SERENE

  

      CONFESSION 

It's said that confession 

is good for the soul and it is.

That doesn't make it easy, though.

So, here's my confession anyway.

This week's blog 

is right out of my wrong

the other day.

I know of what I write here.

I lost it big time and 

didn't keep it to myself.

There was collateral damage.

Oh Lord, be merciful 

to me a sinner.

Oh Lord, thank you 

for putting all the pieces 

of this Humpty Dumpty 

together again,

centering me in your 

     Wholeness

 John Quite Frank

      ******

         Dear All of Us, 

Sometimes we just can't cope.

     People and problems,

       self and situation, 

       are way too much.

             We go 

           BONKERS!

  Our manner and behavior 

         are plain out 

       "For the birds!"

   More than feathers fly. 

         

   We are jarred, off key, 

ticked, out of sorts, flipped,

   not nice to be around.

       We've lost it.

    We can't handle.

Coping, composure, calm

are out of the question, 

       out of reach. 

     Seems we just 

"Don't have a prayer."

Well, actually we do.

 THE NEW SERENITY PRAYER

God, grant me the serenity

to accept the people I can't change,

which is pretty much everyone,

since I'm clearly not you, God.

At least the last time I checked.

And while you're at it, God,

please give me the courage 

to change what I need to change 

about myself, which is frankly a lot, 

since, once again, I'm not perfect.

It's better for me to focus on 

changing myself than to worry about 

changing other people, who, 

as you'll no doubt remember me saying,

I can't change anyway.

Finally, give me the wisdom 

to just shut up 

whenever I think that 

I'm clearly smarter

than everyone else in the room,

that no one knows 

what they're talking about

except me, 

or that I alone 

have all the answers.

Basically, God, 

grant me the wisdom

to remember that 

I'm not you.

          Amen

         ******

Thanks to the folks at 

    America| Media

  for this praying us  

      SERENE.

      ******

For further ponder and prayer

    please see below for

    SCRIPTURE SERENE

          ******

 SPECIAL ANNONCEMENT

We're in for a special surprise

           next week.

In the words of Jackie Gleason's

         Ralph Cranston

       "How sweet it is!!"

 (Yah, it's a generational thing

         but hey, those 

Saturday Nights Really Were Live!!)

Anyway, just wait til you see!!

          NEXT WEEK

           Posting Title:

         PROGRESSIVE

          Posting Dates: 

   Wednesday, September 6th. 

               through

   Tuesday, September 12th.

               ******

          A great big, 

          WELCOME

       to all together 

           here at

       frankly speaking

   spirituality for the street

johnfrankshares.blogspot.com

I'm not sure just 

how to say this, 

so I'll just say it 

straight out and

that right from my heart.

This week more than 

five hundred of us 

together here at 

frankly speaking

     are from 

    Singapore

    That's not 

 at all important 

   as a statistic.

It is wildly wonderful 

          as a

HOLY COMMUNION

     Thank You 

Sisters and Brothers

       from

    Singapore

    for the gift of 

       YOU

     and our

      UNITY

      ******

   frankly speaking

       a weekly

  ONLINE POSTING

Wednesday mornings

East Coast USA time

LAST FIVE POSTINGS

Just scroll down below

the current online posting

   EMAIL DELIVERY

      Each Friday

       Sign Up

 at top of online posting.

Here in the USA this week

it is Labor Day Celebration .

Blessings on all as we labor

here, there, and everywhere.

   "Laborare Est Orare"

   "To Work Is To Pray"

       St. Benedict

         ******

    

  PONDER PRAYER

SCRIPTURE SERENE

"Don't fret or worry. 

Instead of worrying, pray. 

Let petitions and praises 

shape your worries into prayer, 

letting God know your concerns. 

Before you know it, 

a sense of God's wholeness,

everything coming together 

for good, will come 

and settle you down. 

It's wonderful what happens 

when Christ displaces worry 

at the center of your life.   

        Philippians 4:4-7

         The Message

When we are upset, 

how do we get 

set back up again?

What's our "go to"?

What do we make/take 

of what Paul presents above 

about getting above our downs?

A top spins only if 

well centered.

When we spin out,

will we let Christ 

displace worry

"...at the center 

of your life",

be the center 

of our life??

Are we willing to shape 

our worries into prayer,

letting God know 

our concerns?

When we're undone, 

pieces of us all 

over the place,

we are invited 

to blow it all off to God

and let God center us,

put the pieces 

together again, so that 

"a sense of God's wholeness,

everything coming together for good,

will come and settle you down."

            Beats Prozac!!

              ******

        Praying us all

        God Centered

        Soul Serene

       

    See you next week.

        Love to all,

        John Frank

          ******

    

     

       

 I pray us all

          SERENE

   See you next week.

        Love to all

       John Frank

         ******

        

POTPOURRI

Dear All of Us,

You know, it's just plain good for all of us to be together here today.

                   "This is the day the Lord has made. 

                    Let us rejoice and be glad in it." 

                            Psalm 118:24

Well, this day here in Washington is Monday, time to get go with this week's 

                                     "frankly speaking." 

What say we "have a go" with something new and different.  Let's treat ourselves 

and each other to a Potpourri. My Mom and Grandmother had them and they 

made a lovely/lively difference. They were dried flowers, herbs and spices in an 

open dish or in a sachet. They gave off a varied sent of freshness and sometimes 

even putting a punch of spice in the air.

May our Potpourri here be just like that for our souls - a mixture of spiritual 

flowers, herbs and spices. In the days and weeks ahead may they give a gentle, 

vigorous sent of freshness and fragrance to our spiritual lives, with a 

hearty snap of spice to boot.

                                                                

                            

         POTPOURRI

 

Instructions for living a life:

         Pay attention.

         Be astonished.

         Tell about it.

          Mary Olliver

Dost thou reckon thyself only a puny form

When within thee the universe is folded?

                 Imam Ali

The ultimate work of civilization 

is the unfolding of ever-deeper

spiritual understanding.

          Arnold Toynbee

Death is not 

extinguishing the light;

it is putting out the lamp

because dawn has come.

 Rabindranath Tagore

You don't have a soul.

You are a soul.

You have a body.

       Unknown

(One who really knows!)

We are God branching out.

   "I am the vine.

    You are the branches."

          Jesus

        John 15:5

              

God wants to happen as us.

God is infinitely beyond our comprehension

and immediate in us and our experience.

Our real life is inward and intimate.

Our real life is outward and unitive.

God in us reaches out 

to God in all that is 

and invites us to get in on 

    The Joy of One.

Sin is estrangement.

It's like a dislocated shoulder.

It hurts like hell because 

it is a hellish separation.

        Jesus is 

  The Word of God 

            So,

"What do we listen to" 

"What do we say"

 with all our ways 

 of being alive?

Rumi: " Before you speak, 

            let your words 

            pass through three gates: 

            Is it true? 

            Is it necessary? 

            Is it kind?"

"Speak only when it is 

 an improvement on silence."

         Phillip Russo

If God seems far away, guess who moved?

"If it's not about love, it's not about God." 

         Bishop Michael Curry

"Holy bewilderment." 

          Debre Thomas

" Once the line between 

  truth and fake is eroded, 

  everything will become fake. 

  We will not be able 

  to believe anything."   

  Wael Abd Almagead

- That's spice in spades!

  And the sauce of 

  our shared living

  as a people right now

  sure needs to be spiced up 

  with truck loads of 

           TRUTH!

We are not the center of things. 

We are part and parcel of 

        Magnificence. 

            WHAT

You want us to love you 

      with every bit of who we are?

Heck, that's so intense we'd just plain 

      melt right into you! 

Guess that's just what you do want

      and that's our forever.

             WHAT

You want us 

      to love neighbor as self?

Heck, we'd be tighter 

      than one!

Guess that's just what you do want 

     and that's our forever.

              WHAT

You want all in One

 God Neighbor Self

Heck, we'd be 

     Trinity!

Guess that's just what you do want

        ALL ONE FOREVER

         Mark 12:30-31

Theology, or any "...ology," 

is like trying to put 

a Post-It Note 

on a ray of the sun. 

I slept and dreamt that life is joy,

I awoke and saw that life was service.

I acted and behold, service was joy.

                Tagore

"You have to inhabit your own song."

            Bruce Springsteen

Miles distance.

Spirit knows no such limit.

"It takes courage to grow up

 and become who you really are."

           e.e. cummings

Once upon a time 

there was a happy tree. 

She couldn't keep it to herself.

So she grew lots of apples.

"I have come that 

they may have life 

and have it to the full."

          Jesus

      John 10:10

       

       OK Jesus.

       Fill'er up!!

         ******

   Well, there it is, some 

fragrance, freshness and spice

 A Potpourri of Soul Scent

            ******

           IN THE WORKS

  A special treat coming up here

        in the posting from 

   Wednesday, September 6th. 

                 to 

   Tuesday, September 12th.

          Welcome 

       to one and all

This week we were graced 

with visitors from Serbia.

         Wonderful!

       

     frankly speaking

spirituality for the street

johnfrankshares.blogspot.com

           a weekly

     ONLINE POSTING

Each Wednesday morning

    Eastcoast USA time

   LAST FIVE POSTINGS

       Scroll below 

the current online posting

       EMAIL FORMAT

         Each Friday

      Sign Up located

   Top right online posting

           THANKS

   To all who are sharing

      frankly speaking

         with others.

      See you next week

          Love to all

         John Frank

           ******

  

VIP

     Dear All of Us, 

      Most of the

      "very" most 

          VIP's

aren't in boardrooms or

the corridors of government,

aren't media splashed, 

five stared military,

pulpit prominent. 

These VIP's mostly 

keep a low profile

going about 

their high calling.

There are all sorts of them

doing all sorts of good.

    They fix things

    minor to major 

    matter to spirit

    They reconcile.

    They rejuvenate.

It can be immediate 

and practical.

They fix a flat,

re-seam a pant's cuff,

refurbish tired furniture,

sew whole a hole 

in your coat,

level a door,

tighten the screw 

in your sunglasses,

adjust the chain on a kid's bike,

reorder a discorded closet.

From such simple, 

practical pursuits

their purview widens 

      spacious

socially, spiritually, 

materially, globally

       They are active, 

      they participate in

 the reclamation of Creation

             all of it

the redemption of the damaged

             all of it

the "re"- "pair" of the split

             all of it

          tiny to vast.

These VIP's bring together

the broken, the separated.

They refresh, renew, reconnect.

          They save.

They are part and parcel of 

       God's Salvation

That runs from 

rebuilding an engine

to counseling a reconciliation,

to getting someone 

    who is off the rails

    back on tract,

to negotiating fair trade practices,

to detoxing polluted air, water, soil,

to advancing racial harmony,

to facilitating spiritual renewal,

even assembling a kid's kite.

In one way to many these are 

    Repairers of the Breach

  "You'll use the old rubble 

   of past lives to build anew, 

   rebuild the foundations 

   from out of your past. 

   You'll be known as 

   those who can fix anything, 

   restore old ruins, 

   rebuild and renovate, 

   make the community 

   livable again." 

        Isaiah 58:12

       The Message

They make actual and present

the reclaiming work of Jesus

   "For the Son of Man 

    has come 

    to seek and save 

    that which is lost." 

    Luke 19:10 

They live a lead up to 

the promised and ultimate

         Reclamation

 "I heard a voice 

  thunder from the Throne:

 'Look! Look! God has moved 

  into the neighborhood, 

  making his home 

  with men and women! 

  They're his people, 

  he's their God. 

  He'll wipe away

  every tear from their eyes. 

  Death is gone for good 

  - tears gone, crying gone. 

  The Enthroned continued, 

  'Look! I'm making everything new."

         Revelation 21: 3-4

             The Message

While the media maddens, 

the extremists drive divisions,

politicians pander to power,

unhinged capitalism grabs

from the many for the few,

religious leaders dither,

these everyday VIP's

save from waste,

reclaim, reconnect 

everything from

sewing a sweater 

rather than throwing it 

into a landfill, 

putting together 

a food pantry 

for the needy,

not giving up on 

the church crank,

considering adoption 

of a foster child, 

being readers for a

children's literacy program,

driving the elderly 

to the supermarket,

connecting with 

separated brethren,

having away from home 

college kids over for dinner,

clearing inner-city lots

and growing community gardens,

gathering groups to live out 

a liberation theology.

They reclaim, they fix, 

they refresh, they renew,

in tandem with God's 

Recreation and Redemption.

They're easy to spot.

Just look in the mirror.

You really make a

       "whole" 

 lot of difference.

You sure are a Godly

          VIP

        ******

It's a gift that you choose

to connect with all of us here 

                at

        frankly speaking

    spirituality for the street

johnfrankshares.blogspot.com

            a weekly

       ONLINE POSTING

 Each Wednesday morning

     East Coast USA time

     LAST FIVE POSTINGS

Scroll below the current posting

         EMAIL OPTION

          Each Friday

            Sign Up

      Located upper right

        Online Posting

        Every good wish.

             Prosper

           Love to all,

           John Frank

             ******

        

            

DONT GIVE UP

Sometimes these blogs

         need a 

      FOREWORD

         even a 

    FOREWARNING

This one sure does.

This week I set out 

 to tell a tale about

        TRUTH 

It's a great little story.

It's a true story. 

Names were adjusted 

to protect the innocent 

and the not so innocent 

for that matter.

Well, truth to tell,

I got carried away

with setting up things 

about truth 

and its abuse 

in our body politic

just now

- occupational hazard.

Ended up with a full piece on 

"No matter how beat-up

 truth gets it always wins

             AND

here's how to live 

good and clean and real

in the middle of the mess."

That sure is a 

run-on sentence about

about a run-on blog.

It's occasioned by our current

      plight public 

      bedrock truth 

      politically undermined 

      and trashed.

Some of the imagery 

is blunt and graphic.

So, please be forewarned

and I pray, 

open to some strong 

Truth Telling.

Hope you'll be expansive. 

and prayerfully mull 

all this over. 

But, if you're in a hurry,

    just skip down to

     TRUTH STORY

     

     Hey, thanks for 

     the indulgence

 (By the way, everyone

  who reads this week's 

  entire posting gets 

  40 days off their 

  Purgatory Stint 

  for their indulgence).

      John Frank

       ******

Dear All of Us,

It's news to none,

nor new to comment here.

Things are pretty 

messy and miserable

with the body politic these days.

Lots of us are tempted to give up.

Lots more already have.

Governance is up for grabs.

And what a grabbing and grouping.

Prurient politics.

Truth and justice fondled foul.

Truth and justice perverted.

Truth and justice raped.

Much too many standby,

passively inert, immorally tolerant.

And all this debasement

right out in the open,

right in front of the children,

all over the media.

Were it sexual, the predators 

would be run out of town, 

locked up for a long time.

We're a lot more moral about 

sex abuse than abuse of the

body politic and of truth.

Instead, those predators 

room free,

groom the public,

feel them up, 

bed them foul - 

pure truth and justice

losing their virtuous freshness.

Yah, pretty messy and miserable.

In this mad, mad world 

it's "alternate facts" on steroids.

Truth is twisted hideous,

justice jettisoned out of play.

Violence from the mouth

and in the streets.

Deliberate 

lying,

fabrication,

misinformation,

manipulation 

are the coins of this

  Realm Unreal.

                    Yet we

          Don't Give Up

Truth and its twin justice will win.

It may mean a lot of time and misery, 

but they always do.

Reference Hitler and the Third Reich.

Truth is our substratum - solid.

Truth is reality.

Truth triumphs.

Truth is what is as is.

Example:

I'm eighty-three and old. 

           (happily).

If someone twists that to insist 

I am twenty-three and spry

      (Spare me, O Lord)

or that I am ninety-three 

and nearly comatose

      (Spare me, O Lord)

         it just ain't so!

In all truth I am 

eighty three and old

       (Thank you, O Lord).

Truth is what is as is.

It is not malleable,

so, help us God!

Speaking of God, let's.

Better yet, let's hear

  The Truth Teller

           on

what's eventually 

         a go 

         and 

what's eventually 

     a gonner.

"Here are six things God hates, 

 and one more that 

    he loathes with a passion:

  eyes that are arrogant,

  a tongue that lies, 

  hands that murder the innocent,

  a heart that hatches evil plots,

  feet that race down a wicked track,

  a mouth that lies under oath,

  a troublemaker in the family.      

        Proverbs 6:16-19

           The Message

Now there's some 

staunch, straight 

   Truth Telling

Quite applicable just now.

God's no pussycat.

God's straight and strong.

True on.

So, if it ain't good with God

it has a terminal future.

It won't make 

the cut for eternity.

Today's political pit-bulls 

don't know principle.

They and their fouling up  

don't have a future.

We can.

     Don't Give Up

What we do is face up to 

the falseness and filth 

corrupting the body politic,

and we do way more 

than one better.

We live real in the midst of

the satanically unreal.

We live Jesus in community,

the togetherness that is 

the Kingdom of God.

 "Fear not little flock, for it is 

  your Father's good pleasure

  to give you the kingdom."

             Luke 12:32

"If you stick with this, 

 living out what I tell you, 

 you are my disciples for sure. 

 Then you will experience 

 for yourselves the truth, 

 and the truth will free you."

       John 8: 31-32

       The Message

Now there's a way to go,

a way to go good and true.

Stick with the game plan,

the companionship, 

experience and teaching 

of Jesus and the truth will free.

         DON"T GIVE UP

As it turns out Jesus is 

the embodiment,

the personalizing of truth:

 "I am the way,

  the truth and 

  the life." 

  John 14:6

No matter how 

messy and miserable

prurient politics gets,

how horrible the abuse 

       of truth 

         and

The Common Good

  The Body Politic,

      in Jesus 

     we have a

WAY of LIFE and TRUTH

           HIM

       Shared as 

  KINGDOM PEOPLE

  We Don't Give Up

         ******

    

     

A TRUTH STORY

It was pricey and 

more than well worth it.

Just a dozen in the private,

Park Avenue studio kitchen of 

Chef MaryAnne Loff.

Five days of excellence.

Instruction, demonstration,

hands on with the culinary arts.

Chef MaryAnne

of TV and cookbook fame,

personable and gracious,

offered a masterful class.

Each participant had 

space and all they needed

right down to clipboard 

complete with studio stationary. 

Edith from Milwaukee 

owned a cookware store. 

Edith filched some of 

Chef MaryAnne's stationary.

When home she scripted

an effusive recommendation

of herself and signed it

  Chef MaryAnne Loff.

Edith then took it to be framed.

She couldn't wait to place it 

prominent in her store.

Unknown to her 

the framer spilled coffee

on the letter.

He sent it to Chef MaryAnne

explaining his plight and 

asked if she would rewrite it 

sending it back to him

with not a word to Edith.

Chef MaryAnne complied 

with a twist.

She wrote a humorous, snarky,

less than stallar

recommendation of Edith.

Finally framed, Edith hurriedly hung 

the letter in her store

assuming it was the original.

It was down and trashed 

in less than a day.

A customer breaking into laughter 

when reading the framed letter

was the tip off - off for sure!

        One way or another

          Truth Triumphs

               ******

    A HEARTFELT WELCOME

                  TO

                  ALL

   Great that we get to gather 

               here at

         frankly speaking

    spirituality for the street

johnfrankshares.blogspot.com

             a weekly

       ONLINE POSTING

        Each Wednesday

           Before noon

      East Coast USA time

              EMAIL

          Each Friday

            Sign UP

   Top right online posting

    LAST FIVE POSTINGS

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        frankly speaking

        with family, friends,

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         folks at church

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                    Thanks

        Holding each and all of us 

                   in prayer.

               Looking forward 

    to being together here next week.

                  Love to all,

                  Yours truly

                  John Frank

                    ******

         

END NOTES l

Dear All of Us,

In my younger years 

there was the quip that 

The New York Times published

  "All the News That's Fit to Print" 

and tabloid, The New York Daily News, 

published all the news that would fit. 

Well, now at the other 

and far end of my earth stay, 

I hope from time to time to 

share here selected jottings 

from a legacy work 

I am currently developing. 

It is entitled END NOTES.  

I sure hope they are fit to print. 

They come from one old man's 

spiritual road trip - straight aways, 

dead ends, spin outs and find outs. 

What is shared certainly 

isn't normative. 

It's reflective. 

It is what it is as it is.

May it a bit or more

clarify, inform, caution, 

encourage and support 

your spiritual road trip out here on 

the street of everyday life.

What follows are 

the first two entries. 

I'd be grateful to hear back your take.

                   Email: 

      johnfrankshares@gmail.com

                   Thanks

                   ******

                                           

                                          

              END NOTES

Well, and may it be so, here goes!

A lot of time and soul 

has gone into beginning this - 

musing, praying, thinking, 

wondering, waiting, taking counsel.

The teacher, pastor, parent, 

counsellor, elder in me urges here.

Hopefully The Spirit as well,

 and if so, well it will be.

      END NOTES

     some "notes" 

     at the "end" 

   of my earth life.

May it end on a good note.

May these notes contribute to that.

There is a why and a what to this.

I share here in the hope that

a little of this may clarify and encourage 

as others go about the living of their days.

I do not know all that much.

I do know some.

Here is some of some.

It comes propelled by love.

Having lived 

eighty-three years thus far, 

so, so much has happened.

Some wonderful.

Some terrible.

Most somewhere in-between:  

up and down and all around, 

real, unreal, genuine, 

phony, right, wrong, good, bad, 

holy, sinful, spot on, off center.

May my minuses and pluses 

shared here tally up 

to clarify and encourage 

        "Nexters."

Two last notes about these notes.

I am as honest as 

I know how these days.

What's here is 

unvarnished, unbleached.

Always I've had to tame my words 

to the tolerance level of institution 

and the people in it. 

That's how it is 

when one goes public 

and take a salary for it.

Sometimes that's prudent. 

Sometimes that's cowardly. 

Here now, this is as it is with me. 

It's personal and I pray pure.

          

There is one caveat. 

Nothing is shared here 

that violates another's privacy. 

Like all of us I have had 

relationships galore, 

close to casual. 

Most of them have been

a blessing. 

Some not so. 

Some ended gently, some painfully.

Some continue to this day. 

I share here the me of those, 

never the other of them.

I confess to being blessed 

and being a blessing.

I confess to just the opposite. 

Others have helped me. 

Others have hurt me. 

I have helped others. 

I have hurt others.

Gratitude for good.

Sorrow and repentance 

for the not good. 

As our Jewish friends say, 

"Enough already."

       ******

Let's begin with 

the beginning and with the end.

Actually there are none such.

There is 

           Always Just Now

           Simple Oneness.

Sure, from our limited vantage 

there are the bookends

of beginning and end.

The Alpha and The Omega.

Isaiah and John word their talk 

about it that way.

They accommodate 

our limit and linear think.

Our motion and measurement 

are an immediacy within 

the expanse of Infinity's

         Always Just Now

         Simple Oneness

They are like steps in a vigorous 

           Divine Dance.

They are a dynamic of the Whole, 

              of the 

          Whole Now.

Isaiah, John, multitudes 

and measurements more, 

give us a beginning and end 

that usher us into 

the timeless Now that has none.

They are good as far as they go.

Happily, it goes infinitely more.

Non-Started, Non-Stopping.

Simple Oneness.

Right Now Always.

All of which is to reference 

in our limited way

  THE DYNAMIC

we sense and see, 

in which we find 

ourselves and all else,

   GOOD ETERNAL

   BEGINING-LESS

   UNENDING

       GOD

Jesus, Buddha, mystics many, 

          urge us to 

           AWAKE.

We don't discover God. 

We wake up to God.

That goes for us 

as persons and as a people.

We all are just beginning 

to wake up, to find ourselves

          Right Now 

        in the swirl of

     THE DIVINE DANCE

           ******

       How good to dance together 

                   here at

             frankly speaking

        spirituality for the street

   johnfrankshares.blogspot.com

    This past week we were gifted 

    with our first visit from 

                     LAOS

          Thanks for stopping by.

          Welcome to you and 

          all first-time visitors.

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          join in with us each week.

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                        ******

 You all are much in heart and prayer.

 Looking forward to our gathering here 

              next week.

In the meantime and all the time,

            We Dance On!

           It's wondrously 

         GOD'S ALWAYS NOW

              Love to all.

             John Frank

               ******