KIDS

Dear All of Us,

So, what's the

absolute best thing

that could be said of us?

He/She's :

- smart as a whip,

- a real looker/hunk

- loaded,

- patient as a saint,

- a go getter/high achiever,

- a rock star,

- way out front,

- smooth as silk,

- rock solid,

- totally reliable,

- successful

- wise as an owl,

- life of the party

- a living saint

- really nice,

- totally loyal,

- generous to a fault

           ???

According to Jesus,

the absolute

best thing that 

could be said of us 

is that we are

"Kids at heart."

 How 'bout dat??

 It sure rates 

 a good, 

 old fashioned, 

 Phil Rizzuto

 "HOLY COW!!"

         

  KIDS AT HEART?

         Yep!

     That simple.

     That definite.

     That definitive

     That unequivocal,

     That absolute,

     Period Paragraph.

        Ultimately

      The only ones 

      to make grade,

      to make the cut

             are

            KIDS

In Jesus' time,

as in in ours,

this just doesn't 

culture click.

I guess that's 

exactly why 

Jesus puts kids

front and center.

Then as now,

our cultures are 

    cockeyed, 

    off center.

They need 

a corrective.

Jesus offers life in the 

Kingdom of God

as wondrous corrective.

It makes all the difference 

in the world and forever.

Admission is for kids only:

      

      The people brought children to Jesus, 

      hoping he might touch them. 

      The disciples shooed them off.

      But Jesus was irate 

      and let them know it;

     "These children are at 

       the very center of 

       life in the kingdom.

       Mark this. 

       Unless you accept 

       God's kingdom 

       in the simplicity of a child, 

       you'll never get in."

       Then, gathering the children up 

       in his arms, he laid 

       his hands of blessing on them"

                 Mark 10:13-14

                  The Message

We don't need to be 

scripture scholars 

to understand this.

We do need to be, well, 

like a child 

to accept it,

to experience it.

In the whole 

spiritual journey

this is essential,  

is a sine qua non.

It's foundational: 

A child's simplicity

and acceptance.

Spiritual we ain't 

if we don't 

     and

spiritual we is

if we do.

Which is atrocious wording

for an absolute of 

Kingdom Admission

and wondrous life

together in it.

Children as a group are 

free, pure. 

immediate,

trusting, open.

They are dependent and

that's just fine, thank you!

They excel at free form,

exuberant play.

       Sidebar: 

          Imagine what our world would be like if 

        Donald Trump, Vladamir Putin, Jeff Bizos,

        Mark Zuckerberger and pals lightened up 

        in high energy, pure play in the backyards 

        of governance and commerce.

Children rejoice to be 

cared about and for. 

They delight in gifts

and jump right in

with zesty

kid go.

They "yes"

the adventure of 

love and life offered.

Again, it's a go 

and go they do!

It's like this.

They love to go 

for rides in the country 

and they have no illusions 

of being in the driver's seat.

They're full of wonder at 

all the marvels along

       LIFE"S WAY.

We bring  

this simple acceptance,

this soul-full attitude,

this diving into gift given,

this refreshing freedom, 

this kingdom love living,

to our day to day 

"adult" doings.

This liberating spirit 

animates us 

where and as we are -

Day Laborers, CEO's, 

collars and callings 

blue or white, 

married, single,

leaders, followers.

It brings kingdom life

to our work sights,

living rooms,

and community sharing.

Kingdom Life suffuses us,

in our relationships 

to nature and people,

to all our daily living.

However serious, 

substantive,

important, 

ordinary 

or challenging,

our settings 

and situations,

we get to be 

     

   KINGDOM KIDS

     

   KIDS AT HEART

         ******

  

     

 

      KIDS OF ALL KINDS AND AGES 

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        LET"S GO OUT AND PLAY!"

.             LOVE TO ALL

              GOD BLESS,

              JOHN FRANK

                     frankly speaking

               spirituality for the street

            johnfrankshare.blogspot.com

                          ******

RIGHT AT HOME

Dear All of Us,

Across the spread of 

eighty-six years 

I've lived in a whopping

twenty-nine homes.

No, I wasn't delinquent 

with the rent and always 

a step or two ahead 

of the sheriff.

Dad's work had us 

on the move 

when I was a kid.

Then it was seminaries,

various religious communities,

clergy residences, parishes 

and retirement relocations.

A lot of homes 

for sure and 

many were 

just that,

  home.

It's so good to have 

a place and way to be

  RIGHT AT HOME

It grounds us 

to the heavens.

It stabilizes us

expansive. 

It makes 

all the difference

in our swirl of world.

Sadly, there are 

increasingly 

huge migrations 

of souls without 

a home base.

They are lost in 

 a pandemic of 

   loneliness. 

As mentioned here 

in a past positing,

it's like an orphan train 

with nowhere to go.

And this is happening

in a world coming undone,

in a world increasingly

at a loss for even 

basic community.

It is traumatizing.

In 2023 the 

Surgeon General

issued a report that 

said sad so and

clearly affirmed

the vital importance of

          home,

       community. 

It was entitled:

      Our Epidemic of 

      Loneliness and Isolation,

      The Surgeon General's 

      Advisory on the 

      Healing Effect of 

      Social Connection 

      and Community 

Steven Charleston (2)

frames things this way.

There has been a loss of a

            WE

 leaving us with only a

            ME

          

          That's

         ME-ISM

          

          That's

  solitary confinement

  even if in a crowd. (3)

  

    That is unnatural.

     

     That makes for 

        madness.

Indigenous peoples, 

and people across  

tribal lands and ways,

know a whole lot better.   

Example:

A highly regarded 

Australian scholar

was lecturing 

at a tribal gathering 

in Africa.

He shared that there was 

rampant loneliness in Sidney.

His African interpreter 

interrupted, 

telling the speaker 

that in these lands 

and tribes 

there was 

no such word as

  "loneliness". (4)

Would that it were so 

for us all!

Well, it can be and 

well that would be

in these severing times.

           By God's gift 

           to be human 

              is to be 

        RIGHT AT HOME

an individual in community.

That balance is 

under siege, 

largely lost

in many lands.

The communal has been 

devastated, eviscerated

by an exclusionary

individualism. 

Beginning in 

the Western World

with the so called 

Enlightenment,

metastasizing in 

The Industrial Revolution,

it has become

pervasively lethal in our

   Technology Age,

   the age of the

  "Screen Caged."

It's Me-ism Madness.

Happily and hope filled 

in the midst of this madness 

is the gift of community.

Jesus invites us into 

      shared life, 

lived in community:

"The time is fulfilled,

      and the 

  kingdom of God 

          is 

        here. 

 Change your life 

 and believe the 

     Message." (5)

Jesus underscores 

the dynamic of 

community living in

the kingdom - 

living his love together:

   "Love one another 

    as I have loved you" (6)

 and that's one heaven 

 of a lot of "lov'n"!

We care. 

We share,

never stopping 

to count, be it

tools, time, 

talent shared.

We offer, 

blend,

who we are, 

share

what we have.

At The Last Supper 

Jesus prayed 

that all in 

the community  

  " ...be brought to 

    complete unity..." (7)

We're invited to

tie in tight,

prosper, 

one in diversity,

a mosaic

of unity,.

Paul reminds us that 

together we are

The Body of Christ (8)

Cooperative unity in 

complimenting uniqueness -

day laborers or CEO's, 

Tex-Mex or Blue Zone dining,

Shakespear or Daniel Silva,

down home or uptown.

The Early Church was called

             Ecclesia

        "The Gathered" (9)

We can be too.

Gathered in 

prayer, service.

hospitality, study,

The varied 

Body of Christ

1Corinthians 12:12-27

In the early days 

of the church

Tertullian recorded 

the radical and 

sacrificial love 

the early Christians 

had for each other:

"See how they love 

 one another." (10)

     Was then.

    Can be now.

Here in The States 

and world-wide 

things are really rough.

They are going 

to get a lot rougher.

We need each other.

Jesus calls us 

to be together, 

to be community,

living Kingdom,

"kin"- dom life.

Thus, the oft 

urging here,

and yet again now, 

that we find or found 

a true, a for-real

spiritual community.

It will correct and restore 

the God given balance of 

individual and communal.

   "Wherever  

    two or three 

    are gathered 

    in my name 

    there I am 

    in their midst." (11)

What great company 

      and what a

       Center!

That's what it takes 

- close in community -

         to be 

         really,  

       spiritually,

       humanly

   RIGHT AT HOME  

        ******

     For those who might have 

         time and interest,

      A FEW NOTES ON THE 

               "HOW" 

                OF A 

          SMALL GROUP 

          COMMUNITY

       are offered below 

       at the conclusion

       of this posting

     NO EXTRA CHARGE :)

              ****** 

(1) Gallop: Weekly Religious 

                 Attendance/USA

     1950's = 76% of the population

     2025   = 20% of the population

(2) Member of the Choctaw Nation,

     former Dean, 

     Episcopal Divinity School, 

     Cambridge, MA,

     Episcopal Bishop of Alaska

(3) We the Lonely People,

     Searching for Community,

     Ralph Keyes, Harper and Row,

     1973

(4) Sorry. I failed to note 

     where I read this recently.

(5) Mark 1:15, The Message

(6) John 13:36

(7) John 17:23

(8) 1 Corinthians 12: 27

(9) 1 Corinthians  16:19 

      one of numerous 

      uses in Paul of 

      "ecclesia" for church

(10) Tertullian (160-240 AD)

       Apohogetus ch 39 sect 7

(11) Matthew 18:20

               ******

           It's so 

         God Good 

        for us to be

      "The Gathered" 

      here each week.

          ******

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      with others.

        Thanks!

        ******

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For those interested and 

for consideration

over time

         A FEW NOTES 

             ON THE 

             "HOW" 

              OF A 

         SMALL GROUP 

          COMMUNITY

We start where we are.

If there is an 

established church 

in our area that fosters 

small groups,

we explore the possibility 

of developing one

along the lines of

  John Wesley's 

Ecclesiola in Ecclesia,

   Small Churches 

       in the 

  Larger Church

         or

The Third Order (Lay)

    Franciscans.

If that is not possible, 

we reach out  

to a few 

like-minded, 

like-hearted, 

like-spirited

others.

We have dinner and 

talk through the 

posting above and

these notes here. 

If it's a go,

we meet once a week:

to pray, 

reflect together 

on scripture and

our living of it, 

share Agape or 

Holy Communion, 

have a meal together

(cum vino is just fine!!),

sharing how things are.

Monday to Friday, 

if possible, we

Zoom Share 

Morning Prayer

We care for each other,

help as needed 

and possible.

We individually and 

as a community

serve needs in 

our area and beyond

We ask one

in our number 

to serve as 

convener and organizer

            and 

 a discernably matured 

      spiritual guide

 in our area to serve as 

         overseer

 as per the early church

 with a local servant leader

         presbyter

  and an area overseer 

  of small home churches

          episkopos 

As in the early church,

they have day jobs

for their support.

We ask the Spirit 

to vivify us as 

The Body of Christ.

1 Corinthians 12:12-31

Again and again

we revisit,

refocus on 

our raison d'etre as

Jesus prays for us:

 "The goal is 

  for all of them 

  to become 

  one heart and mind - 

  Just as you, Father, are 

  in me and I in you, ... 

  Then the world 

  might believe that 

  you sent me...

  then they will mature 

  in this oneness

     John 17: 21-23

      The Message

  

     "Abide in me, 

      and I in you."

        John 15:4

All the best.

See you 

next week.

Love to all

God Bless

John Frank

        frankly speaking

   spirituality for the street

johnfrankshares.blogspot.com

             ******

     

  

 

WHEAT WIN

Dear All of Us,

I have dear friends on the Right.

I have dear friends on the Left.

I tag myself a Progressive Traditionalist.

My friends on the Right suspect I'm a closet Lefty

                       AND  YEP!

My friends on the Left suspect I'm a closet Righty

I hope I'm actually a centralist.

Of course that's double dangerous -

in the center you get run over 

by dump trucks of intensity

coming at you from both sides!!

Perceiving themselves as 

the only correct ones, 

both sides want the other side 

Wiped Out Totally and Now!

             Extremes

Jesus told a story about how to deal 

with living in the midst of extremes

in quite another way.

The kingdom of heaven is like

a farmer who sowed good seed 

in his field.

Under cover of night 

an enemy sewed 

weeds in with them.

They both sprang up.

The farmhands wanted 

to rip out the weeds.

The farmer said no, 

that would mean 

ripping up the wheat.

He told them to let 

the wheat and weeds 

continue to grow together.

He explained 

to the farmhands 

that at the harvest 

the matured wheat 

goes to the barn and

the weeds to the bonfire.

 See Mathew 13:24-30 

They grow up together.

They don't end up that way.

     

We are doing our best 

to be maturing wheat.

Sometimes, though, 

we just can't understand 

why God doesn't simply

weed whack the hell out of 

the weeds in our world. 

            Well,

       "God is love" 

        1 John 4:8

       Love is offered,

       never forced.

      The response is 

              free.

        The result is

         consequent.

       Wheat or Weed

         Gathered In

               or

         Burned Up

            Again,

     Matthew 13: 24-30

   Well worth more than 

     a passing ponder

.

We waste spiritual time and energy

waiting for the weeds of our day 

to be completely weed whacked away.

"Ain't gonna happen" until the harvest.

There's Kingdom living and growing right now.

There is just the opposite, Empire.

Wheat and Weeds.

Evil there is.

Good there is.

We let God grow us good 

in the midst of evil.

About that evil, well,

we do all we can 

to redress evil injustice.

      That's a lot.

What we are able to do, though, 

will be in the midst of evil

until the harvest.

We won't let evil weeds 

slow us down.

We are busy growing in 

       God's Love

We have a Kingdom Life 

       to live now

           and

  ever more and more,

           and

          finally 

    Harvest Forever.

        Ours is a 

      WHEAT WIN

         ******

      

       AS PROMISED

   SOME WEEKS BACK

    RECOMENDATION

              OF

     A FINE CHURCH, 

    OFFERING ONLINE

         WORSHIP

St. Paul's Lutheran Church

          LITITZ. PA.

A long-established church

     happily growing

 in numbers and ministry

        - all ages -

Many younger families.

Traditional liturgy in a 

tasteful, prayerful, calm

         manner.

Outstanding children's ministry.

Wonderful and gifted pastor.

Excellent sermons.

Please check their website.

           ******

           WELCOME

                to

         frankly speaking

    spirituality for the street

johnfrankshares.blogspot.com

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          LOVE TO ALL.

          GOD BLESS,

          JOHN FRANK

             ******

        frankly speaking

   spirituality for the street

johnfrankshares.blogspot.com

 

 

INFLUENCERS

Dear All of Us, 

You know what, 

which of course means 

I'd really like to share something

that I feel is big time important.

It's this.

       We're all 

    INFLUENCERS

Not the phony, foolish 

Influencers of media, 

but us right in the midst  

of everyday life.

Aware or not,

we're all telling

every person we meet

what life is all about.

That goes for a simple

           "Hi"

to the deepest of sharings,

a chat at the water cooler

to teaching a teen to drive.

        We speak 

     life's meaning

   in our living of it.

      That happens 

      in the midst of

      passing people

      to being with     

 profoundly close people.

          We are

      INFLUENCERS

    We have an effect.

Every gesture, decision, 

action, stance, reaction

          of ours

      is graphicly

      telling the tale

      of what life is about.

It's not so much 

told in words 

as in ways.

The ways we value, 

respond, interact,

choose, cherish,  

comport, drive,

dress, invest...

Everything about us 

     speaks!!

Turning the tale 

round another way,

every person 

we meet

is asking us to

  "Tell me what life 

    is all about."

It's almost

completely unconscious,

is deep, deep inside,

but it's profoundly telling,

    All this is at the heart of 

every contact and interaction.

    

    We all hear way deeper 

    than with our ears,

    see way wider 

    than with our eyes.

Demeanor, responsiveness, 

       attitude, mood,

give voice to telling the story

of what life is about. 

All this is ever so subtle

and easily missed.

     It effects 

anyway and always.

We are full time

INFLUENCERS

A look can kill.

A look can comfort and confirm.

A word can rip out a heart.

A word can heal a broken one.

In telling the tale we get to

      model and echo 

  the greatest of tellings,

          NATURE

            and

    JESUS THE CHRIST

       Pure God Tell

       Incarnations 

             of

       GOD GOOD 

  - the symmetry of 

    seasons and stars,

    the Sermon on the Mount,

    the power of atoms,

    the core direction in life:

            Love God 

       with all you've got 

       and your neighbor 

       as yourself.

         Matthew 22:37

      It shows.

      It influences.

What Richard Rohr says 

about talking 

can guide 

all action and reaction,

all the ways 

we influence and tell 

what life is about:

       Is it true 

       Is it loving  

       Is it necessary

Groove in with the 

beauty, rightness 

and wisdom of

God Given

Nature,

contemporize 

the goodness of

what Jesus 

said and did

     and 

we're privileged 

     to be

   right real

      LIFE

INFLUENCERS

    ******

"I have come that

 you might have life 

 and have it to the full."

   The Influencer 

        Jesus

    John 10:10

   

When we get together here 

every week it's a great big

Convergence of Influencers.

Lot of support there.

       Welcome all!

ONLINE POSTINGS

Wednesday evenings

East Coast USA time.

How good that so many of us 

         are sharing 

     frankly speaking 

        with others.

RECENT PAST POSTINGS

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   scrolling well down 

         beneath 

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   Have a great week.

   See you in seven.

      Love to all.

      God Bless,

      John Frank

         frankly speaking

   spirituality for the street

johnfrankshares.blogspot.com

             ******