Wednesday, July 24, 2024
NICE MEMORIAL FOR NANCY!
7/24/24
Francis William Bessler, 4500 Meadowlark Lane, Laramie, Wyoming. 82070
307-742-7428; willieb@wyoming.com una-bella-vita.com & francisbessler.com
Hello, Family & Friends! (Additionally, Be Sure to Think & Vote in November!)
(Due mostly to abortion and climate change issues, I’ll vote Democratic.)
I would have written this shortly after our Memorial for my Dear Nancy that happened on July 11th, however, my pc went down on July 7th and was not restored until July 23rd.
Be that as it may, I’d like to thank those who could attend our Memorial at Trinity Lutheran Church here in Laramie – and those who could not attend, but were there in spirit.
Thank You, Thank You, Thank You! And Thanks to Reverend Nathan for conducting the wonderful service, along with Dr. Lou Farley, Spiritual Director of our local Hospice, which attended Nancy at home in her last weeks. Thanks, too, to my brother-in-law, Reverend Don Dexheimer, for his generous religious testimony. Thanks, also, to Lisa, office manager for Trinity Lutheran, who generously helped me prepare for the service; and Thanks to my friend, Chris Anderson Sprecher, for providing piano accompaniment for our songs and Barbara Maxwell for her organ playing to begin and end the service.
Thanks, as well, to my Dear Nancy for demonstrating how easy leaving this world should be. Dear Nancy, I am very grateful for our Wonderful nearly 12 years together, and your easing into your next soulful experience. Though I miss you deeply, it is always good to keep in mind that as you went, I will be going - reasonably soon since I am 82 now. I have long believed that our souls ease into our bodies as a beginning of our Earthly Adventure – and should ease out of them when we end that experience. Dear Nancy, you confirmed for me how a peaceful gracious ending should go when you went this time. I can only Hope that when it is my time to go, I will follow your lead. I will certainly plan on it! Wish me luck!
Though I was in another room when Nancy passed, one who was there told me that shortly before Nancy passed, she said she was going to be with Joce, her former husband and my good friend, who passed himself from Parkinsons at 88 on Feb. 29th, 2012 in a very easeful way (in the same location as did Nancy later on Nov. 1, 2023). Shortly after our Memorial for Joce, Nancy asked me to move in with her because she knew how alike we saw life.
And how did we see life? As Miracles To Embrace because we believe an Infinite God must be Present in us as well as in everything in Existence. I call myself a Divine Naturist Christian for believing that we are all Sacred, being immersed, as it were, within a Sacred Existence; and based largely on The Gospels of Thomas and Mary Magdalene, that is how I saw – and see – Jesus.
In the 3rd verse of 114 verses found in The Gospel of Thomas, Jesus said: If those who lead you say to you: “See, the Kingdom is in heaven”, then the birds of the heaven will precede you. If they say to you: “It is in the sea,” then the fish will precede you. But the Kingdom is within you and it is without you. If you (will) know yourselves, then you will be known and you will know that you are the sons of the Living Father. But if you do not know yourselves, then you are in poverty and you are poverty.
To keep it short, Nancy and I believed that to be true simply because it makes sense. Jesus knew it makes sense – even though it seems very few of his so called disciples believed it. In fact, they tried to present Jesus as THE ONLY SON OF GOD when according to the verse above, Jesus really believed we are all “sons of God.” Why did Jesus believe it? Probably because he believed that an Infinite God must be Inside of All, not outside as those who see God as a Person are led to believe. A “person” has to be “outside” of another, but a “presence” need not be. Correct? That is the short and tall of it. Do you see God as a “Person” outside of all in Creation – or Inside as an “Infinite Presence” in all?
Boy, what Wonderful Works are THE GOSPEL OF (Apostle) THOMAS and THE GOSPEL OF (Apostle) MARY MAGDALENE! The two of them happen to be my favorite works of all time. They were banned in the 4th Century by some who insisted that Jesus must be seen as a Jewish Messiah – and not as the Wise One he is presented as in The Gospels of Thomas and Mary Magdalene. Those gospels have only recently been discovered – and had been lost for nearly 16 Centuries – unknown by all for having been banned and hidden away. The Gospel of Mary Magdalene began to see the light in the last of the 19th Century, but The Gospel of Thomas was only found in a cave off the Nile River in 1945. That is a long time hidden for both of them – and they can remain hidden if no one cares to review them; but on the other hand, Christian churches of all kinds can allow an occasional alternate service featuring them too; or so, I believe! They are available via my websites – if you like! Welcome!
If you love Verse 3 of The Gospel of Thomas, featured above, you may be surprised at what you will find in the other 113 verses. Maybe it’s time we reviewed them. Suppose? To keep ignoring them may be continuing blindness to perhaps the greatest religious spiritual works of all time. Perhaps, Huh? You tell me! Would that be wise?
In the Gospel of Mary Magdalene, Jesus said – look for the Child of Hu
manity within you to find the Kingdom – within you, not outside of you as the other gospels would have you believe. To quote further:
Jesus said: “Peace be with you. Receive my peace. Be careful that no one leads you astray by saying, ‘Look here’ or ‘Look there.’ The child of humanity is within you. Follow that. Those who seek it will find it. Go and preach the good news of the kingdom. Do not lay down any rules other than what I have given you, and do not establish law, as the lawgiver did, or you will be bound by it.”
Well, I won’t pursue the matter more in this letter, but for what it’s worth, I do in all of my works. My Dear Nancy is responsible for our printing books. So, if you would, keep that in mind when you think of Nancy. I had planned on keeping my works to the net and my website – una-bella-vita.com – but Nancy encouraged me to publish some books so others could have a “book in their lap” to read and not have to sit in front of a pc to review my ideas.
Thus in 2014, we decided to publish one book I called WILD FLOWERS, based on our love for “wild flowers” and comprised of many of my essays and songs of the past – and then after that was finished via a publisher called Create Space, we compiled 9 more books in time, ending in 2019 with ones called KNOWING CHRIST and TRUE CHRISTIANITY. Create Space went out of business in 2018, but a new publisher, Kindle Publishing, agreed to publish my final two books in 2019 and also allow for republishing my first 8 books, published initially by Create Space.
What will happen with all of that? Who knows, but Dear Nancy believed we should provide some hard copies to be held in hand and read at ease. If it had not been for Dear Nancy, there would be no books. I am so glad she encouraged me to do what we did. Perhaps she will be in a position outside of a body where she is now to assist me to promote what we produced. Time will tell; but know you can review it all via websites una-bella-vita.com and francisbessler.com. OK?
Nancy may have left the scene, so to speak, but I consider us still partners. We are just in different rooms, so to speak.
If you are wondering why I have two websites, it is because my first website, una-bella-vita.com, could not handle including some videos of mine I decided to make available to the public. So, in 2014 or so, I added a website that could do that. Thus, not only books are available for those who might be interested, but about 34 personally produced videos are as well. I think that is enough. Don’t you? I might not be around for long, considering my age,
but hopefully, some of my family & friends will be willing to take over. Time will tell!
I will leave it at that for now. Be in touch and come on by and have a cup of coffee or coke or tea with me if you would like. I do not know how it will turn out, but I had my tech friend, Spencer Pittman, record our Memorial Service with my camera. When we finish producing some digital file using that camera’s contents, Spencer will make a DVD master for me – and I can provide a DVD to any who might want a copy. If you want a copy, let me know. We should be done by October at the latest. Alright? Don’t expect anything fancy; but what we do produce, we will be glad to share. Alright? Thanks!
Let me finish with a prayer I wrote a few years back that I recited at Nancy’s Memorial. Hope you are all well – and again, Be in touch!
All My Love,
Francis William (Frank, Will, Sonny) Bessler
A MASTER’S PRAYER
(Freedom’s Prayer)
By Francis William Bessler, Laramie, Wyoming, 10/29/2007
Note: Tho God is not a male, but an Infinite Neutral Presence,
Rhetorically, “It” can be referred to as “Father.”
Our Loving God, My Generous God, Holy is your state.
I thank you for my life and blessings.
That’s why I feel no shame.
Our Father, My Father -
Thy Kingdom’s here as well as there.
Thy will is only that I share –
what I am with the world.
Our Father, My Father -
To be forgiven, we must forgive;
that’s the only way peace can live.
Our Father, My Father -
I thank you for my daily bread.
My needs are simple – thus I do not dread.
Our Father, My Father -
To see only good is to allow no evil.
I pledge to you a life of no guile.
Our Father, My Father,
I will always be your child.
Our Father, My Father,
I will always be your child.