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[Rely on God to preserve, protect, and keep you safe, forever!]
Metaphysical Application Ideas for the Christian Science Bible Lesson on

“God the Preserver of Man”
for Sunday, June 14, 2015

by Rick Stewart, C.S., Dresden, Germany
(+49) 351 312 4736 rickstewartcs@aol.com

[Letting a recent need be known: A golf cart would be an answer to prayer for our Leadership Team to help them efficiently set up events at Bible Lands Park and to help shuttle campers to (and quickly back from) PAL House, our Christain Science care facility. Two initial pledges have been made by staff members, but $2,000 more is needed so that it could be delivered as soon as possible! Click https://www.cedarscamps.org/giving/tree/ to see our latest need listed at the top of the Giving Tree list of items. You can then click on the number of $100 gifts you can give to help us reach our goal. (FYI: A Program Leader and I have each made commitments of $1000 ($100 x 10) to match the meeting of this need.) Thank you in advance for whatever support you can provide! If $100 is too much for your budget please just call my cell number 314-378-2574 with your credit card or send a check to for what is comfortable: CedarS Camps, 19772 Sugar Dr, Lebanon, MO 65536]

Dear one,
This Bible Lesson is meant just for you! And this CedarS Met [like the Christian Science Bible Lesson that it’s meant to help you apply] is meant for each of you dear ones at CedarS Session 1 which has just begun
! It is just for each of you first time campers or volunteers. It is for you if you have been coming home to Cedars for 10 or 20 years. It is for you as a camper, counselor, director, or worker with 10 or 20 years under your belt. Yep, 20 years of great food under your belt from Wade, Miles, Trey, Cathy, or any of our beloved indoor and outdoor chefs and kitchen workers. And of course, this Met and Lesson are meant for each of you members of our family of friends supporters from around the world! It is for us all [in order that we may better glorify God!]

Because you see this lesson and this Met have wonderful angel messages meant especially for you. God is taking care of you and bringing you to Him, eternally. Keeping you safe. Cherishing you. God shelters you just like a mother bird cares for her little ones. Under Her/His wings you are sheltered, shaded, shielded from all evil and living eternally in God's care. And when there are troubles God lifts you on His powerful wings just like an eagle and brings you home.

Remember; when it comes to you, there is no “Best if used by” date. God's children have no expiration date when it is time to just throw them away. You are and will always be cherished at the peak of your perfection. That is God's promise to you and if you accept it, you will be agreeing to a covenant or contract that will never be broken.

The Golden Text says it beautifully and gives us the full promise of this lesson and the promise of God to us in just 11 words,

“…I carried you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself.” Exodus 19:4

This Golden Text comes from Moses telling the Children of Israel what God has promised and what God has asked of them. It is a statement of what God will do for His children. And it is an invitation from God to accept this promise. This was originally presented to the Children of Israel as they were being led by Moses out of bondage to freedom. But it also represents a promise to each of you. An invitation that is repeated eternally to accept God's love and care and take it to heart in guiding your life.

“On eagles' wings?” Maybe you have seen a Bald Eagle or a Golden Eagle? They are the large birds of prey. Eagles wingspread can be as large as six or seven feet! Eagles wings are strong enough to lift up a large fish that they just caught and take it home to their little ones for breakfast! And eagles can also fly with almost no flapping, if they need to. They rise on great warm currents of air, called thermals, and can soar for hours without one flap! In one study of eagles' flight they researchers observed a female bald eagle fly for one hour and only flap her wings for a total of 2 minutes!

So God can carry us with great strength and also with great grace and bring us home to Him.

The Bible Lesson will show us how.

The Responsive Reading comes from the beloved 91st Psalm. And what a perfect way to begin learning how God takes care of us. To know that we are safe in the “secret place of the Most High.” Have you ever had a special place to go, a “secret place,” where you felt safe, untouchable? This Psalm describes that kind of wonderful place where you do not have to be afraid of anything or anyone! And although the author is not identified, the Psalm just before this one, Psalm 90 is called a “Psalm of Moses, the man of God.” A famous English preacher from the 1800s, Charles Spurgeon, says many Jewish historians say that unless the Psalm is identified with an author, you can assume it is the same author as the one just before it. And the words and feeling of the Psalm sound similar to Psalm 90. So Moses may be our man again! http://www.spurgeon.org/treasury/ps091.htm

Just this past week I began to think of Psalm 91:1 as the best 911 Emergency number to call. I listened to a Christian Science Sentinel radio program which included a section by a manager of a 911 emergency response and she told how she kept a paper on her notice board with the simple message, “Psalm 91:1.” Yes, that is the real 911!

Another great example comes from an article by Maartje Spitz, “Emergency Call.” Christian Science Sentinel, April 15, 2013. “My son Daniel, who is four years old, was playing firefighter in the living room when he asked his dad: “How can I make an emergency call?”

“What do you need to call 911 for?” his dad asked. “To call the fire station,” Daniel replied.

Dad noticed that Daniel had a small pocket Bible in his hands and thought this would be a nice opportunity to explain how God always answers our prayers, not what the situation is. So he answered, “The Bible is a good choice for an emergency call.”

Before he could explain further, Daniel put the Bible up to his ear like a phone and said: “Hello, is this the fire department.”

Section 1: “Song of Moses” The man who was! [& still time-travels to visit BLP visitors!]
This section is a wonderful song of acknowledgment of wonderful ways God takes care of, or in the words of the Lesson, preserves us. The loving nature of God is made clear.

For example, Bible citation B-2 (Deut. 32:9-13) is often identified as the Song of Moses. Since I was finding so many references to Moses in the Lesson I thought it was time to do a little research about this man I had heard about since childhood. I knew all his stories from the Bible. To my great surprise I found that there were many historians and archeologists that were starting to question whether Moses even existed. I was astounded. It was like being told that one of my best friends was imaginary! In my mind I reviewed all the stories I had learned since childhood about this humble and wonderful man of God, Moses. And I tried to reconcile the theory that he did not even exist historically? I was reminded of those who even sometimes question the existence of the man we know of as Jesus.

Since I am not a real Bible scholar, or expert, I have no degrees; there are no letters of Biblical academia after my name. So, I just got real quiet and listened. I prayed. I went into that secret place of the Most High. And I asked myself, “Do I just go away shattered by these “revelations” that perhaps there is no archaeological evidence of Moses existence?” And then an answer came very clearly to thought. I remembered countless concrete evidences of God's presence in my life and the life of my family. Wonderful examples where we had been healed, led, saved by words of Moses that had inspired and lifted us up. (Just like on eagles' wings.) And I realized I did not need to get into any kind of mental academic argument with myself or anyone else's theories. I had seen wonderful things take place in my life that had been inspired by the life of Moses and the words shared in his name. And that was enough for me.

And then I thought of the Golden Text in a new light! “I carried you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself!” Wasn't the entire essence of what Moses' life represented to me included in finding a way to God and understanding more of the nature of God? It wasn't out there in an academic study. It was the discovery of how God brings each of us directly to Himself.

Then I read the Bible and Science and Health citations in this section with a new spirit. A firm rejoicing, a singing of God's praises as the words rang out with the living power of God's care and provision.

Section 2: Ruth and Naomi, faithful love bearing fruit in Love's spiritual joy.
The story of Ruth's faithful service to and love of her mother-in-law, Naomi, is a real inspiration. (B-5 & B-6, Ruth chapters 1 and 2) The Science and Health citations, S-7 to S-13, point out the wonderful spiritual truths that were operating in Ruth's experience. Her faithful, unselfish, abiding love bore fruit in great joy and good for not just herself, but for individuals over the years inspired by her example.

Isn't Ruth's example perfect for many faced with similar tragic circumstances these days? In citation S10 Mary Baker Eddy writes, “Happiness is spiritual, born of Truth and Love…. Love enriches the nature, enlarging, purifying, and elevating it. The wintry blasts of earth may uproot the flowers of affection, and scatter them to the winds; but this severance of fleshly ties serves to united thought more closely to God, for Love supports the struggling heart until it ceases to sigh over the world and begins to unfold it wings for heaven.” (SH 57)

Mrs. Eddy's words in this section speak not only to the story of Ruth and Naomi, but to her own life. Mrs. Eddy knew the heartbreak of widowhood in her early twenties, while expecting her first child. She knew of the false hope offered by her second husband who had promised to help her make a home and be reunited with her young son. She lived through the evil and heartbreak of infidelity. And when faced with the life shattering effects of an accident she turned to what had been an abiding power in her entire Life, she turned to God through her Bible. And He answered. Once again isn't it the spirit of the Golden Text ringing through, “I carried you on eagle's wings and brought you to myself.”

In many locations Mrs. Eddy speaks of her healing and what it did for her. One of my favorites is in Miscellaneous Writings, page 24. She relates of her healing from the effects of her fall on the ice in February, 1866 and then shares, “That short experience included a glimpse of the great fact that I have since tried to make plain to others, namely, Life in and of Spirit; this Life being the sole reality of existence.” This is definitely a Psalm 91:1 emergency call answered. Or as our beloved Cedars Executive Director, Warren, often reminds us, an emergency is a wonderful opportunity to “emerge and see!”

Section 3: God is the source of and preserves strength.
What joy it is to discover that God comes to us and not only inspires and comforts us, but also offers great strength and endurance when human resources are unavailable. A perfect example of this are the words from Bible citation B8, Isa. 40:28, 29-31. Mrs. Eddy refers to these verses in S-15, SH 218:27, “The Scriptures say, “They that wait upon the Lord…shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” The meaning of that passage is not perverted by applying it literally to moments of fatigue, for the moral and the physical are as one in their results. When we wake to the truth of being, all disease, will be unknown, and the mortal dream will forever cease. My method of treating fatigue applies to all bodily ailments, since Mind should be, and is supreme, absolute, and final.”

My mother's Christian Science teacher, Mary Sands Lee, saw this proved as she first read Science and Health. Mrs. Lee was a native of Chicago and as a young woman was working as an actress in the theater there. Mary had always been sickly and unable to engage in any physical activities. One of her fellow actors had shared a copy of Science and Health with her and she was reading it with great interest. This was in the early 1900s and at that time some families had homes in the city and also summer homes out on the shores of Lake Michigan. At the time Mary was reading Science and Health she travelled out to the family's summer home. She arrived and found that no one else was there. The family's staff had not opened up the house. All the furniture was covered with sheets and the dust from winter lay all around. There was lots of work to do and no one to do it. Mary had just read pages 217 and 218 in Science and Health, (S-15). In these pages Mrs. Eddy addresses fatigue and speaks of muscles and weariness. One particular paragraph stood out to Mary, and as she began the work of cleaning and opening the house she was pondering that section. SH 218: 5 “You do not say a wheel is fatigued; and yet the body is as material as the wheel. It it were not for what the human mind says of the body the body, like the inanimate wheel, would never weary. The consciousness of Truth rests us more than hours of repose in unconsciousness.”

As Mary worked she continued to repeat, “I can no more get tired than a wheel.” As she finished her work the family maid came through the front door. When she saw Mary she was astounded. “Why Mary, what has happened to you?” The maid had known Mary since she was a very small child, and was very familiar with Mary's ailments and weakness. Now standing before her was a robust, rosy-cheeked young lady, the very picture of health and vitality. Not only had Mary been able to do the work, but she had been completely healed of a long standing heart problem. Mary simply replied, “I can no more get tired than a wheel.”

Section 4: Rejoicing in the “shadow of Thy wings,” how God preserves our children.
In Bible citation B12, we read of a Canaanite woman calling out to Jesus for help, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil.” (Matthew 15: 22-28) Jesus' disciples asked him to send her away because “she crieth after us.” When Jesus explained that his teachings were for the “lost sheep of the house of Israel.” Then she came and worshipped him and asked, “Lord, help me.”

The discussion resulted in Jesus healing the daughter and commending the woman's faith, “O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.”

In the Science and Health citations we read, “Truth's immortal idea is sweeping down the centuries, gathering beneath its wings the sick and sinning….The promises will be fulfilled. The time for the reappearing of the divine healing is throughout all time; and whosoever layeth his earthly all on the altar of divine Science, drinketh of Christ's cup now, and is endued with the spirit and power of Christian healing.” [S20, SH 55]

This woman was willing to go to any lengths to get help for her daughter and reaching out to Jesus she laid it all out there. Willing to risk it all to get the help she needed for her daughter. Obviously she sensed that Jesus was the real thing.

Mrs. Eddy writes, “whosoever layeth his earthly all on the altar of divine Science, drinketh of Christ's cup now, and is endued with the spirit and power of Christian healing.”

Like our CedarS metaphysical theme for 2015, “Put it on the Altar to Alter Everything!” We invite all of you to join in exploring the deeper meanings and daily applications of this radical mission statement. As we consciously “altar everything (or put it on the altar), we alter everything. “All things are become new” as we live year-round CedarS tradition of starting every activity by putting it and our motives for it “on the altar” for God's purposes. http://www.cedarscamps.org/metaphysical/theme/

Section 5: “As birds flying”…rising on the “wings of eagles”, soaring not soring.
In citation B16 the Prophet Jeremiah wrote, “As birds flying, so will the Lord of hosts defend Jerusalem; defending also he will deliver it; and passing over he will preserve it.”

This section is a wonderful conclusion for our journey of discovering those “wings of eagles” that lift us beyond all hate, fatigue, illness, doubt, and fear. From the prophecies of the book of Revelation we are told of a great wonder in heaven, “ a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars.” (B17, Rev. 12)

This woman brought forth a man child who proclaimed the Christ, and seemed to face great opposition from “the dragon.” Even though this proclamation was heard,” Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.” It is nice to read how our eagle wings continue to help. “And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child. And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.” (B17, Rev. 12: 10, 13)

The Science and Health citations for this section really reduce that devilish threat of the dragon to its proper dimension, nothingness. Mrs. Eddy asks in citation S29, “What if the old dragon should send forth a new flood to drown the Christ-idea? He can neither drown your voice with its roar, nor again sink the world into the deep waters of chaos and old night. In this age the earth will help the woman; the spiritual idea will be understood.” (SH 570)

Mrs. Eddy promises in citation S32, “Fixing your gaze on realities supernal, you will rise to the spiritual consciousness of being, even as the bird which has burst from the egg and preens its wings for a skyward flight.” (SH 261) [I was told that this ability to fly right after exiting the egg describes only the Australian Brush Turkey. This trait was not even discovered or documented till after Mary Baker Eddy wrote this passage.]

Is it a case of years, and years of study that will bring us to the point of accepting these “wings” of deliverance? And are these physical wings or uplifting pinions of thought that rise effortlessly on the metaphysical thermals of Spirit. Who shall be able to use or discover these wings?

I love to remember that Jesus used the example of a little child as the means to enter into the kingdom of heaven, the secret place of the Most High. Yep, there is truly hope even if we are just a CedarS a Whippoorwill or Trailblazer! (CedarS youngest campers)

My son Johann had his first major healing as just that, a CedarS Trailblazer. And later that day he gave his first Christian Science testimony in front of 200+ people with microphone in hand.

In 1962 CedarS founder, Ruth Huff, articulated the following fundamentals for CedarS and they still provide daily guidance for our staff and campers,

The Five Fundamental Concepts of CedarS are:

  1. We regard each individual at camp as a child of God, who reflects alertness, joy, peace, ability, love…
  2. We respect each individual Christian Science young person as a future active worker in the Christian Science movement.
  3. We stand firm in our desire to use Christian Science in all of our actions and to be good examples.
  4. We believe that all have certain interests and talents, and we want to do all we can to further these and at the same time to introduce new activities and interests.
  5. We expect to make camping at the CEDARS fun!

Mrs. Ruth E. Huff, Founder, 1962

The following account is from an article by Helen H. Spangler in the August 1945 Christian Science Journal, “Presence.”

“Our Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, states in the textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” (page 236) “While age is halting between two opinions or battling with false beliefs, youth makes easy and rapid strides towards Truth.” This was clearly illustrated when a little child fell from a second-story window. The mother anxiously called a Christian Science practitioner and then ran downstairs to care for the little girl. When the mother opened the door, the child smilingly greeted her. Her mother asked if she was all right, and the child replied:

“Certainly, Mother. I just said, 'Get under me quick God.' and He said, 'I am already there.'”

Yes, God does preserve, protect, and keeps you safe and if need be He will carry you on eagles' wings and bring you to Himself. Because He is always saying, “I'm already there!” [See P.S. below.]


[P.S. Another child who was confident that God was with him was the shepherd boy David when he confidently ran to meet and defeat Goliath. In this morning's CedarS after-breakfast Practitioner Talk, we showed last Friday's "Daily Lift" as written and spoken by Christian Science Practitioner and Lecturer, Christie Hanzlik, CS of Boulder, CO. She amplified its applications ideas for this session's campers as well as for you! You can listen to it and download it (and over a decade of other CedarS Prac Talks) at http://www.cedarscamps.org/metaphysical/audio/ ]

[Bracketed italics added by CedarS Director, Warren Huff, who’s forever grateful for all the good already received and LETTING 3 SPECIAL 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.
1314 Parkview Valley Drive
Ballwin, MO 63011

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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