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[Get to know God! Rejoice in His goodness!]
Metaphysical Application Ideas for the Christian Science Bible Lesson on

“God”
for Sunday, July 3, 2016

by Kerry Jenkins, CS, House Springs, MO
(314) 406-0041 kerry.helen.jenkins@gmail.com

What could be better than really knowing God? The Bible tells us that we need to know Him; Mrs. Eddy tells us this knowledge is key to healing. It is in knowing God better and better that we find ourselves healing, progressing, and rejoicing. This lesson presents many examples of people who knew God or learned more of who He is through prayer. In every case they are left with a clearer sense of their purpose, more joyful, healed. When we rejoice in God as our one Creator, we are lifted above the messages that we get from material sense—messages that tell us that we are surrounded by sickness, hatred, violence (the wind, earthquake and fire that Elijah witnessed before he heard the still, small voice that was God). God is Good. Our physical senses will not corroborate this fact. We can be tempted to feel hopeless, depressed, angry, if we think that things around us are always relating a true view of God and His creation. The only way to counteract these "tempests" is to actively enter that "closet" that Jesus told us to enter into for prayer. Maybe you remember that closet from the first lesson of June, as the storehouse, full of all the needed things for the household? In that quiet storehouse we shut the door on material sense and welcome in the abundant supply of angel messages from Love. We begin to untangle ourselves from the aggressive and constant barrage of false sense testimony, and positively influence our surroundings, our home, our communities, camp, and the world itself.

Golden Text [with PS of Cobbey’s comments] and Responsive Reading:
We can rejoice in God when we know Him as He knows us.

Somewhere I heard Psalms 46:10 (to :), the Golden Text, broken down into short commands, and I have found this helpful. I don't know who to credit for this, but hopefully they will not mind! Starting with just the first word: "Be", then "Be still", "Be still and know", "Be still and know that I am", and finally, "Be still, and know that I am God". If you proceed through this passage in this way it is a prayer in its own right. It becomes more meaningful when we know more about God as the only source of man. When we realize that being comes from Spirit, we don't fall under the "laws" of matter and material creation, for example. So when we pray with the word "Be" we can be thinking of our existence as spiritual only. We listen from a standpoint of coexistence with our Father-Mother. That's a powerful, peace bestowing, standpoint from which to pray. This is re-emphasized in the Responsive Reading (RR) when we see "Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves;". Mortal creation, where man makes himself, is not true creation and it gives us a terribly wrong sense of God. When we know God better, we "Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise:". In fact, this is the only way that we can come into God's presence, feel His peace and Love. And as for how God knows us, check out the beginning of the RR where Jeremiah is writing to the Jews in exile in Babylon. "I know the thoughts that I think toward you…thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you [a future and a hope]" (bracketed section from the NLV of the Bible). The creator knows and loves His creation, it is perfect/complete, after all!

Section 1: Spiritual sense declares God.

Material sense clamors that it "knows" what is real and true. Christian Science teaches us that these senses are liars. Christian Science reveals God to be (as the Bible tells us!) "The great I Am" (S1), not some super powerful man-like being. And then she goes on to list the synonyms for God, those powerful spiritual terms that help us to see God with clarity. We know God through spiritual sense, and no wonder, since Mrs. Eddy tells us on p.209:31-32 of S&H that "Spiritual sense is a conscious, constant capacity to understand God." Citations B4 and S3 address the suggestion of evil. In material sense there is always lack. To combat this we turn away from these senses toward the light that is God. All of God's works "praise" Him, because they are good, joyous and whole. Does that mean that if we are not feeling this joy, that we are a creation that is lacking, or not from God? Not at all. The point is that, no matter how these thoughts present themselves to us, they do not represent the true nature of ourselves or man in general. We know this because of healing. Falsehood can try to cling to us—can seem uncomfortable and even very real. But in the stillness and light of Truth, it is powerless. Be persistent, patient, still. The light of Truth, reality, is really the only presence and it is Almighty. It doesn't share with evil.

Section 2: God tells us who He is (and we can hear Him!)

God made us, let's assume that He made His creation so that we could hear His voice."Out of heaven [spiritually] he made thee to hear his voice, that he might instruct thee." (B7) Elijah was feeling despondent. He was running from queen Jezebel for his life. He thought that he was the only one left in the world that supported the God of Israel. He had just come from slaughtering the prophets of Baal, which was why Jezebel wanted him dead. He had witnessed the might of God on many occasions, so I don't think he doubted God. But here he doubts himself. How does God illustrate His might and government? He shows Elijah several demonstrations of impressive events, but never communicates His presence in these events. Instead He chooses to speak to Elijah in a whisper! Have you ever noticed that when someone whispers, you tend to lean in to hear? When my boys are fighting and loud in the car, if I pull over and sit silently, suddenly they all stop what they are doing and wonder what is going on. It's usually a lot more effective than trying to yell over the top of them. This is kind of how mortal mind is. It gets really loud and aggressive. But that's not where power really lies. God's power is in stillness and quietude. Even when we seem to be witnessing stormy aggression of some kind, we can realize, right then, that these errors are counterfeits of divine power. They are self destructive. (S11). Oh, and by the way, as mentioned, Elijah was so despondent, in part, because he thought he was the only person faithful to God left–yet God reveals to him that this is not so. In fact there are some 7,000 faithful in Israel. This is what happens when we listen to material sense. It will portray things in a false way. We really lose our joy and sense of perspective when we are listening to the clamor of this sense, instead of to the whisper of the Almighty. (S9)

Section 3: Praying in quiet, in our storehouse helps us know God. [PS#2 on B15]

Where is your "sanctuary"? Where do you find quiet listening most easily? Once one of Mrs. Eddy's workers, Judge Hanna, felt he needed a vacation. He had many responsibilities to the church. She suggested that he spend four hours a day in prayer for himself and ask not to be interrupted at all, not even by his wife. He was obedient to her request and found himself feeling rested and free from stress. He no longer felt the need for a vacation. "Now you can take that vacation" she told him! (You can find some of this in Mary Baker Eddy Christian Healer pp. 399-402 Amplified Edition–by Yvonne Cache von Fettweis and Robert Townsend Warneck). There are many references in this section to "sanctuary", "temple", "the house of the Lord," and, finally, to the "closet". God is truly ever-present, but we hear, see, and feel His presence more easily if we have firmly shut the door on the noise of material sense. Notice in B11 that it says "…let all the earth keep silence before him." Isn't that like telling our material senses to be quiet? Even when that noise is happy and busy, we need to stop and recognize God's presence and power in whatever we are engaged in. This is most true at CedarS, where each activity is firmly based in Spirit, preceded by a met that acknowledges God's government. The prayer that heals is one that is humble, quiet, and includes what Mrs. Eddy tells us in citation S17–"absolute faith that all things are possible to God,–a spiritual understanding of Him, an unselfed love."

Section 4: God's laws can only be good, because we know God as Good! [PS#3 on B18]

Really, the reason we can trust God, is because we can trust the laws of harmony that He made for His children. In this situation, Jesus shows the laws of Life to be more real, more in operation, than the material laws of living and dying matter. Jesus saw the real situation, he never accepted the false. He didn't perform a miracle by healing Jairus' daughter—rather, he saw the reality of her life as an expression of God, eternal. [B18, see PS1 for CC comments on Luke 8.41-55] While sometimes that reality might seem to hide from our view, it is the truth and it is made visible as we learn more about God. We are given great directions about what to do when the "illusion" of material sense seems more real than God's harmony. Just check out citation S23. Use it as a guide in your own practice of Christian Science.

Section 5: Work for God, it gives us peace and joy! [PS#4 on B20, PS#5 on B22]

When we dedicate our work, our actions to God, we find ourselves understanding Him better. We find our thought listening for His directions. There is no room for burden, for exhaustion (remember Judge Hanna?). Martha struggled with being "cumbered" (my bible lesson says: from the Greek word perispao It means distracted or drawn away, as if someone's mind is pulled in many different directions.") I daresay that there is not a counselor at camp, and not a mom in the world that hasn't felt this way at some time. But Jesus tells us in citation B20 that we don't need to "take thought" for the daily things like eating and drinking and clothing ourselves. Not because they don't matter, but because when we let our thought rest on God and His kingdom, these things are taken care of for us, without the stress and worry and burden. Martha was a good person. Jesus loved her and spoke tenderly to her, repeating her name. She was working to express love, hospitality etc. But when you see her story paired with a passage like citation S24, it is arresting. Wasn't she trying to make a finite sense of love "meet the demands of human want…"? Maybe that statement is referring to loftier things, but I do see a parallel here. As a mom, I work much of the time to make a good life for my family. I would do well to make sure that I am not merely trying to meet some variety of "human want". If we aim higher, we will bless much more widely. More direction for this is seen in citation S28. Waiting on God is the way to make progress, and we can be sure we are blessing those around us when we do this!

Section 6: Understanding brings peace.

We leave this lesson as we began–with peace and with rejoicing in God's goodness. I know many of you read the My Bible Lesson version of this lesson, but I have to include this for those of you that may not. In citation B23 they point out that the word "solemnity" did not mean solemn or sad. Rather "it was a feast or festival time, full of prayers, ceremonies, and music." That certainly puts this verse into a different light. Knowing God, seeking Him out, praying for deeper understanding and putting what we understand into action is the most joyfully rewarding thing we can do. It is what underpins everything we do at CedarS camps. Keep that in mind when you are there. All the fun you have, all the love you feel, all the friendship, healing, joy–it all comes from understanding God and putting that understanding into practice! Have fun!


[Warren’s P.S.#1, Cobbey Crisler’s comment on the Golden Text, Psalms 46:10, from his talk
Leaves of the Tree: Prescriptions from Psalms”
For a full transcript email Cobbey’s wife, Janet, at janetcrisler7@gmail.com]

Psalm 46, Verse 10. One of the simplest prescriptions for the human mind to take and one of the most difficult. The human mind resists to the hilt taking this one. “Be still and know that I [am] God.” The racket of thought quieted. It’s a very strong word, “Be still.” Jesus used those words to calm violence in nature [Mark 4:39], and also to cast out an unclean spirit [Mark 1:25]. It doesn’t belong in nature or human nature. Certainly it’s not part of the divine nature. So, “Be still” is [a] very emphatic verbal rebuke. ]


[W’s P.S.#2: Cobbey Crisler’s partial comments on citation B15, Matthew 6:6:
[Step 1 of prayer: mentally go to where our supplies already are & leave problems behind.]

Matthew 6:6 “But when you pray,” first, now notice, here are the rules for praying. If we think we’re praying, wait till we get through with what his requirements are, and then ask again. “When you pray,” here’s what we do. There’s no way around these requirements, because this is Jesus’ specific answer to how we pray. When we pray, number one, we do what? “Closet.” Number two, “Shut the door.”

Often we do one or two of these things but not all of them. Number three, “Pray.” Don’t forget why you’re in that closet. Don’t go to sleep with the door closed. What’s good about studying the Greek that’s behind this? The Greek word for closet is tameion. It really is not translated as closet, I don’t believe any other time it’s used. Tameion has in the Greek this meaning: it’s a storehouse. It’s a place in which our supplies are kept. Now ask yourself if you’re really praying.

In prayer, in our first step, do we actually go mentally into the place where our supplies already are? That means in prayer we can’t take any problem with us. In prayer we’re in the presence of the solution, or it’s not prayer, as far as Jesus’ definition is concerned. Once we’re in there where the supplies are, shut the door so that the problem doesn’t nag.”

Book of Matthew, Auditing the Master: A Tax Collector’s Report , p. 32
by B. Cobbey Crisler]


[W’s P.S.#3: Cobbey Crisler’s partial comments on citation B18, Luke 8:41-48
“In this case we have something that might present a problem. Two people that need attention simultaneously What do you do?… Here’s how Jesus deals with it. He is first summoned by a ruler of the synagogue with a great deal of human priority. Jairus has the rank and he asks first. He’s got a more urgent need. His daughter is on the verge of dying (Luke 8:41). But Jesus can’t even get to the location where this girl is because of the crush of people in the narrow lanes of the Palestinian villages. The Greek word for “thronged” is often used to describe how close these groups got to one another. Jesus was nearly suffocated by the crowd.

Later the disciples rebuked Jesus, in Verse 45, for asking “Who touched me?” To them it was ridiculous. Everybody was touching him. The Greek verb that’s used is a verb that means what happens to grain kernels between two grinding stones. They were ground really together. The people were that crowded.

What happens? The woman does not wish to delay Jesus’ mission, but she is at the absolutely desperate end of a rope. Here we find the receptivity. Blessed are those who are in this state. Happy are those because the state of mind can be changed.

This radical change of thought was in the presence of the Christ-correction that Jesus was exercising in the mental realm. It’s going to be sufficient and the woman feels that it will help her. She’s lost all her money on physicians. [No health insurance…] Mark even tells us that she’s worse because of that choice. [Mark 5:26] All she does is touch the border of his garment. The issue of blood, the continuous hemorrhaging that had occurred for twelve years had kept her out of the temple, kept her out of worship and made her as unclean as the lepers. With all sorts of legislative rules around her, she herself could not be touched because it would make the individual who did it unclean. But we find that Jesus welcomed that dear woman from the standpoint of God’s welcome, because he said, “the Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the father do.” (John 5:19).

In Luke 8, Verse 48 he calls that lady, “Daughter.” Who’s daughter? Certainly, not his. In fact, he lifts that word “daughter” entirely out of any sense of blood relationship. That was the woman’s problem. He lifts even her identity out of blood.

Daughter, be of good comfort” (Verse 48). Look at how he’s addressing the thought of that woman. Not only the precious relationship to God, but the comfort. She hasn’t experienced that in twelve years. She’d lost all her money. She was about to be thrown on the society. There was nowhere to go when you were thrown on society. That may have happened to the woman who had been a sinner. Prostitution was the only open career for many women when they were simply thrown out and discarded from normal humanity. She could not get a living unless her family supported her, and there is no indication of that happening.

Jesus refuses to allow that woman to walk away from the scene thinking that physical contact with his robe had anything to do with the healing. He says, again, “Your faith hath made you whole.” The word “whole” and the word “heal” in Anglo-Saxon have the identical root. It implies that disease is something less than wholeness, that it is a fragmentation of our being. Healing is the condition of being made whole.

We understand that equation when Jesus said, “If your eye be single” Matthew 6:22), indivisible, not shared, no divisions in it and no double vision. It is single-mindedness and persistency, as we see Jesus requiring later in our book, which results in man being whole as God views him.

When he goes to the raising of Jairus’ daughter, we don’t find any reason to bemoan the delay in getting there. Even though the news comes back that the daughter has died in the mean time (Verse 49). That is the human news. Jesus goes right in and clears the environment out (Verse 51). Notice, again, this must be telling us something about what is required in order to heal.

The thought of death is so weighted down with its inevitability and grief that Jesus has to clear it out. Notice how he does so, incisively and brilliantly. He couldn’t clear them out while they were weeping. That was acceptable at a funeral. Jesus would have occupied the villain’s role.

So, he simply tells them something that was an absolute fact to him,”That maid, right there that you see horizontal, no movement, no breath, no pulse, no anything, that little girl, she’s really not dead. That appearance that you see there is like sleep (Verse 52). And I am going to awaken her life.” All the paid mourners who were earning their salary for conducting a funeral service, and everybody else who had witnessed the tragedy associated with this little girl passing away laughed (Verse 53).

Can you clear laughers out of funerals? There is certainly more justification from a social standpoint than with weepers. It also showed how deeply their grief had run. Forgetting every reason why they were there, they turned to laughing him to scorn. He put them al out.

He went to the little girl, “Maid arise” (Verse 54). “Her spirit came again, she arose straightway” (Verse 55). And that beautiful practicality of Jesus, ”Give her meat,” giver her something to eat (Verse 55). What else would a twelve-year-old girl want anyway? It was also an announcement that everything was quite normal.”

From a talk by B. Cobbey Crisler Luke, the Researcher from Transcription Notes
For a full transcript email Cobbey’s wife, Janet, at
janetcrisler7@gmail.com]


[W’s P.S.#4 on citation B20, part of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount and Cobbey Crisler’s insights on Matthew 6:24-33: (See two other verses of the Sermon preceding this in P.S.#2)

Matthew 6: “Verse 24. See the logic here. ‘No man can serve two masters: either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.’
(Verse 25). Now he is going to show us how to control our thinking better than we have been able to thus far. This is the first of several verses which begin ‘Take no though’ or utilizing that concept.
“Let’s determine just what thought-taking is. Does it mean to be thoughtless? Thought-taking is the way Jesus is using this in context. It’s anxiety, it’s care, it’s concern. Alright, let’s ask ourselves how we do in this test.
‘Take no thought for your life, what you are going to eat, drink, or wear.’ How much time do we give in any day to those three objectives, eating, drinking, wearing? Then Jesus said, ‘Do you know what? It’s not the menu that counts so much as your life which is bigger than what you’re eating, and your body, or identity, much bigger than what you wear.’
(Verse 26), 'Look at the fowls of the air; they don't sow or reap, but your heavenly Father feedeth them.' I'd like to say that that thought-taking also can run to the taking of photographs because I'm convinced there was something more than a human hand in one of the photographs. Gordon Converse and I were traveling in a little yellow Volkswagen down by the Sea of Galilee. I saw a field of wheat blowing in the wind, just beautiful. I said to him, "Hey. there's our Biblical verse, ''the wind bloweth where it listest' (John 3:8). Let's go get that wheat."
That was a human plan, as we found out very shortly. Because we got down there and Gordon opened the window of our little Volkswagen and rolled it down. Got his camera ready. Right in front of the camera came forty to fifty birds. And there they are, feeding right off the wheat.
You would have to stand there a century to get that picture. And here it was a couple of feet in front of us. If you study this, those birds carefully, you will see that some have the wheat in their mouths already, some have some are just landing. He froze those birds positions with his camera. I looked at Gordon thunderstruck because I said, 'I'm sorry, we'd better change the Bible verse, we've just been handed another one.' That is, 'Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them.' …
(Verse 28). Or, 'What you're wearing, why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow.' They're disappearing from the Holy Land rapidly with all this building, but you can still see some of them…. all red anemones behind the snow-covered 10,000 foot peak of Mount Hermon is absolutely magnificent. There's no difficulty at all when you're visiting teh Holy Land in the Spring to love your anemone. They're simply magnificent.
(Verse 29). You can understand really why it says, 'That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.'
(Verses 30 and 31). So, 'if God so clothed the grass of the field, why should we be so concerned and anxious about what we wear?
(Verse 34). Again, he repeats, 'Take no thought.'
(Verse 33). And then Jesus gives the priority equation, 'Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." In other words, is what we eat, drink or wear of no significance? They are natural and normal on earth. He's not wiping them all out as if it were a branch of some ascetic cult. But rather, 'Seek God first and all these things will be added.' Added. The heavenly law of mathematics is priority first and all those that we would normally take thought of would come into our experience naturally. Instead of wating so much good mental time, taking thought, worrying, and being anxious, we spend that same time seeking the kingdom of God, and all those things come naturally as a result of that."

(Excerpts from a transcription from a live recording by B. Cobbey Crisler on Vol. 1, “Book of Matthew, Auditing the Master: A Tax Collector’s Report”. For a full transcript email Cobbey’s wife, Janet, at janetcrisler7@gmail.com]


[W’s P.S.#5, Cobbey Crisler comments on citation B22 & Jesus’ words about Martha & Mary

Luke 10:38-42 In the familiar story of his visit with Mary and Martha, let us remember that we’re talking about Jesus’ again dealing with a state of mind.

Where is womanhood? In her thoughts about herself? How limiting on woman is woman’s own thought? Is it stereotyped? Is it free? Does it have dominion like Genesis 1 indicates woman has? Directly from God, not through man, not via man, but directly from God? Dominion-womanhood, as dominion-manhood?

On the sixth day of creation we don’t have a complete creation. God does not rest until woman has been given her divinely appointed place. God doesn’t rest, and He’s the original. Creation is incomplete until woman, alongside man, are complementary to each other and united under one God.

Martha chooses a stereotype here. Please don’t leave her there. No one would want to be labeled all their human life for one mistake. Jesus did not leave her there with that label. He lifted her out of the label. We have kept it stuck to her. As proof that he lifted Martha out of that label, it is only to Martha in the Gospel of John (11:25) that he makes the comment, ”I am the resurrection, and the life.” We know Jesus never makes idle comments, and we know that he never deals with a subject unless he sees ingredients of receptivity. When we realize that it is only to Martha that he makes that statement, it’s a different Martha. It’s one who has been willing to change her concept, one who has dealt with the stereotype.

We’re told in Verse 41 of Chapter 10, “Martha, you’re careful,” The Greek means “distracted mentally,” and troubled, “hustling and bustling” or “concerned about many things.” But woman is not just a housekeeper. That’s a stereotype.

Mary, Martha’s sister, has just locked into place at Jesus’ feet. Jesus is discussing higher spiritual thoughts which shows woman is called, not by Jesus, but by God, “The Son can do nothing of himself” (John 5:19). Women are called to intellectual and spiritual research with just as much right to be there as men. That’s what Jesus says in Verse 42, “is that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.” That good part cannot be subtracted from womanhood if God created it as an integral part of womanhood.”
From a talk by B. Cobbey Crisler Luke, the Researcher from Transcription Notes
For a full transcript email Cobbey’s wife, Janet, at
janetcrisler7@gmail.com]


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