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[See Love’s Halo All around Us!]
Metaphysical Application Ideas for the Christian Science Bible Lesson:

“Love”

July 31, 2016

By Christie Hanzlik, C.S., Boulder, Colorado
ccern@mac.com / 720.331.9356

Earlier this summer, I spent a month at CedarS CampS, where a unifying love and service ethic flavored every aspect of each day. When I left camp, the harsh divisiveness of the election season and brutal news of shootings and terror around the world seemed at first more shocking than ever, tasting bitter compared to my sweet early-summer experiences.

But I quickly saw that accepting worldly discord as a fixed fact would attempt to undermine the good work at CedarS and other places that have a focus on love, unity, and the spirit of giving. So, instead of accepting hostility and injustice as the norm, I refuse to be shocked by the threats of inharmoniousness, and I am actively praying to see that the law of Love exists everywhere—not just in certain times and locations or among certain people. There is no spot where Love is not. Our high goal is actively acknowledging Love’s unifying effect. As each of us strives to be a witness for Love, we can expect to discover more and more of the “atmosphere of Love divine” and experience unity as a universal principle. In fact, this is our purpose. Our purpose is to love.

The Golden Text of this week’s Bible Lesson on Love describes the strength of Love’s unifying power: “Many waters [of discord] cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it.”

(The theme at CedarS this summer is “Walk in the Way of Holiness,” so I highlighted the phrase “the way" in bold to emphasize how often we see it when discussing the way to love and to heal.)

Section 1:

The first section announces that we are each loved with an everlasting love, a love that answers our every need. We don’t need to ask for more, look for more, or go anywhere to find out that we are loved right here and right now. Divine Love never loses sight of us, and we are blessed by loving and being loved every moment of every day. [B1, B2, S1]

God’s love for us is like a radiant halo glowing around us, ensuring that we feel Love’s affection everywhere. We wear that halo and cannot remove it. [S2] If Mary Baker Eddy defined HALO in the Glossary of Science and Health, it might read something like…

HALO: the blessing of Divine Love; the radiant glow of Christly perfection.

Try this: Picture yourself and the people around you as surrounded by a halo. It may be easy to picture a glowing HALO around people you like, but can you picture a HALO on everyone? Try to see Love's HALO surrounding people who seem to be difficult to like. Strive to picture Love’s HALO on people in the news, on political candidates, on those who have committed crimes, on those who seem to enjoy discord, and on those with physical struggles. Seeing a HALO surrounding others is more than a mere thought exercise. It is an effective way to love, to heal.

Section 2:

The second section opens with a story of David sparing the life of his enemy, Saul, who had become very jealous of David and was trying to kill him. In the story, Saul is asleep and David sneaks up and takes a spear lying near Saul’s head. David could have killed Saul, but instead shows mercy. Later, when David shows Saul the spear, Saul realizes that David spared his life, and Saul says, “Come back home, my son, and I will no longer try to harm you, for you valued my life today. I have been a fool and very, very wrong.” (B3, NLT)

David’s actions were an advance display of Jesus’ command, “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.” (B4) David showed mercy because he saw Saul as metaphorically wearing Love’s HALO, seeing Saul’s goodness and usefulness instead of his vitriolic tendencies. And when David showed mercy, he found the truth in the Psalm: “Surely [Love] shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.” [RR]

As we see others as wearing Love’s HALO, we are actively following the way of Christ, like David did, and obeying Jesus’ instructions to love our enemies and pray for those who curse us, hate us, use us, or persecute us. (B4) And, like David, our love for others protects us. Wearing Love’s HALO means that you are “clad in the panoply of Love,” where "human hatred cannot reach you." (S5, 571 and PS1)

Our active prayer to see Love’s HALO surrounding everyone at all times is the way of Christ healing. It is the way—the Science—of how Christ Jesus healed. As Mary Baker Eddy writes, “Universal Love is the divine way in Christian Science.” (S4, 266)

Seeing the whole world as "clad in the panoply of Love” and wearing a HALO is the way to correct discord: “One infinite [Love] unifies men and nations; constitutes the brotherhood of man; ends wars; fulfils the Scripture, "Love thy neighbor as thyself;" annihilates pagan and Christian idolatry, — whatever is wrong in social, civil, criminal, political, and religious codes; equalizes the sexes; annuls the curse on man, and leaves nothing that can sin, suffer, be punished or destroyed.” [S7, 340]

Section 3:

It is not always easy to see Love’s HALO on people who seem threatening or mean, or to see the HALO around ourselves when we seem to be in a difficult situation. Those things tend to make us want to go into self-preservation mode, perhaps leading us to think, “If I can first take care of myself, then I will try to love others…”

But the Bible teaches us the way to pray—to love—in these difficult situations. The 23rd Psalm in the third section explains that even when “we walk through the valley of the shadow of death [fear, doubt, hatred],” Love’s angel messages come as a rod and staff to protect and comfort us. [B6]

In fact, it is often in our most difficult times, when we seem to be having valley-like experiences, that we are willing to listen most to Love’s angel messages.

This is what happened for Daniel, a prophet, who felt scared and alone when he had a huge task ahead of him. When Daniel turned away from his fear, trusting and listening for Divine Love’s instruction, he felt the angel Gabriel—the angel of Love—comfort him and show him the way. [B7]

In Science and Health, Mary Baker Eddy offers the inspired meaning of what Gabriel—the angel of Love—represents. Gabriel has the “quiet task” of giving us “a sense of the ever-presence of ministering Love. These angels deliver us from the depths.” [S11, 567] Love’s angels are always speaking to us directly. It’s when we really need angel messages in our hour of woe that we seem to hear them most clearly. As we learn from Psalms, “For [Love] shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.” [RR]

Angel messages—Love’s thoughts coming to us—show us the way to love one another even when it seems very difficult to do. It is as if the angel is pointing out Love’s HALO on everyone around us, reminding us to see one another as God does. As we listen for Gabriel’s sweet voice, what may at first seem like the “valley of the shadow of death” immediately becomes an opportunity to see more and more Love. And, as we hear Gabriel’s message, we find, like Daniel did, that, “Each successive stage of experience unfolds new views of divine goodness and love.” [S12, 66]

Section 4 [See The Greatest Thing in the World on Paul's analysis of love (B10, I Cor. 13:4)]

In Section 4, we read Christ Jesus’ instructions on how to love our neighbor better and see Love’s HALO on everyone. He says that when we think we see a mote (obstruction) in our neighbor’s eye (experience), we should first remove the beam (huge obstruction) from our own vision. This counsel makes sense because if we are tempted to see someone else as unworthy of Love, then we ourselves must be seeing a limit to infinite Love. So, the way to see Love’s HALO on others is to get rid of “the beam” obstructing our vision and thus enlarge our view, our understanding, of infinite Love.

If Mary Baker Eddy defined “BEAM” in the glossary of Science and Health, it would perhaps read something like…

BEAM: Passions, selfishness, false appetites, hatred, fear, all sensuality; Self-love is more opaque than a solid body; self-will, self-justification, [S14, 201; S15, 242]

When we are tempted to see someone as not having a HALO, we must remove the BEAM, the error, from our own thought.

But how do we remove the BEAM? It seems like a ridiculously hard task. Even if we remove a large part of the BEAM, bits and pieces could remain. Do we use our fingers to pick out bits of the BEAM? Do we use tweezers to get out the hard-to-reach pieces? Fortunately, we have an answer. As Mary Baker Eddy writes, “The way to extract error from mortal mind is to pour in truth through flood-tides of Love.” Click here for a link to a Daily Lift video from CSPS that offers a visual reminder of the way to flush out error with flood-tides of Love.

In addition to flushing out the BEAM with flood-tides of Love, Mary Baker Eddy reminds us that the “universal solvent of Love” dissolves the BEAM. Love inspires us and leads us in the way to get rid of the BEAM, which is, of course, nothing but a false view, an illusion to distract us from Love’s omnipotence. [S15, 242]

Section 5 (See PS1 for Cobbey Crisler on B14, Luke 8:40-48)

The fifth section gives an example of what happened when Christ Jesus saw the “woman having an issue of blood twelve years” with absolute love, as wearing a resplendent HALO. She was healed instantaneously. [B14, Luke 8:41-48 with Cobbey P.S. below]

Christ Jesus had no BEAM in his eye, no obstruction of spiritual vision. This was the pure Christ—awareness of Divine Love—that enabled him to heal with Scientific certainty. As we better understand the divine power of Christliness—a pure awareness of Love with no BEAM— we can heal, and “the healing work will be accomplished at one visit.” [S19, 365]

We can follow Christ Jesus in the way of instantaneous healing, wearing our HALO and seeing others clearly without a BEAM obstructing our view of infinite perfection. As we reach our patients with divine Love, seeing each of our neighbors with their radiant HALO, we “[receive] directly the divine power.” [S21, 192]

Section 6 (See PS2 for Cobbey Crisler on B16, Acts 9:36-41)

Section 6 opens with Paul the Apostle’s words, “I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” [B15]

We can apply this statement to any situation, as we strive to acknowledge Love’s HALO around the whole universe, including us. Here’s an example of how we might adapt Paul’s statement to address current events: I am persuaded that neither loneliness, nor doubt, nor terror, nor viruses, nor divisive politics, nor things that are going on now, nor things that seem to threaten our future, nor gun violence, nor global warming, nor identity theft, or religious differences can ever separate us from the infinite HALO of God’s all-powerful love, which was shown to us in the life of Christ Jesus our Way Shower.

Section 6 also describes the event [in A.P. (Answered Prayer) History] of Peter raising Tabitha from the dead, thus demonstrating the truth of Paul’s above statement and the fact that Christ Jesus’ healing power came from divine Love, not from personal power. [B15, PS2] As Mary Baker Eddy explains, “It is not well to imagine that Jesus demonstrated the divine power to heal only for a select number or for a limited period of time, since to all mankind and in every hour, divine Love supplies all good.” [S20, 494]

Section 7

Section 7 gives us marching orders to “Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.” [B17, Matt. 10:8] If we’re concerned that we don’t know how to follow these instructions, we can review this week’s Bible Lesson on Love because it explains the way to understand and exercise the healing power of divine Love with Scientific certainty:

· Love’s infinite power cannot be drowned out or diminished by the many waters [of seeming discord] [Golden Text]
· We can heal by seeing Love’s HALO on ourselves and others [section 1]
· Like David, we can love our enemies and see them with a HALO [section 2]
· Like Daniel, we can listen to Love’s angels directing our path [section 3]
· We can follow Christ Jesus’ instructions and let flood-tides of Love flush out the dream of a BEAM from our view of infinite perfection [section 4]
· Like Christ Jesus, we can heal by seeing ourselves and others with Christly vision [section 5]
· Like Peter, we can demonstrate that Christ Jesus’ healing ability did not come from Jesus’ personal strength, but is available to each of us as we understand infinite Love [section 6]

As we follow Christ Jesus in the way of healing, we inevitably discover that “Divine Love is infinite. Therefore all that really exists is in and of God, and manifests His love.” [S30, 340]


[PS1, Warren’s addition of Cobbey on Luke 8:41-48: Jesus multitasks, multi-heals…
“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.”

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]


[PS2, W’s addition of Cobbey on Acts 9:36-41: Peter raises Tabitha at Joppa
In a neighboring “town of Joppa we find a woman named Tabitha.” (See below, paraphrased)

Acts 9:36  Now there was at Joppa a certain disciple named Tabitha, which by interpretation is called Dorcas: this woman was full of good works and almsdeeds which she did.

“She had had an exemplary life, had done much good for many.” (See above, paraphrased)

“Peter comes right away.” (See below, paraphrased)

Acts 9:39 Then Peter arose and went with them. When he was come, they brought him into the upper chamber: and all the widows stood by him weeping, and shewing the coats and garments which Dorcas made, while she was with them.

Do you recall back in the narratives of the gospel where a similar situation occurred, and Peter was there? It was the raising of Jairus’ daughter. (See below)

Acts 9:40 But Peter put them all forth, and kneeled down, and prayed; and turning him to the body said, Tabitha, arise. And she opened her eyes: and when she saw Peter, she sat up.

Acts 9:41 And he gave her his hand, and lifted her up, and when he had called the saints and widows, presented her alive.

Acts 9:42 And it was known throughout all Joppa;

Do you remember when Jesus came into that environment that you could almost cut it into square blocks of moisture, the grief was so thick? There were paid mourners at that point. As a matter of fact, we are told that even the poorest individual was entitled to at least three instruments at the funeral service. You can imagine Jairus, being a ruler of the Synagogue, the extent of noise, and activity, and mourning that must have occurred at the passing of Jairus’ daughter.” [Excerpts from A Talk by B. Cobbey Crisler, “After the Master What? – The Book of Acts” transcribed from CDs available from Daycroft School Foundation . For a full transcript of this and other talks email Cobbey’s wife, Janet, at janetcrisler7@gmail.com ]


[TO ENABLE FULL ENROLLMENT in our last 1-week session and Family Camp, IT WOULD BE A HUGE, HUGE ANSWER TO PRAYER RIGHT NOW to have MORE CAMPERSHIP GIFTS AS WELL AS TO HAVE MORE MONTHLY GIFTS ONLINE and even Frquent Flyer Miles! You can easily set up a NEEDED and much-appreciated monthly giving online at https://www.cedarscamps.org/donate/?a=donate-recurring .

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or MAIL your tax-deductible support to our 501-C-3 organization
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[CedarS 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.

[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) athttp://www.cedarscamps.org/metaphysical/ ]

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