Tuesday, October 29, 2024

PRECIS

Dear All of Us,

Come on!

Be a sport.

For just a minute

let's play pedantic.


       So, here goes.

         A Starbucks 

fifteen dollar gift certificate 

for the first one to define

         " PRECIS "

       in five words

          or less.

        Let's try it.

          

          PAUSE

      

 And the winner is:

 "Summary of a longer text"

       Congratulations!

          Enjoy your 

          Starbucks'

        Clover Vertica

         Guatemala

     Huehuetentenango

Hey, that's sure a mouthful!


Speaking of 

"a mouthful",

well I do.

Most of us preachers do.

We just plain talk too much.

We kick up a dust storm 

of words and call it a sermon. 

We were taught better.

For me way back there in 1965 

it was seminary professor, 

Father O.J. Miller,

in Preaching 101.

We had to give a 

one sentence

   PRECIS 

   of our 

 the sermon 

we were preparing:

"The point of this sermon is ..."

Father Miller was spot on.

Do that and you really know 

what you're talking about and

so will the people in the pews.


In spirituality circles 

there is a tendency 

to do just that - 

go in circles,

mist up the mystical,

word overload.

    (God forbid that 

 should happen here!)


With all do respect, 

and I really so mean that,

 even our prime source

           our 

     Master Class

       The Bible 

   does that some.

   By count there are

    783,137 words in

    The King James 

      translation.

    For all of that, 

     what's the 

 point on the pencil?


Here's my try at an answer, 

                a

   SPIRITUALITY PRECIS

For all those words it's this.

    

    "Spirituality is about

         God is love.

        (1 John 4:8)

             and

       living that out

              by 

           Loving

            God

         neighbor

            self.

    (Mark 12:30-31)"


For all the words,

techniques,

rituals, regimens,

prayers, practices,

schools of thought

cycling in current 

    spiritualty

the baseline word

   and reality

    is simply 

the always same: 

      LOVE


      LOVE

is an action verb.

We give ourselves 

in every way,

all the time, 

completely,

really,

personally,

practically, 

flat out,

vigorously, 

    a la 

The Sermon 

on the Mount, 

The Beatitudes,

  - All of it -

in thought, word, deed,

action and attitude

      to the 

     Ultimate,

         to 

        God 

       who is 

     Love Itself

        and

    present in 

    all creation.

     (Please don't tell

      Father Miller of these 

      run on sentences,

     so shy of short!!!)


Of a oneness in that 

   "Give God Love"

we wrap in absolutely 

every one of 

our neighbors

in all Creation:

people, places,

powers, presences,

babies to trees,

enemies to intimates,

riders on the bus 

the bright and beautiful,

the hurt and hurting,

a Spring flower to 

an Autumn leaf.


While we're at it, 

we give 

the same love

to our

God given,

God desired,

God loved 

very own 

  selves.     

   

         Love 

God-Neighbor-self 

 

Spirituality is so simple:

          Love

    that's the point.

We give ourselves away,

     who we are,

     what have,

   what we can do

       because 

    We Become 

  What We Love.

  Love is a merger.

     It's a wrap.

        It's a 

Trinity Of Oneness.

God - Neighbor - Self

         ONE

       IN LOVE

      That's the 

point on the pencil

scripting everything.

          Love 

spirituality to the point

     in a one word

        PRECIS

        ******

PS 

Enjoy your Starbucks.

I obviously don't qualify!

And by the way.

I actually went online

to our local Starbucks 

and copied down that

God awful long name

  Clover Vertica

    Guatemala

Huehuetentenango

That is such a mouthful

times two and 

big bucks to boot!

         ******


Next Online Posting

Tuesday Afternoon/Evening

East Coast USA Time

November 5, 2024

A day like few ever before 

for those of us in the USA.

Please pray for us.


What a pleasant surprise 

this week to have first ever

visitors from 

    The Foroe Islands  

A warm welcome to you.


NEXT EMAIL DELIVERY

Friday

November 8, 2024


LAST FIVE POSTINGS

      AVAILABLE

           by

scrolling down below

      this posting


Looking forward 

to all of us 

being here 

together again

next week.

Plebian that I am,

I'll probably show up 

with a cup of

Maxwell House Mild. 

    Not much

super expensive

     "Ta Ta"

  around here!!

   Love to all,

  John Frank

    ******






Tuesday, October 22, 2024

VOICE AND VOTE


Dear All of Us,

And are you ever - ever so dear. 

I need to tell you that this is going to be tough.

So, a caution.

Please don't bother with this week's blog unless you are willing to risk comfort 

and face evil with good at a heavy cost to easy religiosity.              


Let me tell you where I'm coming from.

I ask your indulgence as I do this in a rather rambling manner,

kind of work our way in from left field.


Like most all of us, I've had to stick my neck and more out

over these my many years for rightness and it's not easy or fun.

I know you have as well.

Please let me share two examples of mine.


I helped lead a civil rights march in a racist red area of rural Maryland. 

I actively participated in other marches in Washington, DC and in Klu Klux Klan

laden central Indiana all in the 60"s and one in Northern New Jersey later.

Each one posed considerable personal and professional peril.


I risked misunderstanding and even suspicion for getting close to gay 

folks, trying to support them as they worked their way to

self-acceptance, self-respect and eventually joy of self.

It meant things like me going to gay bars, inviting gay people to church 

activities, taking them on retreats, offering shelter in moments of crisis under 

the questioning scrutiny of families and church people, like letting 

one crashing gay teen stay overnight at the rectory.  

The back fences buzzed.


So that's a bit about where I come from in terms of 

sticking out my neck and more.

 

And now here's where I'm going.

My quiet, pleasant retirement may be going, too! 

What follows is me 

sticking out my neck and more

in a never before way

and suggesting we all do so.

             

I have never ever 

   even once 

done this before 

  as a pastor

    that is


TALK ABOUT

HOW TO VOTE

   

     A lot

 like rarely 

ever before 

is at stake.

Time to shift

our spiritual

acuity and resolve

into high gear

God help us!


We here in The States are up against one of the toughest and most telling 

elections in our history, one that will profoundly set course for our future

if we are to even have one.

At the risk of seeming a Yankee Jingoist, it will also affect world order/disorder. 

As people striving to live a true and real spiritual life it is incumbent on us 

to accurately size up and respond to what's at issue here, and do so in Jesus, 

                        "The way, the truth, and the life."

                                    John 14:6  

                               VOICE AND VOTE


Our fix is a carbon of the so-called followers of Jesus Christ in Germany 

during the 1930's and 40's.

The leaders of the two most prominent churches in Germany, the Roman 

Catholic and Lutheran denominations, protected perks over being prophetic.

They did not voice truth or lead a holy resistance.

They played patsy with an out-of-control wronging right and 

its mastermind of mass murder, Adolf Hitler.

In addition to the millions of military dead and maimed on all sides, 

over five and a half million Jews were tortured and then murdered.

               (Atlas of the Holocaust by Martin Gilbert)  

They were murdered for no other reason than Hitler, 

like all fascists, needed 

a scapegoat enemy.

He set the Jews up as a threat and himself as savior.

In addition, actually SUBTRACTION, three point three million 

Soviet prisoners of war, one point eight million Poles, 

three hundred ten thousand Serbs, gays, Roma, political 

prisoners (Deitrich Bonhoffer), homosexual persons, 

and handicapped people were executed.

           (The US Holocaust Museum, Washington, DC)

An evil, one of the most heinous in all human history, wasn't challenged by people 

claiming to be Followers of Jesus. They let it happen. They even cooperated with it.

What a horrid copout.

Look what it allowed.


Those Roman Catholic and Lutheran clergy wore vestments at church 

died red in the blood of millions.

The pews were full of apathetic go alongs  to vigorous Nazi supporters.


So here I am, just a little old retired pastor person.

I could duck what's before us and just watch TV all day.

Well, I cannot!

I must stick out this tired old neck again.

We all must.

That' what I'm leading up to.


Here's how I see it.

We have a lot of dear and really good folks, 

and some terribly dangerous sorts, 

who are rip roaring mad at the way things are 

here in the USA and globally. 

It's just like the Germans after World War I. 

They had lost how it was.

They didn't have it good. 

Social upset and unrest.

Social divide and anger.

Just change the dates and particulars 

and check it out in the Rust Belt for example.

In addition to outsourcing overseas

industry is replacing lots of workers with robots.

Industry retools production but not employment 

for those workers machine replaced.

How do they support their families, save up for retirement?

Same sad in Appalachia for coal miners.

We've made strides in racial and gender matters and yet lots of basic, 

fine folks, have not been wrapped in, part of the consideration.

They don't understand.

They are thrown by it and are downright frustrated and ticked.  

They feel on the outs and are sick and tired of it all.

It's "Give me that old time ..." that never really was and can't be now.


I am in no way playing partisan politics here.

That's not my place.

I do need to herald the importance of our soon to be election.

I do need to challenge and state that we have 

some candidates for office that favor fascism.

Instead of Jews, they portray immigrants 

as our most pressing danger

when in fact they the candidates are

our most pressing danger.


Immigration is a concern for sure. 

It's a global concern.

It means a lot of reset,

but let's not be confused by the facts.


I live next to the construction site of a massive, 

new apartment complex here in DC.

Other than the Anglo bosses, all the hundreds of heavy lifters are Latino.

Check out the farm fields and meat packing houses cross the USA.

Take away the immigrants and a lot of suppers are gone as not so well.

Statistically, crime is lower among migrants than folks whose families were 

migrants generation or four ago.

They are not taking away jobs from native born Americans.

They are taking at low, low pay jobs that native born Americans don't want.

The whole thing is a problem that needs a lot of corrective.

But it is not a threat any more than all those Scotts, Germans and Irish, 

Sweeds, Italians and Poles and lots of others 

who made America what it is today.

That's how America was made great again,

and again and again and to our now.


Last Sunday on ABC TV's "THIS WEEK" there was an interview of

Republican Govenor Chris Sununu of New Hampshire.

He typified our danger.

He said of Donald Trump,

 "I don't like his rhetoric" 

and  then went on to his

    VOICE AND VOTE 

    for Donald Trump.

Hey, words are externalizing what's inside us.

"Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks." 

               Matthew 12:34-40

Consider the "rhetoric, reasoning and rhyme " 

coming out of Candidate Donald Trump's mouth:   

- I won the 2020 election and this after sixty some court cases across America 

   ruled that not one claim of voter fraud was found to be valid?

- Kamala Harris is a "s..t Vice President": abundance of the heart?

- Arnold Palmer's male measurements? 

- Praise for current dictators?

- Positive comments about Adolf Hitler's feats?

- Threat to use DOJ to punish political enemies?

- Military to be used domestically for control?

- Mass deporting of immigrants - legalities, costs, social impact?

- "I'll only be a fascist the first day" - suppose the sickness lasts and lasts

   more than that dreaded first fascist day??

- Political opponents are "The enemy within" ?

- Fear mongering: Immigrants eat people's pets?

- The Vice President's husband had an affair in his previous marriage. 

  What's that got to do with electing Kamala Harris?

  And by the way, how many affairs has Mr. Trump scored - 

  many more than one it seems.

- Those who stormed our Capital attempting to overthrow 

  democratic process and  the storming resulted in a number of deaths and 

  life trauma for some capital police are heroes and will be pardoned?

               "Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks."

                              What's at the heart here?


There are sadly many lap dog candidates spewing 

radical right twistings of free elections and constitutional democracy.

Fortunately, there seem to be some fine candidates on

both the Left and Right in the general election.

The concern is those who repeatedly lie, fabricate spurious unfounded facts 

to their supposed favor, who scuttle constitutional process and principals.


I in no way endorse voting for Kamala Harris.

That's up to each voter.

If we can't support her, 

we must not support an anti-democratic other.

We can still voice our vote by doing a write in ballot.

John Bolten of Trump's White House staff says 

he's doing a write in vote for Dick Chaney.


Again, the issue here is not Left or Right.

It is truth, human respect, commitment to justice 

and The Common Good.

Left would do that one way. 

Right would do that another way.

As long as our model is Jesus and his truth shared in the Beatitudes and 

The Sermon on the Mount things will be all right and no one will be left out.

Absent that we are in for a ride to hell.


In Germany fascism got off to a slow, quiet start.

People just let it go/grow. 

It was not sniped in the bad bud.

Right now we must snip.

I rarely say we must.

Right now we MUST.

   VOICE AND VOTE


Perhaps you wonder about my political stance.

Well, I am not a Democrat or a Republican.

I am a progressive traditionalist.

More often than not Democrats think 

I am a Republican and, yep, you guessed it, 

Republicans think I am a Democrat.

I recon I might just be on to something.


We who get together here at frankly speaking each week are pretty evenly spread

50/50 from my home country and lots of other lands - USA and international.

Whether we are from Bardstown Kentucky or London England please pray for us 

Americans at our crossroad.

May this cross be redemptive.

           We have

      VOICE  AND VOTE

           ******


NEXT ONLINE POSTING

Tuesday Afternoon/Evening

East Coast USA time

October 29, 2024


NEXT EMAIL DELIVERY

Friday

November 1, 2024

All Saints Day


LAST FIVE POSTINGS

      AVAILABLE

           by

scrolling down beneath

     this posting


        frankly speaking

    spirituality for the street

johnfrankshares.blogspot.com


Thanks for riding out this

difficult and critical matter

         together.

        Love to all.

        God Bless, 

       John Frank

         ******











 








Tuesday, October 15, 2024

HELP


Dear All of Us,

Every Saturday

my three and 

a half year old

  Grand Son

      Ollie

comes over for dinner

and of course he brings 

his parents with him.

My wife cooks a full

Sunday Dinner 

for us all every Saturday.

Ollie always charges in, 

goes straight for Grandma,

hugs and asks

     "Grandma, 

what did you make?"


Ollie, like his 

Grand Ma and Mom

is already a foodie.

He loves cooking 

and food matters.

He actually gets up on 

his riser and pitches in with

the food planning and prep.


Early last Saturday morning

Ollie and his Mom texted us.

How about they cook for us

and we dine at their home

this Saturday?


Well, Grand Pa here has 

significant mobility limits. 

Ollie and his parents live 

two long, steep flights up

in their apartment building.


Texting back to Ollie, 

I had some fun.

Sure, we'd love to come 

but it would be hard 

for Grand Pa to climb 

all those long steep stairs.

So, if I couldn't 

get back down

all those long steep stairs, 

would it be alright with Ollie 

if I slept on the couch 

and we get a crane 

on Monday 

to let me down

from the fire escape?


Ollies response was

pure and simple.

"I can help Grand Pa

get up the stairs."

He took a pass on

my try at humor, 

and any way,

that crane business 

was beyond his 

comprehension 

or competence.

Let it go.

Ollie just wanted us 

to come over and 

he would do what 

he could to help

Grand Pa.

Actually, he already had.

His concern and care,

his willingness to help, 

energized 

my determination

for the climb, 

lifted my spirits,

Ollie boy-ed me up.

   

These days it's a steep climb

for many most of us 

to get above the 

challenging chaos all about 

and the frightful future 

that threatens

to roll across us.

It's messing a lot of heads,

scaring a lot of hearts.

Can we get above it?

Is there anything 

we can do about it?

   NO and YES


               NO

We can do next to nothing

about the overriding threats.

If we are lucky enough to live 

in a country where we can vote,

that's important and 

yet that seems 

frighteningly fragile.

The Culprit Captains of Empire

are at the controls.

Their power and profit 

determine policy and process.

People and planet be damned.

And we may be.

The average you and me 

can fret and fuss.

It's not going 

to make much difference

except dump us deeper 

in depression.

Sure, we need to know 

what's coming down.

And there's plenty of it.

Sure we need 

to petition, protest, and work 

for social and planetary justice,

live the works of mercy.

But we are not at the controls.


             YES

We can do something,

something about ourselves.

We can do what Ollie did.

We can size things up 

and do what we can  

right where and as we are.

Never mind trying 

to get some kind 

of a crane fix

that's beyond us.

We need to watch out. 

Too many of us try 

to shoulder the weight 

of the whole wide world.

It crushes and keeps us 

from baring the burdens 

of our here and now

And that's where 

we can make one heaven 

of a difference.

Jesus tells us to carry OUR cross,

not that of the whole wide world.

There is a debilitating evil in 

wasting our God given energies

on what we can't reach or change.

We do well to act on the wisdom:

"Think globally. Act locally."


If more and more and more

of us get really, truly into 

living Jesus together

it will spread and spread and

then things will change 

for the God possible much better.

Our playbook is the Gospels, 

particularly the Beatitudes 

and the Sermon on the Mount.

We're not talking devotional piety.

We're talking here about 

deep diving into practical, 

gritty, sweaty sweet community 

- the kind where 

an elderly member in distress 

can call for help in the middle 

of the night and some 

community members are there.

We're talking the community 

being out front addressing 

local homelessness, 

book banning,

community gardens 

and theater,

minority inclusion, 

block parties,

close in and for real

scripture focus,

wide open, fervent prayer,

equity pay,

water conservation 

and all its cousins,

- all and every 

good thing 

we as a people 

can actually do

with our powers 

and in our place.

It's the hope of the world.

It's Kingdom Living.

That can't be programed, 

politicized or legislated.

It can be lived into

real right now.

Converted hearts 

in community and doing 

are the key.


What say on our own 

we and then together 

with others, 

slow soul it, 

pray and apply to 

grace filled doing 

the Spiritual Cousel

of the two wondrous 

spiritual prompts

that follow here?

They both came out of 

chaotic, turbulent times 

and are so right for ours.


      JOHN WESLEY

maps out the terrain 

of our doing:

      

 "Do all the good you can, 

  by all the means you can, 

  in all the ways you can, 

  in all the places you can, 

  at all the times you can, 

  to all the people you can, 

  as long ever as you can.


  FRANCIS OF ASSISI

pinpoints the how's 

of converted 

hearts in action:


"Lord, make me 

 an instilment of you peace;

 where there is hatred,

 let me sow 

           love;

 where there is injury.

         pardon;

 where there is doubt,

           faith;

 where there is despair,

           hope;

 where there is darkness,

           light;

 and where there is sadness,

            joy.


 O Divine Master,

 grant that I may not so much seek

 to be consoled as to console;

 to be understood as to understand;

 to be loved, as to love;

 for it is in giving that we receive,

 it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

 and it is in dying that 

 we are born to eternal life."

 

Let's not get drawn off,  

immobilized into 

deadening dread

by where we can't go

and what we can't do.


We can 

Go Gospel


We can

Live Kingdom. 

No head trips.

Action steps.

     HELP

    people  

     and 

   planet.

Pray.

Be a for real

community.

It'll make a 

  WORLD 

     OF 

DIFFERENCE

"Thy kingdom 

 will be 

in the coming."


Yes, it will in 

doing deed

be the

much needed

   HELP

 ******


If you care, here is a practical

       FURTHERENCE

On and off over 

many next whiles,

in prayer alone and 

in community sharing,

we take each key word 

of Wesley and Francis.

We focus on the 

what and way 

in our here and now. 

          WESLEY

  Do      Good    Means

  Ways   Place   Times 

  People  Long


                FRANCIS

              Instrument  

  Peace       Hatred       Love             

 Injury        Pardon       Doubt            

 Faith          Despair      Hope 

 Darkness    Light          Sadness              

 Joy            Console       Understand

 Love          Giving         Pardoning 

 Dying        Born

                ******


NEXT ONLINE POSTING

Tuesday afternoon/early evening

East Coast USA Time

October 22,2024


NEXT EMAIL DELIVERY

Friday 

October 25, 2024


LAST FIVE POSTINGS AVAILABLE

                   by

      scrolling down beneath 

             this posting



We here are from many places and ways.

This week we highlight those of us from

                     SINGAPORE 

                          USA

                       IRELAND


                       Welcome 

              whoever from wherever


                  frankly speaking

            spirituality for the street

        johnfrankshares.blogspot.com


             See you next week.

                  Love to all.

                  God Bless,

                 John Frank

                   ******




  





  














Tuesday, October 8, 2024

SOUL SMILE


Dear All of Us,

The other day

my three-year-old

   Grand Son

     OLLIE

asked his Dad,

"Who is God?"


Nick told him that 

God is the one 

who made everything - 

trees, people, animals 

       and that

   God loves him 

    lots and lots.


     Ollie smiled.


So simple.

So pure.


Ollie has been hearing 

about this "God" at church.

The name comes up a lot!!

Seems people really like this

           "God."

            Hum! 

So, who is this "God" anyway?

A question pure and simple.


Ollie went to a trusted source 

 - his Dad.

His Dad responded in 

a pure and simple way.


The revelation that God made

such and so much goodness and

that God loves him lots and lots

brightened Ollie's mind 

and warmed his heart.

       Revelation 

       Recognition 

       Response

    pure and simple.

Ollie gently glowed 

from the inside out 

    SOUL SMILE


All this got Grandpa here

prayerfully pondering away.

All this is touching 

and dear for sure.

Evermore surely, though, 

it refreshes for us how

pure and simple

    Revelation  

    Recognition 

    Response

    God -ward

    really are.


Revelation is in full swing.

Here and there, 

a peek at a time,

the vail is lifted a bit

to the wonder and love 

       of God.

It can come from 

a hymn sing,

a water falls,

a scientific insight,

a supper served to the homeless,

a palate of autumnal splendor,

a work of art,

a lovemaking,

a moment of prayer,

a ride in the country,

a piece of homemade bread,

a goodness of any kind 

that presences 

the Goodness 

That is God.

        Revelation

         enables

        Recognition 

        that invites

        Response

        that deepens 

           Union


"Earth's crammed with heaven,

 And every common bush afire with God,

 But only he who sees takes off his shoes;

 The rest sit around and pluck blackberries." 

          Elizabeth Barrett Browning


Ollie likes blackberries,

but he's so eager to see

that he doesn't just sit around 

and pluck them.

In his own three-year-old way

he takes off his shoes 

in seeings and spots sacred.

It's so pure and simple.


Ollie is helping Grandpa

take off his shoes 

in seeings and spots sacred

        evermore

     pure and simple 

         hopefully

         beaming a

       SOUL SMILE 

          ******


NEXT ONLINE POSTING

Tuesday Afternoon/Evening

East Coast USA Time

October 15, 2024


NEXT EMAIL DELIVERY

Friday

October 18, 2024


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                    by

scrolling down beneath this posting


   A BRIGHT RICH AUTUMN WELCOME

                        to

       many new friends this week 

   with greeting to a large group from 

                      INDIA

   

                frankly speaking

           spirituality for the street

        johnfrankshares.blogspot.com


           Hey, let's keep checking out 

           those common bushes 

           all over the place.

           See you next week.

                Love to all,

                God Bless,

                John Frank

                  ******



















           






Tuesday, October 1, 2024

LEFT OR RIGHT


Dear All of Us,

There's more than a stir 

here in the states just now.

We are about to vote,

vote us a future,

one that will stir here

and cross the seas 

effecting other futures.

It will be a swing 

LEFT OR RIGHT


       Actually, 

it's about way more 

than partisan politics.

It's about 

      who we are 

         and 

     how we are

         and 

        will be 

     as a people.

It will mean that

we here and many there 

will be a lot better off, 

or a lot worse off.


If Left, will it be a lift 

or a letdown?

If Right, will it mean 

getting things right or

downright wrong?

  LEFT OR RIGHT


A bunch of years ago 

Shane Claiborne

wrote a book entitled,

  Jesus for President.

How about that?


Well, yes!

How about that indeed!

    Actually, 

we are very much 

voting for  

   or

not for 

 Jesus

right now,

right where we are.

It determines 

    who we are    

         and

    how we are

         and 

       will be

     as people 

        and 

    as peoples.

We are voting with 

our heads and hearts,

our values and lifestyles,

our treatment of each other,

our care for Creation,

our practical, personal

incorporation in Christ

      and being

 gathered together 

   here and now

          in

The Kingdom of God

  

   Unfortunately, 

in spheres spiritual 

      there are 

     some of us

   making a turn

       HARD

 LEFT OR RIGHT

Both are off the page 

and over the edge

in this old man's view.


The Hard Right is scared silly.

They are locked up 

in what they think 

are cemented sureties.

The Hard Left is fogged in.

They fuss and fumble

about cause upon cause.

Both get nowhere fast. 

Both are doctrinaire,

demandingly so. 

Both want "nice nice" 

and they want it 

their way and now.

But guess what?

"We have not here 

a lasting city, 

but we are looking for 

the city to come."

Hebrews 13:14

        Hard

Lefties and Righties 

are missing the bus,

just at different stops.


Empire rules the world.

It always has.

It always will 

      yet

"Thy Kingdom come... 

 on earth as in heaven."

    Matthew 6:10

 Well, it has and is 

      and that 

right in the midst of the

mad mess of Empire.

For us, it's not 

    LEFT OR RIGHT

 For us it gets to be

    the real deal

    pure and simple

    here and now

    Kingdom Living

    with largeness 

         for all

     for all sides 

for all sides of a whole.

 

A concern and caution:


         So many 

  Hard or Soft on the

     LEFT OR RIGHT

are actually living the values 

and enjoying the perks 

of Empire on their way to church.


Lefties fume about the environment

yet drive pricey vehicles, 

jet away to vacation spots, 

buy way more clothing 

than needed,

go to meetings about the poor

and make sure 

not to live near them, 

are so open minded that 

solid values don't stay put,

liberally spend 

discretionary funds 

on preference and pleasure.


The Righties substitute 

ritual and dogma

for sweaty, on the ground faith,

throw some money at the poor, 

but make sure they stay 

on the other side 

of the tracks,

they disallow difference, 

they ban books,

they live in the dollhouse 

of a pretended past.


Do I exaggerate?

To a degree, 

but not that much.

Both Hard and Soft

Lefties and Righties

enjoy Empire living that has 

a Bible on the coffee table.

Their votes for Jesus,

are hedged to impotence.

Same sad so for their churches.

    

   Church Leaders 

   LEFT OR RIGHT

need to ditch 

their robes and rubrics,

titles and canned cliche talk,

their corporate management,

their Rolodex of reports and plans,

their careerism, their clericalism,

the overload of church real estate,

                  then

            do things like 

stay in a college dorm 

for a weekend,

baby sit a week for a single, 

working parent,

then stay a week 

in a youth detention center,

next shadow a day labor 

and then an office worker

for a week each, 

curb out to curb home

sunrise to sunset

              then 

go to a Retreat Center for a 

thirty day guided retreat

learning how to 

honestly vote for Jesus,

focused on learning 

how to practically live 

The Sermon On the Mount

          ALL OF IT

          ALL OF IT

You can't give what you don't have.

Pastor people not programs.

"Feed my lambs..." Jesus  (John 21:15)

"Give them Christ." John Wesley


What will really make a difference 

for each of us and 

all of us as a people 

is an honest election of Jesus

"The way, the truth and the life"

We need to face up to the truth that

we can't have it both ways, 

Empire perks and actual Gospel living.


We have to deal with Empire.

     "Render unto Caesar..."

          Mark 12:17

We live in

The Kingdom of God

       "...and to God what is God's."


We are freed to follow 

    Jesus - "the way"

as we go about life -

his manner

his teachings.


We are freed to base 

ourselves on 

    Jesus - "the truth"

calibrating our 

lifestyle and values on

his manner 

his teachings  


We are freed to live 

      Jesus - "the life"

our center and dynamic,

enfleshing, making present 

his manner

his teaching


Where and how we live

      get to be 

    Jesus Tuned

money, transport, 

real estate, 

furnishings, food,

recreation  -

all simplified, 

enlivened in 

generous and 

generative 

God Love.


We are also freed 

to move away from 

over institutionalized religion 

to small groups of disciples

           bonding in 

           face to face

           life sharing

           gritty real

            church

     "Followers of the Way"


More than we care to face 

hangs on how we vote on

  November 5, 2024

Certainly the future.

Perhaps our continence.


Vastly more hangs on 

whether we vote for Jesus -

our shared now and forever

we vote with living 

            really

          practically

           honestly

        with our lives

      in real community

      caring and sharing

          vigorous in

         the Kingdom 

       coming on earth

               No

       LEFT OR RIGHT

              to it

  "just as it is in heaven."

   

   Now that's really right.

        Nothing left out

           ******


          A rich autumn

             Welcome

                  to

         frankly speaking

    spirituality for the street

johnfrankshares.blogspot.com


NEXT ONLINE POSTING

Tuesday afternoon/evening

East Coast USA Time

October 8, 2024


NEXT EMAIL DELIVERY

Friday

October 11,2024


We hold in love our Jewish 

brothers and sisters 

in this time of the

High Holydays.

Shalom!


LAST FIVE ONLINE POSTINGS

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            this posting


        Right beside you 

     in life's voting booth.

     Hope to see you here 

          next week.

          Love to all.

          God Bless,

         John Frank

          ******