Brothers and Sisters.
Having written, rewritten,
revised and revised
this week's blog,
I feel a need for an Intro.
This blog is a double
if not a triple header.
It is longer and
more strenuous
than usual.
Its focus and concern are
vitally important.
I pray we all take time,
give head and heart to
slowly and prayerfully
engage with it.
For those who chose
to take a pass,
here is a
Soul Search
for prayer
and meditation:
" IF I WERE ON TRIAL
FOR BEING A CHRISTIAN,
WOULD THERE BE
ENOUGH EVIDENCE
TO CONVICT ME?"
James Turro
Now to the
hard work
at hand.
We face peril.
We find ways
to live it
to life in Christ.
Here we go.
In all cases,
I love you!
John Frank
******
Dear All of Us,
Hope we're all having a
Hey of a Day.
It would be great
if that were so for
everyone everywhere.
But of course, it isn't.
For
too many,
too often,
too much
it's not a heaven,
but a hell of a day.
They all are.
It may be so
for us all
sooner than later.
Worldwide
things have
snapped,
broken loose,
are untethered.
It's like trying to navigatean
an international highway
with high-speed traffic
careening across
and
up and down
all lanes
in chaotic mayhem.
A DEMOLITION DERBY
We absolutely need
to find our way free of
crash crush.
Worldwide we are in
a sea swirl of
DESTABILIZATION.
We see it operative in
just about every
zone of daily life.
And it is a lot deeper
than any and
all of them together.
We just
don't dare
get used to it,
take it for granted,
settle for it,
ignore it.
If we do,
we and our loved ones
will be sucked under,
drowned dreadful dead.
Please see:
A New World Order
Is Coming.
We Aren't Ready
by
Margaret Mac Millan
New York Times
Guest Essay
Op-ed Page
September 1, 2026
Here in my homeland,
The Not At All
UNITED
States Of America,
The Ship of State,
indeed, the whole
social order,
is listing badly,
is splitting apart,
in hateful extremes
Left and Right,
is taking on water,
is starting to sink
(and the waters are
a lot deeper than a
Reflecting Pool).
To change the metaphor
(yet again)
it's like a couple that
hate and despise each other
but can't find a workable way
to divorce.
They end up living a
dreadful divorce together.
It's a hell of
a day,
and night
- all of them are.
Here and worldwide
this destabilization
is the loss of a
CENTER
It's the absence of a
CORE
It's the lack of
SOUL
It's a spiritual
VOID.
We absolutely must
do something
and we sure can!
Despite all the
SCREEN SKREECH
and
CHURCHY CHATTER
and
POLITICAL TWIST TALK
this lack of core
is not primarily,
political,
economic,
governmental,
moral,
cultural,
environmental.
Each and all
of those are
containers,
carriers,
loci
of a core
of a center,
of a soul fire,
and the fire
has gone out.
A container fix
isn't a fix.
It was like this for
the followers of Jesus.
He was dead.
They were in a
free fall stall.
What to DO???
They did what we need to do
Huddle
Humbly
Empty Out
fixes
that don't.
Into that openness
and their togetherness
FLAMED THE SPIRIT
It energized them.
They took to the streets
preaching, inviting
Kingdom Life.
Small home churches,
that were
for real, close, loving,
Gospel Living
communities,
sprang up,
ever more and more.
Despite seeming
impossibility,
The Flame
forthed
wider and farther.
Fired by
The Spirit
it flourished
as together people
lived
CORE GOSPRL
simply,
really
practically
believably
Same for us.
We huddle
and humbly so
as they did.
If we empty out
our fixes
that don't,
admit our core void,
then
into that openness
and our togetherness
THE SPIRIT
WILL FLAME US
FIRM
FREE
FORTH
Centered
in the dynamic,
the energy field,
of
GOD"S LOVE
we and our world
will be
renewed
inside and out.
To do that we need
to fully face
some tough stuff,
some fixes we're in,
take some hard looks.
"The Christian ideal
has not been tried
and found wanting.
It has been tried
and found difficult
and left untried."
G. K. Chesterton
Another hard look.
Christianity has done
much good and much evil.
It has not done
radical real
CORE GOSPEL
LIVING
Christianity
has come to be
a cultural institution
with many good,
Christian elements.
But since soon after
the early days
it ceased to be
fundamentally a
New Testament
Church,
a basic way of life
together
in Christ.
It was coopted by
Platonc Dualism
and became
lackey to
Roman
Imperialism.
It is done
and
it has done in
a needful world.
We need to be
radically honest
about it.
Please see:
How Western Christianity
Got It Wrong
Replacing the God of Fear with a
Spirituality of Healing,
Randy Woodley
Broadleaf
2026
WE CONSIDER
WE FACE
HARD TRUTHS
For most church goers
The Beatitudes are not
our attitudes,
our operational
approaches/slants
on life.
Those of us
middle class to wealthy
are not so
"poor in spirit"
that we
actually live
a simple lifestyle
so others
may simply live.
An honest check of
our closets, garage,
vacations, address,
portfolio,
credit cards and
it's painfully clear.
We possess way, way
more than enough
and painfully many most
don't have nearly enough.
When people deal with us
and our community
just how genuinely
are they mixing it up
with
God in person,
God in us
How really
are they encountering
"The Body of Christ"?
1 Corintians:21-31
"I am the vine.
You are the branches...
This is to my Father's glory,
that you bear much fruit,
showing yourselves
to be my disciples."
Matthew 15:1-8
We need to be honest about
how really and fully
we allow the life
of the vine
free flow
in us branches.
What quality is the
"fruit"
we bear in everyday life?
Just how beautifully obvious
is it or not
at
work, at social gatherings,
wherever we are,
whatever we are doing?
"By their fruits
you will know them,"
Matthew 7:16
So yes, we assess
what kind
of "fruit"
we serve up
for others
in daily life.
We look to see
what we are known for?
Is it discipleship?
Just how vibrantly
is it a presence of
Divine Love
in our person,
in our community??
"I was a stranger
and you invited me in"
Matthew 25:31-46
Personally,
and as
a community,
how genuinely do we
welcome and include
(not tolerate)
"strangers"
into our lives:
people of various other
colorations, sexualities
ethnicities, persuasions,
politics, cultural manners,
spiritualities, immigrants,
odd balls,
the disabled and distraught?
Yes, this is hard.
And yes we're at an
axial moment.
We swing true
or
we and our world
swing in the breeze,
dead done.
Individually
and as a
community
we go through
a profound, spiritual
conversion
or...
So, we stay close to each other.
We live not as an organization,
but as a God given,
lively and joyous
spiritual family.
We pray together,
really pray,
really together,
really more and deeper than
The Lord's Prayer
in under thirty seconds and
Joys and Concerns
that are more than
community announcements.
We ponder together and deeply
over the holy scriptures.
We apply them to us
in our here and now.
We hold as much
as possible in common.
We share, from
watching each other's' kids
to wrapping in
lonely and needful elderly.
We do all we can
for people and needs
in our area and beyond.
Our lives are
an open invitation
to shared
Gospel Community
and
joy.
We do this in tantum with
people and communities
of other faith traditions
as they too
CORE RENEW
SPITITUALY
RESET
CENTER
in
GOD GOOD
however they see
and
experience that.
Our world's
plight and peril
will be righted
not by grand
plans and programs.
It will be righted by
a profound
spiritual reset
Centered in God Goodness.
That righting
will rise up worldwide
from communities
vigorous, joyous, inviting.
That rising will
lift, center, be core,
spark soul
for
society
"Thy kingdom come
on earth as in heaven."
Matthew 6:10
IT CAN
IF
WE WILL
What a hey of a day
that can be for all.
******
BLESSINGS FOR ENGAGING
WITH ALL OF
THE ABOVE
A WARM WELCOME
TO OUR TOGETHERNESS
HERE EACH WEEK
ONLINE POSTINGS
EARLY
WEDNESDAY EVENINGS
EAST COAST USA TIME
RECENT POSTINGS AVAILABLE
BY
SCROLLING WELL DOWN
BENEATH
THIS POSTING
WE HAVE A LOT
TO BE
AND BECOME,
A LOT
TO DO
AND REDO,
SPIRIT FLAMED.
"COME, HOLY SPIRIT.
FILL OUR HEARTS
WITH THE FIRE
OF YOUR LOVE."
SEE YOU NEXT WEEK.
LOVE TO ALL.
GOD BLESS.
JOHN FRANK
PS:
NEXT WEEK
SHORTER,
BRIEFER.
I PROMISE!!
******
frankly speaking
spirituality for the street
johnfrankshares.blogspot.com
******
