Wednesday, September 24, 2014

What will you see today?

Wow. I looked at the Golden Text this morning and realized I had been working with 'the works of God' part. In each section I looked for 'the works' that were described. Today it was the word 'see' that just lit up the page. It gave me a whole new focus for the rest of the week. So now I can be alert to 'see' the works of God.

Come and see the works of God.  Psalms 66:5

Elijah saw God's power in response to his request to show the people the true God.
Elisha saw the chariots of fire that took Elijah to heaven.
Elisha saw there is no death with the Shunamites son.
John's disciples saw that Jesus was the true Messiah by the healing work he was doing.
Mrs. Eddy saw the truth about God and man in her discovery of Christian Science.
John saw the new heaven and the new earth he describes in Revelation.

Come and see the works of God.

Do I think those things only happened 'way back when'?  No! I know they are happened every day right now. But this is a call to 'see' those works of God today, to be aware of the good and the beauty of His creation. To be looking for them and feeling gratitude in God's presence.

This is one of God's promises...the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.  Isaiah 40:5  Everyone shall 'see' the glory of the Lord. It's right in front of us and we can 'see' it, understand it.  As in, 'oh, I see', I get it.

Come and see the works of God. This is going to be a great day!

Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Back and forth

We were laughing as we watched our kitty go back and forth between two toys. He couldn't seem to make up his mind so he stood still and looked from one to the other. Haven't we all felt that sense of being unable to choose between two things?

This week's Bible Lesson opens with Elijah the prophet coming to address the children of Israel who were halting between two opinions. Not in the sense of suspending judgment but of vacillating between serving God and worshipping Baal. Going back and forth. He instructs them to choose. It is uncomfortable to sit astride a fence and the longer you sit there, the more uncomfortable it gets.

To those people it was not a question of which was the sole God, but which was more powerful and had the greater claim on their devotion. In Isaiah's time they would come to the point in their spiritual growth when they understood that God was the only Deity and beside Him there is no other.

My kids used to love hearing this story and picturing those prophets of Baal jumping around singing, "Baal, Baal, light the fire!"  But I wonder if it is any different for those who jump around from one medical remedy to another calling upon them to heal some physical challenge. "Excedrin, Excedrin, get rid of this headache!"  or "Cure my cold" or "help me lose weight."

There was no response to their chanting for their was nothing to hear them, nothing to respond.

Elijah takes over and he invites the people to come near. He addresses the Lord God of Abraham, and of Israel.  He prays that God will answer the call and show the people His power. And He does. In a big way, consuming the sacrifice, the wood, the stone altar, the dust and the water that had been poured on it.  The people saw and they understood. The Lord is God.  That is the reality of it.

Our Lesson on Reality invites us to 'come and see the works of God'.  It includes not only the story of Elijah and the prophets of Baal, but Elisha seeing Elijah taken up to heaven in a chariot of fire, and then Elisha continuing Elijah's work healing a childless woman. He later raises her child from what appears to be death.  When Jesus begins his healing ministry John, who has been imprisoned by Herod, sends some of his students to Jesus to ask him if he is the promised Messiah. Jesus responds by telling them to show John what he has been doing, healing all manner of sickness and disease. His works speak for him.

Is God working in our age? Yes. Mary Baker Eddy discovered Christian Science, or the law of God as ever present good, and she began to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease as well. She wrote it in a book, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, so all may study it and practice that same method of healing.

So there is no need to go back and forth, or halt between two opinions. The promised Comforter is here and available to all.

Come and see the works of God. 

Friday, September 19, 2014

Questions

I just love to look at the questions that show up in each Bible Lesson. This week there were several and I have been pondering them all week.

 The first one, in Section One, follows the story of Joshua and the battle of Jericho. He and his men of war and the  priests conquered the city without firing a shot. They laid 'open siege' to it, compassing it about for seven days before shouting at Joshua's signal. Those walls fell down flat. The question posed in Science and Health is "On which side are we fighting?"  Siege can mean a prolonged period of time. There are sometimes challenges we work on that seem to be a bit overwhelming and we wonder just how we are going to overcome those 'walls' of resistance. Here is an assurance that our 'open siege', our prolonged fervent prayers can be totally effective. Those 'walls' can fall down flat so that the way opens up to move forward successfully, to master the situation, to see a healing solution.
We have to stay alert and be sure just which side we are arguing for, the spiritual side or the material picture.

The next question was in the Fourth Section which shows our ability to deal with 'breath' issues, like allergies or lung disease. "Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of?"  Stop identifying with the man in Genesis Two, created from the dust of the ground, and subject to that dust. Understand man made in God's image and likeness as explained in Genesis One. We reflect God, Life, just like the reflection of the original in a mirror. God is Spirit, God is Mind so we are ideas held and maintained in Mind, spiritual not material. As for the severity of the claim, as in allergies or disease, nothing is impossible to God, Spirit. Jesus healed all manner of sickness and all manner of disease with perfect assurance and success.

A thought-provoking question shows up in Section Five. "Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?"  Gilead was a mountainous part of Palestine where balm (balsam) was found and in the same place would be found those skilled in its use. Jeremiah is speaking, anticipating the captivity and the distressed cries of the exiles. The people had lost one chance of deliverance after another, and might now despair.  Here is another 'siege' situation where persistence and faith can bring about healing. Prayer works.

The Golden Text mentions 'stumbling blocks'. Stumbling blocks are defined as an obstacle or impediment. They will appear as we move forward on our spiritual  journey but they can also be considered stepping stones, opportunities to put into practice what we are learning as we study these Bible Lessons.

I am grateful to have these questions to think about each week and even more grateful for the healing solutions that lead to spiritual growth.

Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Holiness and wholeness

The theme running through this week's Bible Lesson on Man is holiness. It starts in the Golden Text and appears in each section of the Bible and in the correlative passages from Science and Health. So I decided to look up the word 'holy' in the dictionary. To be holy is to be sacred, to live according to a strict or highly moral religious or spiritual system; set apart for a religious purpose; deserving special respect or reverence.  I associate all of that with God and I look forward to gaining a clearer understanding of how that applies to man, each of us, me, because we are His children, made in His image and likeness. As He is holy, so must we, so must I, be holy, by reflection.

Another source is the Synonym Finder. Just look at what we are as holy children of a holy Father.
Blessed. Heaven-born. (That one wipes out any so-called birth defects or hereditary problems!) Blissful. (That means always at peace and joyous, aware of the good all around us) Devout. (One who expresses goodness and is devoted to God) Right-minded. (Having that Mind that was in Christ Jesus, we can always think and do the right thing, always hold the right concept or opinion of ourselves and others, of current events) Innocent. (One of my favorites,  not guilty of breaking any spiritual law, not accountable to any material medical law) Pure. (Without flaw eliminates any skin problems or belief of cancer) Untainted. (Free from anything that would try to attach itself to us of an impure nature, no problems with temper or hatred)

It sounds like a lot to live up to but the good news (the gospel) is that all of the above is already true about us, each one of us, by divine birthright. It is our true nature. We just have to make a practice of claiming it daily in our prayers for ourselves. It is a good thing to establish in thought at the very beginning of the day and then to bring to mind all day long as things come up to try to make us believe otherwise. God is holy, I am holy. I am whole in my holiness. Nothing unlike holiness can be a part of me or anyone else.

God, my Father Mother, is holy.
I, as His beloved child, His image and likeness, am holy. Whole
That never changes.

I'll be humming hymn 117 all day.