Wednesday, January 3, 2024

WAKE UP


BEFORE WE GET STARTED


       Here's to a 

   HAPPY NEW YEAR

Our first time together 

in this new year 

will take longer than usual

to get from start to finish.

Every once in a while

that happens.

May this be a 

worthwhile happening.

May it be worth

the extra stretch.

May it set us on a 

  God Course

       for

The New Year


It might help to

 Pray Ponder 

smaller portions

each day this week.


As this new year 

    awakens

    may we 

  more really, 

  more deeply,

hear and live a 

      YES

as God Call us

      to a 

 Wonderous

  Wake Up

   ******


Dear All of Us,

Getting up - Waking up.  

For some they go together. 

For others there is 

a definite time lag. 

In our family 

some wake up talking,

some really don't want 

to talk until after lunch. 

For sure, it requires 

      patience 

        and 

 accommodation.


In our human family 

it's pretty much the same. 

As people and as peoples 

we wake up, 

we come to 

consciousness, 

in different ways and

to different degrees.

It requires 

        patience 

          and 

   accommodation.


Scientists tell us that 

if we scale time 

in terms of a

twenty-four-hour day,

from The Big Bang 

to just now, 

we people showed up 

at 11:59 PM, 

nanoseconds 

before midnight. 

We just got here. 

We are just beginning 

to wake up,

to catch on to 

   Reality,

 to become 

 conscious 

      of  

What Really 

     Is


There is a huge difference 

in how that goes for us

individually and collectively,

goes well or not so well. 

Some are catching on.

Some are fogged out. 

Some are on the go. 

Some haven't even 

opened their eyes yet. 

Some are cranky.

Some are gracious 

and loving.

Some are hard 

and hurting.

Some are free 

and playful.


Yes, it takes 

a truck load of 

    patience 

       and 

accommodation. 

That does and 

doesn't happen.  

We see it in

the spread of 

the people and 

peoples we are

over time and 

from place to place.

We see it in our doing, 

or not doing,

then and here, 

in our history and 

our moment now -

Wondrously Real 

      and 

Terribly Unreal

    Examples 

       and 

    Contrast: 

 - Jesus,

 - Hitler, 

 - the development 

   of farming, 

 - today's synthetic foods 

   and water supply

   laced with PFAS 

   ("forever chemicals"), 

  - the gift of modern media, 

  - malicious misinformation, 

  - Quakers, 

  - White Nationalists, 

  - the development 

    of democracies, 

  - dictators and 

    demagogues. 

  - In the United States 

    from the beginning 

    we legitimated 

    the racial rape

    that is slavery,

    killed way over 

    half a million 

    of our own over it

    - a not at all civil war - 

    maimed multitudes more

    and are now 

    twitching in tension 

    over the horror 

    neither fully admitted 

    nor close to resolved. 

    As a people 

    we have yet 

    to wake up to and

    face this hideous 

    social/moral nightmare.

  - There was a 

     glorious expansion 

     of learning and art 

     during the Middle Ages 

     and Renaissance

   - current culture wars.


Yes, it seems

we are just starting 

to wake up to 

     Reality

and that "we" 

doesn't yet mean 

all of us. 

So, the need for 

spirituality of 

   patience 

      and 

accommodation

with ourselves 

and others.

It means right 

where we are 

and as we are, 

in the most immediate 

and practical of ways 

to awaken to

    Reality 

exercising patience 

and accommodate 

as others do or 

don't do the same.


May we get beyond 

just a devotional nod to 

God's Wake Up Calls 

so clearly voices for us

in our scriptures.

Let's hear all and full.

Let's awaken to them 

a little at a time

and ever more fully.

Let's Pray Pause 

over each line.

How is it to be 

heard and lived 

in our here and now?

What does it reveal 

about being conscious, 

being awake 

       to 

    Reality

       to 

 The Limitless

   Expanse 

 That Is God

   

THE WAKE UP CALL

 - "Do unto others as 

   you would have them 

   do unto you." 

       Matthew 7:12

    Accepting that other 

    is us another way


- "Love God, neighbor 

          as self" 

   Matthew 22:37-40

   and do it with 

   all you've got, 

   flat out, full torque - 

   be a red hot lover!

 -  "...if you are 

    lukewarm, 

    I will spit you out 

    of my mouth..."

    Revelation 3:16

    Seems that ultimately 

    we are "all in" or...

      "To be or not to be.

       That is the question." 

       Yah, you got 

       a point there, Will!

 

- Be child-like 

  in wonder and 

   simplicity 

   " ...the kingdom 

    of heaven 

    belongs to 

    such as these."

   Matthew 19: 14


 - Live the gifts 

  we are and have. 

  Make room and respect 

  the gifts of others.

  Be united as 

  The Body of Christ:

 "There are 

  different kinds 

  of gifts, 

  but the same Spirit... 

  Now to each one 

  the manifestation 

  of the Spirit

  is given for 

  the common good...

   Now the body 

  is not made up of 

  one part but of many..." 

  l Corinthians 12:1-31

  Honor, get excited 

  about our 

     part and place

         in the 

  Symmetry of Unity

 

 - "God is love." 

     l John 8:4

    Live that love - 

    radical real

    personally, 

    collectively,

    practically.

  

 - "Love is patient, kind, 

    does not envy, 

    does not boast, 

    is not proud, rude, 

    self-seeking,

    is not easily angered,

    keeps no record 

    of wrongs, 

    does not delight 

    in evil, 

    but rejoices 

    with the truth,

    it always protects, trusts

    hopes, perseveres, 

    never fails..."

   l Corinthians 13: 4-8

   Worth getting out of bed for!

   A great criteria 

           for 

    School Board 

           to 

      Presidency

           for 

      family life

           to 

neighborhood rapport

and that worldwide.

 

- Dress in 

  wrap around goodness: 

 "Therefore as God's 

   chosen people, 

   holy and dearly loved, 

   cloth yourselves with 

   compassion, kindness, 

   humility, gentleness, 

   and patience. 

   Bear with each other 

   and forgive 

   whatever grievance 

   you may have 

   against one another. 

   Forgive as 

   the Lord forgave you.  

   And over all 

   these virtues

   put on love, 

   which binds them 

   together in perfect unity."

     Colossians 3:12- 14

   Now that's really living  

              and 

        being dressed 

       for the occasion!



During his teen and 

young adult years

my Uncle Charles had

the hardest 

of hard times

getting up.

His brothers and friends 

would have to throw 

cold water on him

or roll him 

onto the floor

to get him up.

Awake came later.

May God have 

better luck with us!!


"The hour has come 

for you to wake up 

from your slumber, 

because our salvation 

is nearer now than when

we first believed."

   Romans 13:11


      A HAPPY

     NEW NOW

       ******



For those of us 

who have time 

and wish

to delve deeper 

over the next week into

  Waking To Wonder 

       please see 

      FURERANCE

          below


            WELCOME 
         
                 to

       frankly speaking

   spirituality for the street

johnfrankshares.blogspot.com

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        ******


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       Thanks!

       ******


History will be rewritten 

- better and prior to that, 

we will actually have 

a future to write about -

if our time becomes 

            A 

 GREAT AWAKENING

        ******



FURTHERANCE

Let's get beyond 

devotional reading 

of the scriptures above.

Let's Pray Ponder over 

their wake-up call, 

do so radical real

- How can each invite, 

each line, even word, 

wake us up and

come alive in us, 

as persons and 

as a people?

Let's see it and say it 

and live it - actually, 

practically, personally 

and as a people.

Let's feel deeply 

the truth that

others are us

in different ways -

even more deeply, 

that others and 

each of us are 

God Sprung

     and 

God Centered

in all kinds of 

delightfully 

different ways - 

wake up to 

Sacred Oneness

Uniquely Diversified. 

- "Do unto others..." 

       who are 

 God Splendidly Present. 

 What does it mean 

 to be "kind" to "kin," 

 others closer to us than 

 tribe, type, or temperament?

 Honestly and practically, 

 what about the church's 

     Wake Up Call?

        ******

            Be well

   See you next week.

          Again

   HAPPY NEW NOW

        Love to all.

       John Frank

         ******