It is the same now as it was then. I wasn’t going to write anymore in this particular diary but I guess that I will now. Before when I lived in a city and in a circle of friends and that was our community, it was dependent upon one’s friends and upon someone among them having the power of attorney or some arrangement, since we were all our own ‘family’ to deal with the cremation and the giving away of your belongings, if or when you died, and that either by cancer or some illness, and we even had friends who died from the complication from AIDS sometimes as well. Even that itself seemed to happen to the most normal of persons as well, and how were you to judge anything from right and wrong when a friend died from anything… whether it was an approved disease for the morally sound, like cancer or something similar, or an illness perceived to only belong to the sexually promiscuous?

Now whenever I die, and I have been so ill from weakened health due to normal fatigue and even the perception that I might myself have AIDS or HIV, simply because I get really so terribly ill ever so often and have to fight back to recover, and all this since I was a child, and that is just how I am, always pushing myself to the brink of death and then making the arduous trip back each and every time, and now this time with a bad ticker that could used complete diving healing! And I just saw the power of Speaking-in-Tongues on Nightline last night, but I am already doing plenty of that to get through this and well again, so I didn’t need Nightline to tell me that, though it was a nice reminder!

I remember when Chris died, we cremated him and prayed and then scattered his ashes into the wind and off Twin Peaks! He had Hodgkin’s, a relapse and we lost him in his twenties. We were all younger then, even our old hippy friends who had careers then, we all younger as well. Now they are retired and I am already forty-five, and having traveled since then and been a missionary I have lost touch with the very best of friends, and all the while not even meaning to, but cards and letters over the years would stop being replied to, so many people do not enjoy the art of writing anymore and once you’ve seemed to’ve moved on with your life and they think you have and they are all still busy with theirs… then you aren’t close or even friends anymore! But if I were still there living everyday life with them in the same geographical location, we would all still be the best of friends, just like on those TV programs about all those urban dwellers where people doing things and living close to one another are a community, but once one of them goes away they are no longer part of that group of friends or of their reality anymore, and that is the penalty one pays for doing Peace Corps or anything like moving away? But if one of the group simply dies, they get together and cremate their friend, settle their belongings among themselves for memory’s sake, and the rest goes to thrift stores, and they all go off to a beach or hill side or Bolinas or somewhere and share thoughts and pray, remember how much they love you, and scatter your ashes ceremoniously to the wind together! And then they all go have lunch and tell funny stories about how fun and full of life and light and energy you were!

And all that is so great for them and if you are at all there in spirit, it was good for you to, and you go on off to Heaven with Jesus and the angels and they all go on being a community, a family and a group of friends who live in the city and continue to grow years older, changing their clothes each few years with the changing fashions and life seems to just go on for the living as well as for those that they loved and remember!

Unless you’ve gone away to be missionary or just moved off for a great career opportunity somewhere… then who will write your epitaph then and who is going to divvy up your belongings and have you cremated and then stand in the wind, pray to Heaven and scatter your ashes to Jesus and the angels when you die then aye?

Will anyone here in Lonely Town do it for you? They won’t even speak to you here and no one even knows your name here and you even only write your name on your tithe envelopes for when the basket comes around at Mass as a matter of habit. Its not that you really count for anything here or anywhere anyway anymore…

(And here in Lonely Town, people are constantly injuring themselves by congratulating themselves so much and so often for everything good that they do, so while they are managing through all of that they do not have the wherewithal to notice the most basic needs of one of the fellow members of their most immediate society!

So that is why I so want to return to, and if I only had the means to, as well as write about, Other Town!)

"Joe Christian" is your average pilgrim off the street.

The three last blog messages that cannot be missed!

1. Parks and Recreation that are Simply Divine!

2. Urban Re-Development! Where do you stand on this issue?

3. "Christian Orthodoxy", can you always trust it?

http://joechristian.blogstream.com/

THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST TO ST. JOHN

Chapter Twenty-Two

Then the angel showed me a river of life-giving water, sparkling like crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of its street. On either side of the river grew the tree of life that produces fruit twelve times a year, once each month; the leaves of the trees serve as medicine for the nations.

Nothing accursed will be found there anymore. The throne of God and of the lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him.

They will look upon his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. Night will be no more, nor will they need light from lamp or sun, for the Lord God shall give them light, and they shall reign forever and ever.

And he said to me, “These words are trustworthy and true, and the Lord, the God of prophetic spirits, sent his angel to show his servants what must happen soon.”

“Behold, I am coming soon.” Blessed is the one who keeps the prophetic message of this book [even if their own religious denomination or affiliation mocks it, denies it and ignores it].

It is I, John who heard and saw these things, and when I heard and saw them I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me. But he said to me, “Don’t! I am a fellow servant of yours and of your brothers the prophets and of those who keep the message of this book. Worship God.”

Then he said to me, “Do not seal up the prophetic words of this book, for the appointed time is near. Let the wicked still act wickedly, and the filthy still be filthy. The righteous must still do right, and the holy still be holy.”

“Behold, I am coming soon. I bring with me the recompense I will give to each according to his deeds. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”

Blessed are they who wash their robes so as to have the right to the tree of life and enter the city through its gates. Outside are the dogs, the sorcerers, the unchaste, the murderers, the idol-worshipers, and all who love and practice deceit.

“I, Jesus, sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the root and offspring of David, the bright morning star.”

The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.”

Let the hearer say, “Come.”

Let the one who thirsts come forward, and the one who wants it receive the gift of the life-giving water.

I warn everyone who hears the prophetic words of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, and if anyone takes away from the words in this prophetic book, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city described in this book.

The one who gives this testimony says, “Yes, I am coming soon.”

Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!

The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all.

THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST TO ST. JOHN

Chapter Twenty-One

THE NEW HEAVEN AND THE NEW EARTH: Then I saw a new Heaven and a New Earth. The former Heaven and the former Earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. I also saw the holy city, a new Jerusalem, coming down out of Heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, God is dwelling with the human race. He will be with them and they will be his people and God himself will always be with them as their God.

He will wipe every tear from their eyes, there shall be no more death or mourning, wailing or pain, for the old order has passed away.”

The one who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” Then he said, “Write these words down, for they are trustworthy and true.”

And he said to me, “They are accomplished. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give a gift from the spring of life-giving water. The victor will inherit these gifts, and I shall be his God, and he will be my son. But as for cowards, the unfaithful, the depraved, murderers, the unchaste, sorcerers, idol-worshipers, and deceivers of every sort, their lot is in the burning pool of fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”

THE NEW JERUSALEM: One of the seven angels who held the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues came and said to me, “Come here. I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” He took me in the spirit to a great and high mountain and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of Heaven from God. It gleamed with the splendor of God. Its radiance was like that of a precious stone, like Jasper, clear as crystal. It had a massive, high wall, with twelve gates where twelve angels were stationed and on which names were inscribed, the names of the twelve tribes of the Israelites.

There were three gates facing east, three north, three south, and three west. The wall of the city had twelve courses of stones as its foundation, on which were inscribed the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

The one who spoke to be held a large measuring rod to measure the city, its gates and its wall. The city was square, its length the same as its width. He measured the city with the rod and found it fifteen hundred miles in length, width and height. He also measured its wall: one hundred and forty-four cubits according to the standard unit of measure the angel used. The wall was constructed of jasper, while the city was pure gold, clear as glass. The foundation of the city wall were decorated with every precious stone; the first course of stones was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald, the fifth sardonyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh crysolite, the eight beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh hyacinth, the twelfth amethyst.

The twelve gates of the city were twelve pearls, each of the gates made from a single pearl; and the street of the city was made of pure gold, transparent as glass.

I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb.

The city had no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gave it light, and its lamp was the Lamb.

The nations will walk by its light, and to it the kings of the Earth will bring their treasure.

During the day its gates will never shut, and there will be no night there.

The treasure and the wealth of the nations will be brought there, but nothing unclean will enter it, nor anyone who does abominable things or tells lies.

Only those will enter whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.