As I was browsing desultorily through the March Journal and staring glumly at this photo and that picture, the thought occurred to me that modern man is surfeited, dangerously distracted, and jaded with the visual (primarily) and aural cacophony in which he is cocooned. How easy it is to forget that the Lord leads his obedient sheep beside still waters, where they can clearly hear His ever-present still, small voice and be refreshed.
Is not the holy Word of God among the chief of these still waters? We lose a significant portion of our receptive innocence when we permit the distraction of sights and sounds to disrupt our sacred communion with the chaste beauty of truths articulated on the printed page. Mrs. Eddy's sole foray into the visual with printed was "Christ and Christmas", and she had to withdraw it for a time in part because the pictures were being used as ikons of a sort by some.
Yes, many intimidating versts of emptiness across the steppes of blank pages confront the editors of the periodicals weekly and monthly and surely tempt them to glom on to any scrap of flotsam or jetsam which could fill them. Miscellaneous pictures, travel photos, snapshots, extraneous visual stage business, and the soporific verbal drone of lengthy, very lengthy, interviews serve, faute de mieux apparently, as welcome fodder in the neverending search for material. But how does a photo of the Li River (p. 63 in the March Journal), beautiful as it is, support any spiritual message in the accompanying article? Or the picture of the Liverpool waterfront (pp. 20-21)? Is the Journal a serious publication or a travel magazine, and are not picture books one of the childish things most of us put behind as we enter adulthood?
What is so distasteful about the straightforward, unadorned, pacific, all-print dignity of the old Sentinels and Journals? Christian Science isn't a religious Disneyland or a stop on a grand tour. The periodicals should be as calming, uplifting, sober, inspiring, and challenging as their subject. Of course a serious search for and openness to new and invigorating writers would need to be undertaken, a real challenge since there is a paucity of such writers even now. Sincere and inspired writing doesn't work when it is confined in a timid, hidebound, institutional straitjacket. Would subscribers leave in droves if this were done? I doubt it, since there are no longer droves of subscribers to either to leave.
Note: To FL, Ms. Trammell has never to my knowledge responded with even the merest of burbles to any of the serious questions raised by the Planet Waves expose (in her own words no less) over a year and a half ago. It is obviously fanciful to think that the MC pontificate would condescend to respond to a noisome midge such as I. As with politicians, only worshipful admirers are privileged to be graced by access to their holinesses' ear and tongue. To quote John Collins Bossidy, with a few slight changes:
And this is good old Boston,
The home of the bean and the cod,
Where Ms. Trammell talks only to Talbot,
And Talbot talks only to God.
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22 comments:
Simply outstanding, Christian!
Thanks, thanks, thanks...
Oh, would that you, or someone equally as intelligent and principled as you are were at the helm in Boston. We need you making decisions for our Cause.
Well put! You've summed up the current Journal with my own words. If I had your words, that is. My wife who is listed takes it, feels she has to, and I sometimes leaf through it. But it isn't for me, as it obviously isn't what you'd like to see.
One of your very best. You think and write so clearly, blogger.
I'm not the one who inquired about Trammell, but appreciate knowing the update. My, my --
They are not pulling the wool over your eyes--on any front. So glad we have you blogging on CS
So many excellent things to ponder in your latest. Can't thank you enough for using your talents to benefit the Field.
Truly wonderful essay. But then, nearly all of yours are this way to me. I so look forward to what you have tackled and are able to put into such clear essays.
What a way to end this excellent piece. And the part that stood out to me is the truth we must shut out material distractions in order to have audience with our loving Father. What can compete with the joy and peace and sense of well-being that comes when we can "Be still, and know that I am God."
Dear Christian,
Thanks for replying to my question as to whether Mrs. Trammell had ever responded to that Planet Waves business. Sad, isn't it?
Want you to know that your website does a lot for me. Get a great deal of uplift from it, and I hope you keep on doing it.
I really enjoy your blog posts. As for me, I actually feel encouraged when I think of how many of us out here who feel as you do, who have noticed that things are not as they should be, and are praying that what God gave our Leader will be preserved in its purity.
I'm glad you've noticed the unnecessary stuff in the periodicals. This has bothered me for some time. My feeling is with all the distractions we have these days, worse than ever it seems to me, why trash up our magazines with so much material not essential to helping us grow in our understanding of CS?
Bravo, blogger. It's such fun to participate in a CS website that is alive!
Keep up the good work you are doing
I've often thought, as Mrs. Eddy brings out in our textbook, that if Jesus felt the need to withdraw from the material senses, then how much more do I need to do this!
Really like your website.
I wish the Journal was what it used to be and what Mary Baker Eddy intended for it. I'll tell you why so many good writers have been aliented: the lack of Christian behavior toward them. No kidding. I recall a wonderful practitioner once saying that in her long experience she had found 2 essential ingredients for any relationship and this covers Editors and writers to me. She said, there needs, must be, unselfish affection and respect for the other person. This has been lacking for years toward those who used to contribute.
Enough said (for now)
((What is so distasteful about the straightforward, unadorned, pacific, all-print dignity of the old Sentinels and Journals? ))
exactly exactly exactly !!!
The older Journals manifested unadorned purity, simplicity, sincerity and honesty .. no ploys of empty filler, which you pointed out so well. Kind of Esther when she appeared before the king.
Unfortunately, in addition to the filler, I have problems with some of the written content as well. It seems the writers at times believe that divine Mind manifests itself in their own mortal political, opinions. The latter is extremely alienating.
Happy Easter to you, Christian. I'm so grateful you are sharing your inspiration with us.
Outstanding entry. I really like this one!
As to the good old Journal having a scarcity of former, strong writers for its pages, Christ's own words sum it: "The measure ye mete shall be measured to you again." Probably not word for word, but the essential part is here.
just to elaborate on what I posted earlier about the unadorned format of the earlier Journals being like Esther before the king
Among all the other young virgins Esther stood out because the rest of them were overdressed, over jewelled, over painted, probably over perfumed -- none of which the king found attractive. It was Esther who was the irresistably attractive one.
Holy simplicity is always more attractive that trying too-hard-busyness.
Happy Easter to my favorite CS writer. Hope you've had a lovely day.
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