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[Find the hour-by-hour joy of placing your days in the hands of divine Life! (GT)]
Metaphysical Application Ideas for the Christian Science Bible Lesson on

“Life”
for January 19, 2014

by Kerry Jenkins, CS, House Springs, MO (314) 406-0041

[Bracketed italics by CedarS Director Warren Huff.  With Early Enrollment ending 1-31-14, please help reach out to eligible campers in your family & community to let them know a best summer yet awaits them! Special thanks for making the gift of a life-transforming campership!]

You've probably heard it said that Christian Science is a “way of life”.  It is.  Really, it isn't about “religion”, it is about what is real.  How badly do we want to know what is real and distinguish it from what is not?  This subject on Life is one of those “big” ideas that help us to ponder what Life… and life really consist of.  Are there two kinds of life?  Is there one life that is life in matter, then another that is “the eternal, spiritual life”?  If there are these two kinds, then we will spend our days trying to “get along” until we “move on” to the other, spiritual life.  If there is only the spiritual, then we are doing as it says in the Responsive Reading: “one thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple.”

Maybe this sounds like it's too out-of-reach or radical.  It isn't.  We do this day by day.  The Message translates part of the Golden Text this way: “…hour by hour I place my days in Your hand.”  It is certainly a practice, even an eternal profession.  But as we can see, throughout this lesson, it is a satisfying, joyous, rewarding one, in fact the only way we can have such a life.

Golden Text (GT):
“My times are in thy hand:” Our future, our life is in the hand of Life itself, not subject to, or “in the hand” of aging, or the body. Life, God, is in the “driver's seat”.

Responsive Reading:
The idea of light is introduced here, symbolic of the light of creation and the idea of understanding. We are promised that we will “see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living”.  His help, harmony, grace is available to us right now in our present state of understanding.  It ends with the statement that “…his song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life.”  The Message translates that poetically, in part, as: “My life is God's prayer.”  What a great way to think of our life, as God's prayer, an active expression of God's thought.

Section 1: All true life/existence comes from Spirit/Life.
God wants us to understand this fact.  Citation B2 says: “God is the Lord, which hath shewed us light;” He has given us understanding.  He isn't trying to be mysterious and hard to understand.  Material sense testimony tries to obscure this with opposite views, much like the analogies that Mrs. Eddy uses in this section of the lesson, about the sun (S3 and S4).  The “tents of wickedness” (B3) don't refer to roughing it in the same way we think of living in tents today.  Here they are talking about living “large” in matter in the homes of wicked or evil people.  In this way we can see that being a doorkeeper in the house of God, standing spiritually ready, keeping thought pure and alert and not indulging in material mindedness, could be seen as, perhaps, a less materially comfortable position, than living in a well appointed home would be!  The end result of being spiritually minded though, is eternal life.  Not such a bad reward.  This is because God is the very “fountain of life” (B4).  There is no other source of life.

Section 2: Soul-filled vs. solar years
Check out this section in light of Mrs. Eddy's definitions of TIME (S&H p.595) and of DAY (p.584) in her Glossary.  There is not one ounce of spirituality in her definition of time.  Time is a mortal construct.  The physicist Einstein stated: “Time was created to make movement look simple.”  And the metaphysician Mrs. Eddy says in citation S8: “Time is a mortal thought, the divisor of which is the solar year.”  Time really measures repetition, think sunrise and sunset, meals, and so on.  So if there is a place where there is no repetition, where each idea is new, original, unfolding eternally… then there exists no time.  Maybe we need to live our lives in a way that is constantly moving forward, unfolding in fresh ways in order not to come under the so-called laws of “time”.  'Day', on the other hand, is “The irradiance of Life; light, the spiritual idea of Truth and Love.”  As we understand this 'day', we find our life is lengthened (S5).  In this 'day' time disappears, that is, mortal life, measured by solar years, vanishes.  Is there light in 'time'?  Nope.  But day is defined by its light!  “The rays of infinite Truth, when gathered into the focus of ideas, bring light instantaneously…” (S7).  An idea (man, for instance), is an expression of light, focused into something that takes substantial shape, expressed Life.  It is created of eternal substance, whereas human theories, theological doctrines, can be helpful now and again, but never bring the kind of understanding and fulfillment of spiritual light.

Section 3: How should we measure manhood/womanhood?
Virtue, truth, beauty, wisdom, holiness—these are some of the terms used by Mrs. Eddy to describe true manhood/womanhood (S10).  What do these have to do with age?  Even humanly, these things should increase in age, should they not?  What do they have to do with matter, or trips around the sun?  Caleb tells Joshua, at age 85, that he is just as strong as he was at 40 (after forty years of wandering in the desert), not only just as strong, but strong enough to go to war (not in this week's lesson).  How's that for feeling strong?  It's one thing to say you are a “young” 85, but most 85 year olds wouldn't say they are ready to sign up for the army!  If we shouldn't measure life by solar years, then what should we measure it by?  Something to ponder!  Some of those qualities mentioned above might be a good place to start.  As we welcome in the understanding, daily, that we are not really living in matter, we begin to understand the mythological nature of solar measurements. (S13)  Gradually we find ourselves overcoming some of the claims of aging.  The time to think about this is now, not “when we are old”.  There are claims that this myth puts on us at every turn.  It is never “too late”, because the myth never had any basis in fact!  One summer, I found myself with a very painful condition in my foot.  I never had it diagnosed, but it felt like something that would be described as arthritis.  I took the opportunity to rejoice in my flexibility, to welcome in new thoughts from God and to never be discouraged by the symptoms.  I walked daily, despite the discomfort, because I wanted to rejoice in the activity of Life.  In about three months the condition disappeared and has not returned.  Each walk was an opportunity, with every step, to claim my freedom from the constraints of life in matter.  Whether the situation was related to trips around the sun or not, a welcoming of fresh ideas from God about the nature of reality, always leads to healing.

Section 4: Welcome the perfect model into thought [& Crisler insights on the healing in PS]
“I have loved you, saith the Lord.” (B12)  This is what Jesus showed to the woman in this section who suffered from 12 years of hemorrhaging.  [B15, Luke 8:43-48, see PS and Shirley Paulson’s “Daily Lift”  for 1-13-14]  Citation B14 illustrates what she was doing as she reached for the hem of Jesus' robe.  She was laying “hold on eternal life… before many witnesses”.  [I Tim. 6:12]  She was reaching for the Christ, the light of understanding that Jesus brought to us.  We can also look here at the definition of 'SUN' in Mrs. Eddy's Glossary of S&H (p. 595).  Citation B13 says: “unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings;” Here 'Sun' is clearly symbolic of Jesus and of the Christ he embodied.  Mrs. Eddy defines SUN as: “Symbol of Soul governing man, of Truth, Life, and Love.”  Didn't Jesus show us this very fact, that Soul/Life governs man, in every healing work that he did?  It was Life here that was displayed, not the claim that blood is our life.  He didn't look into the doctor's claims about hemorrhaging, or ask her questions.  His understanding was so palpable, that she drew on it by merely reaching out for it, even when all of society warned her against such action (she was considered “unclean” because of her hemorrhaging).  We too, can trust that Life is being revealed to us, poured out to us.  We can touch this true understanding of Life, by stretching our thoughts and actions toward God, despite what matter tells us are the sensible material “facts” concerning life in the human body.  Let’s carry that perfect model in our thought.  Let’s not be swayed by the humanly indisputable, but flawed logic of the material mind.  Remember the sun looks like it goes around us, the moon looks like it shines, when it only reflects, railroad tracks look like they come together.  Matter will always do its best to convince us of its veracity.  It will fail as we heal in opposition to its evidence!  That's what Jesus did for this woman.

Section 5: No life in matter, then no death.
”W
eeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.” (B16, Ps. 30:5)  More analogies for us about day, night, morning and so on.  With the dawning understanding that life never existed in matter, we can be lifted out of grief over the appearance of death.  Not only are we lifted out of grief, but this deep and dawning comprehension brings its opposite, joy!  The illustration in this section of Lazarus' resurrection from death after four days is the ultimate in the eradication of any truth in the power of death, or indeed of life in matter. [See citations S22 and S21, plus a Bible Reenactment Skit about Lazarus resurrection with insights from Cobbey Crisler about Jesus’ gratitude-in-advance method. A PDF version of the script and application questions is posted online under Downloads in the upper right corner.]  Turning to citation S23 I am reminded of the persistence that we must maintain in our daily experience to bring about these great changes in thought.  In one account of Mrs. Eddy bringing her faithful worker Calvin Frye back from apparent death, I was taken by a small sentence at the end of the account: “After an hour, Calvin moved a little and then spoke…”  The account begins: “Mr. Frye had passed on—he had no pulse, he was stone cold—and rigid.  His closed eyes were fixedly set, and there were none of the common evidences of life.”  (Mary Baker Eddy, Christian Healer, p. 256-257).  It's the “After an hour…” that caught my attention.  Mrs. Eddy was presented with an irrefutable picture of complete death, and not, apparently a recent death.  She was undeterred and persisted not for a few minutes or fifteen or half an hour, but continuously and firmly, without response for an hour!  Does this tell us something of the need for us to be undeterred in our pursuit of the true nature of reality despite the material sense testimony?  Warren has shared a similar example with a pet rabbit of theirs that revived through Christian Science treatment after it had quite apparently died.  It isn't that we need despair if we are faced with an unchanged appearance of death in our experience.  The truth that man never lived in matter is the real gift, and it is the one that brings us joy as we understand it in its true depth of meaning.  Incidentally, Calvin Frye never took a vacation from 1882 until Mrs. Eddy's passing [in 1910].  He served as first reader in the Concord, NH church after she passed and then as president of the Mother Church in 1916, eleven years after the above incident.

Section 6: How do we progress?
Progress is essential to living life eternally.  Immortal Life appears and mortality disappears. (S26)  The prophetic scripture in citation B19 likens the dawning understanding of the power and presence of the Christ on earth to the light of the seven days of creation combined.  [Isa. 30:15, 26]  And citation B20 speaks of the light coming from within us, in our consciousness, not shining on us.  [II Cor. 4:6]  This further supports the earlier claims that God, Life wants us to see or understand our likeness to Her.  Knowing this truth (B21), that our life is God's life, reflected, helps us to move past the suggestions of mortal sense. (S25)  The marginal heading for citation S28 [“Condition of Progress”] is one that we could well pray about each day and ask the question it poses: “Am I living the life that approaches the supreme good?  Am I demonstrating the healing power of Truth and Love?  If so, then the way will grow brighter “unto the perfect day”.  This is God's “condition of progress”. It is our great joy and privilege!


[Warren’s P.S.  In his Commentary on Luke 8:41-48 (B15) Cobbey Crisler sets the stage for how the woman who had been hemorrhaging for 12 years was healed by touching the hem of Jesus’ garment. “The woman… is at the absolute desperate end of a rope.  Here we find the receptivity.   Blessed are those 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…
“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…
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.”  Luke the Researcher, B. Cobbey Crisler, p. 163, 164]

The Met application ideas above are provided primarily to help CedarS campers and staff (as well as friends) see and daily demonstrate the great value of studying and applying the Christian Science Bible lessons throughout the year, not just at camp!  YOU CAN ALSO SIGN UP for weekly emails from past CedarS staff of possible ways to share Bible Lesson applications with older, as well as younger, Sunday School classes by clicking the "Subscribe Now" button (lower left) at http://www.cedarscamps.org/metaphysical/ ]

[Warren Huff, CedarS Director & editor of these notes & bracketed, italic additions.]

[GREAT NEWS!  CedarS met its $25k Maintenance Musts Challenge Grant, THANKS to all you dear givers! It also looks like donations will cover the re-building of all the old fences for our horses– with the exception of one $6,000 riding arena.  So, please pray about supporting this and CedarS Matched “Adopt the Herd” fund for year-round horse care; and/or our need to underwrite applications coming in daily for 2014 Campership funding!]

And, HUGE THANKS to our current Monthly Donors of all amounts.  See a recent video from 4 monthly donors about how significant your support is! 
THANK YOU in advance for MONTHLY MAKING A TAX-DEDUCTIBLE GIFT ONLINE,

BY PHONE at 636-394-6162
OR BY MAIL at:
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[Additional Director's Note: You can sign up to have these application ideas emailed to you free — by Monday each week in English; or by each Wednesday you can get a FREE TRANSLATION: in German, thanks to Manfred and Jeanette; or in Spanish, thanks to a team of Ana, Erick, Claudia and Patricio, or in Portuguese, thanks to helpers of Orlando Trentini in Brazil.  A voluntary French translation by Rodger Glokpor, a Christian Scientist from Togo (West Africa) has been contributed.  Thank you, Rodger and all translators! Go to http://www.cedarscamps.org/ and click "Newsletters" to sign-up for a free translation into these languages.  This sharing is the latest in an ongoing, 13-year series of CedarS Bible Lesson "Mets" (Metaphysical application ideas) contributed weekly by a rotation of CedarS Resident Practitioners and occasionally by other metaphysicians.  (Ask and look for "Possible Sunday School Topics "and "Possible Younger Class Lessons" in emails to follow.) These weekly offerings are intended to encourage further study and application of ideas in the lesson and to invigorate Sunday School participation by students and by the budding teachers on our staff. Originally sent JUST to my Sunday School students and to campers, staff and CedarS families who wanted to continue at home and in their home Sunday Schools the same type of focused Lesson study, application and inspiration they had felt at camp, CedarS lesson "Mets "and Sunday School ideas are in no way meant to be definitive or conclusive or in any way serve as a substitute for daily study of the lesson. The thoughts presented are the inspiration of the moment and are offered to give a bit more dimension and background as well as new angles (and angels) on the daily applicability of some of the ideas and passages being studied. The weekly Bible Lessons are copyrighted by the Christian Science Publishing Society and are printed in the Christian Science Quarterly and in a variety of useful formats as available at Christian Science Reading Rooms or online at eBibleLesson.com or myBibleLesson.com. The citations referenced (i.e.B-1 and S-28) from this week's Bible Lesson in the "Met" (Metaphysical application ideas) are taken from the Bible (B-1 thru B-26) and the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health With Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy (S-1 thru S-32). The Bible and Science and Health are the ordained pastor of the Churches of Christ, Scientist.  The Bible Lesson is the sermon read in Christian Science church services throughout the world. The Lesson-Sermon speaks individually through the Christ to everyone, providing unique insights and tailor-made applications for each one.  We are glad you requested this metaphysical sharing and hope that you find some of the ideas helpful in your daily spiritual journey, in your deeper digging in the books and in closer bonding with your Comforter and Pastor.]

 

 

 

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