He already had all he needed.

This week's Bible Lesson, Adam and Fallen Man, includes the parable of the Prodigal Son. I have written other blogs about this one. In one I thought about which of the qualities of two brothers I might be expressing, who I identified with. As I looked deeper I found I wanted to be like the Father, not judging or condemning, just loving and waiting patiently for one child to return and change his ways and the other to see his true value in my eyes. I've found things in Bible commentaries about how insulting it was for the boy to ask for his inheritance early, as if he was saying I wish you were dead. This week I am struck by something different.

The Prodigal Son had all he needed already. His Father was not withholding any good from his son. But this boy seemed to yearn for a taste of a different life. He was looking for things his Father was not providing in the way of sensual pleasures and exposure to evil. That was the 'far country' he wanted to experience, far from the way things were at home.

Like the Adam story, what he found opened the door to shame and guilt. He lived the riotous lifestyle until he had used up all his means. Then the so-called friends he had attracted had no further use for him. He found himself in need and was reduced to working for 'a citizen of that country', who put him to work in the most demeaning way, sending him to the fields to tend swine. And he didn't even feed him, just expected him to eat what the animals ate, husks, the leftovers and remains of food. No one helped him.

It appears that only sinking to these depths would 'awaken' him to where he was and what he had chosen to do. He could have chosen to go home before he turned to that 'citizen' for help. But even then he still wanted to be in that' far country'.

But eventually he did 'come to himself', he remembered who he really was, the child of his Father. And he is now ready to leave that place and go home with an apology for his behavior. If someone had to be his master, it might as well be his Father, who treated his servants with decency and generosity. Of course, the Father who had been watching for him, hoping he will come home, runs to meet him, gives him a warm welcome and reinstates him in the eyes of the household. He throws a welcome home party so all will know that the son is back in his rightful place. He had never ceased to be his son.

What I am thinking about is how that boy already had everything he neede -  but he coveted more. He did not seem to be grateful for what he had. A different life seemed tantilizing and more fun, with less Fatherly control. We all have moments like that, when we feel like others have a more exciting lifestyle, can spend freely and experience things on the wild side. Or we covet their clothes or possessions or house or job,their wild friends, or even their freedom to do whatever they want. The older brother might have had those same thoughts, he just didn't act on them, but he had them. No wonder he resented his younger brother.

That boy came to the realization that he didn't have to stay there. He was no longer 'enthralled' with that 'far country' and he was free to go home. This is the time of year when my mailbox gets stuffed with catalogs I did not ask for and they are filled with all sorts of things I did not even know I wanted until I saw them. Or things I would love to be able to give as a gift. I will be alert to recognizing the alllure of 'far country' thinking and be grateful for what my Father is generously providing for me. I already have all I need, and will not choose to fall for 'you want this' suggestions. My Father gives me a generous nature and He will provide the means for me to purchase gifts for others this holiday season. It takes discipline. Mrs. Eddy writes: "This strife consists in the endeavor to forsake error of every kind and to possess no other consciousness but good (S&H p. 322).

I am so grateful for this gentle reminder on this Halloween day, as we turn the corner and head for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Missed and mist

I am constantly in awe of Mrs. Eddy's insight from her years and years of Bible study. It was a revelation to me to read her explanation about the two versions of creation in Genesis. I was raised in a religion that taught the second version and accepted the Adam man as our first parent. Now I see how God, good, is our first and only parent. Each day there are opportunties to see myself and others existing in the first account of creation, Genesis One.

The second account shows me both 'mist' and 'missed', concepts that only occur in this false version of creation, the story of material existence.  This is when a 'mist' rises up to obscure truth. I remember one summer day when my sister was visiting me in California. We drove to a beach to look for shells and as we walked we talked and laughed and just loved being together. So absorbed were we in each other that we hardly noticed the fog that rolled in until we looked up and that was all we could see. My sister was frightened because there did not appear to be a way to get back to our car. I just stayed calm and suggested we walk back along the tide line and knew God would show up where to go. In a few minutes we came to the place where we had left our shoes and that meant we were close to the car but we still couldn't see. Another name for God is divine Mind, the source of all awareness, intelligence and understanding. I prayed to know that as His image and likeness I could be just as aware as He was of our surroundings, I could see through this 'mist'. Just then someone else approached us from the opposite direction and said we were only a few yards from the parking area. We soon found the car and shortly after that the wind came up and the fog cleared.

Prayer is like that. You take a moment to stop and realign yourself with God. Turn to Him in confidence that He is always aware of you and keeping you safe. He can 'see' even when our way seems clouded, we can always be guided to the right idea. When we need to make a decision or choice, divine Mind will give us clarity and direction.

Then there are all those 'missed' moments. Mis-direction, mis-communication, mis-ery, mis-understanding, mis-conduct, or just plain feeling mis-erable. If it's got 'mis' in front of it, you're probably dealing wuth Genesis Two thinking. Just recognizing this can break that misty thinking and turn you back to Genesis One.

One of evil's favorite tricks is to suggest that you have 'missed' out on something, an opportunity that might not come again if you don't act now, or that you just missed your chance for good. More lies. My sister passed on suddenly last year and I have to watch myself for any of those 'missed' suggestions. I'll be somewhere and think how much I would love to share it with her or I'll see something that reminds me of her and think, "Oh, June, I miss you so much." But she is not gone, just gone on ahead and I know she is well and happy there. The love we shared as sisters is very much alive and as I just let my love for her wash over me I feel comforted and know she still loves me too.

Today I will choose to walk in the light of Genesis One and stay out of the mist of Genesis Two. Mrs. Eddy writes of God as the 'parent Mind' and each of us as 'God's spiritual offspring'. In that relationship there is constantly unfolding good and joy. Thanks again, Mrs. Eddy. I love Christian Science!

Where do you think you are?

As I prepare to start reading and studying this week's Bible Lesson, Adam and Fallen Man, I am struck by the question in the Golden Text. Where art thou?  God is supposedly asking Adam that question in the second account of creation. In that account God has created man out of the dust of the ground. Adam and Eve have committed the first sin by disobeying and yielded to the first temptation, eating forbidden fruit. Now they are hiding from God, naked and ashamed.

That question arises through most of the stories in the Scriptures. God seems to be asking Where do you think you are? and even Where do you think I am?

Are you being asked to make the ultimate sacrifice of what you love most? Are you up against a seemingly impassable barrier, hotly pursued by the enemy? Are you trying to break down strong walls? Are you in the lions' den, apparently defenseless? In a fiery furnace of criticism?  Hiding deep in deep in a cave? On the cross?

Several things come to mind. Mrs. Eddy's hymn 160, which begins It matters not what be thy lot, so Love doth guide; for storm or shine pure peace is thine, whate'er betide. A very timely promise with the storm battering the east coast today.

I also look to two passages in First Church of Christ, Scientist and Miscellany. From an address Mrs. Eddy gave in 1899: "Beloved, that which purifies the affections also strengthens them, removes fears, subdues sin, and endues with divine power; that which refines character at the same time. humbles, exalts, and commands a man, and obedience gives him courage, devotion, and attainment (p. 131)." And another  personal favorite found on page 149-150: "Remember, thou canst be brought into no condition, be it ever so severe, where Love has not been before thee and where its tender message is not awaiting thee, therefore, despair not not murmur, for that which seeketh to save, to heal, and to deliver, will guide thee, if thou seekest this guidance."

So where I am today? As I go about the usual Monday errands I can know that I am in the secret place of the Most High, as it describes that in Psalm 91. I can know I am accompanied by angels given the specific task to watch over me all day and into the night. No matter what the human experience is showing me, I can look up, lift my thought and see God's loving hand comforting, guiding, and tenderly leading me. That's where I am. That's where I will always be. And that is true for everyone.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

Don't ask the wrong question

As I did some research into the story of Jesus healing the man who was born blind, R.C.Trench in his book Notes on the Miracles of Jesus, shed some new light (no pun intended). He says this healing probably occured at the end of a long day for the Master. He had dealt with the issue of the punishment for a woman taken in adultery. As he left the temple he might have paused in the immediate neighborhood where beggars, cripples, and others afflicted took their station.

We can assume that some of his disciples knew this man, because they were aware that he had been born blind. They asked Jesus to address this as it was not the result of some accident or disease. It seems an odd question, who sinned, this man or his parents. To their thought such a grave punishment must have been the result of some great sin on someone's part. Jesus, of course, does not see things as they did. We all love Mrs. Eddy's description of what Jesus saw, "Jesus beheld in Science the perfect man, who appeared to him where sinning mortal man appears to mortals. In this perfect man the Savior saw God's own likeness, and this correct view of man healed the sick. Thus Jesus taught that the kingdom of God is intact, universal, and that man is pure and holy" (S&H 476). There's the next reference to purity in this Lesson.

Jesus gently rebuked that human tendency to poke into the secret lives of others, like Job's friends attempts to figure out why Job seemed to so badly afflicted. Jesus knew this was not of the man's doing or attributable to his parents actions. Seek the cause elsewhere. See this instead as an opportunity to see the works of God. Jesus goes on to remind them of his purpose and mission, to work the works of Him that sent me.  He says, "As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world".

Now he proves what he has been teaching by using saliva to create clay as a means to let the man know what he was about to do. It might have helped the man's faith, for surely he could have done this without that external help. Having anointed him, he now instructs him to go wash it off. He is to leave this place and go to a nearby pool to wash off the dust of the ground. This he does without arguements or 'buts'. He does not attempt to describe his condition or the length of time he has had it, he obeys. By the time he returns Jesus has moved on and the man, unaided, no longer needing to be lead, goes home. This is the talk of the town for never before had anyone who had been born blind been healed. So much for birth defects.

There is more to the story but for the purpose of this week's Lesson, it is another example of our freedom from any belief of an everlasting punishment.  Freedom given by the Christ. I believe more than this man were healed that day as word of this spread. Spiritual blindness dispelled by the light of Truth.

We are also followers of the Christ. When we see someone who appears to have a physical challenge do we ask the wrong question? Do we try to figure out some material answer for what caused it, or even condemn them for past behavior? Isn't that what Jonah was learning as he went to Ninevah?
Let's not get caught arguing on the wrong side. Let's look through God's eyes and see the perfect man, the idea of divine Mind's creating. Purity.

Moral courage

The Lord speaks to Jonah a second time now that he is back on dry land, repeating his mission. He is to go to Nineveh, a great city, so vast one need's three days to cross it on foot. It was the capital of Assyria. The Assyrians were great warriors who brought back many spoils and gathered a great library.  They were cruel and vicious with those they conquered. Did you ever wonder why Jonah chose to disobey God in the first place? It appears that, in his mind, these people did not deserve to be spared but should be punished for what they had done.  As we keep up with the news it seems that there are Nineveh-like places and people active in the world today. Are you guarding your thought not to judge and condemn them? Evil is not a person, a place or a thing. We pray to see evil overcome but we love all mankind.

Two earlier prophets foretold the destruction of the city before Jonah arrived, announcing that it would occur in 40 days. The Ninevites heeded this warning, from the king to the peasants and they began to fast and repent. It appears this was genuine. Jonah was spared an everlasting punishment and he in turn led the people of Nineveh to repent, change their thoughts and their ways, so that they were spared.

I am continuing to read through Education at the Principia, a collection of talks given by Mary Kimball Morgan. In one of them she writes: "What body of young people are today so prepared to respond to the challenge thrown out before them for true leadership as those who have been given a basis for true thinking? We know that thought in accordance with Principle will accomplish all that can be accomplished for the peace of the world. (Education at the Principia p.182)

This section of the Lesson incudes this citation: "Moral courage is requisite to meet the wrong and to porclaim the right". It takes moral courage to reach out to those who don't seem to want or value your words. The dictionary defines courage as the state or quality of mind or spirit that enables one to face danger, fear, or challenges with self-possession, confidence, and resolution: bravery.

Jonah might have needed moral courage to face a people who were known to dismember those who opposed them. We need moral courage to face the challenges that come up in our day at home, at school, at work, out and about doing errands, serving in the reading room. I don't often look for courage within myself as my study of Christian Science has helped me find confidence and poise but I will cultivate and appreciate that quality today.

Whale watching.

Yesterday we left Jonah in a whale belly time out. I'm pretty sure that is not where he expected to find himself when he willfully disobeyed God's assignment. Talk about the depths of despair. His shipmates had thrown him overboard and he had disappeared from sight. At first it must have seemed like no one knew where he was or cared. But God knew, the divine Love that had provided rescue knew. Now what?

Jonah did what he should have done before he ran away, what he should have done when he was on the ship, what he should have done when he awoke to a raging storm. He prayed. He opened up his end of the communication with God. He called out to his Father as he appeared to be drowning in a big problem, needing somehow to be rescued. It says that his soul fainted within him as he faced the consequences of his actions. But, like the prodigal son in Jesus' parable, he came to himself and found he wanted to go back to his Father. That sincere prayer was heard. Now he vows to do whatever God ask of him. I love what happens next, God speaks to the fish. You have to wonder what the fish was thinking about all this. It obeys and vomits Jonah out onto dry land. In a way, it is another parting of the sea so someone can go over on dry land.

Whenever this story is part of our Bible Lesson I look up several articles from past issues of the Sentinel. One is entitled There's a whale waiting by Jeffrey Hildner. (August 6, 2001)  He points out that if God prepared something, it must have been good. What a comfort to know that even in the midst of the worst storms of our making God is preparing something good to help us. The whale experience was a time for Jonah to see his true spiritual identity. This is the coming of the Christ to save us when we are ready to listen. Mrs. Eddy writes, "Christ is the true idea voicing good, the divine message from God to men speaking to the human consciousness" (S&H p.332).

There's another article that mentions a whale. It's called The Whale in the Pail, an article written for children by R.Louise Emery (August 8, 1970 Sentinel). She tells about a vaudeville act where a hypnotist called for a volunteer from the audience and put him under a spell. He seated him, handed him a fishing pole, and put a pail in front of him. When he put the hook into the water the hypnotist told him a whale had swallowed the hook and ordered him to pull it out. The man struggled long and hard to try to get that whale out of the pail while the audience howled with laughter. When the man was awakened, he wondered how he ever could have believed there was a whale in the pail.

It seems pretty foolish but we sometimes let ourselves get caught up in the suggestion that we are facing a huge problem, something way too big for us to overcome, no matter how hard we try. In Christian Science we learn that God does not create problems to test us and then sit back and watch us struggle. The answer is not to get the whale out, all you need to do is wake up and see that it was never real in the first place. The Bible explains clearly that God made all that was made and that it was very good. He is the only cause and creator and good is the only effect. If God didn't make it or cause it, it can't be any more real than the whale in the pail. We just wake up to understand that God is All-in-all, filling all space with good, present at all times and under all circumstances. Even when we feel alone in a deep dark place.

Jonah prayed. He turned to God with humility and repentance, with a willingness to go where God wanted him to go and to do what God asked him to do. He purified his thoughts and actions. There's that word 'pure' showing up in the citations again. Psalms 119:140 - Thy word is very pure, therefore thy servant loveth it. Mrs. Eddy writes "Through the wholesome chastisements of Love, we are helped onward in the march toward righteousness, peace, purity, which are the landmarks of Science." (S&H p.323)  That is what Jonah would be needing, a landmark. This was a landmark experience for him, just as it can be for us.

 Righteousness is right-thinking, Truth-knowing. That is where we want our thought to be, at one with God.  There's more to Jonah's story. I'll be thinking about those whales today and am looking forward to more insights now that Jonah is back on dry land. 

Whale belly time outs.

This week's Bible Lesson is a reminder to choose to turn away from wickedness in any form. The Golden Text by Hosea was addressing the nation, a direct plea to turn away from the Baal worship around them. Baal worship encouraged immorality, idol worship of golden calves, and child sacrifice. An important message to those people but just as demanding today. Look at the current most popular movies and tv shows. Many of them encourage and endorse immorality. Look at the magazines at the check out counter. They want you to worship your body in both the men's and women's issues. Others focus on the pursuit of wealth - the golden calf. And all the distractions of technology would seem to try to separate us from our children, to sacrificed family life to 'screens'.

Look through the Lesson this week and notice all the references to pure and purity. It shows up right in the Responsive Reading. God is promising to 'purely purge away thy dross'. I went right to my hymnal and looked up hymn 123. I will keep it open and study verse 3.  "When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie, My grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply; the flame shall not hurt thee; I only design thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine." The dictionary defines dross as impurity, worthless, commonplace, or trivial matter, a waste product. Time wasters.

I wonder what Jonah was doing before that call came? Who was he? The Bible doesn't say but we can surmise that he had money and leisure time. When God gives him a mission, a job opportunity, he must have had the time and freedom to leave town. He leaves town all right, but he books passage on a ship going in the opposite direction. He turns down the assignment, and runs away. He must have been sitting around, not doing much, because God's first word is 'arise'. So off he goes to find quick passage and he is immediately able to pay the fare. He sounds like a first class passenger as he goes down to his cabin and goes to sleep.

Have you ever come up against something you don't want to face? Have you ever been tempted to 'jump into bed and cover up your head', taking refuge in oblivion? He must have fallen deeply asleep as the sailors have to rouse him despite the raging storm. This was no ordinary storm, these experienced sailors were frightened by the intensity of it. They felt it was not natural but God-driven. And it was threatening to break up the ship. They had tried everything they could, even throwing their cargo over board. And they were praying, each to his god. They come to the conclusion that it must be aimed at someone on board and they draw lots. Jonah's name was chosen and he freely admits that he had run away from God. They try to solve it themselves, is there a way they can punish him that will appease God and calm the sea. Jonah knows that won't work and he instructs them to throw him overboard, he is willing to take the blame. Over he goes and the storm ceases. They sail on, as Jonah has disappeared.

Out in the midst of that raging storm, far from land or any help, God had already provided safety. Jonah is swallowed up by a whale. Jonah will be there three days and three nights. I will study what happens next tomorrow. For today I want to be grateful that even when we have tried to run away from God, like Jonah, we will learn that God is everywhere, always present, always ready to save us from ourselves. There might be a lesson to be learned, but that can happen in a protected environment.

This is part of the purification process. The burning off of the dross. We are not harmed by this activity, only what is impure will disappear. What is uncovered is the purity that was always there, the lovely pure reflection of good. Jonah was not a bad man. When we resist the lessons we need to progress we are not bad, only acting badly. Our Parent will stand by to catch us if we stumble or fall or head in the wrong direction. Sometimes we need a 'whale belly' time out.