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
******
