Wednesday, February 28, 2024

SOLO SOCIAL


LENTEN RETREAT IV

        Leave

     * Solitude

        Silence

        Method  

           

       Welcome

       Session I 

        PAUSE 

       Session II

        SMUDGE

       Session III

        LEAVE

      are available 

      by scrolling 

     down beneath 

      this posting

      ++++++


Dear All of Us, 

Sounds silly,

but going solo

gets us going social

and vice versa.

It's like the see-saw

of our childhood.

One balances the other.

Well, should!

Too often don't!

That can hurt.

It did me.

As a little guy, 

my friend, Danny, wasn't.

He was twice 

as heavy as me.

I knew nothing of physics.

He got me on a see saw

and tortured 

the living heck out of me.

Really hurt and frightened.

That lack of balance

(moral and corporeal)

ruined any further socializing

with him.


So such much of social life 

in our day and way.

Way off balance, 

tortures us sick.


    The Desert 

Mothers and Fathers

saw social sickness 

and got out of Dodge.

Went solo.

Leave they desert did,

into emptiness for fullness.

They went solo to be communal. 

They stepped away from 

the maddening crowd  

that was wildly chasing after 

nothing and finding just that,

unending nothingness.

In solitude they found 

their true selves and

true balance with others.

In the desert solitude 

they found 

sacred significance of

self and society.

They then founded

communities of such.


For sanity and soul 

we sometimes 

have to go solo 

and get out of Dodge.

It could be 

toxic employment, 

pseudo church,

poisonous political partizans,

ruinous relationships,

attempting worth 

and depth with illusions

of power, possession, prestige,

conspicuous consumption, 

going faster and faster 

to nowhere,

media adduction,

"gotta have grab,"

dopped, deluded, 

stuffed with stuff.


From such stuff 

we go solo.

That aloneness 

frightens at first.

The quiet of 

  Solo Spirit 

progressively 

shows and confirms

our God-Given Self.

It sensitizes us 

to realness

in self and in other. 

It frees from the allure 

of posturing.

It enthuses spirit.

It clarifies our unique self

and our place and pace in

God's weaving forth Creation.

We are readied for balance of 

self and community.

That's exactly what 

desert solitude 

did for those early people

seeking to live 

  "Essential Christianity"

They became communities 

of shared life and support.


This week in our retreat group,

or with a trusted soul friend,

it would be so good to share 

- what kind of Dodge 

  we personally must leave

- like Jesus in the desert

  of his Solo Retreat, 

  how do we tell 

  The Father of Lies

  "To go to hell!!"

- like Jesus, how do 

  we go solo in 

  time apart and prayer

- what frightens us about 

      Spirit Solitude,

      about being 

      who we really are 

      in and of God,

      about waiting 

      and working for true

      Christian community?

- to sensitively and simply affirm 

  each in our group as we 

  go solo to go social in Christ.

This week we spend 

time and yearning with

     Matthew 4:1-11

      Desert Testing

       The Message

        translation

       

       - free online -

           Google

   The Message Matthew 4:1-11


What was the lure then?

What is the lure now?

How do we life answer?

 

Real and right,

we are freed 

     to be

  Spirit Self

   Together

SOLO SOCIAL

   ******


Next Edition

        Online: Wednesday

                    March 6, 2024

         Email:  Friday

                    March 8, 2024

             ******

It just gets better and better

as we gather here from there.

This week was a wrap around 

of us from fourteen different

          homelands -

         Luxembourg 

               to 

        South Korea 

               to 

           Ireland 

      capped off with 

       a large group

     from Singapore

 and of first timers from

           Brazil

     THE GATHERED

      as we together

  RETREAT FORWARD

         ******


   SOON AFTER EASTER

a special and rather unique

offering will be coming our way

      ELDERCHRIST

          ******


        frankly speaking

   spirituality for the street

johnfrankshares.blogspot.com

      Click title top left


LAST FIVE POSTINGS

Pleas scroll down beneath 

the current posting


May we all have a 

Lenten Retreat 

    forward, 

 a refreshing

    PAUSE

See you next week.

Holding one and all

in love and prayer,

   John Frank

     ******