TAKE

        Dear All of us.

          What's our

             TAKE

     A man barely able 

to rub two pennies together

 

      (while they last),

living in a deadly dangerous, 

drug dominated neighborhood,

has the winning Powerball ticket

for one billion dollars and

         he doesn't 

            TAKE

               it

         What's our 

            TAKE 

         on a world 

 

         that is heir 

    to a world ordered

            Peace

            yet is

  blowing itself to pieces

            and

    taking a pass on

           Peace

  That's our world,

      a world 

Empire dominated,

blowing itself to pieces. 

Piles of pieces, 

shattered by Empire,

are all over the place:

culture and religion wars, 

political and economic waring, 

tech strife and abuse,

social malfunction,

environmental degradation,

fanaticism and fascism,

systemic injustice,

millions suffering poverty, 

starvation, violence, death,

masses of malignant loneliness,

off the chart anxiety,

whole global sectors 

of land and peoples

militarily devastated.

         People

         Principles

         Places

         Blasted 

            to

         Pieces

  Can they ever be

         Pieced

       Together 

  

         Again

           in

   

        PEACE?

        On our own 

we cannot patch the pieces

        PEACE FULL 

Empire's operating system 

is not only incapable of it,

it will not allow it.

Empire dominates with

a damning, deadly down draw

at core and all the way out.

It is rigged evil wrong and

it wrongs like hell.

Hell bent it is.

The pace picks up,

faster, deeper, wider.

There's hell to pay and,

true to form, 

this busting to pieces 

hurts like hell.

Folks are terribly

troubled and afraid.

    

As bad as it is,

and even worst 

will probably get,

is there any 

possibility for peace?

    

     There sure is 

      if we will 

        live a  

        TAKE 

It's this.

         Closing in on 

the shadow of the cross and 

the brilliance of the resurrection,

             Jesus

    shares a parting gift.

              He

  invites and empowers a

            TAKE

  "Peace I leave with you,

   my peace I give you.

   Not as the world gives.

   Do not let your hearts 

   be troubled and

   do not be afraid."

      John 14: 17

   

What a God Gift!

Peace is the very integrity of God.

Peace is that unfolding in Creation.

Peace is the harmony of the universe.

Peace is the tranquility of order. 

Peace is the Love that is God

    accepted, shared and lived

             as given.

Peace is allowing God 

     so close as to be One.

Peace is letting God be our center

      and shine forth through us.

Peace is welcoming unto blending

     God shining forth from others.

In the Peace of Christ 

we are not troubled or afraid

        at our center

no matter the evils of Empire

that swirl around us,

that come at us

hurting like hell.

Troubles terrible 

there are

and will be 

even more.

       Deep down 

       Peace Full 

       we can be

       individually 

         and as 

       a people.

This peace merges us 

           ONE 

IN THE ONESS OF GOD.

       That's our 

 surety and strength,  

centered real and right.

The "peace" Empire gives

is power pushing against power

to a static, soulless standoff,

doing that militarily, 

economically, 

politically, socially -

selfish, power-profit seeking

trying to stall each other out,

So, what's 

The Peace of Christ 

look like out here

on the streets of 

our here and now?

- We are bonded together in 

   Christ Communities. 

   We care, give and help.

   We support and are supported.

   Church is a shared life 

   not a once a week meet up for us.

   We cover a rent, 

   a couple needing a kid break, 

   food stables for a bare cupboard,

   with a ride to the doctors.

 - We are freed from Empire's force 

    to have and get more than we need.

  - We are at One with all about us,

    reverencing people and place.

  - We voice and vote peace.

  - We live the dynamic of 

          Christ's Peace

  

    in our marriages, 

    friendships,

    family life, 

    at school and work, 

    in our social, civic and

    recreational circles.

  - We are released from tense, 

    aggressive behaviors while

    driving to scheduling 

    to meeting challenges.

 - We are patient with the 

   shallow loudmouth at work.

 - We do all we can for 

   immigrants and minorities.

 - We mentor the young and 

   we nurture the old.

 - We fall into the embrace of God

   and let God guide and support us

   in all the easy, the hard, 

   the terrifying, the glorious 

   moments and motions

   of our sweaty sweet everyday life.

 - We pray, fellowship, 

   have meals together,

   attune and attend to each other

   in loving interaction as church.

- We presence peace 

  in our person and place.

- In the immediacy 

  of the Middle East War

  we heed and put into practice 

  the courageous, 

  Gospel guidance of 

       Pope Leo.

  He called out Empire's 

 "delusion of omnipotence" 

  that fires the mass murders,

 

  the maiming's of mind and body,

  the devastation of land and sea,

  the social and economic chaos

  of this war.

  

 "Enough of the idolatry 

  of self and money."

 "Enough of the 

  display of power!

     

  Enough of war!"

  Praying for peace

  he said was a way 

  "...to break the cycle of evil",

   to build the Kingdom of God 

   where there are no swords,

   drones or "unjust profit."

  "It is here that we find 

 

   a bulwark against that 

   delusion of omnipotence 

   that surrounds us and 

   is becoming increasingly 

   unpredictable and aggressive."

  "Even the holy Name of God, 

   the God of life, 

   is being dragged into 

   discourses of death."

   (Prayer Vigil, April 11th.)

Those are not "fight'n words."

The are strong words, 

putting into crystal clarity

the operative evils 

of the moment and

a call to replace them 

with the

          

     PEACE OF CHRIST

             What's our 

             TAKE

                      

            ******

In The Peace Of Christ

        Welcome

first timers, some timers,

     all the timers.

ONLINE POSTINGS

Thursday mornings

East Coast USA time.

      THANKS

    for sharing 

 frankly speaking 

    with others.

A Sampling of 

Past Postings

is available by 

scrolling down 

well beneath

this posting.

Have a great week.

Jesus is looking for Takers.

Our living is our response.

We can people present peace

right where we are.

         Love to all.

         God Bless,

     Peace be with us

       and from us.

        John Frank

       frankly speaking

spirituality for the street

johnfrankshares.blogspot.com

              ******

   

  

   

       

       

 

MIX

Dear All of Us,

It was back 

in those early 1950's,

those pre-AC days.

Many a warm 

summer evening

Mom would drive

us eight kids -    

         Yes, eight!

           Roman

      Rule & Roulette  

             and 

        fortunately

        a spacious 

      Chevy Suburban 

to Applegate's

out there on 

Grove Street

for the world's 

best ever,

made right there,

ice cream.

I always got 

a scoop of vanilla 

        and  

a scoop of chocolate 

        and 

      MIXED 

     them up. 

I don't know 

if Applegate's

out there  

on Grove Street

at the edge of 

Montclair

still scoops.

I do know that

for all of us

out here on 

the streets of 

everyday life 

    it's a 

     MIX 

of way more than 

ice cream flavors.

    It is a mix 

of life differences,

of delights and difficulties,

of spiritual variations 

and experiences:  

    joy and distress,

    loyalty and betrayal,

    struggle and rest,

    peace and turmoil,

    success and flop drop,

    things earthy, 

    things heavenly.

          

        This

        MIX 

is our spiritual life.

It's not all this.

it's not all that.

But then again,

there are times 

when it mostly is.

In those times 

it's more

the earthy 

or more

the heavenly,

or so it seems. 

Actually though,

    it's both

    the same 

    different.

      That probably merits a

      brain blink or two more.

There's the 

lift intimate 

to God

in prayer.

Then there's 

just the opposite.

We get bogged down 

in working 

30 hours a day,

ten days a week!

Sometimes it's mostly

comfort and consolation.

Sometimes mostly not.

       Always it is 

       unending 

          MIX

Some of them water 

our soulful gardens. 

Others exhaust us dry.

It's never 

permanently a 

this or that.

It's a "both and"

taking turns at bat.

    Yes, I know that's

    mixing metaphors.

    But, hey, look what 

    the Dodges did

    up at bat 

    last year

            and

    mixing things up 

    is precisely the

    whole point here, 

    right?

    OK, OK, back to topic.

Put otherwise,

in the mix of

our here and now

we are living out 

the life, death and 

resurrection 

of Jesus Christ

with us in our 

right here, 

right now.

We are one 

in the redemption,

in the re-creation 

of the damaged

and in the unfolding

of the fresh pure 

         all in

Creation's unending

  Mix of Wonders.

All this

is the 

swirling mix

in us of things 

as different as:

   landing the dream job,

   getting a chubby bonus at work,

   to feeling more arid than

   anybody's stretch of 

   spiritual sand,

   being stymied 

   struggling 

   for social justice,

   falling in love,

   being stretched thin

   and yet enriched 

   as part of a caring

   spiritual community,

   supporting family 

   and friends and

   receiving theirs,

   singing in the shower 

   and in a chorus,

   enjoying health 

   and prowess

   and suffering 

   the limits of both,

   having our 

   house of cards 

   completed 

   and trying 

   to piece together 

   its regular collapse.

Whatever 

   and 

 always 

our mix is,

as Paul 

so regularly 

positioned it,

"en Christo" 

 (in Christ).

    "I live now, not I, 

     but Christ lives 

          in me."

     Galatians 2:20

Paul cites 

"in Him" 

   and 

"In Christ"

180 times

in his letters.

He sure as heck 

means to make 

a point that

he doesn't want us 

to miss about our

        MIX

 

 In our spiritual lives

      there are 

seasons and situations,

variations aplenty,

heavenly absorbed,

earth bound,

slips and steadiness,

clarity and confusion

          to it, 

     but always it's

     "en Christo"

A caution:

Some overzealous folks

get all flummoxed

because they are not 

conscious of God 

every waking second

like some mythic mystic,

and on top of that 

they occasionally 

have a really robust

dirty thought.

They need to chill. 

God is always close, 

realized or not,

and God has 

bigger things 

to worry about than

an occasional 

lustful lapse. 

Such sad stress 

is wacky and

pushed too far 

will force us 

off the road 

spiritually

   and 

mentally!!

So, too, will 

spiritual

laissez-faire, 

soul slouching:

"It's all up to God.

I'll just be decent,

go to work and 

say my prayers."

Soul/Psychic Blah!!

God created us 

human and that 

in the midst/mix of 

evolving Creation.

It's ours to be 

heavenly earthy,

earthy heavenly,

experiencing

unitive prayer

     and 

    paying 

the mortgage.

If we are 

piloting a plane, it's 

"en Christo"

paying attention 

to the radar scan

rather than 

trying to recite 

the psalms.

At times of prayer, 

it's best 

to forget about 

our bank account 

and count ourselves 

so darn blessed to be 

   God's delight. 

We don't understand it all, 

but we do experience it

ever more and fully.

The saving grace is that

whatever the mix 

of the moment  

     we are  

  "en Christo"

Meister Eckhart

counsels us 

to see all things 

with the eyes of God.

God sees God Good

    deep down

       in all.

That will mean 

one thing when

changing a baby's 

over ripe diaper.

It will mean quite 

another thing 

prayerfully intimate, 

embrace wrapped in God.

Both are equally 

 "en Christo"

      And I can guess 

      your preference!

That's how it is with

our spiritual life,  

such a holy, wholly

       MIX 

    ******

PS:

     I still enjoy mixing 

     vanilla and chocolate

     ice cream

     all these years post

         Applegate's

             and 

       that spacious

    Chevy Suburban

         ******

GREETING AND GRATITUDE

           Welcoming 

        all our visitors

   Come back next week 

   and we'll all be family.

       What a blessed

             MIX

           we are!

  

ONLINE POSTINGS

     Thursday 

     mornings

East Coast USA time

    PLEASE CONTINUE

             TO

          SHARE

      frankly speaking

 spirituality for the street

johnfrankshares.blogspot.com

       with others.

   THANKS A BUNCH!

   PAST POSTINGS
      

      AVAILABLE

           by

 scrolling well down 

       beneath

     this posting

Have a good week.

All the best in the 

        MIX

    Love to all.

    God Bless,

    John Frank

      ******

 

UPWARD BOUND

       Dear All of Us,

   We're going to make it

   for sure and just fine

         thank you!

         

        For all the 

   

         Downers

        Put Downs

     Upside Downs

we're going to come out 

          On Top

       all the way

            UP

         

That's because we are

   UPWARD BOUND

          and

  that's because of

        Jesus 

     The Christ.

He jumps right in,

mixes in our 

now and how.

He takes our hits

         and

celebrates our joys 

       with us.

 He blends in his

realness and rightness,

            

     LIGHT LIFTS  

           US

   UPWARD BOUND

We are wrapped one 

        in His

 suffering and glory, 

death and resurrection.

Be it marvel or mess

         He 

    leavens us

 UPWARD BOUND

"...all of us who were baptized 

into Christ Jesus were baptized 

into his death...in order that, 

just as Christ was 

raised from the dead 

through the glory of the Father, 

we too live a new life."

(Please see all of Romans 6:3-8)

       Good Fridays 

    there are for now.

     Easter Sunday 

    there is right now 

    and ever will be.

         Downs 

        for sure

and ever more for sure

  UPWARD BOUND

      ******

Friends, here's a little

  "Easter Basket"

       for you 

      from my 

 personal journal.

 

         DAY LIFE SAVING TIME

          MAUNDAY THURSDAY

              GOOD FRIDAY

            EASTER SUNDAY

        TRIDUUM TREMENDUM

                                   

                     I

                               

             Foot Servant

                 Come

                Union

           Life Transfused

   Love Gained Grained Bread 

                Shared

                   

             Soul Sweat

            Kiss of Death

                   II

  

             Crossed Up

              Negative

      

          Passion Plussed

                                 

                  III

            Down Upped

            Dark Lited

            Dead Livened

            Dreadful Joyed

 

               

    RESURREXIT SICUT DIXIT

              ALLELUIA

                      

      ALLELUIA     ALLELUIA

 

                             

Easter Joy to you and Yours.

 

          Love to all.

          God Bless,

  

          John Frank

         frankly speaking

    spirituality for the street

johnfrankshares.blogspot.com

  Posted Thursday Mornings

      East Coast USA Time

             ******