"Do not go gentle into that good night" wrote the great Welsh poet Dylan Thomas. Nor must loyal Christian Scientists permit their beloved Church to go gentle into that good night of vapidity. Genuine Christian Scientists are not nappied wusses or epicene carpet knights for Christ. "Love is not something put upon a shelf, to be taken down on rare occasions with sugar-tongs and laid on a rose leaf. I make strong demands on love, call for active witnesses to prove it, and noble sacrifices and grand achievements as its results." (Mis 250: 16-18)
I was browsing recently in the bound volume of the '34/'35 Journals and noticed with amazement that there were then, for example, about 600 practitioners listed there for the City of Chicago and 132 for Portland, Oregon. Compare those robust numbers with the lilliputian representation today. What a joy 'twould be if more of us could demonstrate that it isn't so that the old gray mare ain't what she used to be.
Notes: Naturally I am sorry Anonymous felt the title of the previous entry (a quote) unjustifiably coarse, but I am certainly not Mrs. Eddy, and this is 2010 not 1910. When it comes to understanding and demonstration my puny demitasse spoon shrinks abashed before her capacious shovel. It would be more peaceful if we all could shut ourselves away from the world in pollyannish Whovilles, but didn't Christ Jesus say he came not to send peace but a sword? "When error confronts you, withhold not the rebuke or the explanation which destroys error." (S&H 452: 12-14) Mortal mind certainly isn't going to vamoose at the application of a few gentle swipes with a dainty metaphysical feather duster.
Thank you to LowlyWise for the arcane (to me) procedure required to get an acute accent, and, I assume, grave accent, tilde, umlaut, cedilla, caret, etc. I fear that with my limited computer skills I would make a hash of it and I would end up with a verbal Frankenstein's monster.
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23 comments:
An outstanding entry. So glad you are doing this, Christian!
Love all of it--from the arresting title all through.
You are so good at this...
Yet another fine essay. And so fresh as yours always are.
A joy to read your blog, Christian.
Very interesting about all that practitioners listed year ago! Sad, but what's to keep us from stepping up to the plate and doing what so many did?
Good job of blogging.
Thanks!
An enjoyable blog you have here, Christian. I always learn something and most always find something to lift me up as well.
Hi there,
I usually like to read your blog posts more than once as I find a lot in them. New words, nearly always.
Thanks much!
I just bet Christian is in the practice of CS. If not, you probably should be, don't you think?
Yes, we are knights for Christ! And being so, it will take the very best we can demonstrate. How this world of ours needs the Love that solves every difficulty and heals every disease.
Thank you for all you are doing to sound the alarm -
Love what you've said about what our great Master said. Jesus' words and demands can seem like a sword to the carnal mind, but this doesn't deter those of us (like you, Christian) who are committed to the divine warfare.
Keep at it, my friend (and I think of you this way after reading your blog for so long)
Keep up your good work for Christ and Christian Science. The world needs what you are offering, big-time.
Your essays call to my thought something Jesus says about a light set on a hill cannot be hid. This blog is like that, in my opinion, and is emitting light in places that certainly need it.
I think I'm as refined as the next fellow, but as to that person who objected to your quoting "that" word in your blog post, it seems to me this is what is wrong with our Cause. Too much attention being given to the non-essential, and not enough to taking on the real, hard metaphysical work these times require. That comment made me think of one of my favorite things our Leader points out. This is well-known to earnest followers of CS and it is from "Miscellaneous Writings" (page l77); "Never was there a more solemn and imperious call than God makes to us all, right here, for fervent devotion and an absolute consecration to the greatest and holiest of all causes. The hour is come. The great battle of Armageddon is upon us."
She goes on, "What will you do about it? Will you be equally in earnest for the truth? Will you doff your lavender-kid zeal, and become real and consecrated warriors? Will you give yourselves wholly and irrevocably to the great work of establishing the truth, the gospel, and the Science which are necessary to the salvation of the world from error, sin, disease, and death? Answer at once and practically, and answer aright!"
Was Mary Baker Eddy not God-inspired?!
Wonderful comment preceding!
A wonderful post, and while I am amazed at your ability to mix metaphors so wildly and make it work, I particularly appreciate your original "Genuine Christian Scientists are not nappied wusses or epicene carpet knights for Christ."
You might have used Thomas' corollary line, "Rage, rage against the dying of the light" and thereby follow a practice of the author(s) of Proverbs and most of the rest of the Bible, providing not so much "moral virtues and their contrary vices." You can't just record only sunny hours, like the old column in the CS Monitor, but you have to size up the downside, effectively and realistically. That is not to wallow in error and evil, just know what you are dealing with in particulars as well as generalities. I recently did a Wednesday lesson on the entire 9th chapter of John, and by the time I reached verse 39, which the lesson committee always cuts off at the semicolon. It's important to read the whole thing, and understand why Jesus would say something that certainly is not handled with sugar-tongs.
I'm glad the é routine was helpful. If you go Start> Programs> Accessories> System Tools, you should find Character Map. (I made a desktop shortcut for it.) That will give you all available characters in any given font. You can copy and paste, or note the ASCII directions in the lower lefthand corner and do the Alt+ routine. I know a lot of them by memory because I use a lot of French and Spanish but not enough to get a different keyboard, and this works well.
Have found much uplift this morning from your essay, and some of the comments made thereon. How can we ever thank God enough for His beloved Son, and for the Science that explains how Christ's holy work was done!
"Lavender-kid zeal" - isn't our Leader something when it comes to vivid, like-no-other language! As good as you are, Christian, you can't hold a candle to her. (But of course, you are humble enough to know this, and you freely admit it.)
Thanks for all the good you are doing -
You do have a faithful viewership and I can see why. Not only are the essays original, well written
A pleasure to read your blog.
A blessing to so many is this blog you've been doing month after month. As dedicated to Him as you are, sure you're certain to continue. I look forward to future excellent essays.
How right you are, Christian. We cannot shut ourselves away in Whoville (I like that!). Our Leader, certainly our Wayshower, made it plain we're to be lights in this world of ours. And this takes robust metaphysical work, I am finding. We cannot shrink from our duty to God. He has given us too much to work with for that.
Do you know what I notice most about your writing? A sense of humility and this I value since it's not always in evidence around here. (Yes, I work at the Church Center).
You are doing a good job and I hope you keep at it, Christian.
Who is Christian? If a practioner, please advise.
Thank you...love your blog!
I don't at all agree that the comment by Anonymous was non-essential or from "Whoville". Rather, it was a loving reminder that we do want to be faithful to Mrs. Eddy in every way, following her example also in things seemingly minor and seemingly old-fashioned. The excuse that "this is 2010, not 1910" is the same canard used to justify the use of other Bible translations in church, to have pictures in the Quarterly, to relax the "Standard of Christian Science", to allow "printouts" of the Lesson-Sermon (of late misnamed "full text") and so on. As has been quoted in this blog and its comments, from James 2:10, "For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all." This blogger has often shown a measure of humility, but in this case, that measure failed him and I'm both sorry and surprised that so many readers forgot the Rule for Motives and Acts, jumping to the blogger's defense as though the gentle rebuke had been a personal attack -- blinded so by this false claim that they bypassed the commenter's more important remarks about decapitating error. My point is not to belittle the good this blogger has done, but to support everyone's stated desire to maintain the high standard left for us by our beloved Leader, Mary Baker Eddy.
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