COMING OUT

Dear All of Us,

They were many 

over much of years.

They came out.

They had to work at it.

They had to relax into it.

They let me companion them.

They taught me much.

       Our spiritual lives 

         are basically a

          Coming Out

   It's way more than sex.

            It's soul.

We don't decide 

to come out 

as this or that:

Methodist, Buddhist, 

Catholic,

monk, activist,

liberal, traditional,

leader, follower,

effusive, reserved,

speculative, practical,

mostly solitary,

mostly socializing,

theological, mystical,

here or there,

now or when?

All that is consequential.

We don't so much decide 

who and how we are.

We relax into how God 

wants to happen as us.

We relax into 

our deepest self.

That's God.

That's Being.

We be in Being.

We let God Be us.

     It's God

   Coming Out

      as us.

"I am the vine, 

 you are the

 branches."

 (John 15:5)

We are how God wants 

     to branch out

         as us,

       beautiful

         as us, 

        fruitful

         as us.

We aren't source.

We are source specific.

We are source fruitful.

We are source unique.

We don't have to 

create ourselves,

sustain ourselves,

determine ourselves.

We relax into the vitality 

that is God.

We delight to be 

as we are in

Being Itself.

We lighten up

     and 

     up 

we grow/go

in our unique

God Outing -

Methodist, 

mystical, 

activist,

emotional, 

reflective

    or...

In a highly 

self-centered culture

we are urged

to branch out 

on our own.

That severs source.

That disconnects.

That wilts.

That kills.

To maul 

the metaphors,

a horse that 

decides to be 

a car 

isn't going 

anywhere.

Relaxing into our 

   True Selves

   Welcoming 

   God Good

   Coming Out

      as our 

   True Selves

  takes a lot of

  time and turns.

Fear, culture, 

selfishness,

grow us wrong.

That means 

trimming.

             

   Coming Out

 means patience

   bloom, bud

   flower, fruit.

   No forced fast growth.

Branch that we are,

we sometimes lean

a little too much

this way and that.

We up as we right.

       Yes

 time and turn

     to grow.

It's nowhere near 

"One and done."

In my spiritual 

  Coming Out

over a long 

growth season

I had to adjust 

to different angles 

so as to catch 

the sun (Son)and grow:

one denomination 

and then turning 

to another 

denominational 

radiance,

monastery, 

seminary,

priest, 

pastor,

teacher, 

administrator,

retreat leader,

preacher, 

spiritual director,

single,

married,

father and 

thanks to Ollie, 

grandfather,

now long in the tooth

(and glad to have some!)

elderly, writer,

    getting 

Harvest Ready

 The Ultimate

 COMING OUT

     FOR REFLECTION

Coming Out means Going In

to that which is at our center, 

that which is the 

source and substance 

of who we are.

It's lovely!

It's Love Itself

It's God.

"God is love."

 (1 John 4:8)

We relax in the embrace.

We let God forth as us.

What's in our heart 

longing for our unique 

     COMING OUT?

Paradox: 

We are one and we are unique.

"You are not God and

 you are not not God."

     St. Bonaventure

Go figure.

Go flower.

Go grow.

All it takes is 

to fall in Love

and let it out

in your special way.

That's truly

    COMING OUT

      ******

   Deepest thanks 

   to my dear friend 

   Michael Schaadt.

   A recent conversation 

we had was the inspiration 

       for this blog 

     and much else.

           ******

NEXT ONLINE POSTING

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      September 3, 2024

      Where did summer go?

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      September 6, 2024

            WELCOME

                 to

        frankly speaking

   spirituality for the street

johnfrankshares.blogspot.com

    

Our weekly gathering here

       unites us in a

       SOUL SHARE

      We come from 

      a rich variety

              of 

    lands and peoples

        Each week 

    new individuals 

       and groups 

         join in. 

      This week 

  two large groups

          from

     THAILAND

          and

   THE UNITED 

     KINGDOM

  were among 

 those joining in.

 We give thanks!

LAST FIVE POSTINGS

    AVAILABLE

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   scrolling down

beneath this posting

 Looking forward 

to us being together 

  here next week.

Prayers for a wondrous

    OUT COME

   Love to all.

   God Bless,

   John Frank

     ******

       

     

 

 

 

CONSPIRACY

                                                                    CAUTION

                                                   Readers be aware. 

                                        High grade sunglasses are advised.

                                        What follows is not all that brilliant.

                                                             It is

                                                         INTENSE!!

                                                                                  

Dear All of Us,

There are more Conspiracy Theories threatening us today than there are toilets to 

flush them down the drain, which is where they come from. 

Nothing new except the malicious magnitude of present, pernicious, potty minds 

and truth unsocial mouths.

"Nothing new," Example from my youth: 

In the early 1950's the Trappist Monks founded a monastery in Berryville, VA.

To support themselves they baked Monks' Bread and sold it in the Greater 

Washington, DC Area. 

The surplus bread they sent to local towns in rural Virginia offering it for free.

No Takers. 

      "There's Catholic Truth Serum in that bread. 

       Them monks are trying to turn us Catholic." 

True and terrible.

True and even more terrible "today":

The plague of falsehood fouling the media in our not so "right" now. 

Noxious and putrid, it out does the worst of the pollutions in the air. 

But breath in both we do. 

Society sickens.

The media manipulates to get attention, a following and thus power and profit. 

It's a contemporary take on the Roman emperors' connivance dulling to control  

the Roman populace: "Give them bread and circus."  

       Commercial Control

       Political Control

          Both abusive, 

          Both lethal

The media merchants peddle new contortions/deceptions of truth 

from political distortions,

to the latest from the local Cuckoo's Nest, 

to slanting and slashing the news. 

They trivialize our attention and awareness with inane and incessant messaging. 

They mislead us with a cancer of misinformation, false values and preoccupations. 

Their construct is a trough draining directly from the pigsty of Evil Empire. 

They sell us soul sick.

                           The most dangerous conspiracy today is 

                           the media itself and its Media Masters.

They are controlling us, setting us up for one hell of a down. 

They focus on news, sports, politics, entertainment, advertising 

and bastardize each. 

They pervert truth and degrade ideal. 

They preoccupy the public with trashy, low caliber "entertainment." 

They make a religion and business of athletics. 

They seduce us into brothels of consumerism and consumption.

Net result, a controlled, agitated, restless, dulled and dupped public and 

a money orgy for the media lords and corporate sorts who bank roil them.

Factor in a wild run with AI and we have more than a problem!

These money pimps draw us away from the vast number of clean, good, 

people and projects that are true blue and really newsworthy. 

Those proliferate, we are rich in them, yet they are thrown under the media bus. 

They are the real deal, yet they are ignored for prostitutions of pleasure, 

possession and power.

For all the folly and filth media broad casts, there is great good news. 

It is widespread across lands and peoples. 

We find it vibrant in a plenty of faith traditions. 

A superlative example from the Jewish Tradition is a wonderful man, 

gifted and giving - Itzhak Perlman. 

He's good news. 

He is also one of the finest violinists gracing our time. 

Some years ago, he was playing at Lincoln Center. 

This world class violinist's walking is impaired by polio. 

So, when he reached his place, he loosened his brace and extended his leg. 

Now ready, the symphony began. 

As Itzhak played one of his four violin strings snapped. 

Everyone heard it. 

The orchestra stopped. 

Would he attach his braze and get a new string? 

After a moment of thought, Itzhak signaled the conductor to continue. 

Improvising and adapting, he played the rest of the symphony with three strings. 

The audience was ecstatic in applause. 

Perlman told them that our mission in life is to make music with 

whatever is left to us. 

That's front page.

In rural areas, small towns, sprawling suburbs, busy cities, there are dear, 

beautiful people living real and right. 

They make wondrous music.  

In simple to intricate fashions they are furthering God's Good Creation 

in harmonious ways. 

It happens in homes, at work, in school, at Little League games, food pantries, at 

prayer sessions, social action groups, on farms, in factories, and offices. 

They are taking God at his word. That Word is Jesus,

                                        "the Word made flesh",  

                                        "the way, the truth, and the life" (1) 

So many, so really, are enfleshing that Word of God Good 

in the neighborhoods of our shared now. 

They have a good "way" to go about life.

They have a "truth" to be and count on.

They have a "life" to live and share. 

All this is God Love real and realized. They are the 

                                                 GOOD NEWS

                                                 local edition

                                    

Conspire means to "con" "spiritus," breath together. 

That can be fresh. 

That can be polluted. 

Thank God for the fresh air of those making music with 

what is left to them where they are and as they are. 

                                     Our spirituality is to breath with them, 

                                     make music with them. It's a grand,

                                                      God Good

                                                    CONSPIRACY 

                                                       ******  

                            So yes, now go ahead and turn on the air conditioner. 

                                          I admit to emitting intensity

                                                   and pray light.

                                                      ******

                                           (1) John 1:14 and 14:6

NEXT ONLINE POSTING

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      August 27, 2024

NEXT EMAIL DELIVERY

      Friday

      August 30, 2024

       IT'S A DELIGHT

               to

         WELCOME

      everyone here at

      frankly speaking

  spirituality for the street

    (If that is not obvious, 

     let's try a reread of

     the posting above)

johnfrankshares.blogspot.com

This week we welcomed 

new groups from 

            INDIA

             and

             USA

 

LAST FIVE ONLINE POSTING

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        scrolling down 

   beneath this posting

    CAN WE CONSPIRE

            and

    each of us share

    frankly speaking

       with others?

        Hope so!

We would never allow 

our children to be 

sexually seduced and abused.

We simply must not allow

our children, indeed, our

soul or society to be

seduced and abused

by sheer, sinful 

Truth Perverters.

      Rather

Violin or not,

here we go 

to make music,

to further 

the harmony of 

God Good Creation.

See you next week.

    Love to all,

    John Frank

     ******

CONVERSATION

   

          Dear All of Us,

            You know, 

          it's just plain, 

         old fashioned 

              good,

           make that 

             GREAT 

              for us 

      to be together here

           each week.

             We are 

varied and different as can be

from places and persuasions

varied and different as can be,

     China, Germany, USA

     Protestants, Catholics, 

        Nones, Not Sures, 

and these in variations

and multiples of many,

yet, happily very much one, 

all seeking to make 

our way spiritually,

finding ourselves 

one in God.

           

              So, ok, 

  what should we talk about 

            this week?

     Since it's my blessing

        to say that what,

         let's talk about

              TALK

      and it's completion

              HEAR

              That's

        CONVERSATION

        In it's purity, 

       CONVESATION

 (L) con= together, with

 (L) versare= to turn

      is turning together

      heads and hearts

      to hear, to see, 

      to say-share

      what we can 

          of what 

             IS

     

    CONVERSATION

        is sharing

        particulars 

   of our perception 

         of what

            IS

        REALITY 

         ACTUALITY

              GOD

    It's all inclusive,

   conversing about 

       car repair 

            to 

    divine embrace.

   COVERSATION 

   gone sour-sick

   is a particular of

      rejecting,

  misrepresenting,

       REALITY

      ACTUALITY

      WHAT IS

         GOD

   

Ah, but yet again 

I'm getting spacy. 

So, a simple sample.

My little Grand Son, 

         Ollie,

three going on thirty.

has a way of talking 

that makes for good 

   CONVERSATION

   if we hear him 

   as he talks it

   in his way.

The first day it was 

ninety plus degrees 

here in DC this summer,

and for the first time ever, 

Ollie went to school in shorts.

When he got home 

that evening he said:

     "Mommy, I like 

      my tiny pants."

Ollie didn't know 

the word "shorts,"

but he found a way 

to talk his liking for them

and his Mom found a way 

to hear him talk it his way.

 

All of this underscores 

the uniqueness 

of talk and of hear

and what makes for

    God Good

CONVERSATION

When we have not 

minded, hearted, done so,

blood has been shed,

friendships fractured,

peace shattered,

truth denied,

communities conflicted,

churches severed,

justice denied,

environments degraded.

We all have our 

ways, manner, 

conditioning, 

slants in say 

     and 

takes to hear.

We talk and hear

more than words.

Both pass through 

filters of life lived 

well to horribly. 

To tell a man 

severely beaten 

as boy by his father 

that God is our

Loving Father

is talk 

not to be heard

as spoken.

To insist that 

sacred writings 

scripted in a 

foreign culture,

in a far ago 

time and tongue

must be heard 

literally in our talk, 

well it will be 

an unholy hell of a

 CONVERSATION: 

"pluck out your eye"

"cut off your hand"

        Jesus

  Mathew 5:29-30

       REALLY?

There's a lot more than 

transliteration to it.

We have to work

at hearing 

what is said 

as it is said -

culture, 

time in history,

figures of speech,

experience base,

personality and bias 

of speaker.

No wonder 

combat veterans

don't talk about it much.

It can't be said 

nor can it be heard easily.

Few mystics talk of it.

Those who do 

stutter metaphor.

We live in a 

time and context

word flooded 

and often fowled.

    Jesus said 

we will be accountable

for every word spoken.

    Matthew 12:36

Jesus isn't running 

at the mouth here.

We really need 

to hear him, 

as in heed him.

CONVERSATION

about God can be 

sacred and soul full.

We talk our perceptions

humbly, knowing 

they are limited, 

as mine are here.

We hear another

in their talk terms, 

not ours.

That gets us 

turned together.

toward God.

  It is the same 

whether we are in

  CONVERSATION 

       about 

politics, sports, 

recipes, the kids, 

gardening, the job.

    Conversation 

mundane to mystical

         seeks 

talking and hearing 

that turn us together

        toward

         what

           IS

       REALITY

     ACTUALITY

         GOD

however it presents,

mundane to mystical.

Eventually we realize 

    that at core

we are in conversation

turned together toward 

some form or other of  

    God Presence

That can happen 

on our knees 

as well as at the 

auto repair shop.

      Gotta go!

Have a call from Ollie.

Here comes a simple,

   Godly Good

 CONVERSATION 

     ******

PS

My friend, 

Phil Russo says

God had a reason 

for giving us 

one mouth 

and two ears.

   ******

       A LITTLE TALK 

    WORTH HEARING

"Therefore each of you 

  must put off falsehood 

  and speak truthfully 

  to your neighbor,

  for we are all 

  members of one body...

  Do not let any

  unwholesome talk 

  come out of your mouths, 

  but only what is helpful 

  for building others up 

  according to their needs, 

  that it may benefit 

  those who listen..." 

  Ephesians 4:25 and 29 

          

       What do we say to this?

       How do we hear it?

       How do we hear 

       politicians,

       advertisers, 

       social media?

      What do we 

      have to say

      at home, 

     at work, 

     on our cell phones,

     in our texting,

     over the back fence?

A WORD FROM JESUS 

  ABOUT TALKING

 "Let me tell you 

  something:

  Every one of 

  these careless words 

  is going to come back 

  to haunt you. 

  There will be 

  a time of 

  Reckoning. 

  Words are powerful: 

  take them seriously. 

  Words can be 

  your salvation. 

  Words can be 

  your damnation."

  Matthew 12:36-37

    The Message

      Recommended

A high protein word diet.

Next Online Posting

        Tuesday Evening

        East Coast USA

        August 20, 2024

Next Email delivery

         Friday

         August 23, 2024

LAST FIVE POSTINGS

       AVAILABLE

  Simply scroll down 

  below this posting

  Great to be in conversation

            here at

      frankly speaking

   spirituality for the street

johnfrankshares.blogspot.com

               and

         A WIDE OPEN 

          WELCOME

  to our first time visitors,

  among them large groups 

             from 

     The Netherlands 

              and 

           Iceland

    See you next week.

         Love to all.

        God Bless,

        John frank

         ******

  

     

           

     

    

  

FAN FACT

Dear All of Us,

There's a 

brand new 

old fad 

kicking around

just now.

We take something 

we really like.

We work it.

We don't let it end.

We play it forward.

The "it" here is fiction

- novels, movies, 

  tv series and such.

We pick up 

the story line,

the characters. 

We write them forward.

Our favored fictions, 

so developed by us,

are posted online 

for all to see.

It's called

       FAN FICTION

Spirituality is

       FAN FACT

We further what we favor.

We do something with it.

We don't let it end.

We play it forward.

We script it in

attitude and action 

- our actual, factual living.

What we so script is posted

in plain sight for all to see. 

Spirituality 

flourishes when

we are life right,

we write right, 

     true 

      to 

    author, 

charter and plot.

We are such "fans"

that we live and breath them.

They continue and develop 

in our unique telling.

Not to be missed, 

  so we again

  see it, say it 

  some more.

We are God Fans 

   Big Time!

God is author, 

character and plot.

We are absorbed.

We can't get enough

         AND

God writes us 

into the story 

and the telling.

We are intimately 

in on it.

Let's take five 

for a few flips.

This is superlative

on steroids!

We are not only fans,

we get to live the story 

and to tell it in the living.

We are right there

in the writers' guild

with the prophets, Paul, 

and all the rest of the 

earlier story tellers.

      Like them 

we experience the story 

and can't keep it to ourselves.

We tell it in terms unique to us:

our personality, gifts, graces, 

talents, location and culture,

even hang ups and short comings.

We do so enthused and joyous.

And sad to see and say

there are contrary storylines

being pushed public.

There are a lousy lot of narratives

flooding media, political parties,

economics, education, 

phony-fraud religiosity,

these turbulent, troubling times.

They are seeping into 

psyche, soul,

action and reaction.

They are getting institutionalized 

in movements, political parties,

even laws and libraries.

They are lethal forever chemicals

poisoning our social - spiritual flow.  

We so need 

             FAN FACT

       people in love with 

         The Good Story

         The God Story

         God Glad Fans

        living a narrative 

             fresh, full

          real and right

      alive and enlivening

          freeing society 

            from theses 

          horror stories, 

   these negative narratives.

Most of our telling 

is not in words.

We write large 

in the living. 

Just going to church, 

not stealing or 

committing adultery,

don't cut it.

Our society 

needs people

fired up in 

God Love,

co-authoring 

new, vigorous chapters 

            in  

  THE GOOD NEWS

So we not only test 

     God Positive

We publish 

     God Positive.

We are a 

      FAN IN FACT

        ******

NEXT ONLINE POSTING

      Tuesday Evening

       East Coast USA

       August 14, 2024

NEXT EMAIL DELIVERY

       Friday

       August 14,2024

 GREETINGS AND WELCOME

What a great gathering of us

         this past week

      from thirty nations,

            here at

      frankly speaking

  spirituality for the street

johnfrankshares.blogspot.com

       so diverse, so one,

           so blessed.

 

     LAST FIVE POSTING

         AVAILABLE

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    well below this posting

         If you can, 

       please share 

     frankly speaking 

       with others.

         Thanks!

   See you next week.

        Love to all.

        God Bless

       John Frank

         ******