Join us for the best summer yet!

[Prove that Matter Just Doesn't Matter!]
Metaphysical Application Ideas for the Christian Science Bible Lesson for

Sunday, September 20, 2015 on

“Matter”

By Aubrey McMullin, C.S., Godfrey, Illinois
(618) 578-9407 aubrey.mcmullin3@gmail.com

Every day we are declaring in our thoughts and in our deeds what is real and what is unreal, what is true and what is false. Christ Jesus has provided direction for us in how to accomplish this and so has Mary Baker Eddy. We've been given so many wonderful prayers to work with; and in every single one, there is a Yes followed by a No and then reaffirmed with another Yes! This is what Jesus was saying in the Bible, in the book of Matthew chapter 5:37 when he said, " let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh evil."

Being able to say yea and nay is part of our God-given authority, and I love to exercise it daily—spiritually! So, when I saw that the subject of the lesson this week is “Matter”, I remembered the words of the Founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, from our textbook Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, "Spirit and matter neither concur in man nor in the universe" and "if we trust matter, we distrust Spirit." Those citations can be found on pages 319:13-14 and 243:3 and go hand-in-hand with the Golden Text because they remind us that there is only one God and all else is nothing in the world!

I especially cherish the lessons we are given twice a year that address matter. Why? Because when I'm addressing matter, I'm concentrating on dealing with matter as it truly is—nothing—and declaring the nay portion of my communication—my "interchange of thoughts" as the 1828 Webster's Dictionary defines communication. Mary Baker Eddy states multiple times in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures that divine Science—metaphysics—excludes matter and resolves things into thoughts, replacing objects of material sense with spiritual ideas (123:12-15 & 269: 14-16).

This week's lesson does a fantastic job of clearly stating from the get-go that when we say Yea to God, and only God, we are clearing the mental storehouse of worthless material and filling it with things/thoughts of real value!

Golden Text: The immediacy of Truth replacing mortal mind!
I love how simple the Golden Text always is, setting us up for the entire lesson in a very concise manner. This week we get straight to the point: any image, form, or representation that is unlike God is "nothing in the world" because GOD IS ALL! This prepares us perfectly for the understanding that it is a daily choice that we are making, to serve God and not matter (Hymn 136).

Responsive Reading: Our thought is not a repair business, but a lie-destruction business!
Like I said earlier, this Responsive Reading is a wonderful example of clearing one’s mental storehouse of worthless intruders—fear, dismay, shame, sadness—and filling it with true treasures like strength, righteousness, unity, and joy! Mary Baker Eddy reminds us that "God gives [us] His spiritual ideas, and in turn, they give [us] daily supplies” (Miscellaneous Writings 307). Our daily supply is the truth about our being, and this is the “new sharp threshing instrument” mentioned in our Responsive Reading (Isaiah 41:15). The mountains are material challenges which Truth destroys, beats small, makes as chaff, fans away, carries away, and scatters. Again, why? Because God is all, and there is nothing else.

Section 1: To be Godlike is to be independent of matter. (There is no life in matter.)
Talk about a great way to kick off a lesson on matter's unreality!! We are inherently the reflections of all intelligence, all action, and all power and never have and never will depend upon matter for expression! Isn't that such a wonderful reminder?? To me, that is what Psalm 27 (B1) is really all about. Psalms like the one shared in this section turn my thought to Moses and how he trusted God every step of the way while delivering the children of Israel from Egypt—parting the sea, crossing on dry ground, and letting the past be washed away behind him and the children of Israel. How excellent was God's lovingkindness (B2) in that instance—AND in all instances today! When we truly put all of our trust in God, we ARE abundantly satisfied with His gift, the fountain of life (B2); it springs forth love, patience, joy, and allows us to trust even further in God.

And I absolutely LOVE how right to the point Mary Baker Eddy's spiritual interpretation of the Bible always is. She constantly, and in many different ways, declares that by Spirit—God—being all, there can be no matter! Her provision of the Scientific Statement of Being is like a mathematical proof, constantly declaring the yea and nay of our being. We begin with declaring that "there is no life, truth, intelligence, nor substance in matter" (Science and Health 468). That is the first NO that denies the something-ness of matter! We are independent of matter and prove this daily because we DO reflect life, truth, intelligence, and substance in our being. "All is infinite Mind AND its infinite manifestation, for God is All-in-all" (Science and Health, 468, S2), the second YES reaffirms our independence of matter because "God, Spirit, being all, NOTHING IS MATTER" (S6). [See Warren’s PS#1 for more on the Scientific Statement of Being that is woven throughout this lesson on Matter.]

Section 2: Hold perpetually to Truth until all opposing thoughts are eliminated; not relaxing our efforts until the work is accomplished. (There is no truth in matter.)
Now that we have established the truth that NOTHING IS MATTER, we must hold to it perpetually (constantly, continually), because "we are of God" (B4)! In Section 2 we are given a fantastic example of someone who held perpetually to Truth until all opposing thoughts were eliminated. Jacob was left ALONE, and would not let the angel go, even when error tempted him to relax his efforts before the work was finalized. How many times are we tempted to settle for something because it is "good enough" or "better than it was before"? We are never too busy to demand of ourselves and others the great good of completed work. Jacob's example shows us to gratefully and persistently maintain hold on the angel messenger, or message from God, and realize that no other call is of comparable importance.

Even in last week's lesson on Substance (the YEA to this week's NAY— matter), we were reminded to "maintain the FACTS of Christian Science, – that Spirit is God, and therefore cannot be sick; that what is termed matter cannot be sick; that all causation is Mind, acting through spiritual law" and to "hold [our] ground with the unshaken understanding of Truth and Love, and [we] will win" (Science and Health 417). Truth's work is always COMPLETE, and health and harmony are our ETERNAL expressions. Mrs. Eddy tells us many ways to hold perpetually to Truth and uses the word "proportion" 30 times in Science and Health to help portray the effectiveness and importance of keeping thought perpetually focused on that to which we are saying YES! One of my favorite instances is when she tells us to "hold thought steadfastly to the enduring, the good, and the true, and you will bring these into your experience proportionably to their occupancy of your thoughts" (261). Let’s go forward each day, learning more and more of "the enduring, the good, and the true." And let's see it possess our consciousness and be incorporated in our lives as we hold steadfastly and perpetually to these spiritual truths we are gaining! Holding perpetually to this truth, we have no outcome aside from freedom (B8 & S13).

Section 3: Rely on the absolute divine wisdom rather than a false, human so-called knowledge. (There is no intelligence in matter.)
"No wisdom is wise but His wisdom," is how Mary Baker Eddy addresses mortal mind's claim to wisdom (Science and Health 275). This whole section reiterates that there is only one true wisdom—the wisdom of infinite Mind. Every other claim to wisdom is NOT wisdom and every other claim to understanding is NOT understanding, but rather foolishness. Would we rather have wisdom acquired through the corporeal senses, or through divine intuition? Again, we are given one of Mary Baker Eddy's fine uses of "proportion" in this section. She states that "in proportion as the BELIEF disappears that life and intelligence are in or of matter, the immortal facts of being are seen, and their ONLY idea or intelligence is in God" (S17; Science and Health 279).

Only God can give true wisdom and only God can give whole understanding (B11), and this is our divine and only inheritance!! As His offspring, we are governed solely by His divine intelligence and this divine intelligence and understanding brings harmony and health to our lives, showing that we are well in spirit as well as physically. Divine wisdom unfolds all that is required to make life sweet and harmonious, peaceful and comfortable, righteous and healthy, and this is why "we must not attribute more and more intelligence to matter, but less and less" (S18). Because divine wisdom is so much more satisfying than any false sense of human so-called knowledge.

Section 4: Let our lives attest our sincerity (There is no substance in matter.)
This section reminds me of a Discovery Bound event that I attended at CedarS Camps last October. In our Sunday School Class that weekend, the children acted out the story of the man that was taken with a palsy and brought in on a bed by some men (B16) [which you can see as an attachment in the online version of this CedarS Met]. This story is so inspiring to me, because the men did not give up on getting the man with a palsy to Jesus when it was no longer a simple task. They LET HIM DOWN THROUGH THE ROOF!! Talk about letting our lives attest our sincerity. These men did not allow one bump in the road to keep them from reaching the Christ-Truth, and Jesus saw this! Their actions were pleading with an honest and faithful conviction (S21).

While watching the children act out this story [adjacent to the cable ski shelter with a built-in hole in its roof], a recurring theme still stays strong in my thought. Every time the child playing the role of Jesus said, "Man, thy sins are forgiven thee," the child that was playing the role of the paralyzed man always jumped up off of the ground as if he or she had just had enough of that enslaving condition and was so fed up with that lie! They were "sick" of it! They no longer claimed it as a sickness that oppressed them, but were allowing Mind to be supreme (S22)! How inspiring it was to see these children fully grasping the concept of how our faith makes us whole, and how our lives attest our sincerity. Our true substance is in this understanding!

[Also see a PDF download on CedarS online version of this Met of Cobbey Crisler insights on citation B15 about Jesus’ walking on the water with dominion over both gravity and weightlessness.]

Section 5: Keep thought active with the truth of God, not allowing evil suggestions to take root in it or bear fruit. (Man is not material; he is spiritual.)

Jesus said, "What I say unto you I say unto all, Watch." (B21) Mary Baker Eddy reminds us to "watch, and pray daily that evil suggestions, in whatever guise, take no root in your thought nor bear fruit." (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany 128) The Psalmist yearned for a deep relationship with God (B17), and had such a strong desire to do God's will (B18). "Desire is prayer, and no loss can occur from trusting God with our desires, that they may be moulded and exalted before they take form in words and in deeds" (Science and Health 1:11-14). He meets our needs before we are even aware that they ARE needs! He leaves us with a gift that will last, a gift "not as the world giveth" with the world's ebb and flow and inconsistencies, but an eternal gift of peace and love, found in the realm of Spirit (S28), the real and eternal (S27)!!


[Warren’s PS #1: Mary Baker Eddy's Scientific Statement of Being is woven throughout the lesson on "Matter", giving a focus to each section as outlined by Aubrey. It shows the essence of our relationship to God, and what really comprises life. It is read at the conclusion of every Sunday church service and Sunday School session and is often the first thing that comes to thought in time of need. Although these 60 words are very familiar to many of us, let’s take time this week to really delve into their deep meaning and power. World-renowned physicist, Dr. Albert Einstein visited the Christian Science Reading Room in Princeton, New Jersey (where he taught Physics at Princeton University) and where I graduated from a decade or more later. Einstein reportedly said to the Christian Science Reading Room librarian–about the Scientific Statement of Being (468): “This is the most profound statement ever uttered by mankind!” (This and other info on Einstein and Christian Science is in the first attached online as copied and shared with teh author's permission from the first edition of a book by Jack Geis — jmgeis@woh.rr.com — called Physics, Metaphysics and God.) The Scientific Statement of Being is firmly grounded in the Bible (especially I John 3: 1-3 and Acts 17:8). Mrs. Eddy points this out its direct connection to Paul’s words in Acts and the acts that are demanded of us today "to give to the world convincing proof..".(Ret. 93-94) She says: “St. Paul said to the Athenians, ‘For in Him we live, and move, and have our being.’ This statement is in substance identical with my own: ‘There is no life, truth, substance, nor intelligence in matter.’ It is quite clear that as yet this grandest verity has not been fully demonstrated, but it is nevertheless true. If Christian Science reiterates St. Paul’s teaching, we, as Christian Scientists, should give to the world convincing proof of the validity of this scientific statement of being. Having perceived, in advance of others, this scientific fact, we owe to ourselves and to the world a struggle for its demonstration.” Retrospection and Introspection 93-94).
Check out Ron Mangelsdorf’s healing also by his application of the “Scientific Statement of Being” in today’s “Daily Lift” (9/14/15): “What are you made of?” by clicking on or pasting this link http://christianscience.com/prayer-and-health/inspirational-media/your-daily-lift/150914-what-are-you-made-of ]

[W’s PS#2 Cobbey Crisler —the healing value of good cheer, forgiveness on any "paralyzed" man:
‘Verse 2 of the Matthew 9 version of this healing: "We have a man in bed with the palsy.” Can you imagine Jesus going by a man who had been that long without moving and telling him to “be of good cheer”? But there’s nothing Jesus said that he didn’t discern was needed. What that man needed, more than physical movement, was to be of good cheer. Jesus said, “Thy sins be forgiven thee.” Jesus knew at a glance the whole history of a case.”
(Verse 3). The scribes say, “This man blasphemes.” In order to get the healing, he has to eliminate the theological obstruction to healing first.
(Verse 5). He says, “What is easier? To say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and walk?”
(Verse 6). “Because the Son of man does have power on earth to forgive sins, (then saith he to the sick of the palsy), Arise, take up thy bed, and he goes.”
Book of Matthew, Auditing the Master: A Tax Collector’s Report, p. 42-43
Check out a re-enactment skit written of this Matthew 9:2 or Luke 5:17… version of the paralytic's healing by clicking the file in the upper right corner of CedarS online version of this Met.]

American Camp Association

MAIN OFFICE
(November - May)
410 Sovereign Court #8
Ballwin, MO 63011
(636) 394-6162

CAMP OFFICE
(Memorial Day Weekend - October)
19772 Sugar Dr.
Lebanon, MO 65536
(417) 532-6699

Support our mission!

CedarS Camps

Back
to top