All or Nothing at All

In 1939, ol’ blue eyes, Frank Sinatra, recorded a song by this same title, but it didn’t become famous until 1943 when it was reissued by Columbia Records, spending 21-weeks atop the Billboard charts. The original release, sung when Frank was only 23 and beginning in the business, sold only 8,000 copies, which by all accounts, is a flop. However, in 1943 Frank was a hot commodity and Columbia Records wanted to promote Frank. But there was one little problem: A musician strike wouldn’t permit anyone to make any record with a band. Columbia Records made the shrewd move of re-releasing the older version much to the success of all the parties involved.

This little bit of music trivia lays right in line with my previous post regarding the re-introduction of the prefix OMNI back into your vocabulary. According to www.etymonline.com, OMNI is:

“word-forming element meaning “all,” from Latin omni-, combining form of omnis “all, every, the whole, of every kind,” a word of unknown origin, perhaps literally “abundant,” from *op-ni-, from PIE root *op- “to work, produce in abundance.”

Now I wish to make something very clear here before I go forward. I’ll put it plainly: ALL=ALL. There is no room for, “All, except for…” or, “All, but not…” I’m not going to ask you to agree with me on this simply because the definition of the prefix OMNI plainly declares, “…all, the whole, of every kind.” ALL=ALL, the whole, of every kind. OMNI!

Ok, you bible aficionados, here is your question of the day. What is the opening line to the Shema? (faint lilting of the Jeopardy theme song plays in the background as the contestant search their memories for a correct response.) The Shema (hear) is the foundation of all Hebraic thought and theology. It is recited daily and is found in Deuteronomy 6:4-9 with the opening line reading as,

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: (Deu 6:4)

For the most part, the Western religion of the 21st century has no clue what this means even though it was a staple to pretty much most of the religious expressions leading up to this time. Regrettably, the streams of time have a tendency to wear down the spiny edges of foundational truths making them more comfortable to be around. Kinda like the difference between a new toothbrush and an old one. (With arm and hammer, I took aim at the crest before me making no sense of dyin’ from it. Puns…not for the weak of heart.)

When Moses declared before the children of Israel that the Lord God is one Lord, he was simply claiming that God is OMNI. Take a moment to breath here. I know this doesn’t line up with things as you have been told, however, this doesn’t negate the fact that God is ALL; that God is Every; That God is The Whole; that God is of an unknown origin; that God is Abundant. All of these descriptors fall easily and comfortably into, God is One. So, what do you think Jesus meant when he claimed that he and the Father are One? Was he being omni-scient or omni-percipient? (This is just of taste of coming attractions!)

Read what follows very carefully.

We do not worship, pray to, or even commune, with the same God which Jesus did. I am not talking about Jesus worshiping the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob either. Christ stated, “…before Abraham was, I am.” Jesus was on a whole different plane of reality than we have even considered. Regrettably, we have taken every concept of God handed down to us over these past two thousand years and molded them into the omni-god “of every kind.” We have failed to keep God as One. This means we have failed to see and revere God as ALL. This has affected our ability to pray correctly, to commune freely, to worship whole-heartily; to be our truest self in all seasons, situations and circumstances.

DISCLAIMER

I do not have the answer – yet. I am on the same journey which you are on. We are at varying markers along the trail. Some are further behind while others are further ahead. Location is not important, only the destination is. What unfolds within these various writings over the next few days, weeks, months, and years will merely be my travel log towards One. Hopefully, you’ll benefit from this as much as I do. My motivation is simple: ALL or nothing at all.