Dear All of Us,
As a teen and twenty something I spent healthy hunks of time in Manhattan.
Nothing too wild or crazy. Mostly buddies, Broadway shows, bookstores
(especially that sacred sanctuary, Brentano's), churches, The Cloisters, museums,
celebrity spottings (Jack Webb of DRAGNET and Dave Colloway, original host of
TODAY, John Glenn, first to orbit earth - how big a deal is that now?), fine dinning
on a dime at Horn and Hardart's Automat and Toffenetti's on Times Square -
great spaghetti and meatballs, a salad, real Italian crusty bread and a glass of
wine for under fifteen of today's dollars.
Back then a constant in Times Square was some quirky soul, placard hoisted,
proclaiming THE END OF THE WORLD. Took it as silly sad.
Well, I sure hope I'm not a silly, sad, quirky soul. I definitely don't have a placard
to hoist. But I do say and state that THE END OF THE WORLD is not only at hand,
it already has a significant start - I dare not say a good start. The world as we
knew it, wished it, imagined it, is crumbling under and all around us. It isn't nice
and it's going to get a lot not nicer. Empire and its power players have fooled us
and the floor is dropping out from under us. Religion lost its soul. Freedoms and
democratic process are on the ropes, if not out cold on the canvas. A few horde
most and most world-wide suffer devastating loss in war, poverty, starvation,
injustice. Earth and air are so stretched wrong they just can't keep sustaining.
Truth is so trashed that trust is rusted out. Mass media has gone mad taking the
masses with them, and that's not to Mass on Sundays. It's a Mad, Mad Bad World
fast on its way to hell as in a hell of a lot of suffering. Most of the world is already
there. We of the middle and so called upper classes are about to lose our cushy
perks to pain and it's certainly scary as hell. God is Love and we are not living that
Love. That absence is hell, hell not later down there somewhere sometime, but
here and now with more to come and coming fast!
Our situation is a contemporary recast of what the Jewish people faced with the
destruction of their center, the Temple in Jerusalem. Jesus told them that not one
stone of it would be on another. So it was in 70 CE. Life and religion as they knew
it were gone forever. And gone were they from their homeland and way of life.
Scattered world-wide, they had to have a new center and way. In place of The
Holy of Holies, animal sacrifice and temple priests came The Torah as center and
that with rabbis and synagogues. They regrouped, renewed, refreshed.
Will we? At the rate and way we're going, no. We probably will have to suffer a
lot to move us to real from unreal, to love from crass selfishness. Richard Rohr
says that only prayer or suffering change us. We're not a particularly prayerful
people. Here in the USA we say "Liberty and justice for all." That is a damnable
lie. We are founded on brutalizing native people, taking their land, importing
slaves. We disrupted our society and devastated our land, killing over a half
million of our own - homeland insecurity, homegrown genocide. We did that
claiming to be a Christian nation. Until we face our original sin and its consequent
injustices and suffering, repent and repair, we are living a lie. We all are children
of God. Yet, we do not live a loving, caring unity - "do unto others..."
Example: That poor man Musk drives around in his Tesla with more money in
the trunk than any other person - child of God - on earth and millions upon
millions of his brothers and sisters are bypassed, starve in squirming poverty. And
Mr. Musk is a success story?
God is love for sure. And just as sure God is no fool, but we are. We sleep in the
bed we make and it's not a love bed. We tout capitalism. Capitalism is me-ism. It
is not a Godly, love based and operative system. Scripture tells us to have enough
and share the rest. That's Gospel. Capitalism contradicts and counterman's Gospel.
God lets us sleep where we will. We are having a nightmare and it's just getting
started.
Now, we don't want to hear all this. I sure as Harry don't want to depress, nor
will I fudge and fake. I am terribly concerned and I deeply care. In my mid-
eighties, I Soul See clearer than ever. I so fear for us, especially children.
So, what do we do? How do we prepare as our operating system shorts out?
We do as the first Christians did. We bond and take care of each other. We
embrace a simple lifestyle, live in small communities of faith and love. We live the
Gospel together, actually and practically. It is possible to likely that will mean
some form of life like the Jews in diaspora, the Roman Christians in catacomb
communities. We need to and will be forced to junk what passes for church today.
Some good has come from it. Mostly it is captive to capitalism. Just read the New
Testament and then check out most established churches. Cry and form small
group communities. No neutered Christianity. It will be The Kingdom of God or it
will be hell. The "Furtherance" that follows at the end of this posting offers
scriptures that will light the way.
We most likely will have to regroup as nation states if indeed we have a future.
Nuclear and biological weapons are so lethal and all too close threats to
that. Right behind them are earth and air degradation. We are knocking the life
out of God's life-giving Creation. Governance is up for grabs, and grab the hard
hearted power brokers of Empire do.
In short, it's rather likely we're headed for a world wash along the lines of what
Noah had to deal with. Our ark is actual, practical, for real inclusion in God's gift
to us through Jesus the Christ - Gospel life, life in The Kingdom of God right away
now, right where and as we are. The End of the World as we are having it isn't the
end. "Thy Kingdom come on earth as in heaven."
******
FURTHERANCE
A road map forward starts with slowly learning together the Gospels,
ingesting them as we help each other live them in community. Then taking Spirit
guidance from the rest of The New Testament and select sections of the Old
Testament. A few starter springs:
Luke 6:38
"Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken
together and running over. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to
you."
Luke 3:10-11
"Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone
who has food should do the same."
Luke 6: 27-31
"Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you,
pray for those who mistreat you. If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them
the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them.
Give to everyone who asks of you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do
not demand it back. Do to others as you would have then do to you."
Matthew 25: 35 40
"For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave
me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes
and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you
came to visit me...I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these
brothers and sisters of mine, you did unto me."
Romans 12:13
"Share with the Lord's people who are in need. Practice hospitality."
Acts 2:45-46
"They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day
they continued to meet in the temple courts, they broke bread in their homes and
ate together with glad and sincere hearts."
1 John 3:16-18
'This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.
And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If anyone has
material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them,
how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with
words or speech but with action and in truth."
Proverbs 11: 25
"A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed."
How is all this translated immediate, genuine, operative?
******
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God help us as we help each other.
Love to all.
God Bless,
John Frank
frankly speaking
spirituality for the street
johnfrankshares.blogspot.com
******
