AM

Dear All of Us,

Someone barks at us,

 "Hey! Who the hell 

  do you think

  you are anyway,

  God Almighty?"

  Can we calmly, 

 non-belligerently, 

     sincerely

     respond

  " Hey, how 

 wonderful that

   we all are."?

That such an exchange 

seems incredulous 

puts in painful bold relief 

the single most 

lethal sin in the world,  

(sin being separation from 

Reality-Goodness-God),

           that

          so few

      know so little 

          Who 

        we are

           in

         God

That sets us at odds 

with ourselves 

       and 

consequently 

with others.

That snares steps 

forward and together.

That metastasizes into 

death dealing malignancies,

personal and social:

    depression, anxiety,

    loneliness, hostility, 

    suspicion, splits,

    one over and at odds with,

    inequality, injustice, 

    political and civil chaos,

    degradation of Nature

Ultimately, we fall into 

hell holes of waring

and annihilations.

Just check the news!

Way back when, 

the Greeks had 

   a try at a

 philosophical

  Who's Who:

"Know thyself."

Trouble was, 

for all their 

head strive, 

they really didn't. 

They got tangled in

loops of concept.

Concept is good, 

       but

concepts don't 

have breakfast,

go to work, 

make love,

get carried away by 

Blue Grass to Bach,

or pay taxes.

Not only Greeks. 

Many most haven't 

and to this day

don't allow 

themselves 

to be taken 

concept beyond,

    absorbed in 

experienced union

 with deepest self

         and 

        God, 

    wondrously 

        the 

      Center 

       and 

     Source

       of

    who we 

most basically 

      are.

Such a miss, 

such a major

question unanswered, 

spins fast nowhere 

    but trouble. 

       Fortunately 

   the prime question 

 was well put early on 

          to the

   Very Source of All,

    

     Moses to God:

    "Who are you?"

The response bespoke 

    bed rock Reality,

 God's and ours in God.

      God to Moses:

         "I AM"

      Exodus 3:14

 The Hebrew root for

         "am"

  is the verb hayah, 

        to "BE."

God is

      "BE"-ING, 

       What "Be's"

       "Am"-ness

       WHAT "IS"

       EXISTENCE 

       ACTUALITY

       REALITY

That includes us.

We are. 

We have 

"Be"-ing.

Our ex"is"tence, 

our "I am"

is participation 

     in the 

    Ultimate 

 Foundational 

   Unlimited 

     "I AM"

  EXISTENCE

  that is God.

     We are 

part and parcel 

    of God

and yet unique.

       A 

    Divine 

   Paradox

   Mystery

   Wonder

Bonaventure:

We are not God and 

we are not, not God."

 

       PHEW!! 

That's a workout!

Let's stretch 

for a minute or many 

- take some 

  deep breaths.

The whole question of

     who is God,

     who are we

        in God,

  gets a wondrous 

       WORD 

   in response.

       "The 

      WORD 

    was made 

     "FLESH"

     (human)

       and 

dwelt among us

    John 1:14

God lives the answer.

God moves in with us.

         "I 

         AM 

      the way, 

      the truth,

      and the 

        LIFE."

       Jesus

    John 14:6 

  "I have come that 

   you might have 

        LIFE

    and have it 

    to the full."

      Jesus

   John 10:10

Paul underscores 

      our being 

          in 

   God's Being:

     "IN him 

      we LIVE

     and move, 

     and have our 

      BEING

     ...we are his

     OFFSPRING."

     Acts 17:28

What a blessed wrap,

  divine intimacy,

    uniqueness, 

      a shared

     ONENESS.

   Our Oneness 

       in God

     shows in

- the way we drive

- practical care for our 

  part of the planet

- times of divine intimacy

- generous & supportive

  community embeddedness 

- raising kids

- shared prayer

- elder care and company

- a simplifying, 

  uncluttering lifestyle

- soul saturating

  scripture immersion

- seeking, supporting justice

  at work, in our social circle

  through civic involvement

- patience and hope 

  under stress

- inviting the left outs in

- extravagant generosity

- religious life, truly communal 

   pure and simple

- let's have a go at five more

  ................................

  ................................

  ................................

  ................................

  ...............................

  

    It sure is a 

       WOW

     of a way 

   to go about 

        life,

for each of us to 

      to BE,

   to be able 

 to live and say

in that living just

   who I really

       AM

    ******

     One day we'll take 

       a look/listen

         with the 

         "I Am"

        sayings

          of 

        Jesus.

     WELCOME ALL

   How wonderful to 

           BE 

       together.

A special shout out

to large groups from 

  The Netherlands

         USA

       Russia

who have joined in

       with us 

in the past few weeks.

Wonderful! Welcome!

ONLINE POSTINGS

Thursday afternoons

(sometimes morning)

East Coast USA time

EMAIL DELIVERY

     Fridays

    SIGN UP

    top right 

    above

LAST FIVE POSTINGS

     AVAILABLE

          by

   scrolling down

      beneath

    this posting

Thanks to all who share

with others

        frankly speaking

    spirituality for the street

johnfrankshares.blogspot.com

  What a blessing to know 

      who we are and 

       whose we are. 

    See you next week.

        Love to all.

        God Bless,

        John Frank

         ******

    

  

                               

       

       

                            

                                              

                                         

NEEDED

Dear All of Us,

In anger:

"Who needs you anyway?"

What a put down.

Flipped, what an up lift.

Plenty of people 

   need us.

God sure does.

It all goes together.

Jesus has a great 

two liner for us:

     "You are the 

       light of the world. 

      

       You are the 

       salt of the earth."

        

       Matthew 5:13-14

Free translation:

  "I empower you, 

   I need you, 

   to make a heaven 

   of a difference 

   in a world 

   that so often

   darkens down 

   its spark and spunk, 

   whose freshness and

   savor sours and spoils.

   You are my 

  

   point people,

   my light and salt

   for others.

   Your light brightens,

    

   warms to growth.

   Your salt 

   preserve good, 

   brings out the best,

   the zest of things."

In all reality, 

Jesus is asking us 

to be in on 

the right now 

continuance

of Creation.

Interestingly, 

in the Genesis 

Creation Story

the first thing 

God did was

splash light

all over the place.

Important, too, 

to remember that 

in the ancient world

salt was as valuable 

as gold.

Light and Salt.

That's us

for others

says Jesus.

Hey, we are 

  NEEDED

light and salt

these dim days 

   of spoil.

We can impact

sadly little of

world events.

The money-power 

fiends at 

the controls 

of Empire 

have that 

locked up.

But we are working 

        with 

 Jesus The Christ

    to establish

The Kingdom of God. 

That's residence in

     Relm Real

     God Good

from here to eternity.

We not only create. 

In The Spirit 

we re-create

that which has been

damaged and defiled 

by sin and evil.

    We bring 

  light and salt,

  enlightening 

       and 

  

   freshness,

  right where 

 

      and 

  as we live.

 

SPECKS OF LIGHT

SPRINKLES OF SALT

We nod and smile, 

making room

for another in the

supermarket aisle. 

It's a flicker 

of light bright,

a pinch of

favor flavor.

We show up at work

going full torque

bringing zip to it.

We don't 

get all over 

a friend

"going through 

 something"  

and being in a 

mood mean 

 

just now.

If we farm, 

it's regenerative 

farming.

We coach/mentor

needful youngsters.

We set up a weekday 

Zoom Prayer Group.

        

We, our family 

and friends,

spend lots of 

time together

 - meals, reading, sports,

   chores, crafts, music,

   casual to deep down 

   conversations, 

   scripture sharing 

   and prayer,

   having company over.

We do that temperately

not in a frenetic, 

multi anything manner.

We glow go it, 

slow savor it.

We bring joyful vigor 

and generous sharing 

to our faith community.

If we are storytellers 

we tell, 

if musicians we play,

bright zest

for others.

We make sure 

the elderly are 

as much a part 

of things as they 

are able.

When they are not 

we bring things 

to them,

most especially 

respect and affection. 

We go out and invite 

     folks to our 

faith communities,

        to be 

   God absorbed,

        to be

 welcome wrapped 

         in 

for real fellowship,

       to be

in service to need,

       to be 

justice advocates.

If we have the 

talents needed, 

we serve on 

school and library 

boards.

As "salt of the earth", 

we work to preserve 

air, water and soil,

all of Nature's 

God Goodness. 

We seek to bring out 

     the best 

in little children, 

in the handicapped,

in people's 

gifts and graces.

We work

to preserve the 

wisdom and 

achievements 

of then and now. 

As "light of the world" 

we help others see 

the gifts they 

are and have.

We support 

their growth

in wholeness. 

We don't push or pull.

We just let the 

God Light 

at our center

radiate as 

God chose to

shine from us. 

In personal, practical 

and communal ways 

we are indeed the 

   light and salt 

   of the earth.

As appropriate

and possible 

we live out the 

 spirituality

 psychology 

      of

Serve and Return.

It's like tennis.

We serve and 

another returns,

back and forth

in simple civilities 

to major 

soul and social

interchanges. 

Living out 

the trust of Jesus

is a lot like 

planets and stars.

Planets absorb energy.

Stars emit energy.

   "You are the 

     star light of the 

     planet earth."

Living out the 

trust of Jesus is 

like salting 

the precious,

- preserved 

  safe and 

 

  secure,

flavoring life,

 

bringing zip and zest 

to our world.

"You are the salt 

 of the earth."

When I was 

ministering 

in local churches 

I used to tease that

"A pastor is a person 

 who has a job 

 for everybody."

Well, God is our

Universal Pastor 

with a job 

for everybody.

   We are

  NEEDED 

Our light and salt 

are his for us to give.

They won't make it

to the evening news.

Way, way better,

they make an 

eternal difference 

    for many. 

    For that 

we each and all 

are very much 

   NEEDED

   ******

A MILE-WIDE WELCOME

              to

          regulars

        some timers

         first timers

    This week we had 

 first time participation 

            from 

        Suriname.

      You bless us.

ONLINE POSTINGS

Thursday afternoons

 (often mornings)

EMAIL DELIVERY

Fridays

SIGN UP

top right above.

LAST FIVE POSTINGS

     AVAILABLE

          by

   scrolling down

      beneath

    this posting

See you next week.

    So good to 

 shine and shake

  light and salt 

  for the people

  and world 

  around us.

 Love to all.

 God Bless,

 John Frank

         frankly speaking

   spirituality for the street

johnfrankshares.blogspot.com

              ******

 

 

LINE

Dear All of Us, 

So, here's a little 

ancient history 

    - mine -

One of my favorite 

      shows 

  back in those 

     long ago 

    early days 

      of TV 

   and of me 

      was

WHAT'S MY LINE

Guests responded with

with yes or no answers 

as the panelists 

quizzed them

trying to 

figure out, 

if they could,

the quest's 

line of work.

Repartee between 

the panelists and 

host, John Daly, 

was witty, tasteful 

and sophisticated.

Each week 

there was a 

celebrity 

Mystery Guest, 

among them,

  Ty Cobb,

  Marian Anderson, 

  Betty Grable, 

  Estes Kefauver

       How's that 

       for dating 

       the show 

       and me!

The panelists 

were blindfolded.

There was 

an empty chair 

for the off-stage 

Mystery Guest

whose voice 

was disguised.

It was all good, 

clean, fun. 

It worked out well.

 

It's been 

disappointingly 

different for the 

established church.

Over the centuries

it's had a hard time 

rightly identifying our

   Celebrity Guest  

         and 

  his line of work.

He has been severely 

misunderstood

as everything from

a genteel, wispy, soft, 

"My Sweet Lord,"

to a good looking 

blond, blue eyed Sweed,

to a militant revolutionary.

His line of work has been 

misconstrued as

pitching a piety 

for a safe and secure 

by and by in the sky,

as a fixer doing 

magic miracles,

as a stern moralist, 

as fronting 

strong opposition 

to Empire. 

Over the centuries

Jesus has been trapped 

by the trappings of 

a church hierarchy 

with its regalia, titles, 

pomp and preference,

functioning as Empire's

court chaplains.

Such has thrown off

our response to Jesus 

and his life work.

That "thrown off" spans 

from people running off 

to a supposed 

sacred seclusion 

hoping to be 

highest holy,

to being militant 

antimilitants for God.

             HUM?

It has set up a clergy cult

and relegated masses

to passive piety.

     HUM SOME MORE!

With today's 

worldwide reshuffle 

of just about everything  

and the mass exodus 

from institutional religion,

our right now is 

a prime-time opportunity 

to joyfully embrace

the real Jesus and 

the actual life 

he shares.

In simple truth, Jesus

invites us to be close in

with him and each other

in hardy, healthy, community

as we live his life together in 

The Kingdom of God

here on into eternity.

It is real, robust, loving, 

caring and creative. 

It joins us with Jesus 

and with each other in

reclaiming and redeeming 

what has been lost

and turning right 

what has been 

twisted wrong

in Creation -

  people and place,

  soul, society and system. 

At times that's a 

downright uplifting,

      HARD 

LINE OF WORK.

Jesus did not try 

to dismantle Empire.

Rather, he initiated a 

real-right community 

in place of it. 

It decidedly call for 

wholehearted, 

vigorous, joyous,

engagement.

"Sort of," "halfway," 

doesn't get us there.

It's not a weekly 

Sunday Service,

soothing rituals,

a docket of dogmas, 

a set of moral mandates, 

more about me than us.

It's a flat out,

all encompassing,

top to bottom,

fully lived

   God Love

   Gospel Life

As so often 

urged here,

we need to 

find or form 

a group with whom

to live Jesus and this

kingdom community. 

Here are some 

"descriptors"

to line us up 

in our efforts 

to do that,

to get

   Jesus Right 

   Kingdom Real.

Individually and 

as community we 

marinate/meditate

in and with them:

- "The kingdom of heaven 

   is like a mustard seed"

        Mathew 13:31

         apparently 

       of no account 

         yet grows

    to what really counts.

      Keep it simple,

       simple show

            and 

        quiet tell.

      The Kingdom

     God Expansive,

      subtle strong.

Forget the analytics and PR.

        Let Grace 

  grow the community.

            Yes,

like a tiny mustard seed

     simple strong

  potential powered.

-"I tell you the truth,

   unless you change 

   and become like

   little children,

   you will never enter the

   kingdom of heaven."

      Matthew 18:3

       Disengage 

   the control mode,

  go counter cultural,

     come on out 

from the isolation of self 

           and 

 let God show us all a 

   God Good Time

        together.

        Realize

        we are 

    God's delight, 

    God cared for,

       freed up 

          for    

    Creation Play

- " I am the vine, 

    you are the branches."

         John 15:5

God wants to happen as us.

            WOW!

    God's life, energy, 

       wondrousness

               is 

 particularized and fruitful 

            in us.

    In kingdom living 

       we each are 

    God branched out

    variously, uniquely

       a variety of 

    gifts and graces 

        to share.

  Unity in difference

  Mutuality in ministry

- "I am 

    the way, 

    the truth,

       and 

    the life."

   John 14:6

Jesus offers us 

a way to go about life, 

offers his way of life, 

bedrock real, 

foundational truth.

Jesus is life itself,

our energy source.

Kingdom Living is 

actual, practical 

      living

the way, truth 

and life of Jesus 

   together 

in community.

For us, all is 

based on,

decided by,

rooted in.

this trinity 

of sharing

  from 

 Jesus

- "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 covering and 

    you clothed me,

    I was sick and 

    you looked after me, 

    I was in prison and 

    you came to visit me."

      Matthew 25:35-36

This is our stock and trade.

These are the measures

of our meaning and ministry.

This is what we are about.

As a community 

we find ways to 

practically live out

The Love That Is God.

      1 John 4:8

as manifest in 

Matthew above.

Examples:

We wrap in 

the pushed out.

We have the 

all alone 

elderly woman 

down the street 

join our community

for Sunday dinners.

We spot and back up 

a couple taking care of 

foster children.

We feed intellectual and 

relational hungers with

engaged, expansive,

sharing, attention 

and complete inclusion. 

We keep emptying 

our closets and dressers 

to cloth families 

in local shelters.

Our community sponsors

Greet and Meet events 

with members of 

other cultures, 

ethnicity, lifestyles,

gender expressions, 

and religions

in our area.

We are patient 

and stick with 

those imprisoned 

in self-absorption.

- "But the Counselor, 

   the Holy Spirit, 

   whom the Father 

   will send in my name, 

   will teach you all things 

   and remind you of 

   everything 

   I have said to you."

      John 14:26

    The Spirit is our 

communal and personal 

           GPS.

We don't rely on 

our own smarts, 

passions, plans 

and persuasions. 

As a community

and individually 

we seek and welcome 

       The Spirit 

       and we test 

       our spirits,

personal and communal. 

   What's Our Line?

Living God Good Love 

    tight together 

          so

personally and practically 

that there is absolutely 

no question about

    WHAT"S MY LINE

          ******

     Greetings 

        and 

     Welcome

         to

   Each and All

             

ONLINE POSTINGS

Thursday afternoons

(sometimes mornings)

East Coast USA time.

EMAIL DELIVERY

Fridays

Sign Up

above top right

LAST FIVE POSTINGS

      AVAILABLE

           by

       scrolling 

        down 

        below 

     this posting

Please do share

        frankly speaking

   spirituality for the street

johnfrankshares.blogspot.com

            Thanks

      Have a great week.

Looking forward to all of us 

 being back together here 

          next week.

         Love to all.

         God Bless,

         John Frank

           ******