Dear All of Us,
So,
is the
GLASS
half empty
or
half full?
Best answer
I know:
"Yep! Sure is!"
It sure as hell
is half empty
at times
and
it sure
as heaven
is half full
at times.
Some
days and ways
a lot more one
than the other,
even
over the top
or
blowing out
the bottom:
We lose our job.
We fall in love.
We live in a world
quite right
and
quite wrong.
pristine waterways/
polluted rivers.
Francis of Assisi/
Adolf Hitler.
Civil Rights/
Genocide.
Worldwide,
too much
for a few,
enough
for some,
not nearly
enough
for most.
Half full?
Half empty?
Other?
This is
where and in what
we live
our spiritual lives.
There's an
ebb and flow
to them.
As such,
they actually are
a continuation
in us of the
life, death
and
resurrection
of
Jesus The Christ.
They are the
ushering in
of the
Kingdom of God
in our
here and now.
We do so together
in community
as
The Gathered
Followers of the Way
The Body of Christ,
three ways the early church
was experienced and named.
In some form or other
what Jesus did we do.
In some form or other
what happened to Jesus
happens to us.
Some days the glass
tops out full.
Somedays the glass
is down to dry dregs.
Getting past
churchy piety
and
flexing
some spiritual sinew
as we move into
the way and work
of
Jesus
means things
get
sweaty to sweet,
half full, half empty,
topped, bottomed,
much and often
and that in spades.
We do well
to hear Jesus
on the matter
of
full and empty
and
to consider
our lived
response
as he works
through us.
It's anything but
casual or occasional.
It's a life
in
The Life
We hear,
take to heart,
put into practice
what Jesus says.
Two examples,
FULL
EMPTY
FULL
"I have come that you
might have life
and have it to the full"
John 10:10
In Christ Jesus
we get to be
life givers,
life savers,
by
life sharing
the full life
Jesus gives us.
- we host a needy
inner- city child
for a week
each summer
- we work away
one Saturday
a month at
Habitat for Humanity
- we have the
nuisance neighbor
over for dinner
- we lead a scout troop
- we donate to
the food pantry
as much as we spend on
food for ourselves
- we form a spiritual life
support group
- let's come up with
five ways
we will be
life givers/savers,
will fill the glass full
in Christ.
"I've come that you
(and others through you)
might have life
and have it to the full":
......................................
......................................
......................................
......................................
......................................
EMPTY
"If anyone would follow
after me that person
must deny self,
take up their cross
and follow me."
Matthew 16:24
Wave Good By
to
self-selecting,
casual, comfy, churchy,
Cafeteria Christianity!
There's a lot of
let go
to the
get go
with Jesus
and the work of
Kingdom coming
through
the two of us
with others,
for others.
What's gotta go,
be emptied out,
"denied"
is the
"self"
as in
the loner me
not wrapped tight
"en Christo"
the me all about me,
self-serving,
self-preferential
selfish,
separate
from
God's Life Giving Love
shared in
warm, wide
generosity
and
community.
Gotta deny that self
any place or way in me.
It has to be
CROSSED
out
Then we can get a handle
on the real cross,
take it up
and
come follow Jesus.
Emptying out
in love and service,
in cross carrying,
is going
to put us at
Cross Purpose
with our culture of
capitalism
and
consumption,
a sickening surfeit of
stuff
surface satisfactions
and
sensations,
of
earth and people
exhaustion.
If this seems
too strong,
too radical,
we need
to hear and heed
Jesus:
"Don't hoard treasure
down here where
it gets eaten by moth
and corroded by rust or
- worse! -
stolen by burglars
(say a stock market crash).
Stockpile treasure in heaven,
where it's safe from moth
and rust and buglers.
It's obvious, isn't it?
The place where
your treasure is,
is the place
you will most
want to be, and
end up being."
Matthew 6:19-21
The Message
That's going
to place us
at odds with
a culture
of
me
now
get
have
keep.
But hey,
Jesus was at odds
with the
phony religion
and
rogue Roman rule,
the (de)value system,
the flaccid culture
of his
time and place.
Our treasure
and
Cross
is to live
God's
"Preferential option
for the poor,"
be that privation
in their body,
mind, bank account,
social acceptance,
human rights,
opportunities -
anything that counts
for their health
and wellbeing.
The new Pope
Leo X!V
says that
many Christians
"...need to go back
and re-read
the Gospel"
because
they have
forgotten that
faith and love
go hand in hand.
In his first major document,
Delexi Te
("I Have Loved You")
he says that
Scripture and tradition
clearly show that God
has a special heart for
the poor and oppressed,
and he asks the church
"to make a decisive
and radical choice
in favor of the weakest."
October 4, 2025
Feast Day
of
St. Francis of Assisi
Such a
decisive
radical
choice
favoring the poor
crosses up our culture
and we will pay for it
as we carry the cross of
distain, disadvantage,
rejection and exclusion.
The cross we carry
following Jesus will be
such as
- long suffering
in patient concern
for difficult relatives
and associates
- adjusting to a simple
and sufficient lifestyle
so that others
may simply have a life
- focusing family
and church on
the treasure of
"eoughness"
and giving the rest
to those shorted
by need
- spending years
carrying for a
family member
or friend
dependent
or disabled.
- risking position
and possession
in solidarity with all
seeking justice,
Gospel Goodness,
for the oppressed
as many are
doing that right now
on behalf of peoples
recently migrated here
(I vividly recall hearing
of the oppression
my Irish great and
grandparents suffered
as they migrated here)
In short and in Jesus
we suffer the cross,
splinters of all sorts,
of denials and deaths,
emptying out,
giving life for others.
The wild and beautiful
paradox
in all this is that
in emptying
the glass for others
it overflows
for us
in
Life and Love
as a never ending
NOW
The Cross
What a plus.
To that
to life sharing
to empty
to full
let's lift
an overflowing
GLASS
******
A WARM WELCOME
to
ALL
with a special greeting
to the large contingent
from
SINGAPORE
who joined us this week.
ONLINE POSTINGS
THURSDAY AFTERNOONS
(lately mornings)
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scrolling down
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this posting
Have a great week.
Love to all.
See you next week.
God Bless,
John Frank
frankly speaking
spirituality for the street
johnfrankshares.blogspot.com
******
We're forced to live
in the mad midst of
Empire.
We're invited
to live together
in
The Kin-Domain
of
God Good
