Of all the things in this life I dearly love--and the list gets longer every day so wonderfully giving is our heavenly Father--what lights me up the most is getting to proclaim the words of Christ Jesus. To even speak the Name that is above every other Name, to write it in this blog, or in poems is a joy unspeakable.
What I'm going to be addressing in this entry will stir people up. Can't be helped, given the earth-shaking power of God's beloved Son. Jesus stirred people up in his day and his words upset the carnal mind today. But knowing the tribulation that awaits any sincere follower of Jesus (we've been forewarned, haven't we?) you and I shouldn't be deterred from doing our duty to God.
Noticed in one of the comments on a previous posting something a Betty pointed out. I know several Bettys in different locations, so don't know which this was. But she quotes our Leader from "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" where Mary Baker Eddy says: "We cannot choose for ourselves, but must work out our salvation in the way Jesus taught." Now, most Christian Scientists I know would nod at this, say, of course this is true. But do you know, readers out there, what I find all too often? When I have brought up the necessity to live these teachings, to have Jesus' words front and center instead of off on the side of the road, as it were, do you know what happens? People's eyes glaze over if they're sitting in front of me, and their voices on the phone take on an odd silence. Like I'm speaking in a foreign tongue. Or sometimes patients will say, "Yes, yes, I know all that", then go on their merry way without a thought for our Lord and Master. This could discourage me if I were not absolutely committed to bringing this out in every situation that presents itself. Nothing matters more to us individually, or to our Cause, or to the world's deliverance from the present economic circumstances than living what our Master taught. Beyond any doubt, the teachings of Christ Jesus hold the solution to every human problem.
And addressing another of humanity's needs, think of physical health and well-being. How many illnesses are the result of not being right with God through Jesus' commandments. You must know deep down that this is true, if you are in the public practice of Christian Science, if you are a teacher, if you are just thinking about your own challenges. I think we could almost say every single instance of disease can be traced to this. As students of the Science of Christ, how can we think otherwise?
I bring up teachers of Christian Science. I have noticed far too many who apparently do not have Jesus' words uppermost in what they are doing. The impression has been left that Jesus' words are not absolutely essential to the student of divine Science, that they can be taken or left. In effect, that Jesus is more or less obsolete. (I can scarcely stand to even write this!) And in my opinion, these workers who have the Holy Bible and our Leader's writings are under an awful indictment. Used to wonder what it was that was missing from what they wrote and or spoke, but began to see the basis for this inexcusable oversight.
Two things crystallized this for me: one time while reading in the rare book section of the Boston Public Library, came across a statement early on by the Discoverer and Founder of our religion where she said plainly: "I love Jesus more than any man who ever was or is." This was pivotal to me in my thinking about what I was noticing in the periodicals. Writers seemed as though they felt an obligation to put something Jesus said in an article. Seemed tacked on as an afterthought, not from the heart. Always felt this was wrong, and increasingly began to understand how wrong!
Then later came across an early writer, Samuel Greenwood, a teacher from Victoria, B.C. who published much in Mrs. Eddy's day. (His marvelous healing in Christian Science is highlighted in an earlier blog post on September 18, "Accountant's eyesight healed". ) I have never read any CS's writings that show such a reverence for Christ Jesus, apart from our Leader herself. His love for what Jesus taught was so in his heart and life that everything he wrote glows with spiritual power. They come off the page, enter the reader's thought, make such a healing difference in one's life--if taken seriously and put into daily practice. One gets the distinct impression that his mission in life was to keep before the public the teachings of Jesus as given through the revelation of Christian Science by Mary Baker Eddy.
This summation is actually close to something another early worker wrote at one point. As many of you know, Martha Wilcox worked in our Leader's home in Chestnut Hill, MA. And her stating clearly that the purpose of Christian Science is to perpetuate Jesus' words ought to leave no doubt what should be uppermost for us followers of Christ and Christian Science today.
If just one student of CS reads this blog and begins putting Jesus' words in first place--and I do stress first place--then it will be achieving its objective. I can't be true to my God and leave this unsaid. There is nothing under heaven more urgent than doing this. There is no danger greater to us individually or to our Church or to the well-being of the world than not doing it.
