MENU

Dear All of Us, 

This is great!

The timing 

couldn't be better, 

        and 

we sure could use it.

For all the dust ups

  and differings

     just now,

       it's a 

  one of a kind, 

    traditional

    CAN DO

  TOGETHER

  A free zone

Left, Right, 

progressive, 

traditionalist,

Christian, Jew,

Moslem, Nones,

Hindu, Sikh,

Buddhist,

rich, poor,

   from

city, burbs, 

small town.

   rural

can all get 

 together

with others

very much 

  "other"

    for 

Thanksgiving.

If we just relax 

with each other, 

refrain from 

   flash fire 

fuming feuding

(read: political, 

cultural, divides)

 Thanksgiving 

   can be a 

safe and blessed,

and today, a rare

common ground.

  Thank God 

     for it 

     and 

for it just now.

We gathered here at 

frankly speaking

are from many 

places and peoples.

Thanksgiving is

way too good

to keep just

to ourselves

here in 

The States.

So, wherever 

world-wide 

you are,

please join in the

wonderful spirit

     of this 

Common Holy Day.

We do well to be 

    together, 

       to

 Give Thanks

   together.

     

One of the 

big questions 

for Thanksgiving

here in The Staes is,

"So, what are you having?"

Almost everybody 

has favorites

to tuck in with

Tom Turkey -

rutabaga, ambrosia, 

creamed onions,

potatoes and stuffing

five ways to heaven,

pies pumpkin to pecan 

and beyond.

       Here's a 

  great compliment 

        to this 

        Menu 

          of 

      Preferred 

       Having 

      

         We 

        Give 

    to the God 

     of us all

     THANKS

        by

     GIVING

-each other space

       Giving

-each other a break

       Giving   

-each other a hearing

       Giving

-each other tolerance

       Giving

-each other forgiveness

      Giving

-each other respect 

 and courtesy.

Surely the spirit of,

"Truely I say unto you, 

 to the extent 

 you did it 

 to one of these

 brothers of Mine, 

 you did it to me." 

  Matthew 25:40

fits our souls here.

What we 

do to others 

we do to God.

      So

We Happy Up

We Pray Lots

We Give Thanks

        

     "Rejoice always, 

      pray continually, 

      give thanks 

      in all circumstances..."

     1 Thessalonians 5:16

I certainly want 

to give thanks 

    to you

for letting me 

come be with you 

here each week.

This posting marks 

the completion of  

416 consecutive weeks, 

          that's 

eight uninterrupted years, 

           of

  frankly speaking.

       PHEW!!

   

From my heart

I give you thanks

  and offer this 

     God Gift

       for a

  Love Hungry 

World and Time.

"Make a clean break 

 with all cutting,

 backbiting,

 profane talk.

 Be gentle 

 with each other, 

 sensitive.

 Forgive one another 

 as quickly and 

 thoroughly

 as God in Christ 

 forgave you. 

 Watch what God does, 

 and then you do it,

 like children who learn 

 proper behavior 

 from their parents.

 Mostly what God does 

 is love you.

 Keep company with him 

 and learn a life of love.

 Observe how Christ loved us.

 His love was not cautious

 but extravagant.

 He didn't love in order 

 to get something from us, 

 but to give everything 

 of himself to us. 

 Love like that."

Ephesians 4:31-5:2

    The Message

    Thank God

        and 

        you.

    I love you.

   John Frank

      

PS:

 "Please pass

 the rutabaga."

  "Thanks!"

   ******

       

  

  

It's Thanksgiving.

For all the for alls

just now

this is a 

Can Do

for all of us

and a

"So, what are you having 

for Thanksgiving?"

THE END OF THE WORLD

Dear All of Us,

As a teen and twenty something I spent healthy hunks of time in Manhattan.

Nothing too wild or crazy. Mostly buddies, Broadway shows, bookstores 

(especially that sacred sanctuary, Brentano's), churches, The Cloisters, museums, 

celebrity spottings (Jack Webb of DRAGNET and Dave Colloway, original host of 

TODAY, John Glenn, first to orbit earth - how big a deal is that now?), fine dinning

on a dime at Horn and Hardart's Automat and Toffenetti's on Times Square -

great spaghetti and meatballs, a salad, real Italian crusty bread and a glass of 

wine for under fifteen of today's dollars.

Back then a constant in Times Square was some quirky soul, placard hoisted,

proclaiming THE END OF THE WORLD. Took it as silly sad.

Well, I sure hope I'm not a silly, sad, quirky soul. I definitely don't have a placard 

to hoist. But I do say and state that THE END OF THE WORLD is not only at hand, 

it already has a significant start - I dare not say a good start. The world as we 

knew it, wished it, imagined it, is crumbling under and all around us. It isn't nice 

and it's going to get a lot not nicer. Empire and its power players have fooled us

and the floor is dropping out from under us. Religion lost its soul. Freedoms and 

democratic process are on the ropes, if not out cold on the canvas. A few horde 

most and most world-wide suffer devastating loss in war, poverty, starvation, 

injustice. Earth and air are so stretched wrong they just can't keep sustaining. 

Truth is so trashed that trust is rusted out. Mass media has gone mad taking the 

masses with them, and that's not to Mass on Sundays. It's a Mad, Mad Bad World 

fast on its way to hell as in a hell of a lot of suffering. Most of the world is already 

there. We of the middle and so called upper classes are about to lose our cushy 

perks to pain and it's certainly scary as hell. God is Love and we are not living that 

Love. That absence is hell, hell not later down there somewhere sometime, but 

here and now with more to come and coming fast!

Our situation is a contemporary recast of what the Jewish people faced with the 

destruction of their center, the Temple in Jerusalem. Jesus told them that not one 

stone of it would be on another. So it was in 70 CE. Life and religion as they knew 

it were gone forever. And gone were they from their homeland and way of life. 

Scattered world-wide, they had to have a new center and way. In place of The 

Holy of Holies, animal sacrifice and temple priests came The Torah as center and 

that with rabbis and synagogues. They regrouped, renewed, refreshed.

Will we? At the rate and way we're going, no.  We probably will have to suffer a 

lot to move us to real from unreal, to love from crass selfishness. Richard Rohr 

says that only prayer or suffering change us. We're not a particularly prayerful 

people. Here in the USA we say "Liberty and justice for all." That is a damnable 

lie. We are founded on brutalizing native people, taking their land, importing 

slaves. We disrupted our society and devastated our land, killing over a half 

million of our own - homeland insecurity, homegrown genocide. We did that 

claiming to be a Christian nation. Until we face our original sin and its consequent 

injustices and suffering, repent and repair, we are living a lie. We all are children 

of God. Yet, we do not live a loving, caring unity - "do unto others..."  

Example: That poor man Musk drives around in his Tesla with more money in 

the trunk than any other person - child of God - on earth and millions upon 

millions of his brothers and sisters are bypassed, starve in squirming poverty. And 

Mr. Musk is a success story?

God is love for sure. And just as sure God is no fool, but we are. We sleep in the 

bed we make and it's not a love bed. We tout capitalism. Capitalism is me-ism. It 

is not a Godly, love based and operative system. Scripture tells us to have enough 

and share the rest. That's Gospel. Capitalism contradicts and counterman's Gospel.

God lets us sleep where we will. We are having a nightmare and it's just getting 

started.

Now, we don't want to hear all this. I sure as Harry don't want to depress, nor 

will I fudge and fake. I am terribly concerned and I deeply care. In my mid-

eighties, I Soul See clearer than ever. I so fear for us, especially children.

So, what do we do? How do we prepare as our operating system shorts out?

We do as the first Christians did. We bond and take care of each other. We 

embrace a simple lifestyle, live in small communities of faith and love. We live the 

Gospel together, actually and practically. It is possible to likely that will mean 

some form of life like the Jews in diaspora, the Roman Christians in catacomb 

communities. We need to and will be forced to junk what passes for church today.

Some good has come from it. Mostly it is captive to capitalism. Just read the New 

Testament and then check out most established churches. Cry and form small 

group communities.  No neutered Christianity. It will be The Kingdom of God or it 

will be hell. The "Furtherance" that follows at the end of this posting offers  

scriptures that will light the way.

We most likely will have to regroup as nation states if indeed we have a future. 

Nuclear and biological weapons are so lethal and all too close threats to 

that. Right behind them are earth and air degradation. We are knocking the life 

out of God's life-giving Creation. Governance is up for grabs, and grab the hard 

hearted power brokers of Empire do. 

In short, it's rather likely we're headed for a world wash along the lines of what 

Noah had to deal with. Our ark is actual, practical, for real inclusion in God's gift 

to us through Jesus the Christ  - Gospel life, life in The Kingdom of God right away 

now, right where and as we are. The End of the World as we are having it isn't the 

end. "Thy Kingdom come on earth as in heaven."

                                                  ******

                                               FURTHERANCE

A road map forward starts with slowly learning together the Gospels, 

ingesting them as we help each other live them in community. Then taking Spirit

guidance from the rest of The New Testament and select sections of the Old 

Testament. A few starter springs:

 Luke 6:38

"Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken 

together and running over. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to 

you." 

Luke 3:10-11

"Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone 

who has food should do the same."

Luke 6: 27-31

"Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, 

pray for those who mistreat you. If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them 

the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. 

Give to everyone who asks of you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do 

not demand it back. Do to others as you would have then do to you."

Matthew 25: 35 40

"For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave 

me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes 

and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you 

came to visit me...I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these 

brothers and sisters of mine, you did unto me." 

Romans 12:13

"Share with the Lord's people who are in need. Practice hospitality."

Acts 2:45-46

"They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day 

they continued to meet in the temple courts, they broke bread in their homes and 

ate together with glad and sincere hearts."

1 John 3:16-18

'This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.

And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If anyone has 

material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, 

how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with 

words or speech but with action and in truth."

Proverbs 11: 25

"A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed."

                    How is all this translated immediate, genuine, operative?

                                                 ******

NEXT ONLINE POSTING

Tuesday morning/afternoon

east Coast USA time

November 26, 2024

NEXT EMAIL DELIVERY

Friday

November 29, 2024

LAST FIVE ONLINE POSTINGS

           AVAILABLE

      Simply scroll down 

      beneath this posting.

Let's all pass this posting on to others.

God help us as we help each other.

            Love to all.

                 God Bless,

                John Frank

          frankly speaking

     spirituality for the street

  johnfrankshares.blogspot.com

              ******

 

 

DISRUPTING

Dear All of Us,

So, how high are

your tolerance,

your take it on the chin, 

your bounce back levels,

when you get blamed for 

something you didn't do?

I don't know about yours.

I'm embarrassed at mine. 

I'm in awe of God's.

Unfortunately, in scripture

God often gets a bad rap as

Disrupter/Destroyer in Chief -

petty, punitive,

touchy, torching,

thunder bolt destructive.

Sort of: 

    "Mess with me and

     I'll smack you up 

     the side of the head.'

The scriptures 

seem at times 

to be ablaze 

with God as the heavy,

the one with the fiery fuse

striking out in retribution:

 -Throw the bums out of 

  this Garden of Paradise.

 -Torch sinful 

  Sodom and Camorah.

 -Drown out all that evil

  in a world-wide water wash.

If you are willing, 

please pause here

to check out 

Ezekiel 14:12-23.

It's classic clear

blame game

with God as the

Disrupter/Destroyer 

     in Chief

and better more.

            PAUSE

We misread, misunderstand

            scripture

            so often.

       Often and much 

          we need to

          recalibrate 

   how we take scripture,

   how we let it take us.

Scripture starts with 

      The Start

- a beautiful, balanced,

  plentiful paradise,

  original goodness,

  everything's all right,

  right from the start,

  right from the

  creative good

  that is God.

It came, though, 

with a warning label.

This is God Good.

Be careful not to

disrupt/destroy it

   by seeking to 

know/experience 

      its flip

     - evil -

You can't handle it.

The First Folks 

fell foolish anyway,

got acquainted with,

bit into, bought into 

       - evil -

They insisted on 

knowing it.

They let evil 

loose and in.

It has been

Paradise Lost

ever since.

           IT 

 destroys/disrupts

 to this day, 

       NOT GOD

All those freaky, frightful

scriptures are actually

the ancient writers' 

way of saying that

God is letting us have 

the fruit of our picking.

We had it good.

We insisted on having

its opposite and lack 

        - EVIL -

     The Tree of 

  the Knowledge of

    Good and Evil.

It's God saying:

       "OK.

Have it your way.

    Here it is.

  Your choice 

       and 

 its consequent."

It has thrown everything 

        off tilter.

Having a baby is a delight.

It still is, but now it hurts.

Work is wonderful.

It still is, but now it's 

brow sweaty hard.

Nature is creatively dynamic.

It still is, but now it is also

disordered, destructive

       DISRUPTING

It's not only those

     First Folks

who bought into, 

were bitten by their bite,

who insisted on knowing 

the opposite of God Good. 

The ancients did.

We do.

I do.

Those ancient writers 

framed the telling

     hurt hard.

It was their culture's

literary form.

We do well 

not to confuse 

form with message.

God doesn't do hurt.

Yet people and nature hurt.

Misunderstood scripture 

seems to say

it's God's doing, 

it's God hurting.

       That's

Deadening Wrong!

Some people suffer from 

smoking and from air pollution.

God doesn't sell cigarettes  

or emit toxic chemicals 

into the atmosphere.

Some people suffer from 

shootings and bombings.

God doesn't own a gun or 

launch ballistic missiles.

Some people starve.

God provides 

Nature's plenty 

that a few horde

to other's starvation.

Genes were meant 

to pass on good.

Now they also pass on 

not so good.

The harsh words of God

in scripture are a 

   soundboard 

God holds up to us,

re-sounding to us 

what we say 

by our choices

with its consequents.

These scriptures were written

by a long-ago people,

in their manner and mode,

not ours - a manner 

quite foreign to us.

We need to translate 

         both 

their ancient languages

           AND 

   THEIR ANCIENT 

MODES OF EXPRESSION

        into our

tongue, time, tuning.

All of Creation is related, 

interconnected. 

The disorder of one

throws off the other.

That goes for 

people, planet.

A current example is 

climate change.

Nature is ordered.

We disorder that.

It hurts.

Not a hurt from God.

The creative, 

dynamic energies

of Creation 

get twisted wrong

by evil choices.

We suffer.

Not a hurt from God.

As we learn and continue

to read scripture aright, 

we encounter a God 

who cuts us slack

       for our 

choices/consequences,

yet constantly seeks

to save us from ourselves. 

Let's Pray:

    Restoring God,

    we are wounded -

    we pray, 

    wounds become

    the scares of hope,

    We are hollowed out 

    by pride - 

    we pray, empty holes 

    become receptacles

    of grace, 

    We are confused -

    we pray, 

    unknowing holds

    the beauty 

    of holy mystery,

   We struggle in doubt -

   we pray,

   churning creates 

   the humus 

   where faith grows,

   We strive for comfort -

   we pray,

   you bust us up

   to birth compassion,

 

   Disrupting God -

   we pray,

   you turn us over

   in love. 

        Amen (1)

God is a love 

that lets us refuse love, 

damaging and damming 

         ourselves,

individually, collectively

socially, environmentally.

God is a love

that welcomes us back 

the instant we accept love,

 - forgives, redeems, 

   sets right, saves.

  "Though your sins 

    be as scarlet, 

    they shall be

    as white as snow..."

      Isaiah 1:18

In the Love that God Is,

God Good lovingly disrupts 

      the evils of our

      DISRUPTING

        ******

(1) Online Morning Prayer

     Spring Forest 

     Hillsborough, NC

     Wednesday

     October 30, 2024

Every week 

we many 

from many lands 

and many ways

join in together here.

There's always 

WELCOME ROOM

at our table.

This week 

we gathered from

India to France, 

Iran to The Netherlands,

and fifty wonderful more

peoples and places.

Such good company!

What a Holy Communion!

NEXT ONLINE POSTING

Tuesday morning/afternoon

East Coast USA time

November 19,2024

NEXT EMAIL DELIVERY

Friday

November 22, 2024

LAST FIVE ONLINE POSTINGS
             AVAILABLE

                  by

   scrolling down beneath 

           this posting

    Have a God Good week.

    Let's join with God 

    to disrupt our 

    Disrupting.

           Love to all.

           God Bless,

           John Frank

        frankly speaking

    spirituality for the street

johnfrankshares.blogspot.com

             ******

     

 

   

    

 .

MOMENTS

Dear All of Us, 

So much in life 

is paradoxical,

is counter cultural,

is strange but true.

   Clutching constricts.

   Giving widens open.

   

Certainly so spiritually.

    Sometimes we need 

    to slow down

    to get ahead.

That's tough for

most of us 

fast paced people.

So, here's an 

   INVITE

for all of us 

to go paradoxical,

to be counter cultural,

    to slow down 

    to get ahead.

It means nixing 

the urge  

to speed read,

to rush through, the

Meditation Moments

that follow here.

Here's one way 

to go about this.

If you favor another,

that's the way to go.

So skip ahead to

       ONE A DAY

MEDITATION MOMENTS

If you chose, stay tuned here.

      

       ONE WAY

For those interested,

give this a try 

to slow down 

to get ahead:

- start by reflectively  

  reading through the

  Meditation Moment's 

  that follow:

- slowly select 

  a few for just now

- taking one a day,

  slowly savor it

  in generous moments

  of meditation

- write it on a card,

  get it in your phone 

- come back to it

   throughout the day

   in quiet  

         MOMENTS

   between appointments,

   at a coffee break,

   online at the checkout,

   waiting for someone,

   doing the dishes,

   going for a walk,

   washing the car

- Pray it, ply it, apply it

  every which way

- Most and best of all 

          listen

       what does 

       The Spirit 

       whisper here?

       what does

        The Spirit

        shout out here?

- Finish the day

  in slow, mellow meditation.

     What fears kicked up?

     What promise and potential 

              presented?

     How grow into it?

     What would that 

       look like in our

       thinking, 

       values, 

       behaviors,

       lifestyle?

- Ask Spirit Light.

  Ask Spirit Support.

  Resolve in The Spirit.

So, here's a resource 

for us to use  

for a fortnight plus.

We meditate on 

one a day,

saving the others

for a good whenever.

And/or we keep them 

at the ready for

occasional use 

going forward.

These come from my

      personal

JOURNEY JOURNAL

     

"Come Holy Spirit.

 Fill the hearts 

 of your faithful."

 Slow us down forward.

             ******

        ONE A DAY

MEDITATION MOMENTS

God is the Party.

We're all invited.

     ******

No one can fill 

a full glass, 

not even God.

What are we full of?

God would love 

it to be 

emptiness.

        ******

God asks only that 

you get out 

of God's way 

and let God 

be God in you.

 Meister Eckhart
     ******

God is a mystery.

     So are we,

  the very same 

     mystery

    variously.
     

     ******

Relax into Reality.

      ******

Whenever I am 

self-centered

I am trying 

to displace God.

It's not good 

for either of us.

    ******

All sides needed 

for a whole.

     ******

Divine Love is 

not a set, 

static noun.

It is progressive, 

an action, verb.

   ******

There is no such thing 

      as outside.

  All is boundlessly

         One.
       ******

We don't find God.

We wake up to

God's Enfoldment

        of us.

       ******

All in Creation are 

particulars of

GOD'S ONENESS.

We have relatives

all over the place.

     ******

"God is more intimate 

 to us than we are 

 to ourselves."

   Augustine

    ******

 "Man's sin 

  is his failure

  to live 

  what he is."

Abraham Heschel

     ******

"God is my deepest self."

    Catherine of Genoa

           ******

Attitude is approach.

Posture is stance.

What attitude 

shapes our posture,

forms our stance?

Jesus suggests 

eight attitudes 

on how to be, 

 Be-Attitudes.

    ******

A selfish life is an ember 

that never ignites.

          ******

God save us 

from all our

 "selfies."

 ******

Next Online Posting

Tuesday Mid-day/Evening

East Coast USA Time

November 12, 2024

Next Email Delivery

Friday

November 15, 2024

      

Jesus mixed with 

all sorts of folks.

It was so God Good.

We mix with all sorts 

of us here every week.

it is so God Good.

     WELCOME

        frankly speaking

   spirituality for the street

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Praying that we all 

slow down 

to catch up 

with what 

God has 

in heart for us.

Love to all.

See you next week.

     John Frank

       ******