Big
WELCOME
to those
locating
with us
for the first time
here at
frankly speaking
spirituality for the street
johnfrankshares.blogspot.com
Hope you will join in
with us each week.
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Here's to a great week as we
Go Local In Love
All the best.
Love to all
John Frank
******
The Parable
"When the Son of Man comes in his glory,
and all the angels with him, then he will sit
on the throne of his glory. All the nations
will be gathered before him, and he
will separate people from one from another
as a shepherd separates the sheep
from the goats, and he will put the sheep
at his right hand and the goats at the left.
Then the king will say to those at his right hand,
'Come, you that are blessed by my Father,
inherit the kingdom prepared for you
from the foundation of the world; for
I was hungry and you gave me food,
I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink,
I was a stranger and you welcomed me,
I was naked and you gave me clothing,
I was sick and you took care of me,
I was in prison and you visited me.'
Then the righteous will ( ask when all this happened)...
And the king will answer them,
Truely I tell you, just as you did it
to one of the least of these
who are members of my family,
you did it to me,' "
Matthew 25: 31-40
The parable continues,
recounts the opposites
and concludes:
"Then he will say to those at his left hand,
'You that are accursed depart from me
into the eternal fire prepared
for the devil and his angels...
