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.
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spirituality for the street
johnfrankshares.blogspot.com
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See you next week.
Love to all.
God Bless,
John frank
******