Few, perhaps, expected an annus mirabilis in 2008, but how many anticipated what has become an annus horribilis, if there is such a term? No doubt many feel like insignificant bits of flotsam or jetsam desperately trying to stay afloat on an ocean of troubles. Yet, if one has Christian Science and clings to it faithfully he cannot fail to overcome the errors that beset him. The motto of Paris will then describe his dedicated efforts: fluctuat nec mergitur--it is tossed by the waves but does not sink.
New Year's resolutions and fruit cakes are often the targets of cynics, humorists, and realists.
The best laid schemes o' mice and men
Gang aft a-gley;
An' lea'e us nought but grief and pain,
For promis'd joy.
(Robert Burns, from "To a Mouse")
Mrs. Eddy and Christ Jesus have already laid before us all the resolutions we need. Without too much head-scratching, four from the Church Manual could be suggested.
o Article VIII, Sect 1: "A Rule for Motives and Acts"
o Article VIII, Sect 4: "Daily Prayer"
o Article VIII, Sect 6: "Alertess to Duty"
o Article XXX, Sect 7, "Healing Better than Teaching"
It is not enough to do better, think more about, or tackle one by one as time permits, which of course it never will. Eternity wouldn't be sufficient for that approach to progress. There is a good current ad slogan--for athletic shoes maybe--that might be followed: "Just do it". Endless talk (the mincing of ideas into a useless goo) won't do it, for it is far too easy to find oneself in the ludicrous contortion of having his lips outrun his legs. The too-thorough, solitary mastication of truths, moving them methodically from stomach to stomach, but never getting around to producing any milk, is also a futile enterprise.
A thoughtful look at the definition of year in the Christian Science textbook can help one individualize his goals for the coming hours, days, weeks, and years. Newness of thought is an ongoing need, but now is a good time to solidify and begin acting on good intentions, those noble velleities one proudly displays like curios on a mental shelf. To act, to do, enables one to rise above fragile human hopes to the realization of his desires in spite of the depraved tableau material conditions frequently present.
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
In Dulci Jubilo
The opening pages of "Christian Science Practice" in Science and Health are suffused with the lambent dawning of Love on the lie of material existence. Mary Magdalene's contrite and wordless response to Christ Jesus' radiant embodiment of Love needed only the spiritual authority of his confirmation of her redemption. "Thy sins are forgiven." And "Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace." The spiritual sense--the only real comprehension--of Love's presence and power cannot be explained, and hence imprisoned, in words.
Mary Magdalene's was a truer homage to Christ Jesus and divine Love than a merely human rejoicing in the nativity of a child laid in a manger. Neither the Christ nor Love was ever born, and no temporal celebration can ever hope to indemnify one's failure to make his life a testimony to the glory of either.
The written word and inspiring example are necessary rungs on the ladder reaching to heaven, but there is no substitute for that ineffable sense of Love's presence in the heart and its hourly manifestation in our lives. "As mortals drop off their mental swaddling-clothes, thought expands into expression." (S&H 255: 1-3) What could better celebrate the birth of Jesus than the nascence or renascence of Christ within us, unfettered by word or the sick and sinful confines of human thinking?
This is also a good time of year to revisit Mary Baker Eddy's Christ and Christmas. Nothing else in her oeuvre is like this Christianly Scientific plum pudding of word and picture.
Mary Magdalene's was a truer homage to Christ Jesus and divine Love than a merely human rejoicing in the nativity of a child laid in a manger. Neither the Christ nor Love was ever born, and no temporal celebration can ever hope to indemnify one's failure to make his life a testimony to the glory of either.
The written word and inspiring example are necessary rungs on the ladder reaching to heaven, but there is no substitute for that ineffable sense of Love's presence in the heart and its hourly manifestation in our lives. "As mortals drop off their mental swaddling-clothes, thought expands into expression." (S&H 255: 1-3) What could better celebrate the birth of Jesus than the nascence or renascence of Christ within us, unfettered by word or the sick and sinful confines of human thinking?
This is also a good time of year to revisit Mary Baker Eddy's Christ and Christmas. Nothing else in her oeuvre is like this Christianly Scientific plum pudding of word and picture.
Friday, December 19, 2008
A Fresh Bone To Gnaw On?
At times of need, many Christian Scientists turn to the chapter "Christian Science Practice" in Science and Health faster than a hungry dog to a favorite buried bone, and for good reasons. How many of us, however, return to the same few well-chosen pages for support? There will come a time--and probably sooner than we might wish--when we need to begin chewing on all of it, the whole chapter, and not just those comfy pages we like best.
For some, the trial may smack too much of boiled mustard greens to be engaging, but people have been healed by gaining a more inspired grasp of it. It is saturated with important and, some might add, subtle points. Mrs. Eddy presents a "mental case", as mental as a case of insanity, which it is at bottom. A temptation could be to view the trial as just an example of how a physical problem--in this instance "liver complaint"--is met and the physical body returned to its normal functioning. Yes, on one level it is that, but since disease can only exist in some false belief of one's personal sense, he needs to begin understanding that matter, nothingness, can never be well or ill and therefore never really healed of anything. We possess a body, but it is not a physical something.
Another aspect of the trial worth noting is that it is the healing of a "Mortal Man" who felt ill in the course of doing good for a friend. Could this imply that a condition for healing or continued healing is to be always doing good for one's fellow man? Mrs. Eddy certainly chose the scenario and every detail of the trial carefully. This query may have a partial answer in the statement and two questions in the chapter "Prayer" (S&H 9: 5-11). Does it not appear that the only way for us to consistently express and demonstrate our God-given health and harmony is first to see and love our neighbor as His flawless reflection?
The above is by no means an attempt to present a definitive statement, or even more than a well-meant first thought, on the trial, but nothing in Science and Health should go unpondered and certainly not the trial. One would not exhaust its message with fifty prayerful readings. It, like all of our textbook, is a wellspring of inspiration, and we need all of it in order to attain and continue in harmony and health.
For some, the trial may smack too much of boiled mustard greens to be engaging, but people have been healed by gaining a more inspired grasp of it. It is saturated with important and, some might add, subtle points. Mrs. Eddy presents a "mental case", as mental as a case of insanity, which it is at bottom. A temptation could be to view the trial as just an example of how a physical problem--in this instance "liver complaint"--is met and the physical body returned to its normal functioning. Yes, on one level it is that, but since disease can only exist in some false belief of one's personal sense, he needs to begin understanding that matter, nothingness, can never be well or ill and therefore never really healed of anything. We possess a body, but it is not a physical something.
Another aspect of the trial worth noting is that it is the healing of a "Mortal Man" who felt ill in the course of doing good for a friend. Could this imply that a condition for healing or continued healing is to be always doing good for one's fellow man? Mrs. Eddy certainly chose the scenario and every detail of the trial carefully. This query may have a partial answer in the statement and two questions in the chapter "Prayer" (S&H 9: 5-11). Does it not appear that the only way for us to consistently express and demonstrate our God-given health and harmony is first to see and love our neighbor as His flawless reflection?
The above is by no means an attempt to present a definitive statement, or even more than a well-meant first thought, on the trial, but nothing in Science and Health should go unpondered and certainly not the trial. One would not exhaust its message with fifty prayerful readings. It, like all of our textbook, is a wellspring of inspiration, and we need all of it in order to attain and continue in harmony and health.
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Some Thoughts on Prayer
Each of us has always existed in the eternal now as God's perfect and harmonious idea. The extent to which this is not being realized and expressed is the extent to which sin and aggressive mental suggestion occupy thought. Through prayer the righteous overcome sin and its attendant demons of fear, disease, and death.
Christ Jesus and Mary Baker Eddy admonish us to enter our (mental) closets, close the door, and pray to our Father in secret. The door, we are told, shuts out sin: sinful sense, the physical senses, the erring senses, the material senses (S&H 15: 4, 7, 10, 16). Those false senses, facets of personal sense, blind us to everpresent God. The door must be shut, not just pulled to, since being even slightly ajar will allow sin and false belief, which can never perceive God, to enter. Then prayer becomes a wrangle with error instead of a communion with God, and tussling with error can have the effect of making its claims appear more real and formidable. In that event what was intended to be standing in God's healing and uplifting presence devolves into a kind of mad hatter's tea party.
It is more important that our prayer be a knowing of Truth than a denial of error. We also cannot permit sin to enter the closet with us to be purged there from our thinking, like Clark Kents entering a handy restroom to emerge as spiritual supermen. Nor is the closet a portal, like the storied magic wardrobe, through which one passes into some enchanted kingdom.
Why must we pray in secret? Secret is being used in the sense of unseen, private, removed from sight. "The Student's Reference Dictionary", explained in previous entries, also gives this inspired definition of secret: "Known to God only." Daily growth in grace will enable us to pray more effectually, but the specific steps each of us takes will of necessity be the result of individual spiritual unfoldment. Then we shall not just read, but know, that "He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High [abides] under the shadow of the Almighty."
Christ Jesus and Mary Baker Eddy admonish us to enter our (mental) closets, close the door, and pray to our Father in secret. The door, we are told, shuts out sin: sinful sense, the physical senses, the erring senses, the material senses (S&H 15: 4, 7, 10, 16). Those false senses, facets of personal sense, blind us to everpresent God. The door must be shut, not just pulled to, since being even slightly ajar will allow sin and false belief, which can never perceive God, to enter. Then prayer becomes a wrangle with error instead of a communion with God, and tussling with error can have the effect of making its claims appear more real and formidable. In that event what was intended to be standing in God's healing and uplifting presence devolves into a kind of mad hatter's tea party.
It is more important that our prayer be a knowing of Truth than a denial of error. We also cannot permit sin to enter the closet with us to be purged there from our thinking, like Clark Kents entering a handy restroom to emerge as spiritual supermen. Nor is the closet a portal, like the storied magic wardrobe, through which one passes into some enchanted kingdom.
Why must we pray in secret? Secret is being used in the sense of unseen, private, removed from sight. "The Student's Reference Dictionary", explained in previous entries, also gives this inspired definition of secret: "Known to God only." Daily growth in grace will enable us to pray more effectually, but the specific steps each of us takes will of necessity be the result of individual spiritual unfoldment. Then we shall not just read, but know, that "He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High [abides] under the shadow of the Almighty."
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Taming Talk's Tenacious Tintinabulation
One of several downsides to the lemming-like proliferation of the internet and cell phones is the generation of a tsunami of inane verbiage, which inundates sacred silence and leaves us with the muck and dismal din of spoken and written logorrhea. Many, of course, would flee the silence if they were exposed to it, but time for quiet, solitary prayer and thought is essential if we are to commune with God and grow in Christian Science.
Mankind seems to have acquired a desperate, insatiable desire to talk or listen to talk, no matter how mindless and useless. Babble and idle chitchat the world lived without for most of its history are now de rigeur. "If people would confine their talk to subjects that are profitable, that which St. John informs us took place once in heaven, would happen frequently on earth,--silence for the space of half an hour." (MBE, Mis. 339: 2-5) If we are ever going to hear that still, small voice which helps and heals, we must find sanctuary in hours of patient quietude, no matter how insistent the desire to hear someone or be heard.
A/the Mother Church web site has apparently encouraged participation in a lively, active discussion on "spiritual healing, spirituality, and Mary Baker Eddy" or something along those lines. To what end, one would like to know, and why are they so ashamed to talk about Christian Science healing if people must natter about something? " 'Beware the Jabberwock, my son!/The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!/ Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun/The frumious Bandersnatch!' " ("Jabberwocky", Lewis Carroll) There is obviously a danger of being hoist by one's own observations, but it is far better to listen to God than to me or anyone else.
"And o'er earth's troubled, angry sea/I see Christ walk,/And come to me, and tenderly,/Divinely talk." (MBE, "Christ My Refuge") If one is not secretly, silently, patiently watching for Christ's numinous coming to his yearning and expectant consciousness, it may be yet another potential blessing gone by unheeded, and we will be poorer in Spirit for it.
Note: If the information concerning the lively Mother Church website mulligan stew is correct that Christian Science or C. S. healing isn't a stated topic, perhaps the excitement in the interchange of words couild be juiced a bit by making participation a game of sorts by having a secret word, like the old Groucho Marx tv show "You Bet Your Life", where he announced at the outset to the audience what the secret word was. If the contestant used the word in the course of their conversation a bird (not a real one) would drop down on a string and the person would get a prize. The secret word on the MC website could be Christian Science, and the first 25 people having the temerity to mention Christian Science would get a prize, say a free one-year subscription to the "Sentinel". If someone only said Christian or Science, but not both together, he would get a consolation prize of a free two-year subscription to the "Sentinel".
Mankind seems to have acquired a desperate, insatiable desire to talk or listen to talk, no matter how mindless and useless. Babble and idle chitchat the world lived without for most of its history are now de rigeur. "If people would confine their talk to subjects that are profitable, that which St. John informs us took place once in heaven, would happen frequently on earth,--silence for the space of half an hour." (MBE, Mis. 339: 2-5) If we are ever going to hear that still, small voice which helps and heals, we must find sanctuary in hours of patient quietude, no matter how insistent the desire to hear someone or be heard.
A/the Mother Church web site has apparently encouraged participation in a lively, active discussion on "spiritual healing, spirituality, and Mary Baker Eddy" or something along those lines. To what end, one would like to know, and why are they so ashamed to talk about Christian Science healing if people must natter about something? " 'Beware the Jabberwock, my son!/The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!/ Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun/The frumious Bandersnatch!' " ("Jabberwocky", Lewis Carroll) There is obviously a danger of being hoist by one's own observations, but it is far better to listen to God than to me or anyone else.
"And o'er earth's troubled, angry sea/I see Christ walk,/And come to me, and tenderly,/Divinely talk." (MBE, "Christ My Refuge") If one is not secretly, silently, patiently watching for Christ's numinous coming to his yearning and expectant consciousness, it may be yet another potential blessing gone by unheeded, and we will be poorer in Spirit for it.
Note: If the information concerning the lively Mother Church website mulligan stew is correct that Christian Science or C. S. healing isn't a stated topic, perhaps the excitement in the interchange of words couild be juiced a bit by making participation a game of sorts by having a secret word, like the old Groucho Marx tv show "You Bet Your Life", where he announced at the outset to the audience what the secret word was. If the contestant used the word in the course of their conversation a bird (not a real one) would drop down on a string and the person would get a prize. The secret word on the MC website could be Christian Science, and the first 25 people having the temerity to mention Christian Science would get a prize, say a free one-year subscription to the "Sentinel". If someone only said Christian or Science, but not both together, he would get a consolation prize of a free two-year subscription to the "Sentinel".
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Denying Evil Its Only Home and Sanctuary
The world today seems awash in a Pandora's box of afflictions. Nevertheless, every inharmony we experience, see, or just hear about--whether it is sin, disease, death, hatred, war, famine, loss, or poverty--exists entirely and exclusively in the only place it can--in the rag-and-bone shop of our own personal and mortal sense of existence. If God, good, is really omnipresent, then there is no hidey-hole for such inharmonies to lurk in, even if there were such a thing as a real inharmony.
Mrs. Eddy makes it a duty for each of us, daily, to rule out of himself all sin. The fact that uprooting sin is a daily duty, not an occasional task like putting a new roof on the house, shows the urgency with which we need to approach overcoming all evil, even the imps we fondly indulge. If you're momentarily at a loss for where to start or go next, try the six "lets" in Science and Health (248: 25-11). Lots of grist for the mill there, and the word let is not as passive as it may seem. The "Student's Reference Dictionary" referred to in previous entries defines let in part as: "Followed by the first person plural, let expresses exhortation or entreaty; as, rise, let us go."
We shouldn't unwisely try to outrun our ability to digest and assimilate new truths, which could lead to discouragement or frustration, but Mrs. Eddy tells us we are all capable of more than we do. So festina lente, if necessary, but now is as good a time as any, if we haven't started already, to shake a leg!
Mrs. Eddy makes it a duty for each of us, daily, to rule out of himself all sin. The fact that uprooting sin is a daily duty, not an occasional task like putting a new roof on the house, shows the urgency with which we need to approach overcoming all evil, even the imps we fondly indulge. If you're momentarily at a loss for where to start or go next, try the six "lets" in Science and Health (248: 25-11). Lots of grist for the mill there, and the word let is not as passive as it may seem. The "Student's Reference Dictionary" referred to in previous entries defines let in part as: "Followed by the first person plural, let expresses exhortation or entreaty; as, rise, let us go."
We shouldn't unwisely try to outrun our ability to digest and assimilate new truths, which could lead to discouragement or frustration, but Mrs. Eddy tells us we are all capable of more than we do. So festina lente, if necessary, but now is as good a time as any, if we haven't started already, to shake a leg!
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Warm New Bunny Slippers Every Day
One clever way of catching some monkeys is to put a favorite food in a tethered hollow gourd with an opening just large enough to admit an empty paw. The monkey reaches in and grasps the food, which enlarges its paw and prevents it from passing back through the opening. Some monkeys will keep their grip on the food even though it results in their remaining a prisoner of the gourd and being captured. We may think how stupid such monkeys must be to fall for such a trick, but does this not have a sardonic parallel in mankind's seemingly irresistible and often fatal attraction to the material and physical and to medicine and doctoring?
Christian Scientists may not be acting any wiser than the monkey, however, when they intone texts from the Bible or the writings of Mary Baker Eddy as if they were incantations with some glorious inherent power. When the Word does enter our heart and help and heal it is because some spiritual sense of those words has, however briefly, spoken to us and touched us, not some latent force present in syllable and grammar. "Felt ye the power of the Word?" (MBE, "Communion Hymn") Words and sentences, if not consciously imbued with Spirit, are but human mutterings which can't affect the floating of a mote in the sunlit air.
Many of us may need to release some hidebound concepts of God we have lovingly and diligently accumulated over the years, else like the monkey we may become prisoners of them. It may be necessary for us to see God in glorious newness each day. Every Sunday these words from I John 3 are read in Christian Science churches: ". . . we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is." Not as a comfy down-at-the-heels pair of slippers we need to get rid of but can't bear to part with. J. B. Phillips has this inspired rendering of the passage: "We only know that, if reality were to break through, we should reflect his likeness, for we should see him as he really is!"
As we do this we are fulfilling our duty to God to express our eternal oneness with Him as children of Light.
Christian Scientists may not be acting any wiser than the monkey, however, when they intone texts from the Bible or the writings of Mary Baker Eddy as if they were incantations with some glorious inherent power. When the Word does enter our heart and help and heal it is because some spiritual sense of those words has, however briefly, spoken to us and touched us, not some latent force present in syllable and grammar. "Felt ye the power of the Word?" (MBE, "Communion Hymn") Words and sentences, if not consciously imbued with Spirit, are but human mutterings which can't affect the floating of a mote in the sunlit air.
Many of us may need to release some hidebound concepts of God we have lovingly and diligently accumulated over the years, else like the monkey we may become prisoners of them. It may be necessary for us to see God in glorious newness each day. Every Sunday these words from I John 3 are read in Christian Science churches: ". . . we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is." Not as a comfy down-at-the-heels pair of slippers we need to get rid of but can't bear to part with. J. B. Phillips has this inspired rendering of the passage: "We only know that, if reality were to break through, we should reflect his likeness, for we should see him as he really is!"
As we do this we are fulfilling our duty to God to express our eternal oneness with Him as children of Light.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Giving Thanks for Spiritual Blessings
For a Christian Scientist to fail to put God, Christ Jesus, Mary Baker Eddy, and Christian Science at the top of his list of those things for which he is most grateful is either a careless mistake or a serious shortcoming. If God is not always first in our thoughts, He will not be first in our lives, and we will fail to obtain the continuing blessings which can only come by putting Him first. If we haven't yet learned that lesson we haven't yet learned much about Christian Science or Christianity.
To reap God's blessings--health, security, protection, harmony, abundant supply--we must to a degree demonstrate an understanding of our oneness with Him, and that is an eternal activity, not a one-time sprint to the door of consciousness to answer Christ's knock. The gold in our character is only revealed as the dross is purged, but gold is not purified by gentle warmth, but by the furnace fire of testing.
We take a great risk if we give casual lip service to our gratitude and loyalty to God while our real thoughts are elsewhere. Woe to him who says "I'm doing the best I can" when what he really means is "I'm doing for God all my very busy schedule, pleasurable activities, and real desires will permit". Let him who thinks this is a justifiable excuse picture himself saying it tete-a-tete to Christ Jesus.
We should desire above all else to make ourselves vessels unto honor, as that chosen vessel Paul expressed it in II Timothy 2. Recall what Jesus told Peter: "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat" (Luke 22: 31). If so loyal a Disciple as Peter could not escape such words, can we?
Obedience to God is not attained by enthusiastic or compulsive jabber or by a plethora of superficial busyness. When we do even a little of what Love is (See Mis 250: 14-29) we will reap a bountiful harvest of blessings for which we can be truly grateful.
Note: In reference to the previous entry, apparently Jesus' response to Peter's second answer was actually "Shepherd my sheep" instead of the "Feed my sheep" of the KJV. It is perhaps a meaningless difference, though some have seen a useful message in the correct translation.
To reap God's blessings--health, security, protection, harmony, abundant supply--we must to a degree demonstrate an understanding of our oneness with Him, and that is an eternal activity, not a one-time sprint to the door of consciousness to answer Christ's knock. The gold in our character is only revealed as the dross is purged, but gold is not purified by gentle warmth, but by the furnace fire of testing.
We take a great risk if we give casual lip service to our gratitude and loyalty to God while our real thoughts are elsewhere. Woe to him who says "I'm doing the best I can" when what he really means is "I'm doing for God all my very busy schedule, pleasurable activities, and real desires will permit". Let him who thinks this is a justifiable excuse picture himself saying it tete-a-tete to Christ Jesus.
We should desire above all else to make ourselves vessels unto honor, as that chosen vessel Paul expressed it in II Timothy 2. Recall what Jesus told Peter: "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat" (Luke 22: 31). If so loyal a Disciple as Peter could not escape such words, can we?
Obedience to God is not attained by enthusiastic or compulsive jabber or by a plethora of superficial busyness. When we do even a little of what Love is (See Mis 250: 14-29) we will reap a bountiful harvest of blessings for which we can be truly grateful.
Note: In reference to the previous entry, apparently Jesus' response to Peter's second answer was actually "Shepherd my sheep" instead of the "Feed my sheep" of the KJV. It is perhaps a meaningless difference, though some have seen a useful message in the correct translation.
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Love That is Not Shadowboxing
He prayeth well, who loveth well
Both man and bird and beast;
He prayeth best who loveth best
All things both great and small:
For the dear God who loveth us,
He made and loveth all.
These lines, which come near the end of Samuel Taylor Coleridge's marvelous poem "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner", undoubtedly state a major theme of the poem and a theme well worth pursuing in our lives.
It is imperative, however, that our sense of love rises above Peter's at that luminous morning meal on the shore of the Sea of Tiberias when the risen Jesus asks Peter if he loves (agape) him. Peter's more limited view of love answers "Yes, Lord, you know I love (philos) you". Responding to Jesus' exact repetition of the question, Peter replies the same. When Jesus questions Peter the hauntingly significant third time, he uses Peter's own word for love (philos), "Are you really my friend?", and almost certainly Coleridge's. The point is not simply a pedantic one, for if our sense of love never rises above that of brotherly love, we will not be attaining that sense of divine Love (agape) which is so essential.
One might reasonably equate the three avatars of love --eros, philos, and agape--with the three degrees of mortal mind Mrs. Eddy defines on pp. 115-116 of Science and Health. Obviously the second degree isn't bad or undesirable per se, it simply isn't good and pure enough to lift our thinking to a fuller and more complete understanding, reality, which must take place if we are to demonstrate our oneness with divine Love, our spiritual perfection as God's idea and reflection.
Only a flaneur or naive Micawber passively waiting for something good to turn up could ever think the attainment of a spiritual sense of Love is going to come without many Jacob-like wrestlings or wilderness sessions with the devil like that Christ Jesus experienced in Matthew 4.
God is All and created all. His creation is Love expressed as an eternally present fact. To understand this, even in small measure, requires that we develop a greater spiritual sense, to the degree of embodiment, of Mrs. Eddy's inspired Revelation of Truth, Life, and Love.
Both man and bird and beast;
He prayeth best who loveth best
All things both great and small:
For the dear God who loveth us,
He made and loveth all.
These lines, which come near the end of Samuel Taylor Coleridge's marvelous poem "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner", undoubtedly state a major theme of the poem and a theme well worth pursuing in our lives.
It is imperative, however, that our sense of love rises above Peter's at that luminous morning meal on the shore of the Sea of Tiberias when the risen Jesus asks Peter if he loves (agape) him. Peter's more limited view of love answers "Yes, Lord, you know I love (philos) you". Responding to Jesus' exact repetition of the question, Peter replies the same. When Jesus questions Peter the hauntingly significant third time, he uses Peter's own word for love (philos), "Are you really my friend?", and almost certainly Coleridge's. The point is not simply a pedantic one, for if our sense of love never rises above that of brotherly love, we will not be attaining that sense of divine Love (agape) which is so essential.
One might reasonably equate the three avatars of love --eros, philos, and agape--with the three degrees of mortal mind Mrs. Eddy defines on pp. 115-116 of Science and Health. Obviously the second degree isn't bad or undesirable per se, it simply isn't good and pure enough to lift our thinking to a fuller and more complete understanding, reality, which must take place if we are to demonstrate our oneness with divine Love, our spiritual perfection as God's idea and reflection.
Only a flaneur or naive Micawber passively waiting for something good to turn up could ever think the attainment of a spiritual sense of Love is going to come without many Jacob-like wrestlings or wilderness sessions with the devil like that Christ Jesus experienced in Matthew 4.
God is All and created all. His creation is Love expressed as an eternally present fact. To understand this, even in small measure, requires that we develop a greater spiritual sense, to the degree of embodiment, of Mrs. Eddy's inspired Revelation of Truth, Life, and Love.
Friday, November 21, 2008
Unfailing Supply for Fishers of Men
"Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery." (Dickens, David Copperfield) Wilkins Micawber's frequent bouts of misery were usually the result of his chronically impecunious and feckless nature, but in these troubled times financial worry and anxiety can come calling on almost anyone, even to the prudent and frugal.
Christian Science provides the only real and permanent answer to what supply and substance really are, though Martha Wilcox feels this is frequently a Brazil-nut concept to crack spiritually. To most of us (Americans at any rate) sawbucks, fins, and c-notes are supply and the provider of substantial things. At some point, all of us will need to master the truth of supply on the basis that Christ Jesus mastered it when he fed the thousands with almost nothing materially, but with unlimited wealth and supply in spiritual understanding of God. He effortlessly embodied omnipotent and omnipresent Truth as a fact.
Until we get it the way Christ Jesus and Mary Baker Eddy clearly got it we will be subject to the terrible demons of temptation to believe in lack and loss. Many of the association addresses mentioned in the previous entry have strong and liberating statements on supply. Greenwood has an entire association paper devoted to the subject.
Milton Simon, one of the best contributors to the periodicals over many years, also has many fine articles on supply and finances, frequently from the business point of view. He can't be over-recommended. Two compilations of his articles (17 and 19) should still be available from The Bookmark. Two feasts.
Finally, a can't-be-over-recommended book: From the Methodist Pulpit Into Christian Science and How I Demonstrated the Abundance of Substance and Supply, by Reverend Severin E. Simonsen (1928). It should also still be available from The Bookmark. A lasting Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings.
Christian Science provides the only real and permanent answer to what supply and substance really are, though Martha Wilcox feels this is frequently a Brazil-nut concept to crack spiritually. To most of us (Americans at any rate) sawbucks, fins, and c-notes are supply and the provider of substantial things. At some point, all of us will need to master the truth of supply on the basis that Christ Jesus mastered it when he fed the thousands with almost nothing materially, but with unlimited wealth and supply in spiritual understanding of God. He effortlessly embodied omnipotent and omnipresent Truth as a fact.
Until we get it the way Christ Jesus and Mary Baker Eddy clearly got it we will be subject to the terrible demons of temptation to believe in lack and loss. Many of the association addresses mentioned in the previous entry have strong and liberating statements on supply. Greenwood has an entire association paper devoted to the subject.
Milton Simon, one of the best contributors to the periodicals over many years, also has many fine articles on supply and finances, frequently from the business point of view. He can't be over-recommended. Two compilations of his articles (17 and 19) should still be available from The Bookmark. Two feasts.
Finally, a can't-be-over-recommended book: From the Methodist Pulpit Into Christian Science and How I Demonstrated the Abundance of Substance and Supply, by Reverend Severin E. Simonsen (1928). It should also still be available from The Bookmark. A lasting Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Caveat Emptor, It's a One-Off
For many of us primary class instruction with a loyal, inspired and inspiring, pure, and uncompromising teacher has proved to be a blessing for which we can never be too grateful. Some sadder but wiser students now rue their experience, especially since it can't be returned at customer service for another try. Certainly, if a pig in a poke was chosen on the basis of propinquity, popularity, and prestige, that wasn't a strategy for long-term satisfaction.
Many years ago there was an embarrassment of riches for the prosective student to choose from. Now it is probably closer to just an embarrassment from which to select a poke. Personal ambition to become a teacher, fawning support of the Mother Church menu du jour, and a willingness to agree to any unsavory pre-condition has undoubtedly degraded the roster of this most important of callings.
It is easy to wish class instruction was not a one-off privilege, but Mrs Eddy's wisdom must trump any quibbles. The teacher has responsibilities to his pupils long after the class, so if more than one teacher was in the picture there could easily be a mental conflict on the student's part, especially if the least favored teacher's thought proved more dominant.
Maybe one can sweeten somewhat any regrets by reading some wonderful association papers by Samuel Greenwood, Martha Wilcox, and Dr. John Tutt. Those of Bicknell Young might also be added. Many of their association papers can be obtained from The Bookmark, (800)220-7767 or www.thebookmark.com. For some, such materials are, of course, proscribed by their teachers, which is understandable.
Mr. Young's "Primary Class of 1936" is also available, but should be approached with caution, if at all, since it is somewhat of its time. It is not a realistic alternative to good class instruction, which is provided for, after all, by Mrs. Eddy, though this questionable quarter-loaf might still prove more nourishing than a stale and moldy full one.
Many years ago there was an embarrassment of riches for the prosective student to choose from. Now it is probably closer to just an embarrassment from which to select a poke. Personal ambition to become a teacher, fawning support of the Mother Church menu du jour, and a willingness to agree to any unsavory pre-condition has undoubtedly degraded the roster of this most important of callings.
It is easy to wish class instruction was not a one-off privilege, but Mrs Eddy's wisdom must trump any quibbles. The teacher has responsibilities to his pupils long after the class, so if more than one teacher was in the picture there could easily be a mental conflict on the student's part, especially if the least favored teacher's thought proved more dominant.
Maybe one can sweeten somewhat any regrets by reading some wonderful association papers by Samuel Greenwood, Martha Wilcox, and Dr. John Tutt. Those of Bicknell Young might also be added. Many of their association papers can be obtained from The Bookmark, (800)220-7767 or www.thebookmark.com. For some, such materials are, of course, proscribed by their teachers, which is understandable.
Mr. Young's "Primary Class of 1936" is also available, but should be approached with caution, if at all, since it is somewhat of its time. It is not a realistic alternative to good class instruction, which is provided for, after all, by Mrs. Eddy, though this questionable quarter-loaf might still prove more nourishing than a stale and moldy full one.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Doughty Doughboys, Not Docile Doormats
Man can no more escape or be ejected from church than he can from heaven. Both proceed from omnipresent God. If error seems to occupy or dominate The Mother Church and many branch churches, we must learn that in reality it is not there now, nor has it ever been. The truth of the situation must be so thoroughly understood that we become much less impressed with and conscious of anything but omnipotent God and His perfect creation, including church.
To do this means we have to be ever watchful and alert to every false belief and wrong-doing so that we do not become unwitting supporters of and accomplices in what must be unseen and thus destroyed. Error ignored or unwisely tolerated is error aided and abetted. We are experiencing the church we see, just as we are experiencing the picture of body we cling to.
We cannot allow ourselves to become disobedient Jonahs fleeing to some Tarshish in order to avoid obeying God's command to face the wickedness of Nineveh. Mrs. Eddy explains God's command to Moses to come back and grab the serpent by the tail as handling error and making it instead a staff upon which to lean. We must turn from what seems odious in the present church and establish in thought a more perfect depict, from which we never turn away.
If enough of us do this faithfully it will heal this aggressive and seemingly ineluctable falsity and reveal its nothingness, not merely its disappearance or fading away. Such prayer and increased understanding will also strengthen us as soldiers of Christ.
To do this means we have to be ever watchful and alert to every false belief and wrong-doing so that we do not become unwitting supporters of and accomplices in what must be unseen and thus destroyed. Error ignored or unwisely tolerated is error aided and abetted. We are experiencing the church we see, just as we are experiencing the picture of body we cling to.
We cannot allow ourselves to become disobedient Jonahs fleeing to some Tarshish in order to avoid obeying God's command to face the wickedness of Nineveh. Mrs. Eddy explains God's command to Moses to come back and grab the serpent by the tail as handling error and making it instead a staff upon which to lean. We must turn from what seems odious in the present church and establish in thought a more perfect depict, from which we never turn away.
If enough of us do this faithfully it will heal this aggressive and seemingly ineluctable falsity and reveal its nothingness, not merely its disappearance or fading away. Such prayer and increased understanding will also strengthen us as soldiers of Christ.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
The Useful Allure of Cotton Candy
Some interest has suddenly blossomed in the Discussion Forum of the Church website (?). What about it? My own inclination, not surprisingly, is to be extremely cautious about such places. Like Spirituality.com, or whatever it is/was, they are, to some of us at any rate, little more than diversonary public relations sideshows. They give a bread-and-circuses impression that meaningful activity is taking place, all the while deviously serving to deflect attention from willful wrong-doing and a G-string-size resume of commendable accomplishments.
There is only one proof necessary to validate The Mother Church's sincerity in meeting the needs of its members: humble, pure, compassionate, Christian, unselfed, gracious, neighborly, loving, and longsuffering actions -- without a remittance slip attached. Aught else is vapid and ephemeral foam. Active web sites can still be at bottom glittering carousels of random thoughts going witlessly round and round and round.
A case in point for the Church's need to feed a few problem children to the lions in the circus is the MBE Library. Why, when for probably a decade or more the showpiece buildings of the Church Center have been underutilized and are now said to be vacant or rented out, do you build at no little cost a new building for the Library? To provide a nice, fresh place for more Gills, Dakins, and Milmines to paw over Mrs. Eddy's private, unpublished papers with their dirty hands? To feed the rapacious megalomania that demands a monument to one's pathetic vanity, paid for, in part, of course, with your loving contributions?
Article VIII, Section 6, of the Church Manual states that each of us has "his duty to God, to his Leader, and to mankind." Notice who is not included in that triumvirate. And Mrs. Eddy adds that by one's "works he shall be judged,--and justified or condemned." And, yes, that includes, a fortiori, moi, as Miss Piggy would say.
There is only one proof necessary to validate The Mother Church's sincerity in meeting the needs of its members: humble, pure, compassionate, Christian, unselfed, gracious, neighborly, loving, and longsuffering actions -- without a remittance slip attached. Aught else is vapid and ephemeral foam. Active web sites can still be at bottom glittering carousels of random thoughts going witlessly round and round and round.
A case in point for the Church's need to feed a few problem children to the lions in the circus is the MBE Library. Why, when for probably a decade or more the showpiece buildings of the Church Center have been underutilized and are now said to be vacant or rented out, do you build at no little cost a new building for the Library? To provide a nice, fresh place for more Gills, Dakins, and Milmines to paw over Mrs. Eddy's private, unpublished papers with their dirty hands? To feed the rapacious megalomania that demands a monument to one's pathetic vanity, paid for, in part, of course, with your loving contributions?
Article VIII, Section 6, of the Church Manual states that each of us has "his duty to God, to his Leader, and to mankind." Notice who is not included in that triumvirate. And Mrs. Eddy adds that by one's "works he shall be judged,--and justified or condemned." And, yes, that includes, a fortiori, moi, as Miss Piggy would say.
Friday, November 7, 2008
A Brief Apologia
One of the chief objectives of this blog is to demonstrate my friendship for the present Church of Christ, Scientist. Mrs. Eddy says in Science and Health that she "has been most grateful for merited rebuke" (p. 8: 30-3). Where there has been a rebuke or criticism, these entries have always attempted to provide an explicit or implicit justification for it in the writings of Mrs. Eddy and the life and words of Christ Jesus.
For many of us, the recent past and current Administrations at The Mother Church have acted high-handed, as if they were above and exempt from any criticism or even the need to respond considerately and forthrightly to honest questions. Teachers have been defrocked for having the temerity to question actions of the Board. Is this loveless and vindictive organization the Church Mrs. Eddy gave to us? To say no one should dare to criticise or question the regal Board is to say that Luther had no right to protest the selling of indulgences since such actions were a challenge to the Pope and could lead to schisms. Yet Mrs. Eddy appears to have approved of his actions.
If one is aboard a ship and sees that it is headed for a coral reef, does he not have an urgent responsibility and a duty to bring this impending collision to the attention of the captain and officers of the ship? Perhaps they are already pre-sunk in crapulence or some other false indulgence and need to be awakened and alerted to their dereliction of duty and gross negligence. Some of us would rather risk God's rebuke than to be found ignoring, tolerating, or excusing wrong doing in Mrs. Eddy's great Cause. To fail to speak up would be pusillanimous treason against her and Christ Jesus.
Why not take the high road and pray one's way out of these things? If one feels he is able, let him do so. No one is standing in his way. But sometimes, like Luther, one needs to nail his theses to the church door, to do the highest right he sees at the time. Even Jesus didn't pray the money-changers out of the church.
One can question my motives, my wisdom, and even my sanity if he chooses, it is a game all can play, but any blame and censure due from God will fall on me alone. My love of God, Christ Jesus, Paul, Mary Baker Eddy, and Christian Science makes the risk worth it.
For many of us, the recent past and current Administrations at The Mother Church have acted high-handed, as if they were above and exempt from any criticism or even the need to respond considerately and forthrightly to honest questions. Teachers have been defrocked for having the temerity to question actions of the Board. Is this loveless and vindictive organization the Church Mrs. Eddy gave to us? To say no one should dare to criticise or question the regal Board is to say that Luther had no right to protest the selling of indulgences since such actions were a challenge to the Pope and could lead to schisms. Yet Mrs. Eddy appears to have approved of his actions.
If one is aboard a ship and sees that it is headed for a coral reef, does he not have an urgent responsibility and a duty to bring this impending collision to the attention of the captain and officers of the ship? Perhaps they are already pre-sunk in crapulence or some other false indulgence and need to be awakened and alerted to their dereliction of duty and gross negligence. Some of us would rather risk God's rebuke than to be found ignoring, tolerating, or excusing wrong doing in Mrs. Eddy's great Cause. To fail to speak up would be pusillanimous treason against her and Christ Jesus.
Why not take the high road and pray one's way out of these things? If one feels he is able, let him do so. No one is standing in his way. But sometimes, like Luther, one needs to nail his theses to the church door, to do the highest right he sees at the time. Even Jesus didn't pray the money-changers out of the church.
One can question my motives, my wisdom, and even my sanity if he chooses, it is a game all can play, but any blame and censure due from God will fall on me alone. My love of God, Christ Jesus, Paul, Mary Baker Eddy, and Christian Science makes the risk worth it.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Pagan Proceedings
Though the previous entry appeared to make light of (apparent) recent lunacy at The Mother Church, it was surely blithe naivte that made it come as even a mild surprise to any of us. The signs have been there for a long time.
It has been commented on by me before (not in this blog) that the summer solstice celebrations The Mother Church has sponsored for several years are nothing but a dangerous dabbling in paganism. The Church Center has become a Boston Stonehenge complete with astrological festivities, Jovian jollity (Holst), and the inevitable capitulation to virulent forms of "ancient and modern necromancy" and moral idiocy.
No, we haven't heard of any animal sacrifices or the brewing in a cauldron of "Eye of newt, and toe of frog,/Wool of bat, and tongue of dog" (Shakespeare, Macbeth), but what about the depraved sacrifice of our dear Leader and her lifelong, selfless, loving work on the satanic altar of the Gill biography? This sort of thing, especially in light of the previous entry, is no innocent tomfoolery, and as this serpent burgeons into the great red dragon, it will devour its foolish priests and priestesses. If you have seen Goya's horrific images of war, you should have some idea of the terrors that just might await those who get cozy with the Antichrist.
Some may say this is all "much ado about nothing", but there is no such thing as a harmless infatuation with paganism, astrology, or the occult. The recent past at the Church Center may be far more advanced than prologue.
One reader could not find the original Planet Waves material referenced and quoted from in the previous entry. It may have been removed, for obvious reasons. The full web source address of that story was probably (it got cut off it was so long): http://planetwaves.net/pagetwo/2008/10/31/christian-science-monitor-to-follow-planet-waves-business-model. This reader said the ghastly morass of stuff on this site made random searching difficult and one the witness to much unpleasant content. Also, another helpful commenter has said that an eriscope is a sex-related horoscope or something like that. Cheery news.
A probably unreliable rumor has it that the shadowy "Writings of MBE" is the code name of a project to send the Board of Directors to Uranus, the Magician (according, again, to Holst). Would that we could bid them a heartfelt bon voyage. In such plesant phantasms come respite from these depressing developments.
Note: Some readers have commented that their comments either didn't stick or weren't accepted. The site gets a little frisky now and then. No foul play is suspected. Keep trying, and thank you.
It has been commented on by me before (not in this blog) that the summer solstice celebrations The Mother Church has sponsored for several years are nothing but a dangerous dabbling in paganism. The Church Center has become a Boston Stonehenge complete with astrological festivities, Jovian jollity (Holst), and the inevitable capitulation to virulent forms of "ancient and modern necromancy" and moral idiocy.
No, we haven't heard of any animal sacrifices or the brewing in a cauldron of "Eye of newt, and toe of frog,/Wool of bat, and tongue of dog" (Shakespeare, Macbeth), but what about the depraved sacrifice of our dear Leader and her lifelong, selfless, loving work on the satanic altar of the Gill biography? This sort of thing, especially in light of the previous entry, is no innocent tomfoolery, and as this serpent burgeons into the great red dragon, it will devour its foolish priests and priestesses. If you have seen Goya's horrific images of war, you should have some idea of the terrors that just might await those who get cozy with the Antichrist.
Some may say this is all "much ado about nothing", but there is no such thing as a harmless infatuation with paganism, astrology, or the occult. The recent past at the Church Center may be far more advanced than prologue.
One reader could not find the original Planet Waves material referenced and quoted from in the previous entry. It may have been removed, for obvious reasons. The full web source address of that story was probably (it got cut off it was so long): http://planetwaves.net/pagetwo/2008/10/31/christian-science-monitor-to-follow-planet-waves-business-model. This reader said the ghastly morass of stuff on this site made random searching difficult and one the witness to much unpleasant content. Also, another helpful commenter has said that an eriscope is a sex-related horoscope or something like that. Cheery news.
A probably unreliable rumor has it that the shadowy "Writings of MBE" is the code name of a project to send the Board of Directors to Uranus, the Magician (according, again, to Holst). Would that we could bid them a heartfelt bon voyage. In such plesant phantasms come respite from these depressing developments.
Note: Some readers have commented that their comments either didn't stick or weren't accepted. The site gets a little frisky now and then. No foul play is suspected. Keep trying, and thank you.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Earth to Mary Trammell, Do You Read Me?
Some, maybe all, readers of the previous entry probably thought the reference to "Plan 9 From Outer Space" silly and over the top (and no doubt it was), but this blog has been advised to check out an entry to another blog, Planet Waves (try http://planetwaves.net/). If you have Bernard Hermann's soundtrack to "The Day the Earth Stood Still" or some space music with the theremin in it, put it on. We are headed into space.
The Planet Waves web site published bits of conversation or electronic correspondence with Mary Trammell, Editor and Chief of the CSPS and a member (alas) of the Mother Church Board of Directors, and John Yemma, Editor of what is left of the Monitor. Says Ms Trammell: ". . . we've been following what we call 'The Planet Wave [business] model' for some time now, studying closely the positive, encouraging spin [pun intended ?] on their articles . . . We both look to the heavens for guidance. Also, off the record, you guys are awesome! I live for my weekly and monthly horoscopes. Did you read the Eriscope [?] for Libra this month? LOL!!!"
"The discussion/interview [with Mr. Yemma] takes place as they float rather gently in space, believing that recording the video 'closer to God' would allow their prayers to reach Him 'before anyone on Earth' . . . Spaciness is next to Godliness" Yemma concluded (much later than he should have). Net, please! Spaciness? The phrase he may have been groping for is spaced out.
My horoscope for today may say "Not all that is baloney is edible". Aha! This may explain a lot of unearthly goings-on in Back Bay. Woods, Harris, the present lot, and who knows how many others are or were Martians, though with the clarity of hindsight we can now see their disguises were always a planet or two off. That hanky panky with the Harvard Medical School was obviously just a ruse to get some help adjusting a few kinks in the Martian anatomy to Earth. Too bad it didn't seem to improve things all that much.
And the MBE Library? We thought it was just an embarrassing white elephant, while all along it was a carefully concealed Earth terminus for interplanetary travel and a hush-hush center for studies in astrological feng shui.
Maybe all this is a hoax of some kind, like Orson Welles' "The War of the Worlds" broadcast. Yes, yes, that must be it. Weird goings-on: the Phillies winning the World Series, Pluto demoted from the official list of planets, the Burger King guy with the grinning mask, Batman and Superman redux. Perspiration is now dripping from my fevered brow. There are ghostly shadows and strange rustlings just outside my window. They are here! Must sign off.
The Planet Waves web site published bits of conversation or electronic correspondence with Mary Trammell, Editor and Chief of the CSPS and a member (alas) of the Mother Church Board of Directors, and John Yemma, Editor of what is left of the Monitor. Says Ms Trammell: ". . . we've been following what we call 'The Planet Wave [business] model' for some time now, studying closely the positive, encouraging spin [pun intended ?] on their articles . . . We both look to the heavens for guidance. Also, off the record, you guys are awesome! I live for my weekly and monthly horoscopes. Did you read the Eriscope [?] for Libra this month? LOL!!!"
"The discussion/interview [with Mr. Yemma] takes place as they float rather gently in space, believing that recording the video 'closer to God' would allow their prayers to reach Him 'before anyone on Earth' . . . Spaciness is next to Godliness" Yemma concluded (much later than he should have). Net, please! Spaciness? The phrase he may have been groping for is spaced out.
My horoscope for today may say "Not all that is baloney is edible". Aha! This may explain a lot of unearthly goings-on in Back Bay. Woods, Harris, the present lot, and who knows how many others are or were Martians, though with the clarity of hindsight we can now see their disguises were always a planet or two off. That hanky panky with the Harvard Medical School was obviously just a ruse to get some help adjusting a few kinks in the Martian anatomy to Earth. Too bad it didn't seem to improve things all that much.
And the MBE Library? We thought it was just an embarrassing white elephant, while all along it was a carefully concealed Earth terminus for interplanetary travel and a hush-hush center for studies in astrological feng shui.
Maybe all this is a hoax of some kind, like Orson Welles' "The War of the Worlds" broadcast. Yes, yes, that must be it. Weird goings-on: the Phillies winning the World Series, Pluto demoted from the official list of planets, the Burger King guy with the grinning mask, Batman and Superman redux. Perspiration is now dripping from my fevered brow. There are ghostly shadows and strange rustlings just outside my window. They are here! Must sign off.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Were You Ever Stung By a Dead Bee?
This blog is not a written record of restless mental peregrinations bubbling up from the murky depths of boredom, nor is it an attempt to prove the premise that to err is human and to kvetch is divine.
Real issues are involved here, despite the obvious feeling of some that they alone walk (sanctimoniously) in the true path. When a church member only wishes to have a matter discussed or to ask that a church executive board hear him out with an open mind on his honest reservations or disagreement about a course of action, he has every right to be listened to politely and respectfully and given an honest and forthright answer. Instead, the supplicant sometimes feels he is being treated like an uncouth buccaneer intent on rape, pillage, and the defiling of the church.
One might think from the hysterical reactions to some entries of this blog that anyone who shares even some of the thoughts expressed here is probably a desperado who just might show up squiffed at a church service or is some crazy constantly demanding that S&H Green Stamps be offered for purchases made at the Reading Room. Whatever happened to practicing the Golden Rule or humbly accepting the horrifying possibility that this member might have a valid argument or honest and well-founded basis for disagreement?
It seems where Boston is concerned that anything but fawning support and effusive encomiums is viewed as outrageous disloyalty and treachery. On two or three occasions when The Mother Church was written about some unpleasant developments (and no answers were asked for) the replies were little more than duplicitous, prevaricating, disingenuous blather, reading like some leftover lines from the screenplay for "Plan 9 From Outer Space". An honest question or disagreement from a loyal church member deserves better than that.
The secular drift of the Christian Science Church seems to many undeniable and troubling. The alert Scientist not only has a right, but a duty, to inform fellow members of his discovery of a weedy infestation on the church grounds which needs to be uprooted or treated. When a letter to the executive board of a church informing them that this barnyard grass is getting a foothold isn't even given the courtesy of a response, what recourse remains but to object to such treatment?
This blog has never advocated, or even contemplated, active dissent or the establishment of some counter-movement. Nothing has ever been asked for here but strict and loving adherence to the inspired Word of the Bible and the writings of Mary Baker Eddy. We should be deeply suspicious of anyone who has a problem with that and still calls himself a Christian Scientist.
Note: The title is a line spoken by Eddy (Walter Brennan) in "To Have and Have Not". He may have said was instead of were, and the relation to the entry is admittedly tenuous.
Real issues are involved here, despite the obvious feeling of some that they alone walk (sanctimoniously) in the true path. When a church member only wishes to have a matter discussed or to ask that a church executive board hear him out with an open mind on his honest reservations or disagreement about a course of action, he has every right to be listened to politely and respectfully and given an honest and forthright answer. Instead, the supplicant sometimes feels he is being treated like an uncouth buccaneer intent on rape, pillage, and the defiling of the church.
One might think from the hysterical reactions to some entries of this blog that anyone who shares even some of the thoughts expressed here is probably a desperado who just might show up squiffed at a church service or is some crazy constantly demanding that S&H Green Stamps be offered for purchases made at the Reading Room. Whatever happened to practicing the Golden Rule or humbly accepting the horrifying possibility that this member might have a valid argument or honest and well-founded basis for disagreement?
It seems where Boston is concerned that anything but fawning support and effusive encomiums is viewed as outrageous disloyalty and treachery. On two or three occasions when The Mother Church was written about some unpleasant developments (and no answers were asked for) the replies were little more than duplicitous, prevaricating, disingenuous blather, reading like some leftover lines from the screenplay for "Plan 9 From Outer Space". An honest question or disagreement from a loyal church member deserves better than that.
The secular drift of the Christian Science Church seems to many undeniable and troubling. The alert Scientist not only has a right, but a duty, to inform fellow members of his discovery of a weedy infestation on the church grounds which needs to be uprooted or treated. When a letter to the executive board of a church informing them that this barnyard grass is getting a foothold isn't even given the courtesy of a response, what recourse remains but to object to such treatment?
This blog has never advocated, or even contemplated, active dissent or the establishment of some counter-movement. Nothing has ever been asked for here but strict and loving adherence to the inspired Word of the Bible and the writings of Mary Baker Eddy. We should be deeply suspicious of anyone who has a problem with that and still calls himself a Christian Scientist.
Note: The title is a line spoken by Eddy (Walter Brennan) in "To Have and Have Not". He may have said was instead of were, and the relation to the entry is admittedly tenuous.
Friday, October 24, 2008
Tripping the Light Fantastic
As one does his best before God to sweep gracefully about life's crowded dance floor, he is sorry to tread painfully, now and then, upon the tender toes of fellow dancers. It is not intentional, but he must, as Thoreau wrote: ". . . step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away."
Some comments on the previous entry have vindicated and validated one overriding theme of several recent, and even earlier, entries that extremely insidious and malignant aggressive mental suggestion or malicious animal magnetism has stealthily and subtly invaded, pervaded, stupefied, and stultified many Christian Scientists over the past few, if not many, decades.
It is surely no secret that some churches have been limping and slouching along dispiritedly for years. Could anyone reasonably contend that vibrancy and vitality characterize the present overall state of things? Dogged and dejected hanging on and resentful defensiveness are not Christian Science, nor is tacitly accepting a gloomy material picture any justification for doing one's duty poorly.
Mrs. Eddy states emphatically: "It is Christian Science to do right, and nothing short of right-doing has any claim to the name." (S&H 448: 28-30) She also alludes to the unacceptability of "work badly done or left undone" (S&H 6: 6-10), calling it an "offence". To point this out, as the previous entry attempted to do, is hardly malpractice.
Intead of trying to justify stumbling along blindly in old ruts and indulging numbing mediocrity, one might do well, instead, to strive to bring Christliness, freshness, inspiration, spontaneity, and love to his every thought and action. This is not only possible, but the duty of any genuine Christian Scientist. "The talents He gives we must improve." (S&H 6: 6-7) We should quit letting matter's dolorous and discouraging music mesmerize us into a catatonic acquiescence to mortal mind's claims.
If saying this is someone's idea of malpractice, so be it. To say what is needful is still needful.
Some comments on the previous entry have vindicated and validated one overriding theme of several recent, and even earlier, entries that extremely insidious and malignant aggressive mental suggestion or malicious animal magnetism has stealthily and subtly invaded, pervaded, stupefied, and stultified many Christian Scientists over the past few, if not many, decades.
It is surely no secret that some churches have been limping and slouching along dispiritedly for years. Could anyone reasonably contend that vibrancy and vitality characterize the present overall state of things? Dogged and dejected hanging on and resentful defensiveness are not Christian Science, nor is tacitly accepting a gloomy material picture any justification for doing one's duty poorly.
Mrs. Eddy states emphatically: "It is Christian Science to do right, and nothing short of right-doing has any claim to the name." (S&H 448: 28-30) She also alludes to the unacceptability of "work badly done or left undone" (S&H 6: 6-10), calling it an "offence". To point this out, as the previous entry attempted to do, is hardly malpractice.
Intead of trying to justify stumbling along blindly in old ruts and indulging numbing mediocrity, one might do well, instead, to strive to bring Christliness, freshness, inspiration, spontaneity, and love to his every thought and action. This is not only possible, but the duty of any genuine Christian Scientist. "The talents He gives we must improve." (S&H 6: 6-7) We should quit letting matter's dolorous and discouraging music mesmerize us into a catatonic acquiescence to mortal mind's claims.
If saying this is someone's idea of malpractice, so be it. To say what is needful is still needful.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Just Going Through the Motions
A piece of meat that has the look and consistency of a clinker; vegetables overcooked to a nauseating mush; a baked potato without salt, pepper, butter, sour cream, or chives; a slice of stale, dry pound cake for desert; and for a beveage tepid tap water tasting of chlorine. Not an appetizing meal, yet the host and hostess might argue that they meant well when they asked some friends over for such a dinner.
Are some of our church services any more appealing than this so-called meal? Let's look at the items on some church menus:
o Unrehearsed or inadequately rehearsed reading, especially by the First Reader.
o Hastily or carelessly prepared Wednesday Meeting readings.
o Mistake-ridden or badly played music, even familiar hymns. Mrs. Eddy expected quantity and quality.
o Karaoke-style solos using Broadway numbers or popular songs.
o Musicians rehearsing up to the time of the prelude, or beyond, or other hustle and bustle going on when the auditorium or meeting room should be silent and conducive to prayerful thought.
o First Readers who apparently don't know or care that the name of our Church is Church of Christ, Scientist, not Christscientist.
The point is, if these or other minor or major atrocities are being perpetrated in the name of Christian Science, why bother with church services at all, since they apparently don't much matter? Actions like these, and they do occur, make a mockery of our religion and show an indefensible lack of respect for our Leader. If a church doesn't at least get exactly right the little it does, what benefit is it to Christian Science, which should be the whole purpose of services? Plodding wearily week after week through sloppy resemblances to what the Church Manual requires is just so much make-work and bootless activity.
Are some of our church services any more appealing than this so-called meal? Let's look at the items on some church menus:
o Unrehearsed or inadequately rehearsed reading, especially by the First Reader.
o Hastily or carelessly prepared Wednesday Meeting readings.
o Mistake-ridden or badly played music, even familiar hymns. Mrs. Eddy expected quantity and quality.
o Karaoke-style solos using Broadway numbers or popular songs.
o Musicians rehearsing up to the time of the prelude, or beyond, or other hustle and bustle going on when the auditorium or meeting room should be silent and conducive to prayerful thought.
o First Readers who apparently don't know or care that the name of our Church is Church of Christ, Scientist, not Christscientist.
The point is, if these or other minor or major atrocities are being perpetrated in the name of Christian Science, why bother with church services at all, since they apparently don't much matter? Actions like these, and they do occur, make a mockery of our religion and show an indefensible lack of respect for our Leader. If a church doesn't at least get exactly right the little it does, what benefit is it to Christian Science, which should be the whole purpose of services? Plodding wearily week after week through sloppy resemblances to what the Church Manual requires is just so much make-work and bootless activity.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
"'The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat."
Some readers may feel the conclusion suggested in the previous entry is a paranoid fantasy of some sort. Nevertheless, there have been for many years talk and reports, much of it reliable, of high level Mother Church canoodling with the Roman Catholic church and the medical profession. Former Board Director Virginia Harris was apparently proud of having many close friends who were obstetricians.
Those were the days when Harris and presumably the Board were giddy at the prospect of being an official participant in some Harvard University Medical School group which periodically met to discuss the effect of mind on health and healing or something like that. Harvard, at least, had the good sense to end this misguided and pathetic foray into the exciting and alluring world of medicine.
That malevolent influences have been at work in Boston for the past 20 years or so is to me supported by the systematic perversion of nearly every important activity of The Mother Church. Here is a short list: the Board of Directors, the Bible lessons, the periodicals, the Monitor, lectures, class teaching, committees on publication, healing standards, Journal listing standards, M.C. membership qualifications (so it is reported), and the squandering of many hundreds of millions of the Church's financial legacy.
It took a few 250 watt bulbs to get this job done as thoroughly and methodically as it was, and there are some of us who have not seen Church wattages much above 60 for many years. The insidious mental influence came from somewhere, and make no mistake, there are practiced hands at this sort of thing constantly at work.
Christian Scientists cannot be too alert to aggressive mental suggestion and subtle stupefying and stultifying mental influences. Powerless mental influences to be sure, but extremely harmful nonetheless if innocently, carelessly, or foolishly taken in.
Distressing as these actions have been to so many, what is even worse, they made possible the carefully disguised endgame: marginalizing, disheartening, discouraging, and driving out probably thousands of genuine Christian Scientists. Long written off by Boston as pesky impediments and nuisances these true Scientists have been superseded by a majority consisting of apathetic and servile sheep.
God will never, of course, place Christian Science in such hands, but much of what has been hard won since 1866 could be obscured or lost for a time. And if one is looking for who is doubtless rejoicing at this fait accompli, he should look no farther than the opening paragraph of this entry.
Christian Science might well borrow at this juncture the motto of the Order of the Garter: honi soit qui mal y pense.
Those were the days when Harris and presumably the Board were giddy at the prospect of being an official participant in some Harvard University Medical School group which periodically met to discuss the effect of mind on health and healing or something like that. Harvard, at least, had the good sense to end this misguided and pathetic foray into the exciting and alluring world of medicine.
That malevolent influences have been at work in Boston for the past 20 years or so is to me supported by the systematic perversion of nearly every important activity of The Mother Church. Here is a short list: the Board of Directors, the Bible lessons, the periodicals, the Monitor, lectures, class teaching, committees on publication, healing standards, Journal listing standards, M.C. membership qualifications (so it is reported), and the squandering of many hundreds of millions of the Church's financial legacy.
It took a few 250 watt bulbs to get this job done as thoroughly and methodically as it was, and there are some of us who have not seen Church wattages much above 60 for many years. The insidious mental influence came from somewhere, and make no mistake, there are practiced hands at this sort of thing constantly at work.
Christian Scientists cannot be too alert to aggressive mental suggestion and subtle stupefying and stultifying mental influences. Powerless mental influences to be sure, but extremely harmful nonetheless if innocently, carelessly, or foolishly taken in.
Distressing as these actions have been to so many, what is even worse, they made possible the carefully disguised endgame: marginalizing, disheartening, discouraging, and driving out probably thousands of genuine Christian Scientists. Long written off by Boston as pesky impediments and nuisances these true Scientists have been superseded by a majority consisting of apathetic and servile sheep.
God will never, of course, place Christian Science in such hands, but much of what has been hard won since 1866 could be obscured or lost for a time. And if one is looking for who is doubtless rejoicing at this fait accompli, he should look no farther than the opening paragraph of this entry.
Christian Science might well borrow at this juncture the motto of the Order of the Garter: honi soit qui mal y pense.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
The Boston Cat Delivers Another Dead Mouse
The "elect lady" who is making a rare appearance, if not a debut, in the Bible lesson this week seems to be bringing more confusion than clarity to the matter. Dummelow has a fairly lengthly discussion on who or what the lady is and comes to no conclusion, only deepest uncertainty. The Oxford Companion to the Bible appears confident in its assertion that 2 John is addressed "to a community".
It is true Mrs. Eddy refers to the elect lady in Retrospection and Introspection (90: 10), but this is only in passing. Why include in the Bible lesson a citation this puzzling, especially since there is no peg in Science and Health on which to hang it? What possible lesson lies in its inclusion? What is really going on here? It would be interesting to know who is on the lesson committee and their qualifications, if any, for the job.
An insidious possibility has been suggested in an earlier entry, i.e., that the AMDG boys have long had more than their camels' noses in the tent and wish to subtly adumbrate and promote their own elect lady.
It is true Mrs. Eddy refers to the elect lady in Retrospection and Introspection (90: 10), but this is only in passing. Why include in the Bible lesson a citation this puzzling, especially since there is no peg in Science and Health on which to hang it? What possible lesson lies in its inclusion? What is really going on here? It would be interesting to know who is on the lesson committee and their qualifications, if any, for the job.
An insidious possibility has been suggested in an earlier entry, i.e., that the AMDG boys have long had more than their camels' noses in the tent and wish to subtly adumbrate and promote their own elect lady.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Boo and Boo Hoo to a Bad Bad Boo!!!
Halloween may only come once a year, but a boogeyman scarier than any trick-or-treater haunts some Christian Science churches weekly and year-round as it has, regrettably, for decades. That anomalous specter is coldness and indifference shown to visitors and even fellow church members.
With torpidity, apathy, decline, and decay staring glumly at church members week after week, why would they add the cold shoulder to an already uninviting environment? And this isn't a problem which can be remedied by forced or artificial warmth or phony and insincere bonhomie, but only by letting "Love [be] reflected in love".
If Christian Scientists don't express spontaneous warmth and Christian love for those attending their churches (and everyone, for that matter), then all that's left is a really scary fellowship of zombies.
With torpidity, apathy, decline, and decay staring glumly at church members week after week, why would they add the cold shoulder to an already uninviting environment? And this isn't a problem which can be remedied by forced or artificial warmth or phony and insincere bonhomie, but only by letting "Love [be] reflected in love".
If Christian Scientists don't express spontaneous warmth and Christian love for those attending their churches (and everyone, for that matter), then all that's left is a really scary fellowship of zombies.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Our Most Valuable Key
A key is a tool, not an objet d'art or a talisman to be ritualistically thumbed in purse or pocket. If it isn't used to unlock or activate something a key serves no purpose. We often think of the textbook of Christian Science simply as Science and Health, but we know it is also with Key to the Scriptures. That key is not a metaphysical abstraction.
Mrs. Eddy obviously intended the Key to the Scriptures to be used to unlock the spiritual meaning, the inspired Word, of the Bible. The first tenet of Christian Science states: "As adherents of Truth, we take the inspired Word of the Bible as our sufficient guide to eternal Life." (S&H 497: 3-4) Wouldn't we be wise to use this priceless key daily to unseal and open that wilderness in which we abide? Keys are to something, not ends in themselves.
Note: Readers of this blog might be interested in an excellent article which dovetails satisfyingly with several recent and earlier entries. Had this article been reread earlier, some of these lucubrations might not have seemed necessary. It is "Defending the Purity of Church", by Maurice W. Hastie, from the C. S. Journal, Volume 83, April 1965. It was reprinted, where it was recently found, in one of those tasty pocket pamphlets of yesteryear titled "Handling Animal Magnetism". The entire pamphlet is worth reading if one is fortunate enough to own or find a copy.
Mrs. Eddy obviously intended the Key to the Scriptures to be used to unlock the spiritual meaning, the inspired Word, of the Bible. The first tenet of Christian Science states: "As adherents of Truth, we take the inspired Word of the Bible as our sufficient guide to eternal Life." (S&H 497: 3-4) Wouldn't we be wise to use this priceless key daily to unseal and open that wilderness in which we abide? Keys are to something, not ends in themselves.
Note: Readers of this blog might be interested in an excellent article which dovetails satisfyingly with several recent and earlier entries. Had this article been reread earlier, some of these lucubrations might not have seemed necessary. It is "Defending the Purity of Church", by Maurice W. Hastie, from the C. S. Journal, Volume 83, April 1965. It was reprinted, where it was recently found, in one of those tasty pocket pamphlets of yesteryear titled "Handling Animal Magnetism". The entire pamphlet is worth reading if one is fortunate enough to own or find a copy.
Friday, October 10, 2008
The Necessity for Good Testimonies
A quick, clear-cut healing is the best advertisement for and validation of the claims we make for Christian Science. A Wednesday (Evening) Meeting with several testimonies of recent healings would provide a spiritual oasis for the "honest seeker", the new-comer (rara avis that he is), and the regular attendee in need of some comfort and inspiration. The atmosphere and outreach of such a meeting would extend far beyond the walls of the church.
There are, however, some invasive mutations of testimonies and remarks which are at best counterproductive, at worst off-putting and evervating. Some of these are:
o Second or third-hand testimonies. Except in rare instances one should only relate personal healings.
o Years or decades-old healings. They may be wonderful, but if they occurred years ago a new-comer might wonder why there aren't healings now.
o Testimonies which include macabre details and puzzling stories of delightful stays in a hospital. Churches don't have air-sickness bags for the queasy, and MBE forbids the relating of lurid details.
o Shaggy dog stories, meandering monologues, and misstatements and misrepresentations of Christian Science.
o Testimonies where pinpointing the healing message is harder than finding Waldo.
o Gratitude for finding lost keys and happy endings to other of life's little vicissitudes. It devalues Christian Science to imply this is what it does or the best it has done for one.
o Reading from the periodicals or Monitor or anything else.
Obviously, long, quiet periods are unsettling vacuums, but filling them nervously with verbal packing puffs or other detritus hardly scales the pinnacle of gratitude. Simply cutting the testimony period to fit the cloth of testifiers seems a better temporary solution, and then expect more and more responsive meetings in the future.
The key to all of this is, finally, more vigorous and effective healing work, quantitatively and qualitatively, on the part of every genuine Christian Scientist. But isn't that what Christian Science is about, and why should we ever be content with an iota or jot less?
There are, however, some invasive mutations of testimonies and remarks which are at best counterproductive, at worst off-putting and evervating. Some of these are:
o Second or third-hand testimonies. Except in rare instances one should only relate personal healings.
o Years or decades-old healings. They may be wonderful, but if they occurred years ago a new-comer might wonder why there aren't healings now.
o Testimonies which include macabre details and puzzling stories of delightful stays in a hospital. Churches don't have air-sickness bags for the queasy, and MBE forbids the relating of lurid details.
o Shaggy dog stories, meandering monologues, and misstatements and misrepresentations of Christian Science.
o Testimonies where pinpointing the healing message is harder than finding Waldo.
o Gratitude for finding lost keys and happy endings to other of life's little vicissitudes. It devalues Christian Science to imply this is what it does or the best it has done for one.
o Reading from the periodicals or Monitor or anything else.
Obviously, long, quiet periods are unsettling vacuums, but filling them nervously with verbal packing puffs or other detritus hardly scales the pinnacle of gratitude. Simply cutting the testimony period to fit the cloth of testifiers seems a better temporary solution, and then expect more and more responsive meetings in the future.
The key to all of this is, finally, more vigorous and effective healing work, quantitatively and qualitatively, on the part of every genuine Christian Scientist. But isn't that what Christian Science is about, and why should we ever be content with an iota or jot less?
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
"Fruitage"
Another of many reasons why study of Christian Science from the books themselves is essential is that when studying the Bible Lessons, one always has at his fingertips in Science and Health Chapter XVIII, "Fruitage". Exerpts from this inspiring chapter will never appear (at least one hopes not) in the full-text lessons. It should also be clear that reading or browsing in the lesson is not the same thing as studying it, any more than a cow's bovine grazing is the act of digestion and conversion of the grass or hay into energy, meat, or milk.
The letters/testimonies in "Fruitage" are healings based solely on each writer's own reading and assimilation of Science and Health. The humble, trustful, childlike receptivity to Truth these letters exemplify should be ever encouraging to any Christian Scientist.
There are also "Letters from those Healed" in Miscellaneous Writings. Two that stand out are probably by the same person, Sam (in one) and S. G. (in the other) Schroyer of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (pp. 435-36 and 439-40). Mr. Schroyer's modesty, faith, humility, and demonstration are most affecting and should be an object lesson for any struggling heart.
Both groups of testimonies also reinforce the importance of gratitude.
The letters/testimonies in "Fruitage" are healings based solely on each writer's own reading and assimilation of Science and Health. The humble, trustful, childlike receptivity to Truth these letters exemplify should be ever encouraging to any Christian Scientist.
There are also "Letters from those Healed" in Miscellaneous Writings. Two that stand out are probably by the same person, Sam (in one) and S. G. (in the other) Schroyer of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (pp. 435-36 and 439-40). Mr. Schroyer's modesty, faith, humility, and demonstration are most affecting and should be an object lesson for any struggling heart.
Both groups of testimonies also reinforce the importance of gratitude.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Loving God is Loving Church
As we strive to understand God better we are also understanding church better. Church is one way God expresses Himself.
We should eventually arrive at that grasp of Truth where we no longer see or experience anything less than perfect church any more than we should see or experience any disease or affliction in ourselves or another. We are not living up to the standard of Christian Science if we deny error and the reality of mortal mind in our personal experience, but see mortal mind and false belief alive and well and hard at work in our churches.
Then why point out so-called problems in churches if what we really need to do is unsee them? Because we need to recognize error (separate the tares from the wheat), give it the lie, and, as Mrs. Eddy says, understand error to be nothing. False belief does not retreat in the face of a few verbal spitballs; it needs to be decisively denied and cast out and truth emphatically declared in the place where it seemed to be.
Perhaps the current situation is a salutary one in that it forces true Christian Scientists to find and express a deeper sense of God's omnipotence and omnipresence and not be tempted to give a seeming reality to error by trying to oppose it on its own dead level. This does not mean one should automatically separate himself from a church which seems to be wandering in some wilderness experience. Nor does it mean one shouldn't go his separate way. We must each follow the "kindly Light" where it leads us, but never be fooled or cajoled into actively or even passively supporting wrong doing or appearing by association to be its advocate.
We should eventually arrive at that grasp of Truth where we no longer see or experience anything less than perfect church any more than we should see or experience any disease or affliction in ourselves or another. We are not living up to the standard of Christian Science if we deny error and the reality of mortal mind in our personal experience, but see mortal mind and false belief alive and well and hard at work in our churches.
Then why point out so-called problems in churches if what we really need to do is unsee them? Because we need to recognize error (separate the tares from the wheat), give it the lie, and, as Mrs. Eddy says, understand error to be nothing. False belief does not retreat in the face of a few verbal spitballs; it needs to be decisively denied and cast out and truth emphatically declared in the place where it seemed to be.
Perhaps the current situation is a salutary one in that it forces true Christian Scientists to find and express a deeper sense of God's omnipotence and omnipresence and not be tempted to give a seeming reality to error by trying to oppose it on its own dead level. This does not mean one should automatically separate himself from a church which seems to be wandering in some wilderness experience. Nor does it mean one shouldn't go his separate way. We must each follow the "kindly Light" where it leads us, but never be fooled or cajoled into actively or even passively supporting wrong doing or appearing by association to be its advocate.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
The Perils of a Pocket-size Pitfall
Obedience to the daily and general Church Manual requirements, prayer, and study of the Bible and Science and Health should form the core of a Christian Scientist's daily life. If the weekly Bible Lesson is the only exposure he has to the textbooks, and it should not be, the books themselves should at least be used.
The evils of the full-text Bible Lessons have been commented on before, but it should be reiterated that resorting to this shortcut can quickly become an addictive habit for dilettantes and offer the lethargic student an easy way of "doing" the lesson, though at least they are no longer the trivial "thoughts for a week". Additionally, the fell-text lessons give the impression that Christian Science can be learned and lived via a convenient-to-take, one-a-day spiritual vitamin pill.
Thirty years or so ago two enterprising members of my Association decided to start a little home business by printing out and selling a full text of the weekly lessons. The teacher, a rock-solid Christian Scientist, informed the entrepreneurs that if they didn't stop that activity immediately they would be put out of the Association because we study the books themselves, not printed exerpts therefrom. They did obediently cease operations, only to see some years later the management in Boston succumb to a consuming desire to make money regardless of the trifling concessions to the serpent it involved.
Those for whom serious study of the Bible and writings of Mary Baker Eddy is an onerous task and not a joy are probably not ready for Christian Science. As Christ Jesus said: "... many are called, but few are chosen."
The evils of the full-text Bible Lessons have been commented on before, but it should be reiterated that resorting to this shortcut can quickly become an addictive habit for dilettantes and offer the lethargic student an easy way of "doing" the lesson, though at least they are no longer the trivial "thoughts for a week". Additionally, the fell-text lessons give the impression that Christian Science can be learned and lived via a convenient-to-take, one-a-day spiritual vitamin pill.
Thirty years or so ago two enterprising members of my Association decided to start a little home business by printing out and selling a full text of the weekly lessons. The teacher, a rock-solid Christian Scientist, informed the entrepreneurs that if they didn't stop that activity immediately they would be put out of the Association because we study the books themselves, not printed exerpts therefrom. They did obediently cease operations, only to see some years later the management in Boston succumb to a consuming desire to make money regardless of the trifling concessions to the serpent it involved.
Those for whom serious study of the Bible and writings of Mary Baker Eddy is an onerous task and not a joy are probably not ready for Christian Science. As Christ Jesus said: "... many are called, but few are chosen."
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Two Faces of Christian Science
It was gratifying to hear Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson described recently on a major tv network news report as "a devout Christian Scientist who doesn't smoke or drink". One hopes that that description of a Christian Scientist will be consciously or unconsciously filed away by those few "honest seekers" who might be led to investigate Christian Science.
Another, less recent face before the public is that of a soi-disant Christian Scientist, a fairly well-known actor. He was on the cover of a Sentinel, to which he has also made a written contribution or two. We were also informed he has been a Second Reader in his branch church. Boston's poster-boy has reportedly given quite a few million dollars to The Mother Church, which no doubt made any fluffy droplets from his pen uncommonly wonderful.
Yet an article quoted him as being proud of the fact that a couple of margaritas (or some other mixed drink) had been named after him. Now, what idea would the unknowing and probably uncaring and skeptical public form of Christian Science from these two men? An insignificant, have-it-any-way-you-want sect with no meaningful beliefs or standards? Even the "honest seeker" might have second thoughts.
Another, less recent face before the public is that of a soi-disant Christian Scientist, a fairly well-known actor. He was on the cover of a Sentinel, to which he has also made a written contribution or two. We were also informed he has been a Second Reader in his branch church. Boston's poster-boy has reportedly given quite a few million dollars to The Mother Church, which no doubt made any fluffy droplets from his pen uncommonly wonderful.
Yet an article quoted him as being proud of the fact that a couple of margaritas (or some other mixed drink) had been named after him. Now, what idea would the unknowing and probably uncaring and skeptical public form of Christian Science from these two men? An insignificant, have-it-any-way-you-want sect with no meaningful beliefs or standards? Even the "honest seeker" might have second thoughts.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Defending What Matters, Criticizing Error
"Anything Goes" is a wonderful Cole Porter song, and musical, but it is not a suitable Christian Science theme song. "The song of Christian Science is 'Work--work--work--watch and pray.'" (Mary Baker Eddy, '00 2: 7-8) Churches might be filled every Sunday and Wednesday if soothing, easy-listening music were played and lots of munchies were available in the lobby for attendees to nosh on during the service. But would a full church under these conditions mean anything so far as understanding Christian Science is concerned?
The writer of this blog may appear to many, even to most, as a nattering nabob of negativism, or worse. But just as with mathematics, one either gets Christian Science or he doesn't. There is one Way and it is strait uphill all the way. There is no Christian Science Lite, nor a wide and shady path to understanding and demonstration for beginners or the well-meaning but indolent.
An understanding of Christian Science will not without dedicated working, watching, and praying suddenly appear to a micawberish ditherer, nor by some magical, effort-saving deus ex machina no matter how good and well -intentioned we are. Mrs. Eddy tells us that "Seeking is not sufficient. It is striving that enables us to enter." (S&H 10: 14-15)
Mrs. Eddy also says that error left to itself is undenied and nurtured. What is criticized in these entries is not intentionally ad hominem, but against what is wrong, what is perceived as error at work. If the criticisms are unjust, God will take the matter up with the writer. But if one loves God and Christian Science as he was taught to the best of his understanding and as he understands them to be through the Bible and writings of Mary Baker Eddy, he cannot turn a blind eye to what he and many others see as animal magnetism, mortal mind, and error hard at work.
As a final thought, see Science and Health 36: 14-18.
The writer of this blog may appear to many, even to most, as a nattering nabob of negativism, or worse. But just as with mathematics, one either gets Christian Science or he doesn't. There is one Way and it is strait uphill all the way. There is no Christian Science Lite, nor a wide and shady path to understanding and demonstration for beginners or the well-meaning but indolent.
An understanding of Christian Science will not without dedicated working, watching, and praying suddenly appear to a micawberish ditherer, nor by some magical, effort-saving deus ex machina no matter how good and well -intentioned we are. Mrs. Eddy tells us that "Seeking is not sufficient. It is striving that enables us to enter." (S&H 10: 14-15)
Mrs. Eddy also says that error left to itself is undenied and nurtured. What is criticized in these entries is not intentionally ad hominem, but against what is wrong, what is perceived as error at work. If the criticisms are unjust, God will take the matter up with the writer. But if one loves God and Christian Science as he was taught to the best of his understanding and as he understands them to be through the Bible and writings of Mary Baker Eddy, he cannot turn a blind eye to what he and many others see as animal magnetism, mortal mind, and error hard at work.
As a final thought, see Science and Health 36: 14-18.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
More About Hymnals
Something is being done on the hymnal front after all (see the previous entry), but not what was hoped for. Supplements (plural) will apparently be issued periodically beginning in November, though it's unclear if each will have a few, several, or many hymns included.
They are looking for additional suggestions, but the appeal would seem to be aimed at the target audience, whoever that is, for the Journal and Sentinel, and probably even spirituality.com, so traditional Scientists (for lack of a better term) may once again be facing Boston's music, so to speak. Maybe we will soon be having cheery sing-alongs and karaoke solos, a chilling but frugal prospect. Or a hard-driving heavy metal setting of "Shepherd, show me how to go".
To summarize, the sober conclusion at the end of the last entry will almost certainly not be invalidated by this recent development. If something appears to be a good thing, as Martha would say, its intent may only be to separate Scientists from their shekels.
They are looking for additional suggestions, but the appeal would seem to be aimed at the target audience, whoever that is, for the Journal and Sentinel, and probably even spirituality.com, so traditional Scientists (for lack of a better term) may once again be facing Boston's music, so to speak. Maybe we will soon be having cheery sing-alongs and karaoke solos, a chilling but frugal prospect. Or a hard-driving heavy metal setting of "Shepherd, show me how to go".
To summarize, the sober conclusion at the end of the last entry will almost certainly not be invalidated by this recent development. If something appears to be a good thing, as Martha would say, its intent may only be to separate Scientists from their shekels.
Sunday, September 21, 2008
A New Hymnal
Wouldn't a new hymnal be a blessing to Christian Scientists and their branch churches? A reliable source told me years ago that the hymns for a new hymnal had been selected by a formal committee decades ago, but nothing further had ever been done.
The next steps are somewhat costly ones: setting the hymns into type, printing the hymnals (including those large, loose-leaf ones for organists and pianists), and working up a new hymnal concordance. This would undoubtedly take a few million dollars to accomplish, but wouldn't it be a natural and loving thing for The Mother Church to do for Christian Scientists? The cost would also be defrayed over time by purchases.
Many hundreds of millions were foolishly squandered on the DOA Monitor television fiasco and more recently tens of millions on a white elephant, a dismal memorial to a few Brobdingnagian egos. Yet something which might enrich all of us gets elbowed aside for the sake of a few million dollars, what one suspects is the small prospect of its conferring a high luster to the names of those responsible, and the wish, no doubt, to pursue more glamorous undertakings.
Unless something has changed fairly recently, the large loose-leaf, hymnals haven't been available for years, and need to be. The present hymnal dates from at least the late 1930's, and that is probably the Supplement. Why can't we have a fresh hymnal while there are still some churches left to use them? Or is the unspoken, sinister message here that Boston has secretly written off Christian Scientists and branch churches and is now only willing to engage in self-indulgent pastimes?
The next steps are somewhat costly ones: setting the hymns into type, printing the hymnals (including those large, loose-leaf ones for organists and pianists), and working up a new hymnal concordance. This would undoubtedly take a few million dollars to accomplish, but wouldn't it be a natural and loving thing for The Mother Church to do for Christian Scientists? The cost would also be defrayed over time by purchases.
Many hundreds of millions were foolishly squandered on the DOA Monitor television fiasco and more recently tens of millions on a white elephant, a dismal memorial to a few Brobdingnagian egos. Yet something which might enrich all of us gets elbowed aside for the sake of a few million dollars, what one suspects is the small prospect of its conferring a high luster to the names of those responsible, and the wish, no doubt, to pursue more glamorous undertakings.
Unless something has changed fairly recently, the large loose-leaf, hymnals haven't been available for years, and need to be. The present hymnal dates from at least the late 1930's, and that is probably the Supplement. Why can't we have a fresh hymnal while there are still some churches left to use them? Or is the unspoken, sinister message here that Boston has secretly written off Christian Scientists and branch churches and is now only willing to engage in self-indulgent pastimes?
Saturday, September 20, 2008
"Take Heed!"
As always, our Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, sees the needs of the hour most clearly and expresses them best. See her short article "Take Heed!" in Miscellaneous Writing, p. 368: 11-5.
Friday, September 19, 2008
MBE Biographies and Not Biograhies
The value of reading a good biography of Mary Baker Eddy, and especially the Robert Peel, has been discussed in at least two or three earlier entries. The We Knew Mary Baker Eddy series, originally in four volumes (Series), can also be highly recommended. These reminiscences almost put the reader in her presence, and many uplifting statements by her are recorded by the various authors. It is hard to avoid feeling these volumes are indispensable to Christian Scientists, and they should be visited from time to time.
On the other hand, the much ballyhooed inaugural volume in Boston's Mary Baker Eddy biography series, The Destiny of The Mother Church by Bliss Knapp, is not by the most attenuated stretch of the word a biography of her, and it doesn't claim to be. It is a reminiscence by Bliss Knapp of his parents, who were early pioneers in the Christian Science Movement. It is a fine book for what it is, but Mrs. Eddy is only mentioned in the last few chapters.
The publication of this book by Boston is a tale of lucre, as most readers of this blog doubtless already know. The Knapp will stated, more or less, that the estate would be awarded to The Mother Church if the Christian Science Publishing Society would publish the book and make it available in "essentially all" Reading Rooms. For decades the Church refused to publish the book, even for the very large bequest ($180+ million by the late 80's), probably because the book takes the position that Mrs. Eddy is the woman in Revelation and because it really isn't about her or Christian Science per se.
As the closing date in the terms of the will drew near, it was decided that the obvious bolus wasn't really all that large and could be disingenuously and remuneratively swallowed. It was all a bit hugger-mugger, but the folks in Boston convinced themselves this non-biography was a swell candidate to start a new Mary Baker Eddy biography series. Mind you, money had nothing to do with this decision. As it turned out Boston only got half of the estate and the "default" legatee, Stanford University (?), the other half.
Also, if memory serves, at least one teacher of Christian Science was defrocked for teaching the position on Mrs. Eddy that the Knapp book takes. How will the Christian Science church survive and prosper on the pitifully thin gruel of prevarication, money-grubbing, and mendacity?
On the other hand, the much ballyhooed inaugural volume in Boston's Mary Baker Eddy biography series, The Destiny of The Mother Church by Bliss Knapp, is not by the most attenuated stretch of the word a biography of her, and it doesn't claim to be. It is a reminiscence by Bliss Knapp of his parents, who were early pioneers in the Christian Science Movement. It is a fine book for what it is, but Mrs. Eddy is only mentioned in the last few chapters.
The publication of this book by Boston is a tale of lucre, as most readers of this blog doubtless already know. The Knapp will stated, more or less, that the estate would be awarded to The Mother Church if the Christian Science Publishing Society would publish the book and make it available in "essentially all" Reading Rooms. For decades the Church refused to publish the book, even for the very large bequest ($180+ million by the late 80's), probably because the book takes the position that Mrs. Eddy is the woman in Revelation and because it really isn't about her or Christian Science per se.
As the closing date in the terms of the will drew near, it was decided that the obvious bolus wasn't really all that large and could be disingenuously and remuneratively swallowed. It was all a bit hugger-mugger, but the folks in Boston convinced themselves this non-biography was a swell candidate to start a new Mary Baker Eddy biography series. Mind you, money had nothing to do with this decision. As it turned out Boston only got half of the estate and the "default" legatee, Stanford University (?), the other half.
Also, if memory serves, at least one teacher of Christian Science was defrocked for teaching the position on Mrs. Eddy that the Knapp book takes. How will the Christian Science church survive and prosper on the pitifully thin gruel of prevarication, money-grubbing, and mendacity?
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
"Not marble, nor the gilded monuments" (Part 2)
Christ Jesus and Mary Baker Eddy both demonstrated that an imposing venue is not necessary or even desirable for a sermon or a service. So far as we know, most of Christ Jesus' itinerant ministry was accomplished en plein air. Too much emphasis on the visually engaging might well be a deterrent to some who are uncomfortable in such surroundings.
The substance of a church is not what is material without, but what is spiritual within. It is Truth, Life, and Love expressed in the lives of members and the resulting Christly atmosphere emanating therefrom which will attract "honest seekers" to our churches. It is not possible to attract everyone.
Christian Science may have flouished best before there was the preoccupation with buildings, business meetings, committees, and grounds-keeping. "Our proper reason for church edifices is, that in them Christians may worship God,--not that Christians may worship church edifices!" (Mary Baker Eddy, Miscellany 162: 21-24)
The substance of a church is not what is material without, but what is spiritual within. It is Truth, Life, and Love expressed in the lives of members and the resulting Christly atmosphere emanating therefrom which will attract "honest seekers" to our churches. It is not possible to attract everyone.
Christian Science may have flouished best before there was the preoccupation with buildings, business meetings, committees, and grounds-keeping. "Our proper reason for church edifices is, that in them Christians may worship God,--not that Christians may worship church edifices!" (Mary Baker Eddy, Miscellany 162: 21-24)
Sunday, September 14, 2008
"Not marble, nor the gilded monuments"
It may well be that one thing Christian Science needs is more church and fewer churches. Church as defined on page 583 of Science and Health.
Perhaps there has always been too much "Look at what our success and gratitude have built" and too little church. Not because of insincerity or lack of love for Christian Science, but because of an overly zealous pride and vanity in "our wonderful monument in stone" to Mrs. Eddy and her great Discovery.
If memory serves, Mrs. Eddy only attended a service in the extension to the original Mother Church once, but certainly not more than a very few times. She did not even attend the dedicatory service, but sent her message to be read. The grand I.M. Pei-designed Church Center in Boston, with its high rise building, colonnade building, and lovely reflecting pool, announced with self-confident joy and fanfare in the late 60's (or thereabouts), is now empty or rented out, so one hears.
Large, grand edifices all over the world, some probably built nearly a century ago, close almost monthly it seems, or cling to existence with a few pewsful of financially henpecked members. No sinful behavior or gross failing is being implied. Just the suggestion that in the zest of building "our" testimony in marble, in matter, the true purpose of church may have gotten mortared in with the cornerstone.
A handful of Christan Scientists, hearts glowing with the definition of church lived, meeting in a rented room or a tool shed, can be a church, and the kind of church that just might beckon "honest seekers" to inquire within.
Perhaps there has always been too much "Look at what our success and gratitude have built" and too little church. Not because of insincerity or lack of love for Christian Science, but because of an overly zealous pride and vanity in "our wonderful monument in stone" to Mrs. Eddy and her great Discovery.
If memory serves, Mrs. Eddy only attended a service in the extension to the original Mother Church once, but certainly not more than a very few times. She did not even attend the dedicatory service, but sent her message to be read. The grand I.M. Pei-designed Church Center in Boston, with its high rise building, colonnade building, and lovely reflecting pool, announced with self-confident joy and fanfare in the late 60's (or thereabouts), is now empty or rented out, so one hears.
Large, grand edifices all over the world, some probably built nearly a century ago, close almost monthly it seems, or cling to existence with a few pewsful of financially henpecked members. No sinful behavior or gross failing is being implied. Just the suggestion that in the zest of building "our" testimony in marble, in matter, the true purpose of church may have gotten mortared in with the cornerstone.
A handful of Christan Scientists, hearts glowing with the definition of church lived, meeting in a rented room or a tool shed, can be a church, and the kind of church that just might beckon "honest seekers" to inquire within.
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Wise Study
One should be loath to have the weekly Bible Lesson be his only daily study of the Christian Science textbooks, no matter how much time is spent with it. Even if the Bible Lessons are studied faithfully over many years there is no guarantee one is being exposed to all relevant portions of the Bible and Science and Health (which is all of it).
The Bible Lessons have been jiggered with in the past, and there is no certainty they aren't being now or won't be in the future. As has been suggested in earlier entries, we must each of us savor these books individually by studying and pondering deeply all the inspired Word of the Bible and the writings of Mary Baker Eddy.
The Bible Lessons have been jiggered with in the past, and there is no certainty they aren't being now or won't be in the future. As has been suggested in earlier entries, we must each of us savor these books individually by studying and pondering deeply all the inspired Word of the Bible and the writings of Mary Baker Eddy.
Friday, September 12, 2008
Secularism & Existentialism in C.S. Churches
The Church Manual requires that the periodicals be "kept abreast of the times" (and we'll leave that subject there), but Mrs. Eddy doesn't say The Mother Church and branch churches must also "get with the times".
For churches to live up to the definition of church in Science and Health, undeviating adherence to the Church Manual is required. Period. Neither the Church Manual nor churches need a 21st Century makeover.
For years secularism and existentialism have been slipping silently into Christian Science churches on their little cat feet. They have come inobtrusively as tempting suggestions, perhaps as enlightened "spirituality" or the need to jazz things up a bit for those young folks with microsecond attention spans.
It also appears in a benign attitude toward those who would like to glide unimpeded between medicine and Mind, sybaritism and Spirit, or self-indulgence and Soul. Christian Science churches seem desperate at times to keep up with the Joneses and have made us-too attempts to spice up services a tad.
"Why can't going to church be good for me and fun too?" If that question hovers insistently in someone's thought it may mean Christian Science isn't for him any more than muzzy "spirituality", secularism, existentialism, and hootenannies are for Christian Science churches.
For churches to live up to the definition of church in Science and Health, undeviating adherence to the Church Manual is required. Period. Neither the Church Manual nor churches need a 21st Century makeover.
For years secularism and existentialism have been slipping silently into Christian Science churches on their little cat feet. They have come inobtrusively as tempting suggestions, perhaps as enlightened "spirituality" or the need to jazz things up a bit for those young folks with microsecond attention spans.
It also appears in a benign attitude toward those who would like to glide unimpeded between medicine and Mind, sybaritism and Spirit, or self-indulgence and Soul. Christian Science churches seem desperate at times to keep up with the Joneses and have made us-too attempts to spice up services a tad.
"Why can't going to church be good for me and fun too?" If that question hovers insistently in someone's thought it may mean Christian Science isn't for him any more than muzzy "spirituality", secularism, existentialism, and hootenannies are for Christian Science churches.
Monday, September 8, 2008
The Good (the Bad) and the Ugly (Part II)
In the earlier entry, two biographies of Mary Baker Eddy were briefly discussed. At that time no "bad" biography came to mind to accompany the "good" (Robert Peel) and the really "ugly" (Gill). The early Dakin and Milmine "biographies" are, however, worthy candidates for the bad, but both of thse go way beyond plain bad to vicious and nasty.
Dakin and Milmine were motivated by hate, not a desire to tell anything truthful about Mrs. Eddy. The tiniest shreds of fact were fleshed out by disgusting gobs of vilification, innuendo, grotesque distortion, and misinformation. Both these books of sludge were listed, regrettably but not surprisingly, in the bibliography of the Gill book.
One of the worst by-products of the Gill book is that for those feckless Christian Scientists who had long yearned for a guilt-free pass to mix medicine, doctors, and Christian Science, this book was a disingenuous godsend from Boston. "If Mrs. Eddy could take drugs," as the Gill book "uncovered", "then, hooray, I can too!"
Mrs. Eddy flatly denied using drugs. See her article "Falsehood" in Miscellaneous Writings (P.248:16-7). So either one accepts Gill, and in effect calls Mrs. Eddy a lier and a hypocrite, or he wholly rejects Gill's misrepresentations. And how could anyone who feels Mrs. Eddy lied about the use of drugs muster any desire to accept her as his Leader and remain a true Christian Scientist? Well, maybe the answer to that question depends upon what the true definition of "true" is.
Dakin and Milmine were motivated by hate, not a desire to tell anything truthful about Mrs. Eddy. The tiniest shreds of fact were fleshed out by disgusting gobs of vilification, innuendo, grotesque distortion, and misinformation. Both these books of sludge were listed, regrettably but not surprisingly, in the bibliography of the Gill book.
One of the worst by-products of the Gill book is that for those feckless Christian Scientists who had long yearned for a guilt-free pass to mix medicine, doctors, and Christian Science, this book was a disingenuous godsend from Boston. "If Mrs. Eddy could take drugs," as the Gill book "uncovered", "then, hooray, I can too!"
Mrs. Eddy flatly denied using drugs. See her article "Falsehood" in Miscellaneous Writings (P.248:16-7). So either one accepts Gill, and in effect calls Mrs. Eddy a lier and a hypocrite, or he wholly rejects Gill's misrepresentations. And how could anyone who feels Mrs. Eddy lied about the use of drugs muster any desire to accept her as his Leader and remain a true Christian Scientist? Well, maybe the answer to that question depends upon what the true definition of "true" is.
Sunday, September 7, 2008
A Timely Opportunity
When Christian Science was new to the world, many in need came to it in extremis. The doctors of the day had done all they could and had given them up. This clean break from the clutches of medical practice gave many the incentive to try Christian Science and explore its promises with a receptive and humble thought. And unlike Lot's wife, they did not seem as tempted to look back wistfully to the physicians.
A similar opportunity may be presenting itself to Christian Scientists today. New drug and treatment resistant microbes are rapidly evolving. Some are extremely virulent and fatal. Even a few so-called controllable diseases have become runaway epidemics in some parts of the world. Add to that the thousands and tens of thousands that earthquakes (and sometimes the resulting tidal waves) and violent weather are killing each year. Much of this is beyond man's ability to control or even mitigate.
It could even be argued that the glowing claims trumpeted ubiquitously for modern medical miracles are but an unwitting Trojan horse ferrying into fear-filled and receptive human consciousness the 21st Century Greek soldiers of apocalyptic horrors.
God's omnipotence is all. As Mrs. Eddy states in S&H (249: 13-14): "Either there is no omnipotence, or omnipotence is the only power." Christian Scientists should now have a splendid opportunity to prove that Christian Science has the ability and power to accomplish what we claim for it and thereby demonstrate to suffering humanity pure, scientific, quick, and undeniable Christian healing.
A similar opportunity may be presenting itself to Christian Scientists today. New drug and treatment resistant microbes are rapidly evolving. Some are extremely virulent and fatal. Even a few so-called controllable diseases have become runaway epidemics in some parts of the world. Add to that the thousands and tens of thousands that earthquakes (and sometimes the resulting tidal waves) and violent weather are killing each year. Much of this is beyond man's ability to control or even mitigate.
It could even be argued that the glowing claims trumpeted ubiquitously for modern medical miracles are but an unwitting Trojan horse ferrying into fear-filled and receptive human consciousness the 21st Century Greek soldiers of apocalyptic horrors.
God's omnipotence is all. As Mrs. Eddy states in S&H (249: 13-14): "Either there is no omnipotence, or omnipotence is the only power." Christian Scientists should now have a splendid opportunity to prove that Christian Science has the ability and power to accomplish what we claim for it and thereby demonstrate to suffering humanity pure, scientific, quick, and undeniable Christian healing.
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Healing Essential
As a postscript to and reinforcement of the overriding theme of several previous entries, the following exerpt from an undated letter of Mrs Eddy is offered. Since the letter does not appear in her published writings one can accept or reject it as he wishes.
"Unless we have better healers, and more of this work than any other is done, our Cause will not stand and having done all stand. Demonstration is the whole of Christian Science, nothing else proves it, nothing else will save it and continue it with us. God has said this--and Christ Jesus has proved it."
"Unless we have better healers, and more of this work than any other is done, our Cause will not stand and having done all stand. Demonstration is the whole of Christian Science, nothing else proves it, nothing else will save it and continue it with us. God has said this--and Christ Jesus has proved it."
Friday, September 5, 2008
Limited Horizons Dispelled
A frisky horse in a corral may dash exuberantly to and fro, gallop about wildly, and kick up its heels. By the end of a day it may have covered several miles, but it still ends the day where it started. Dedicated Christian Scientists who are working daily for a greater understanding of Christian Science and an ability to demonstrate it better and more decisively may well do so with the zest and vigor of the horse in the corral and yet find themselves with little more insight and inspiration at day's end than they had at day's beginning.
One reason for this could be that one is mentally gamboling about too willy-nilly, like the horse, withut a methodical, focussed approach to study. Another reason could be that one has unconsciously built over many years a sturdy, comforting, spiritual corral for himself, outside of which his thinking never ventures. It may be that the mental corral is the evidence of a need for more childlike trust in God, more obedience to the duties and obligations one accepts as a Christian Scientist, or more Christlike love for God and man. But whatever the mesmeric error or errors, unrelenting working, watching, and praying will remove the fence around the corral and open the way out of stagnation and darkness and into fresh pastures of light.
One reason for this could be that one is mentally gamboling about too willy-nilly, like the horse, withut a methodical, focussed approach to study. Another reason could be that one has unconsciously built over many years a sturdy, comforting, spiritual corral for himself, outside of which his thinking never ventures. It may be that the mental corral is the evidence of a need for more childlike trust in God, more obedience to the duties and obligations one accepts as a Christian Scientist, or more Christlike love for God and man. But whatever the mesmeric error or errors, unrelenting working, watching, and praying will remove the fence around the corral and open the way out of stagnation and darkness and into fresh pastures of light.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Unacceptable Compromises
To many life-long Christian Scientists it is unthinkable, but some churches are indeed permitting members who are having medical care or treatment to remain active members in good standing, even to hold elective or appointed offices or positions. To allow this or be one who indulges in this apostasy is a disrespectful repudiation of Christ Jesus, Mary Baker Eddy, and Christian Science.
Not so many decades ago a church member who decided to seek medical attention would voluntarily withdraw from active membership, i.e., he or she would not serve in any position or attend meetings and vote. This was done by the member out of respect for fellow church members and Christian Science. When such a person was again relying solely on Christian Science, he was restored to full membership.
Surely it is clear that to accept anything less is to befoul Christian Science and the very quality that has attracted so many people to it over the years: Christianly scientific healing. Without this quality, what does Christian Science offer that would unquestionably be an improvement on what a new-comer might already have? And a church without meaningful standards is little more than a social club.
The argument has been made that to take any action against those choosing medicine over Mind is unloving. That argument is arrant nonsense. To permit apostates the rights and privileges of loyal and true Christian Scientists is being unloving to the latter, not the former. The argument against taking an unloving action is quite probably being made because those who make it would like to keep this convenient fig leaf available to themselves should the need arise.
Not so many decades ago a church member who decided to seek medical attention would voluntarily withdraw from active membership, i.e., he or she would not serve in any position or attend meetings and vote. This was done by the member out of respect for fellow church members and Christian Science. When such a person was again relying solely on Christian Science, he was restored to full membership.
Surely it is clear that to accept anything less is to befoul Christian Science and the very quality that has attracted so many people to it over the years: Christianly scientific healing. Without this quality, what does Christian Science offer that would unquestionably be an improvement on what a new-comer might already have? And a church without meaningful standards is little more than a social club.
The argument has been made that to take any action against those choosing medicine over Mind is unloving. That argument is arrant nonsense. To permit apostates the rights and privileges of loyal and true Christian Scientists is being unloving to the latter, not the former. The argument against taking an unloving action is quite probably being made because those who make it would like to keep this convenient fig leaf available to themselves should the need arise.
Monday, September 1, 2008
Christian Science and Homosexuality
Homosexuality is incompatible with with Christian Science and, for that matter, pure Christianity. There is no hazy or moot middle ground if one is clear about the demands of either.
This does not mean, of course, that homosexual men and women are not welcome in Christian Science churches, but to flaunt it or even be unabashedly open about it should disqualify such persons from elected or appointed offices or even from active membereship.
If a homosexual man or woman is willing to recognize the error of such a lifestyle and is prayerfully attempting overcome it, then he is making an effort to live the life of a Christian Scientist and should be treated as such. But homosexuals today tend to demand acceptance on their terms on any front of their choosing and to be treated as if they embodied some enviable, cutting-edge existence.
What makes this more than an intellectual discussion is that when churches are forced to confront the desire of an unapologetic homosexual to join and serve, it can cause serious and wholly unnecessary rifts in the membership. It is regrettable that many Scientists are not as absolute and clear on this issue as they should be. To stand firm against the acceptance of homosexuality is not unloving, but respectful of God, Christ Jesus, and our Leader, which is a Christian Scientist's duty. Those who would force the issue are the self-righteous, inconsiderate, unloving ones.
This also appears to be yet another instance of Boston's standardless standard-bearing exacerbating an issue.
This does not mean, of course, that homosexual men and women are not welcome in Christian Science churches, but to flaunt it or even be unabashedly open about it should disqualify such persons from elected or appointed offices or even from active membereship.
If a homosexual man or woman is willing to recognize the error of such a lifestyle and is prayerfully attempting overcome it, then he is making an effort to live the life of a Christian Scientist and should be treated as such. But homosexuals today tend to demand acceptance on their terms on any front of their choosing and to be treated as if they embodied some enviable, cutting-edge existence.
What makes this more than an intellectual discussion is that when churches are forced to confront the desire of an unapologetic homosexual to join and serve, it can cause serious and wholly unnecessary rifts in the membership. It is regrettable that many Scientists are not as absolute and clear on this issue as they should be. To stand firm against the acceptance of homosexuality is not unloving, but respectful of God, Christ Jesus, and our Leader, which is a Christian Scientist's duty. Those who would force the issue are the self-righteous, inconsiderate, unloving ones.
This also appears to be yet another instance of Boston's standardless standard-bearing exacerbating an issue.
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Studying the Christian Science Textbooks
Any student of Christian Science doubtless knows that he cannot increase his understanding of Science vicariously. But there may be a resistance, subtle or not so subtle, to studying the King James Bible, Science and Health, and the other writings of Mary Baker Eddy. An effort to officially supplement or even replace the KJV in church services is already afoot. There have even been rumors that updating S&H has been discussed in recent years.
The KJV was consciously written in a style that was passe when it was published in 1611, so it should be no surprise that some effort is needed to make sense of many passages. With the help of a good modern translation or two and a good commentary or two it can be done. No modern translation, however, has surpassed the KJV in its timeless majesty and beauty.
Even S&H contains language and references which are not always congenial to the modern reader, but there are no insurmountable verbal obstacles. S&H is the final, inviolable, complete statement of Christian Science. If one utilizes the Student's Dictionary referred to in an earlier entry, he can better learn the meaning of words as Mrs. Eddy doubtless intended, even the meaning of words he thought was evident. If one is disturbed by Mrs. Eddy's references to 19th Century medical practices or illnesses no longer common, it isn't a barrier to grasping her meaning. The aim is to arrive at a spiritual sense and understanding of this amazing book, not to fuss over why she cites a case of dropsy.
If one is unwilling to study diligently these books as Mrs. Eddy definitely intended he certainly isn't hungering and thirsting for an understanding of Truth. The sincere, humble, grateful seeker will not be deterred or even fazed by any of these demands. And one must not lose sight of the fact that S&H is keyed to the KJV. They are a team.
Mortal mind will try to keep diligent as well as dilatory students away from these books by any subterfuge it can. All Christian Scientists should be alert to the wiles of mortal mind when it comes time for daily study of the textbooks.
The KJV was consciously written in a style that was passe when it was published in 1611, so it should be no surprise that some effort is needed to make sense of many passages. With the help of a good modern translation or two and a good commentary or two it can be done. No modern translation, however, has surpassed the KJV in its timeless majesty and beauty.
Even S&H contains language and references which are not always congenial to the modern reader, but there are no insurmountable verbal obstacles. S&H is the final, inviolable, complete statement of Christian Science. If one utilizes the Student's Dictionary referred to in an earlier entry, he can better learn the meaning of words as Mrs. Eddy doubtless intended, even the meaning of words he thought was evident. If one is disturbed by Mrs. Eddy's references to 19th Century medical practices or illnesses no longer common, it isn't a barrier to grasping her meaning. The aim is to arrive at a spiritual sense and understanding of this amazing book, not to fuss over why she cites a case of dropsy.
If one is unwilling to study diligently these books as Mrs. Eddy definitely intended he certainly isn't hungering and thirsting for an understanding of Truth. The sincere, humble, grateful seeker will not be deterred or even fazed by any of these demands. And one must not lose sight of the fact that S&H is keyed to the KJV. They are a team.
Mortal mind will try to keep diligent as well as dilatory students away from these books by any subterfuge it can. All Christian Scientists should be alert to the wiles of mortal mind when it comes time for daily study of the textbooks.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Healings Delayed or On Hold
Is being healed more difficult today than it was 50 or even 25 years ago? The only defensible answer is no. The Principle upon which healing is based is as absolute, omnipotent, and omnipresent today as 50 years ago, just as 3+4=7 is as demonstrable today as it was in 1950.
What may seem to make it harder to achieve a healing today is that the world is far more mired in materialism, medical practice, and depravity than then. Our mental castles are besieged day and night by an army of these aggressive and subtle influences. Even casual conversation and the nightly news have become thickets of stories and pictures of disease, sex, and depravity. It is the great red dragon become even more swollen by its evil.
Mrs. Eddy referred in S&H to a time when the world manifested more of "tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,/Sermons in stones, and good in everything". The mental climate of our time is certainly not spiritual, and one can easily become mesmerized and stupefied by contemporary aggressive evils if his mental watchtowers are not faithfully manned and his defenses are not vigorously maintained.
In short, the aggressiveness, ubiquity, and tenacity of mortal mind's claims today doubtless demand a more absolute, resolute, and energetic mental stance than in less materialistic times. Nevertheless, none of this has diminished by one iota Truth, Life, and Love's availability and power to heal every moment.
What may seem to make it harder to achieve a healing today is that the world is far more mired in materialism, medical practice, and depravity than then. Our mental castles are besieged day and night by an army of these aggressive and subtle influences. Even casual conversation and the nightly news have become thickets of stories and pictures of disease, sex, and depravity. It is the great red dragon become even more swollen by its evil.
Mrs. Eddy referred in S&H to a time when the world manifested more of "tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,/Sermons in stones, and good in everything". The mental climate of our time is certainly not spiritual, and one can easily become mesmerized and stupefied by contemporary aggressive evils if his mental watchtowers are not faithfully manned and his defenses are not vigorously maintained.
In short, the aggressiveness, ubiquity, and tenacity of mortal mind's claims today doubtless demand a more absolute, resolute, and energetic mental stance than in less materialistic times. Nevertheless, none of this has diminished by one iota Truth, Life, and Love's availability and power to heal every moment.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Learning That Nil Means Nil
At some station along the way in our spiritual growth in Christian Science we learn not to give a name and a habitation to any ailment or disease. Mrs. Eddy tells us that to give it a name only tends to make the seeming problem more real and increases fear, which is the basic enemy.
We learn that one way to begin spiking mortal mind's guns is to move the mental conflict into the arena of a claim, a belief, an illusion, a dream, a lie, or a false belief. This helps remove thought from the contemplation of material so-called laws and prognoses and thereby reduces the fear associated with a specific belief.
If we do not clearly grasp, however, what we are doing when we use these terms, the original temptation, suggestion, can easily be transferred in our thinking to a belief in and fear of a real claim, a real belief, a real illusion, a real dream, and so forth. Mortal mind is not fastidious about the means it employs as long as it gets our attention. The result will be the same whether the suggestion is accepted as this or that specific disease or a very real false belief.
When we see a problem as an illusion or dream we must be sure we are only using the term to remove it from thought as a reality of any kind, even as a real unreality. When we are able to turn wholly and instantly to God and fill our consciousness with thoughts of Him alone, then the use of the term illusion or lie has become a useful stepping stone to freedom from the suggestions of mortal mind, and we then know we are expressing more of the spiritual harmony and completeness that come only from some measure of demonstrating the fact that we are God's reflection eternally.
We learn that one way to begin spiking mortal mind's guns is to move the mental conflict into the arena of a claim, a belief, an illusion, a dream, a lie, or a false belief. This helps remove thought from the contemplation of material so-called laws and prognoses and thereby reduces the fear associated with a specific belief.
If we do not clearly grasp, however, what we are doing when we use these terms, the original temptation, suggestion, can easily be transferred in our thinking to a belief in and fear of a real claim, a real belief, a real illusion, a real dream, and so forth. Mortal mind is not fastidious about the means it employs as long as it gets our attention. The result will be the same whether the suggestion is accepted as this or that specific disease or a very real false belief.
When we see a problem as an illusion or dream we must be sure we are only using the term to remove it from thought as a reality of any kind, even as a real unreality. When we are able to turn wholly and instantly to God and fill our consciousness with thoughts of Him alone, then the use of the term illusion or lie has become a useful stepping stone to freedom from the suggestions of mortal mind, and we then know we are expressing more of the spiritual harmony and completeness that come only from some measure of demonstrating the fact that we are God's reflection eternally.
Monday, August 25, 2008
A Remarkable Incident (Part II)
Anyone who has not already visited the second entry prior to this one is advised to read it first.
The primary reason the event quoted in "Part I" is so compelling is that the writer was Adolf Hitler. The quotation is taken from Charles Bracelen Flood's Hitler: The Path to Power (p. 25). At that time Hitler was in his twenties and by many accounts a commendable and courageous soldier. It is somewhat outside the thrust of this entry, but Hitler later escaped numerous assassination attempts. It is an agonizing mystery why this monster was seemingly protected as if by some miraculous, invisible hand: impelled to leave early the scene of a speech where a bomb with a timer had been set; a bomb courageously placed on Hitler's plane failed to detonate because of a defective fuse; an errant foot unknowingly moved a briefcase containing a bomb behind the heavy wooden leg of a large table, deflecting the blast, which only slightly injured Hitler.
It is a well-worn, but true, adage that all which glitters is not gold. How easy it is to utter truthful words and lard the treatment of others or ourselves with sagacious quotes from Mrs. Eddy's writings, but without purity of thought and a clear spiritual sense of the words we think and speak, we probably aren't achieving a Christianly scientific healing, no matter what the outcome may seem to be. Hitler could have, and probably did, claim his deliverances from assassination attempts were proof of some divine intervention.
Just because nothing particularly bad happens to us, is this proof our protective work is effective? Athiests, non-Scientists, and non-Christians may also be free from accidents. We need to be free from the belief in accidents, sickness, disease, sin, and death because God dwells indisputably, palpably, consciously within us.
None of this is to question anyone's certainty or assertion that he has been protected, helped, or healed through Christian Science. But one suspects that if all the healings and demonstrations attributed to Christian Science were genuine and convincing, branch churches would be showing far more vitality than at present.
The primary reason the event quoted in "Part I" is so compelling is that the writer was Adolf Hitler. The quotation is taken from Charles Bracelen Flood's Hitler: The Path to Power (p. 25). At that time Hitler was in his twenties and by many accounts a commendable and courageous soldier. It is somewhat outside the thrust of this entry, but Hitler later escaped numerous assassination attempts. It is an agonizing mystery why this monster was seemingly protected as if by some miraculous, invisible hand: impelled to leave early the scene of a speech where a bomb with a timer had been set; a bomb courageously placed on Hitler's plane failed to detonate because of a defective fuse; an errant foot unknowingly moved a briefcase containing a bomb behind the heavy wooden leg of a large table, deflecting the blast, which only slightly injured Hitler.
It is a well-worn, but true, adage that all which glitters is not gold. How easy it is to utter truthful words and lard the treatment of others or ourselves with sagacious quotes from Mrs. Eddy's writings, but without purity of thought and a clear spiritual sense of the words we think and speak, we probably aren't achieving a Christianly scientific healing, no matter what the outcome may seem to be. Hitler could have, and probably did, claim his deliverances from assassination attempts were proof of some divine intervention.
Just because nothing particularly bad happens to us, is this proof our protective work is effective? Athiests, non-Scientists, and non-Christians may also be free from accidents. We need to be free from the belief in accidents, sickness, disease, sin, and death because God dwells indisputably, palpably, consciously within us.
None of this is to question anyone's certainty or assertion that he has been protected, helped, or healed through Christian Science. But one suspects that if all the healings and demonstrations attributed to Christian Science were genuine and convincing, branch churches would be showing far more vitality than at present.
The willingness of some so-called practitioners to treat someone under the care of a doctor and/or who is taking drugs/medicine could not possibly result in a Christianly scientific healing, as Mrs. Eddy clearly explains on page 167 of S&H and numerous places elsewhere. That in such a situation something "good", a "healing", could happen is not being denied, but it won't be Truth demonstrated. It may be a faith healing, mesmerism, or simply mind over matter, but it can't be Christian Science. If mortal mind, matter, material body, fear, or personal sense remains a belief which distracts thought, then Christ, Truth, is not alone in our thinking and we will indeed hold to the one and despise the other.
It is the conclusion of one Christian Scientist that we must get it right, exactly as Mrs. Eddy has revealed it to us. Too much glitter has been accepted as Christian Science and not enough of the gold of Christ's precious works and words and Mary Baker Eddy's Discovery.
If all this is poorly articulated, and it very well may be, then simply view this lucubration as a sincere call for more instantaneous, indisputable Christian Science healing. When this is accomplished honest seekers will be drawn to our churches and the Christian Science movement will be revitalized.
Sunday, August 24, 2008
On Controlling the Weather
Mrs. Eddy is quoted as saying (and she demonstrated it as well): "You are not a Christian Scientist until you do control the weather." Since neither this statement, nor one similar to it, appears in any of her published writings, it does not have the authority that statements in her published works do, but given present weather patterns it should perhaps be carefully considered.
We seem to be living at a time when the norm in weather has become harsh extremes--too little or too much. And the ferocity and deadliness of storms worldwide is also increasing. All Christian Scientists should take on weather as a patient in order to restore normalcy. Such an undertaking would also promote individual growth in Christian Science.
Note 1: The title of this blog was changed from "The Morning Meal", since to Google that title sent one to the land of cereal and trendy breakfast food. Though if the current title is Googled, one will probably find himself in the watery blog realm of commercial fishermen.
Note 2: The"author" for this blog is simply the name of the chief character in John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress. No sense of pride or special accomplishment is intended.
Note 3: The conclusion to the previous entry should appear tomorrow.
We seem to be living at a time when the norm in weather has become harsh extremes--too little or too much. And the ferocity and deadliness of storms worldwide is also increasing. All Christian Scientists should take on weather as a patient in order to restore normalcy. Such an undertaking would also promote individual growth in Christian Science.
Note 1: The title of this blog was changed from "The Morning Meal", since to Google that title sent one to the land of cereal and trendy breakfast food. Though if the current title is Googled, one will probably find himself in the watery blog realm of commercial fishermen.
Note 2: The"author" for this blog is simply the name of the chief character in John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress. No sense of pride or special accomplishment is intended.
Note 3: The conclusion to the previous entry should appear tomorrow.
Saturday, August 23, 2008
A Remarkable Incident
At the risk of taking the lid off of something which would be better off left tightly capped, the following occurence from World War I is quoted:
"I was eating my dinner in a trench with several comrades. Suddenly a voice seemed to be saying to me, 'Get up and go over there'. It was so clear and insistent that I obeyed mechanically, as if it had been a military order. I rose at once to my feet and walked 20 yards along the trench, carrying my dinner in its tin-can with me. Then I sat down to go on eating, my mind being once more at rest. Hardly had I done so when a flash and a deafening report came from the part of the trench I had just left. A stray shell had burst over the group in which I had been sitting, and every member of it was killed."
No desire to be coy is intended, but it might be useful to leave things at this point to ferment for a couple of days. As is, would this be a suitable Wednesday Meeting testimony? It certainly doesn't mention God, prayer, or Christian Science. Was the voice speaking God? If not who or what?
The query under consideration is: Are all instances of protection and healing in the lives of faithful Christian Scientists unquestionably Truth at work?
One might profitably compare the above event to a very similar W.W.I incident related in an article in the October 6,1951, Sentinel by John S. Sammons, "Safety Wherever You Are". This article was also reprinted in one of those wonderful old pocket pamphlets of the same title.
"I was eating my dinner in a trench with several comrades. Suddenly a voice seemed to be saying to me, 'Get up and go over there'. It was so clear and insistent that I obeyed mechanically, as if it had been a military order. I rose at once to my feet and walked 20 yards along the trench, carrying my dinner in its tin-can with me. Then I sat down to go on eating, my mind being once more at rest. Hardly had I done so when a flash and a deafening report came from the part of the trench I had just left. A stray shell had burst over the group in which I had been sitting, and every member of it was killed."
No desire to be coy is intended, but it might be useful to leave things at this point to ferment for a couple of days. As is, would this be a suitable Wednesday Meeting testimony? It certainly doesn't mention God, prayer, or Christian Science. Was the voice speaking God? If not who or what?
The query under consideration is: Are all instances of protection and healing in the lives of faithful Christian Scientists unquestionably Truth at work?
One might profitably compare the above event to a very similar W.W.I incident related in an article in the October 6,1951, Sentinel by John S. Sammons, "Safety Wherever You Are". This article was also reprinted in one of those wonderful old pocket pamphlets of the same title.
Friday, August 22, 2008
A Simple Question
If some malevolent government were to confiscate all copies of the Bible and the writings of Mary Baker Eddy and it was subsequently learned that a chest which contained these works was buried in a certain field, how many Christian Scientists would without hesitation sell all their possessions in order to buy that field?
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Branch Church Autonomy
Christian Science Branch Churches are locally owned, democratically operated, and organized strictly and wholly in accordance with the Church Manual. Christian Science Branch Churches are not Gulags under the control of a Central Committee, populated by a pliable lumpenproletariat which can be tapped periodically for pelf garnered in order to maintain the bread and circuses sponsored by Big Brother.
Branch Churches are also not franchises of The Mother Church which operate under the absentee management and dictates of the Board of Directors in Boston. That Branches have in many, far too many, instances relinquished their duties and responsibilities does not render the requirements of the Church Manual moot.
The Church Manual also prescribes precisely the duties and responsibilities of the Board of Directors of The Mother Church. Nothing in the Church Manual gives it the authorization to exceed or ignore Manual requirements or act in a law-unto-itself manner. The Manual also does not give the Board the right to interpret the Church Manual provisions to suit itself or act as the final arbiter of what a Manual provision means. The Board cannot speak ex cathedra on matters outside its prescribed duties. The Church Manual speaks to and for and protects all loyal Christian Scientists equally.
Christian Science Reading Rooms are also governed by the Church Manual. Branch Church Reading Rooms have been meddled with for years by Boston, sometimes through the unwelcome kibitzing of volunteers who perchance wish to build up brownie points with the Vatican in Boston, sometimes directly, and sometimes with the aid of servile members. Reading Rooms are also not intended to be computer game rooms or hang-outs for young people, as seems to be one idea of those wise ones "thinking outside the box".
State Committees on Publication have also in recent years been preempted by Boston and used more in the breach than in the observance of Manual requirements. They have become shameless shills and sales reps for Boston initiatives and a convenient network of spies to help sniff out any incipient dissatisfaction with what Boston does or wants done. Courageous exceptions are fired. It is also not at all certain that COP's are being appointed in conformity with the unambiguous Manual requirements and procedures. And how did the notion gain unquestioning acceptance that COP's be paid at all, let alone by what amounts to an imposed tax on each one of a State's Branch Church members?
Branch Churches are also not franchises of The Mother Church which operate under the absentee management and dictates of the Board of Directors in Boston. That Branches have in many, far too many, instances relinquished their duties and responsibilities does not render the requirements of the Church Manual moot.
The Church Manual also prescribes precisely the duties and responsibilities of the Board of Directors of The Mother Church. Nothing in the Church Manual gives it the authorization to exceed or ignore Manual requirements or act in a law-unto-itself manner. The Manual also does not give the Board the right to interpret the Church Manual provisions to suit itself or act as the final arbiter of what a Manual provision means. The Board cannot speak ex cathedra on matters outside its prescribed duties. The Church Manual speaks to and for and protects all loyal Christian Scientists equally.
Christian Science Reading Rooms are also governed by the Church Manual. Branch Church Reading Rooms have been meddled with for years by Boston, sometimes through the unwelcome kibitzing of volunteers who perchance wish to build up brownie points with the Vatican in Boston, sometimes directly, and sometimes with the aid of servile members. Reading Rooms are also not intended to be computer game rooms or hang-outs for young people, as seems to be one idea of those wise ones "thinking outside the box".
State Committees on Publication have also in recent years been preempted by Boston and used more in the breach than in the observance of Manual requirements. They have become shameless shills and sales reps for Boston initiatives and a convenient network of spies to help sniff out any incipient dissatisfaction with what Boston does or wants done. Courageous exceptions are fired. It is also not at all certain that COP's are being appointed in conformity with the unambiguous Manual requirements and procedures. And how did the notion gain unquestioning acceptance that COP's be paid at all, let alone by what amounts to an imposed tax on each one of a State's Branch Church members?
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Not Just Right, But The Highest Right
If we are not watchful we can easily find ourselves on the wrong road, like Janet Leigh in Psycho. These wrong roads seldom lead us to anything like the Bates Motel, they are not evil roads, but they are not the highest right road. The road passing by the Bates Motel was on the old highway and would have led her to her destination as surely as the new highway, but drifting inattentively onto the old highway proved fateful.
There is nothing wrong with striving for honesty, affection, compassion, hope, faith, and meekness (see S&H 115:26-27), but are they really the road we should be diligently pursuing? Mrs. Eddy defines these qualities as "moral" and "Evil beliefs disappearing".
The Student's Dictionary referred to in an earlier entry defines moral in part as: "Relating to the practice, manners, or conduct of men, as social beings, in relation to each other, and with reference to right and wrong." So although there is certainly nothing wrong with these moral qualities, they do not represent our highest ultimate goal, which Mrs. Eddy gives in S&H 116:1-3.
We need to watch and pray that we are ever alert and searching for the right road, narrow though it may be, and that we do not get fooled into settling into a pleasant self-satisfaction for having achieved some mastery of the moral qualities. Moral qualities alone, such as "humanity", can still leave open the possibility for thought to wander onto the old highway and turn into a harmless looking Bates Motel.
We cannot ever afford to relax our vigilance while we are still dealing with anything, no matter how benign seeming, in the mortal, human realm. Temperance, for example, denies that we succumb to excess in the human. Holiness denies the presence and reality of the human altogether. When holiness is achieved there will be no wrong road to take and no Bates Motel to await us.
There is nothing wrong with striving for honesty, affection, compassion, hope, faith, and meekness (see S&H 115:26-27), but are they really the road we should be diligently pursuing? Mrs. Eddy defines these qualities as "moral" and "Evil beliefs disappearing".
The Student's Dictionary referred to in an earlier entry defines moral in part as: "Relating to the practice, manners, or conduct of men, as social beings, in relation to each other, and with reference to right and wrong." So although there is certainly nothing wrong with these moral qualities, they do not represent our highest ultimate goal, which Mrs. Eddy gives in S&H 116:1-3.
We need to watch and pray that we are ever alert and searching for the right road, narrow though it may be, and that we do not get fooled into settling into a pleasant self-satisfaction for having achieved some mastery of the moral qualities. Moral qualities alone, such as "humanity", can still leave open the possibility for thought to wander onto the old highway and turn into a harmless looking Bates Motel.
We cannot ever afford to relax our vigilance while we are still dealing with anything, no matter how benign seeming, in the mortal, human realm. Temperance, for example, denies that we succumb to excess in the human. Holiness denies the presence and reality of the human altogether. When holiness is achieved there will be no wrong road to take and no Bates Motel to await us.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Only Mental Vitality Will Do
Christian Science is not a passive, purely contemplative religion. Christian Science requires unceasing growth and progress, which cannot be achieved vicariously or by absorption. The words of Christ Jesus and writings of Mary Baker Eddy are replete with duties, commands, musts, shoulds, rules, and reminders of the necessity for obedience to God, and faithful adherence to these things results in understanding, demonstration, and progress.
In his excellent article "Our Father's Demand--Unself Mortality", Paul Stark Seeley points out that even though the word "must" is not in the Concordance to Mrs. Eddy's writings she uses the word over 350 times.
One could easily feel that achieving the goal of spiritual perfection is an Augean task, but he should recall that Hercules cleaned out the Augean stables by running a river through them. This brings to mind Mrs. Eddy's statement on removing error: "The way to extract error from mortal mind is to pour in truth through flood-tides of Love." (S&H 201: 17-18) This truth is always available, of course, and the flood-tides of Love it releases are therefore omnipresent and omnipotent.
It is never too late to start on the path of Christianly scientific salvation, but delay never makes the task any easier, nor does inertia slather any grease on the skids of spiritual advancement.
In his excellent article "Our Father's Demand--Unself Mortality", Paul Stark Seeley points out that even though the word "must" is not in the Concordance to Mrs. Eddy's writings she uses the word over 350 times.
One could easily feel that achieving the goal of spiritual perfection is an Augean task, but he should recall that Hercules cleaned out the Augean stables by running a river through them. This brings to mind Mrs. Eddy's statement on removing error: "The way to extract error from mortal mind is to pour in truth through flood-tides of Love." (S&H 201: 17-18) This truth is always available, of course, and the flood-tides of Love it releases are therefore omnipresent and omnipotent.
It is never too late to start on the path of Christianly scientific salvation, but delay never makes the task any easier, nor does inertia slather any grease on the skids of spiritual advancement.
Sunday, August 17, 2008
"'twere well it were done quickly"
It is an arguable premise that the Christian Science Church has imperceptibly etiolated over the past two or three decades until it has become today a nearly invisible irrelevancy. The large number of branch church closings in recent years is confirmation of this assertion.
Even if one disagrees with this premise, he would very hard pressed to produce any evidence that the Christian Science Church is today vigorous and growing. The recent consolidation of personnel in Boston is yet another sign of this slow withering.
Since the chief distinguishing characteristic of Christian Science is, no doubt, Christianly scientific healing, one reason for this decline is undoubtedly a failure of Christian Scientists, and ergo The Mother Church and its branches, to demonstrate in sufficient measure Article XXX, Section 7, of the Church Manual.
It is imperative that all who claim to be sincere and loyal (loyal to Mary Baker Eddy, that is) Christian Scientists resolve to lift themselves to a much higher level of prayer and demonstration if the Church is to survive and prosper. A failure to do so will doubtlessly result in the continuation of a moribund Church lapsing ever more surely into complete inertness.
Even if one disagrees with this premise, he would very hard pressed to produce any evidence that the Christian Science Church is today vigorous and growing. The recent consolidation of personnel in Boston is yet another sign of this slow withering.
Since the chief distinguishing characteristic of Christian Science is, no doubt, Christianly scientific healing, one reason for this decline is undoubtedly a failure of Christian Scientists, and ergo The Mother Church and its branches, to demonstrate in sufficient measure Article XXX, Section 7, of the Church Manual.
It is imperative that all who claim to be sincere and loyal (loyal to Mary Baker Eddy, that is) Christian Scientists resolve to lift themselves to a much higher level of prayer and demonstration if the Church is to survive and prosper. A failure to do so will doubtlessly result in the continuation of a moribund Church lapsing ever more surely into complete inertness.
Friday, August 15, 2008
Study Aid to MBE's Writings
An invaluable aid to the study of the writings of Mary Baker Eddy is "The Student's Reference Dictionary". It is an abridgment of the 19th Century Noah Websters "American Dictionary of the English Language" and contains nearly every word Mrs. Eddy used in her writings. It is one of the dictionaries, if not the only one, she used.
There are very few exceptions to completeness, such as "endue", the entry for which says see "indue", but that word is not included in the Student's Dictionary. However, the complete dictionary, as well as the Students Dictionary, is available from The Bookmark. See the previous blog entry for a phone number and web address for The Bookmark.
Many words have had a significant change in their definition since Mrs. Eddy used them, so it is most helpful to get as close as possible to the meanings she intended. She was very precise in her choice of words and used a very large vocabulary.
An emendation to the previous blog entry: The Bookmark does (or did) have a bound volume of at least some of the lectures of Paul Stark Seeley. He was one of the best and well worth reading.
There are very few exceptions to completeness, such as "endue", the entry for which says see "indue", but that word is not included in the Student's Dictionary. However, the complete dictionary, as well as the Students Dictionary, is available from The Bookmark. See the previous blog entry for a phone number and web address for The Bookmark.
Many words have had a significant change in their definition since Mrs. Eddy used them, so it is most helpful to get as close as possible to the meanings she intended. She was very precise in her choice of words and used a very large vocabulary.
An emendation to the previous blog entry: The Bookmark does (or did) have a bound volume of at least some of the lectures of Paul Stark Seeley. He was one of the best and well worth reading.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Vacuous Lectures
If you once enjoyed attending Christian Science lectures but now get the heebie-jeebies and fantods at the thought of some of the horrors that have passed for lectures in recent years, you are not alone. It also doesn't help that getting a lecturer is like hiring a mount from a stable full of nags. There are no doubt pleasant exceptions, but there is a much greater liklihood of getting Insipid than Inspiring.
One possible palliative to this situation is to read some first-rate lectures by past masters of the craft. Two who can be highly recommended are Edward A. Kimball and Dr. John M. Tutt. Copies of their lectures should be obtainable from The Bookmark. A catalog may be obtained by calling 800-220-7767 or from the internet at www.thebookmark.com.
Those of Paul Stark Seeley are also excellent if one can locate them. Many were undoubtedly published in the Christian Science Monitor if the lecture was given at The Mother Church.
The lectures of Kimball were given a century or so ago and those of Tutt about half of that, but they remain as fresh and meaty today as when they were originally given.
One possible palliative to this situation is to read some first-rate lectures by past masters of the craft. Two who can be highly recommended are Edward A. Kimball and Dr. John M. Tutt. Copies of their lectures should be obtainable from The Bookmark. A catalog may be obtained by calling 800-220-7767 or from the internet at www.thebookmark.com.
Those of Paul Stark Seeley are also excellent if one can locate them. Many were undoubtedly published in the Christian Science Monitor if the lecture was given at The Mother Church.
The lectures of Kimball were given a century or so ago and those of Tutt about half of that, but they remain as fresh and meaty today as when they were originally given.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
The Good and the Ugly
One way Christian Scientists can achieve more respect for, appreciation for, and obedience to their Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, is to read a good biography of her. For many, the best is that by Robert Peel, published in three volumes between 1966 and 1977. It is carefully researched, respectful, well-written, and illuminating. It is hard to forsee the need for a better one.
Many of the older standard biographies are also fine, but are not as rich and detailed as the Peel.
If cocking a snook at Mrs. Eddy is one's idea of a good thing, then the fairly recent Gill biography should fill the bill. Why anyone with even a whiff of love, admiration, and respect for Mrs. Eddy would have anything to do with this detestable book is incomprehensible. That the Board of Directors of the Mother Church actively helped in the writing of this abomination and then pressed it joyously to their collective breast with a shameful benediction is deeply distressing.
There is also, of course, Mrs. Eddy's own brief, radiant, and inspiring autobiography. Retrospection and Introspection.
Many of the older standard biographies are also fine, but are not as rich and detailed as the Peel.
If cocking a snook at Mrs. Eddy is one's idea of a good thing, then the fairly recent Gill biography should fill the bill. Why anyone with even a whiff of love, admiration, and respect for Mrs. Eddy would have anything to do with this detestable book is incomprehensible. That the Board of Directors of the Mother Church actively helped in the writing of this abomination and then pressed it joyously to their collective breast with a shameful benediction is deeply distressing.
There is also, of course, Mrs. Eddy's own brief, radiant, and inspiring autobiography. Retrospection and Introspection.
Effortless Study
The Bible and the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health, as well as the other writings of Mary Baker Eddy, need to be constantly studied and pondered by any sincere student of Christian Science. Studied diligently, not gazed at fondly from a safe distance. It would be anomalous if these books were not vade mecums for any Christian Scientist worthy of the name.
The full-text Bible Lessons insidiously separates the would-be Christian Scientist from his textbooks. Studying the Bible lesson daily is not some sort of rude imposition to be fitted grimly into an odd scrap of free time. The Bible and writings of Mrs. Eddy need to be grappled with sedulously at close quarters, far closer than the prim, well-groomed confines of the full text Bible Lessons (so-called).
Mrs. Eddy says striving, not merely seeking, is necessary to enter the Way, to achieve understanding. A neat little pocket shortcut to real study and growth would seem to enable one to vegetate gently toward salvation without having to break a sweat and without wasting more of one's precious time than it takes to eat a bagel.
Only those who welcome the opportunity to avoid the effort of real study should succumb to the allure of this mesmerizing byway.
The full-text Bible Lessons insidiously separates the would-be Christian Scientist from his textbooks. Studying the Bible lesson daily is not some sort of rude imposition to be fitted grimly into an odd scrap of free time. The Bible and writings of Mrs. Eddy need to be grappled with sedulously at close quarters, far closer than the prim, well-groomed confines of the full text Bible Lessons (so-called).
Mrs. Eddy says striving, not merely seeking, is necessary to enter the Way, to achieve understanding. A neat little pocket shortcut to real study and growth would seem to enable one to vegetate gently toward salvation without having to break a sweat and without wasting more of one's precious time than it takes to eat a bagel.
Only those who welcome the opportunity to avoid the effort of real study should succumb to the allure of this mesmerizing byway.
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