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[Welcome in God’s joy, love, intelligence and divine energy!]
Metaphysical Application Ideas for the Christian Science Bible Lesson on

“God”
for Sunday, July 5, 2015

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

[Apologies for a later than usual posting due to technical difficulties… ]

What is God? Answer for yourself in your own words. Mrs. Eddy asks this very question and answers it on p.465:8 of Science and Health. She also says in the same book on p. 256:16 “The precise form of God must be of small importance in comparison with the sublime question, What is infinite Mind or divine Love?” You may have fun reading on from there at least through line 3 of p.257. There she explains why the infinitude of Love can’t be contained in the finiteness of a material sense of form; same goes for a limited sense of mind. Our concept of God has the ability to bring us peace and joy and the power of healing. Likewise it can stifle or “chill” our spiritual sense if that concept rests on material sense. It can be reduced to a pleasant “idea” that can end up sitting on a shelf and be of little use other than an occasional emotional experience or feeling. God is understood and becomes living, powerful, present, by welcoming His spiritual attributes into our thought and actions. In this way we experience true beauty, divine power, healing, mercy, peace and grace. The key here is experience. This bringing of God into our experience is the great gift of Jesus’ teachings and those of Mrs. Eddy. The Bible relates these practical demonstrations of God’s power, grace and goodness throughout in stories, laws, songs, parables and revelations.

Responsive Reading: Interpreting spiritually.
The very first verse reveals to us that we all belong to Him. He cares about us right where we are (“earth”) in our thought, or understanding and experience. This is followed by “Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.” I have been thinking of this in terms of the doors and gates as belonging to our consciousness. If that consciousness is elevated and uplifted we are ready to welcome in God’s joy, love, intelligence and divine energy. Ps.108:3 declares:”Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens: and thy glory above all the earth;” Might this signify that we are not mired in human concepts of “heaven and earth”, rather we are governed by divine power and Love?

Section 1: Beauty is an essential attribute of Love/God.
Love is what makes all things beautiful. Love is not dependent on matter in any way. Nature is included in this expression of beauty. The Psalms wax poetic about natural beauty as an expression of God’s love for, and His notice of, His children. And Mrs. Eddy points out that “It is Love which paints the petal with myriad hues…” and so on (S2). When we convey a sense of Love in a musical performance, a dance, a painting, we express His beauty most clearly. When a performance or creation is done with a personal sense of attainment or skill, we are left with only the shell of beauty—perfect notes, form or brush stroke—but no genuine spiritual beauty! I often find that the beauty that I seek out in people or things around me, especially nature, opens me up to God’s presence and power. I had one such experience when Doug and I were hiking many years ago in a wilderness area. I was suffering from some pretty severe menstrual cramps and got to the point where I had him leave me and head out on his own to explore. I was lying on my stomach in some tall grass next to a narrow but deep, clear stream. I watched some beautiful salmon as they were on their journey to spawning grounds. This was firmly in the middle of the state of Alaska—so many miles from the ocean. While I pondered their long journey to this peaceful and distant point, which I was allowed to witness, I was overwhelmed with the beauty and power behind such actions. It was like a doorway in my thought opened wide to allow the peace and love of God to flow over me and chase out the discomfort and pain of those cramps. This totally peaceful sense of beauty has remained through the many years since as a powerful feeling of God’s practical and loving presence in my life.

Section 2: Power is an attribute of Mind/God.
As Mrs. Eddy explains in the passage quoted at the beginning of the Met on p.256 and 257, pondering the nature and essence of infinite Mind and divine Love is essential, and brings healing and good into our experience. When we understand God’s power, and the lack of power in matter, we begin to find our sense of joy and health to be steadily more reliable. “O God, thou art my God; (not friends, hormones, chemicals, genetics, circumstances, money, etc.) early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is; (I’m not satisfied in matter—that dry and thirsty land—I want to see Your activity and power as I have when I’ve gone into the “sanctuary,” the quiet place, where matter is gone, where I hear your voice) To see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary.” (B6) Let’s do “Let us rejoice that we are subject to the divine “powers that be.” We can claim this power even in the midst of a “bad mood”, a scary situation, or any suggestion that we are not under God’s—Mind’s—government.

Section 3: Actions (that heal) are more important than words!
Even way back in Isaiah’s time there was a sense that religious dogma would kill the action of Love/God. Citation B11 explains that the true fast that God wants us to partake in is one of great love, healing and compassion. This is what will best display God’s true nature, His glory. God did not create man, “cut him loose”, and then let him work out all his problems with matter using matter. This is my “take-away” from citation S14 where Mrs. Eddy tells us that “Consecration to good does not lessen man’s dependence on God, but heightens it.” Our worship and understanding of God brings healing and power to our lives, not dogma, or empty religious practice. It does not leave us at the mercy of matter and its so-called laws. Our worship of God is not intellectual or emotional. It is a worship that is full of the intelligence and understanding of Mind, the fire of divine Love and the power to feel that Love and intelligence in our healing practice.

Section 4: Right action is always merciful. Mercy is an attribute of God.
The lepers in this section were forced to live outside the city walls. They had to shout from a distance to get Jesus to hear them and heal them. (It was a similar case to that of the woman who reached for the hem of his garment when she wasn’t, according to religious law, supposed to come in contact with others.) Yet Jesus showed these ten men that God is merciful, tender, and loving. He revealed a God of compassion who would not isolate, marginalize or make diseased His children. Jesus welcomed these men “in”. Yet only one turned to give thanks to the God who was revealed by Jesus’ healing power. I’ve taken this as a suggestion to me that I must look for every opportunity to recognize the mercy and grace of God in my life. If I am not “turning” to give thanks, then I am not gaining the full sense of God’s goodness, I am merely “going my way” and living more in matter than Spirit. This is what happens when we have a grand “to do” list and don’t see the overarching spiritual nature of life at every turn. Instead we can “Let unselfishness, goodness, mercy, justice, health, holiness, love—the kingdom of heaven—reign within us, and sin, disease, and death will diminish until they finally disappear.” (S19)

Section 5: Peace comes from embracing attributes of God in consciousness and life.
The attribute of peace arrives near the end of the lesson and I take that to signify that to gain spiritual peace we need to welcome in God's attributes of beauty, power, healing, and mercy. Peace does not come from a cessation of error’s clamor, but from recognition of the presence of God's power, beauty and mercy, right where discord may seem to be. Demonstrating mercy in our actions, discerning beauty in those around us and in the world around us, recognizing and trusting God’s power and demonstrating these things through healing, we are given a peace that is immovable. “Beholding the infinite tasks of truth, we pause,—wait on God. Then we push onward, until boundless thought walks enraptured, and conception unconfined is winged to reach the divine glory.” (S22). I found myself smiling at this passage when I thought of some substitutions: “Beholding the infinite tasks of truth”…we rush ahead with our list, feeling overwhelmed and burdened and anxious….” No!!! We “pause,—wait on God. Then we push onward…” If we “push pause” and we actually wait for a moment for those attributes of God to take the fore in our thought, we are given that boundless sense of life that is not confined to a limited sense of time or ability or intelligence or talent or…

Section 6: Grace.
Grace is the operative attribute in this final section—God’s love freely given to us. Mrs. Eddy says in citation S24 that some measure of grace comes “…to all prepared to receive Christ, Truth.” How do we prepare to receive this Truth? By welcoming in the attributes that this lesson has revealed to us, by understanding and glorifying God in our daily living. Second Peter also declares: “Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord…” (B24). It is that knowledge that we are constantly developing, of God as Mind and Love (and all the synonyms!)—the knowledge of God as powerful and loving and merciful. This is a God worth worshiping and glorifying every day!


[Bracketed italics in each CedarS Met are added by CedarS Director and Met "Founder"/Editor, Warren Huff, who’s forever grateful for all the good already received and LETTING 3 ONGOING NEEDS BE KNOWN –
Significant funding is still needed for these special opportunities:
1. It is apparent that getting many to camp will depend on "Love's Provision" of campership assistance.
Could you be one of the angels who gives towards camperships and the life-altaring and life-altering experiences they provide at CedarS?]

2. Over 100 needed items are featured on CedarS Giving Tree that could fit the budget of every grateful Met-recipient and camper. You can choose for yourself $1-and-up ways to give to support CedarS needs. Click here to see 2 young alumni tell their reasons to give.

3. Adopt the Herd” Matching Opportunity! Generous donors, aware of the ongoing need to care for CedarS herd, will match donations for our horse program! (~$15k needed to reach $50k goal)]

[The weekly Metaphysical Newsletter is provided at no charge to the 1,200 campers and staff blessed each summer at CedarS, as well as to CedarS alumni, families and friends who have requested it. However, current and planned gifts are a big help and are greatly appreciated in defraying the costs of running this service and of providing needed camperships, programs and operations support. Click http://www.cedarscamps.org/giving/ for more about how you can provide even monthly support online. Or you can always call the Huffs at 636-394-6162 get information or discuss privately how to transfer securities or other assets to help support and perpetuate CedarS work.]

[You can also reach a member of the Founding family nearly anytime by
PHONE at 636-394-6162
or MAIL your tax-deductible support to our 501C3 organization
(Our not-for-profit, Federal Identification Number is #440-66-3883):

The CedarS Camps, Inc.
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THANKS TO YOU PRECIOUS DONORS FOR YOUR ONGOING, GENEROUS and NEEDED SUPPORT OF CedarS IMPORTANT WORK!

[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/ ]

[For additional "Director's Notes" on the history, development & 4 translations of CedarS weekly Bible Lesson "Mets" go to Notes in our online online version of it.]

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