Sunday, March 26, 2017

Are We Really Free?

Not until we know what Jesus knew,
the only liberating truths there are.
A startling thing to hear?
Nevertheless, all too true.
We are not really free,
until we know we're
not made of flesh and blood
and bones and such,
that we weren't born
into a matter body
and aren't in one now,
but are wholly spiritual, perfect,
the way our Father, God
has created us to be.


Wherever we live,
whatever our human history,
whatever problems we may face,
there is a way out
of matter's slavery --
Christly truths that set us free.
They're published in a  book*.
Why not take an unbiased look?
You may end up
thanking God you did.




*"Science and Health with
            Key to the Scriptures"
                    by Mary Baker Eddy

Sunday, March 19, 2017

Our Real House

        One evening while thinking about house/dwelling/home, these 2 statements kept coming to thought.  "Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations" Psalms points out. 


        And this from Mary Baker Eddy's writings, "Pulpit and Press":  The real house in which 'we live, and move, and have our being' is Spirit, God, the eternal harmony of infinite Soul." And further on in this Dedicatory Sermon is this thought, that our true dwelling place is no human fabrication.


        Then, later in the evening when we were all in bed for the night, our dogs started barking wildly at the sound of an alarm.  At first, it seemed it might be the next-door neighbor's, or the people across the street.  But then, with blue flashing lights all over the room, it was clear the police were involved.  Looking out the bedroom window, 5 police cars were visible, 3 at an angle in front of our neighbor's next door, and one alongside their house, and one on the street behind our subdivision.  Several officers were out in the yard, also a dog tracking someone or someones apparently.


        This continued for about two hours, with a wrecker coming to drag out one police car and the stolen car two men had jumped out of and fled. Several stores nearby had been robbed.


        To get to the chase (so to speak), this stolen car had been traveling at a speed of 100mp an officer said, and when they saw our cul-de-sac didn't allow for an escape, threaded the car right between our house and the neighbor's.  Not one thing was damaged, not any shrubbery or trees or flower beds or anything!  This seemed remarkable given the narrow space they were faced with and the speed of the car.


        I can't help thinking that the prayerful work done earlier in the evening accounted for this, and were we grateful to God for what He has revealed about where we really live.

Sunday, March 12, 2017

Life Worth Living

People strive all their lives
For personal fortune, fame,
Or something else of
Primary benefit to themselves.
And what do they get for
Their time and worry?
Forgotten, for the most part.
Or if remembered, not for
Reasons that count all that much.
At the opposite end of
Earthly human endeavor
Are those who have found out
What life is all about.
"Go ye into all the world and
Preach the gospel to every creature,"
our forever Master said.
While you and I might not make it
To Africa, New Zealand, or
Some other exotic spot
(I write this from Tennessee, USA)
We're in the world right where we are,
And can carry out Mark 16:15 here, now.
Let this be our life's work,
To honor Christ in what we say and do.
And we can see this be the thing
That turns our fellow beings to God.
              
                           Earth has no joy
                                        That can
                                                Possibly compare.

Tuesday, March 7, 2017

Achieving quicker healings

                                                           John Robert Howell


                                       (Written for the student of Christian Science)






        Our loving Father-Mother God never leaves us comfortless, not for one second, and is a solid fortress in which we can always find refuge.  We therefore can and should expect quick and permanent healings.  Truth, Life, and Love correctly understood and applied area all-powerful and instant in action.


        However, it is easy to allow prayer, thought, and study to  become perfunctory, uninspired, and rote, even if one seems to be allowing adequate time for these activities.  Imbuing each day's prayer and study with listening and receptivity to God's angel thoughts cannot help but unfold healing and progress.


        A feeling of spiritual ennui is not necessarily the result of a failure to keep proper ward over the quality of one's thinking, however.  It is easy, in short, to fall into any of a variety of mental ruts.  These ruts invariably lead back to waymarks one passed long ago or to stale, stereotyped conclusions.


        Many years ago I worked in some old oil fields.  I was told that oil from the wells had contributed to the World War I efforts of the United States.  After a few decades so much oil had been pumped that the original extraction methods were no longer economical.  At this point what are called secondary extraction methods were employed.  These involved the pumping of water or natural gas into strategically located injection wells, thereby "washing" or pushing the remaining oil towards the production wells.


        This worked well for many years, but in time this method too failed to yield economical results.  What began to happen was that the injected water or gas began to cut a channel in the subterranean sand directly to the producing wells.  The result was, of course, that the producing wells began to retrieve little more than the water or gas injected a few h ours or days before.  It became a kind of giant, unproductive circulation system.


        The same thing can result, if one mechanically returns to truths, thoughts, and prayers which have proved helpful in the past.  Over time one's thought and understanding naturally change and develop, and so must one's prayer and thinking.  Adults seldom read for their own pleasure the nursery rhymes and children's stories that produced so much please and delight when they were children.  They have outgrown them.  The Word of God, though, is ever fresh, apprehensible, and effectual, and as one is willing to humbly accept his innate unity with God, good, he can and will partake of this daily bread.


        Christ Jesus' own disciples apparently hit one of these spiritual flat spots in their work when they failed to heal an epileptic child.  Jesus attributed it to their unbelief or lack of faith, or, one might say, to their need for greater spiritual understanding and inspiration. This higher state of thought was obviously attainable since the Master had already proven it so by healing the boy. (Matthew 17:14-21)


        If unopposed and unchallenged, mortal belief would seem to impose on man a sort of spiritual entropy, a belief that everything eventually runs down. How can one counteract and overcome this false claim?  By striving to make the study of the Bible and writings of Mary Baker Eddy more fresh, humble, and insightful.  By striving to imbibe what one is learning and live it, thus keeping the study of Truth from becoming merely an abstract and theoretical exercise in metaphysics.


        Seeking to attain and maintain a purer, more spiritually elevated thought puts new wine into fresh skins, and so one gets more spiritual traction in his daily experience.  Thinking about God and good is not the same thing as actually gaining an understanding of and expressing Him.

        The Master Christian has outlined the way all Christians and Christian Scientists must go.  And this in time will make healing work instantaneous.  Progress will come not in baby steps, but in leaps.

Wednesday, March 1, 2017

City on a hill

                         (This was written for a friend of mine who lives in Scotland)




The wisest people


I'm blessed to know


At the Master's feet


No matter what bend low.




And I have observed


These humble stay that way.


It's the way they live,


Not the words they say.




This city set on a hill,


This shedder of light,


Though resident of Scotland


Reaches far with Christ's might.




Christians such as he


Live not for wealth or fame


But to follow in the Master's steps,


To do what Jesus did, the same.