Dear All of Us,
TIME
"Do you have
a little time
to spare?"
"Got a minute?"
"How long does it take?"
"You're on the clock."
We sure are.
We are
time obsessed
and
fast is first.
Well, let's slow it down
minutes many
and prayerfully so.
How long
does it take to pray
The Lord's Prayer?
Timed typical,
less than thirty seconds.
That's like eating
a seven-course dinner in a
Michelin Five Star Restaurant
in ten minutes.
A LOT IS MISSED.
Banging out
The Lord's Prayer
in under
thirty seconds,
we barely have time
to give God a nod.
Compounding
the fly by is that
The Lord's Prayer
was never meant
to be prayed together
or in church.
Before the pastor
sends someone out
for matches
to burn me
at the stake,
here's what
Jesus says about
how and where we pray
the prayer he wants
to teach our hearts.
"But whenever you pray,
go into your room
close the door and
pray to your Father
who is in unseen...
This, then, is how
you should pray:
Our Father in heaven..."
Matthew 6:6&9
NIV
By comparison:
We don't make love in public
because it is so intimate.
We don't put it on a timer.
It transports timeless.
Same for praying
and certainly
The Lord's Prayer.
A help here is to
slow go it with
The Lord's Prayer.
We step away from
rush rattled addled.
We close the door on
cultural cacophony.
We ease into it,
divine delightful.
We're home safe.
We take each portion
of the prayer slowly
and let it take us
into the embrace of
Our Father.
So, OK.
If this is about
all the time
some here have
this time round,
every goodness.
See you next week.
For those of us
who have time,
let's meet up for
THE LORD'S PRAYER
REFLECTIONS
attached below
at the end of
this posting and
Soul Savor
what Jesus serves up in
The Lord's Prayer.
It'll take a little time.
Love making always does.
******
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******
THE LORD'S PRAYER
REFLECTIONS
There is no timetable here.
There are no
word, concept, aspirational
quotas to meet.
Performance Reviews
don't exist.
If we pause on one word
the whole time we are
God embraced,
well,
we're God embraced!
That's just plain DIVINE.
It more than qualifies
as prayer.
No matter our
age, stage, sage,
we are a kid,
daddy wanted warm.
This is the most difficult
mode and manner
for sadly many.
It takes time and try
to right it,
to relax into it.
For all our sense of
sufficiency and
sophistication,
for all our
fumbles and faults,
we get to be
who we really are,
a cherished child,
wanted and safe.
We can laugh,
cry, complain, ask,
in the embrace of
Our Father
We can play, snuggle,
dance, tease, rest,
pour forth
hurts and joys,
needs and thanks.
Jesus shares some
points, ways and words
for starters.
This is prayer,
a launch for
free form love.
It may take us
off script.
The point is prayer.
The point is being
free secure in
Our Father
We are neither
Spirit nor scripted tight.
Here's an example.
"Our Father..."
All scripture scholars agree
that the word translated
"Father"
is way off mark
and off putting.
The closest word
in English to
the Hebrew word
Jesus gave us is not
Father
It is
"Daddy"
Can we loosen up,
let go our status,
achievements,
supposed
self-sufficiency,
and just be
the kid we are
right at home
with
Daddy?
Hey!
There's no
other way!!
"I'm telling you,
once and for all,
that unless you
return to square one
and start over
like children,
you're not even
going to get a look
at the kingdom,
let alone get in.
Whoever
becomes
simple and
elemental again,
like this child,
will rank high in
God's kingdom.
What's more,
when you receive
the childlike
on my account
it's the same as
receiving me."
Matthew18:3-6
The Message
What Come Union!
Hey
There's NO other way!
Oh, if we could just get
Vladamir Putin,
Xi Jinping,
Donald Trump,
Benjamin Netanyahu,
the ruling Iranian military,
Jeff Bezos,
Mark Zukerberg,
Matt Altman,
their kind and ruling clans,
to accept and live this.
And then, of course,
there's us.
How many of us
really do
accept and live this,
as in
REALLY?
Church going
is one thing.
Dabbling
in the spiritual
is another.
Really
hearing,
accepting,
living
this is the
ONLY ONE
that counts.
There's more than
a month of honest
prayer, meditation,
conversion
here.
Admittedly I have been
a bit confessional of late.
Well, there's more.
I confess that after years of
church going/doing,
neck deep in theology,
swamped in spirituality,
only late in life
have I actually begun
to grow up to be a
Child
in
God's
Embrace.
Sounds
paradoxical.
It isn't.
It's the
ONLY WAY
for us all.
It's
TIME
******
Praying for you.
Counting on your prayer
for me and all of us
who gather each week
here at
frankly speaking
spirituality for the street
johnfrankshares.blogspot.com
Love to all.
God Bless,
John Frank
******
