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[Know God “by heart”! Put Love first to make it last—to be reflected memorably forever!]
Metaphysical Application ideas for the Christian Science Bible Lesson on

"God"
For July 2, 2017

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

NEEDS OF THE WEEK:

Golden Text (GT) and Responsive Reading (RR): To genuinely experience the satisfying riches of life, we have to understand our Father-Mother, the source of those riches. There is simply no other source of true and lasting existence, joy, intelligence and so on. Anything that we have to glory in or rejoice in—every achievement or accomplishment—is rooted in God. Understanding God then, is what we are really taking glory in. The New Living Translation of the Bible puts it this way (from our RR, Jer.9:24) "…those who wish to boast should boast in this alone: that they truly know me and understand that I am the Lord who demonstrates unfailing love, and who brings justice and righteousness to the earth, and that I delight in these things." This is the true, unspoken, achievement of life. To know God. Only, in this week's lesson, it isn't "unspoken" at all! Understanding God helps us to see what "…Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard…" (RR) Where does this ability reside? It's not in human knowledge or education. "All we correctly know of Spirit comes from God, divine Principle, and is learned through Christ and Christian Science." (S18) God communicates His Truth to us directly, and Christ and Christian Science are how He most clearly has shared His identity with man.

Section 1: God is spiritually discerned.

It can be tempting to try to tackle such a subject as understanding God, through talking to someone, reading some book, even following some rules. None of these are bad things. We have Christian Science practitioners, Sunday School teachers, and many spiritual thinkers throughout the world who can certainly usher us along the way to such understanding. But truly, it is with our spiritual senses that we develop a deep-seated, reality-rooted understanding of our Father-Mother. This understanding does deepen further as we demonstrate it, as we put it into action at every possible moment. This morning, as I was persuading my 8-year-old to move from one activity to the next with joy (so I could get to my work here in my office!), he was engaging in some "excess emotion" about not wanting to do the things that this day held for him. One of his activities is to keep a "gratitude journal" this summer. So I moved that to the top of his list and left him to it. I told him that when he'd finished today's entries, he could come out and share them. Funny thing, when he came out to my office to read me his list, he was even-keeled, happy, and ready to continue with the rest of his day. What happened in this simple example? Charlie was using spiritual sense to discern how God was being active in his life. In his case this was gratitude for our dog Buttercup who makes him feel happy when he's sad (an example of God's creatures expressing the loyalty, dependable joy and affection/love of God to man). It was gratitude for his dad "because he made me blocks and they are fun to play with", and for "Fern (one of our cats) because she cuddles with me at night." In each of these instances we are presented with a spiritualization of consciousness. His thought was being turned from a material view of his day, to God as the source of all good. Other chores and activities of the day no longer appeared daunting when God was being better discerned as the center of life, even in this small way. In citation S4 we have this clear definition of spiritual sense: "Spiritual sense is the discernment of spiritual good." We can always find this spiritual sense within our hearts. We can always discern spiritual good! If we think we are stuck and have no spiritual sense, we are definitely getting too complicated about it! All we have to do is look at an 8-year-old's gratitude list and we can see that spiritual good is around each of us, every moment. [Warren: “Gratitude outlaws blindness to present good” as CedarS Founder, Ruth Huff, often reminded those in her “family”.]

Section 2: Mind/God knows all, and we reflect this knowing!

Really, truly relying on God demands stillness—a quieting of human thoughts that can be turbulent and filled with anxiety. It really is only through this spiritual stillness that we are listening for God's present answers within. It is easy enough, most days of average life, to just make some good human decisions. But imagine if you were presented with a situation like Daniel's in citation B7. Here, a king is demanding not only that one of his Chaldean servants interpret his dream, but also that they actually tell him the dream itself, which he has forgotten! What it does not tell us in the citations contained here is that Nebuchadnezzar has threatened to execute them all if no one can tell him his dream. So in steps Daniel to "…foretell events which concern the universal welfare…" (S7). He saves all the Chaldeans' lives by being "still" and recognizing that God, Mind, is all-knowing. And, indeed, Daniel was able, not only to interpret this dream for the king, but also to tell him the dream that he had in the first place. (By the way, this is a great example of how looking to human advice or understanding cannot match the power of Mind to reveal all truth!)

It is an amazing practice to daily ask God first what we need to do at any given moment—even if it's just a momentary pause. It can be surprising what path we follow when we take that moment of stillness to acknowledge that it is God in the lead, already knowing where we are going, already putting our feet in motion. Science and Health citations S8 and S10 point out that Spirit leads and unfolds thought so that God's harmony appears. We don't have to wait for those "dire" times when we have no apparent human answer to a problem. We can practice right now leaning on God for all our guidance. Our quiet spiritual senses are poised to hear the message that most often speaks to us as our own voice, but is really divine Mind speaking directly to our consciousness!

Section 3: A prayer to discern that God's law of harmony is within each of us.

God is Good. We can discern this goodness as a law proceeding from Him and already within all mankind. This may not always seem apparent when we look around, but with our spiritual senses we can discern this spiritual desire to follow after the good in our hearts. We already know that "Love is impartial and universal in its adaptation and bestowals." (S13) This means that Love has given each of us goodness, health, harmony, intelligence, agility, strength and so on. When we find ourselves confronted with an example that seems less than good, we can recognize that our spiritual senses are not being employed! This can take some practice, and we are always working on this. But this practice will reveal a more accurate picture of man as God's expression, obeying Good through love and understanding. You have probably heard the expression to "know by heart". It's like another way to say "memorize". But there is a different implication to knowing something "by heart". As I help my boys practice violin each day, we are becoming so familiar with certain musical pieces that they become embedded in our hearts, not just a series of notes that we've memorized in an order, with fingers being placed "just so", etc. But the music is really in our hearts and we are free to express the spirit of such a song rather than just a series of notes. In the same way, as we get a clearer picture of God and His relationship to each of us, we start to see His law at work in all its color, variety, beauty… We start to feel that life is more like an unfolding dance than just a series of steps from "point A to point B". [W. on “know by heart”: “Wherever there’s loving attention, memory is inevitable.” (Grace Wasson, CS) Or, “Put Love first to make it last”be reflected memorably forever! To let go what not’s part of your nature “know by heart” what is. See W’s PS#1 on Cobbey Crisler insights on Psalms 17:15 (B10).]

Section 4: The Christ, and Christian Science, help us understand God.

It might seem obvious to state that Jesus came to reveal to us a better understanding of God (and of man!). But this is exactly what he did. In the story in citation B13 he heals a man that is insane. It's interesting that the insane man immediately discerns who Jesus is…"…I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God." And yet, he tells him to go away—because his material sense of self wants to cling to its inaccurate selfhood—and sometimes it seems like mortal mind can "put up a fight" [as discussed in PS#2]. Fortunately, this resistance is overcome by the Christ discernment of God's true nature, and man's, as God's reflection. The Christ removes a false sense of self, not only a false sense of man, but also of God. The Christ is like the brightest flashlight in the murkiness of material sense. Christ reveals the truth about God and His creation better than any kind of human education, and speaks to us clearly. One way that it speaks to us is through the Biblical examples of healing, especially through the life of Jesus. Another is through the teachings of Christian Science which illuminate the Bible.

Section 5: Cultivate purity to best see God.

What is purity? You may already have some ideas to answer this question. But simply put, purity is the state of thought that permits no evil. It is the consciousness that refuses to mix the human with the divine. In a sense, this is, of course, impossible. When, or under what circumstances could God "mix" with evil or error? There is no error at all in something that is true. But engaging our thought to test what is coming to it and consciously rejecting what is not true is an exercise in pure thinking and acting. Just like a glass of muddy water, we can see little or nothing of what is on the other side of the glass while looking through the water. But looking through pure water not only clarifies objects on the other side, but also appears to magnify them! In like manner, we begin to really see God in "big" ways when we cultivate a consciousness that is pure. That's how the gratitude list did its work in the first example here. It drove out the impurity of "emotion", ingratitude, burden or just plain grumpiness. It provided that clear "water" through which Charlie could accurately view his day as one of God's making. Where does this pure view, pure consciousness, come from? From the kingdom within! It is within each of us. We don't have to look anywhere beyond, because God, our Father-Mother, has placed the kingdom solidly within each of His ideas to experience and enjoy.

Section 6: Let your light, your understanding of God, shine.

I'm sure you've heard that before since it's a paraphrase of one of Jesus' commands from his Sermon on the Mount. That Sermon teaches us more than almost anything about the nature of God and man, so it's pretty good advice! Right in the beginning of Genesis God commands the light to shine out of darkness. This is what citation B19 is referring to. But that light didn't shine in a vacuum. It shined right into the heart of God's creation—right into our hearts. Even on our darkest day, that light is there. In stillness, deep yearning to know God, rejoicing, in healing and blessing, we start to let that light seep out and envelop others around us. It begins to embrace others in God's Love and warmth, and to reveal His goodness and ever-present power. It brings unity and peace to those that are around us. It leads by illuminating the Christ in our midst and especially by healing through this Christ.

Section 7: We trust what we know.

It is natural to feel safe in and trust what we know to be dependable. A good parent fosters this kind of trust in his/her children. In this same way, as we cultivate spiritual understanding of our Father-Mother, we love and trust that divine Parent to meet our every need. We aren't causing the needs to be met by knowing God better. We are seeing with more clarity that God's goodness envelops each and every one of us, all the time. Then we find it easy and natural to rejoice, praise, and exalt God in everything we do.


[Warren’s (W’s) PS#1 from Cobbey Crisler’s insights on Psalms 17:15 (B10):
Find satisfaction and health only in the original!]

“Verse 15 of Psalms 17 [tells us] that God’s prescriptions, precisely filled, bring satisfaction. Satisfaction because “we awake in God’s likeness.” But that results first from the prerequisite of “beholding God’s face in righteousness.” That requires us to go back to the theology of Genesis 1 to comprehend what that means. If we indeed are image, or likeness, and God is the original, the only way we can find out about our nature is to spend our time studying the original. Then we know the image. We also know what’s not the image by studying the original.
Just as Treasury Department experts know counterfeit bills, not because they have studied all the many thousands of counterfeit attempts, from poor work to expert work, but rather, simply study the original and you will know the counterfeit immediately. That’s in a sense akin to surgically removing in a mental way, or taking the purgative cathartic Word of God to remove what does not belong to our nature. Imagine the joy of letting go what has burdened us for so long. It’s part of that darkness that is ignorance, that the light, the laser beam of revealed truth, simply removes, and not painfully at all. It just does what light is supposed to do. It removes any rationale for the existence of darkness.”
“Leaves of the Tree: Prescriptions from Psalms” by B. Cobbey Crisler ]


[W’s PS#2 – Cobbey Crisler on Mark 1:14-34 (B13 and nearby verses)
“Mark 1, Verse 14. We have "John put in prison." He has already disappeared from the scene. And, ‘‘Jesus comes into Galilee, and his work begins."
Verse 15… The announcement that, "the time is fulfilled." What does this mean? Prophecy. The time for the fulfillment of prophesy has arrived. So, everything is just brimming in the gospel of Mark with this great news. All of the expectation is over for the Messianic prophecy: We have a fulfillment now. ‘What could be more exciting than to be living in an era of fulfilled prophecy? Nothing, apparently, because this is what impels the gospel writers to pick up their pens…

Now we’re going to really see part of Jesus' definition of church. He begins with this preaching that we have heard him do. But his preaching is never separate from his practice of what he’s preaching.

Mark1, Verse 23. "And there in that synagogue a man with an unclean spirit appears." Let’s ask ourselves, what is he introducing into the environment of what humans have defined as church? He is introducing healing as an appropriate, if not mandatory church activity. As a matter of fact, it has greater priority than the order of service. Everything stops· for healing. Despite the fact that the great resistance of the "carnal mind, " which Paul says in Romans 8:7 is "enmity against God. " Mark, in Chapter 1, Verse 24 says, "Let us alone. What have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? "

Is the church of that period prepared for healing? Is it ready to be regarded as a place to remedy health and other problems?

Verse 25. We find Jesus using very strong words, "Hold thy peace, and come out of him.” A very imperative command. He uses almost the identical words to still a storm at sea later in Mark 4:39, “Peace, be still.” How appropriate! If the message can be used to cure a storm in nature, it can also cure a mental storm in human nature. Jesus' methodology links weather problems and the mental conflict of humanity.

Verse 26. The unclean spirit is not giving up without a fight. This is warfare. "When it had torn him, he was convulsed, cried with a loud voice, he came out of him. Remember that God is portrayed in Psalms as "speaking-and-it-was-done." So, all of the resistance is of no moment at all in the healing. It doesn't damage the individual even though it tears and convulses because the individual is better than before.

The Theological Dictionary of the New Testament says, "It is in no sense true that the word and work of Jesus are distinct as two separate functions of his manifestation. ’He-spake-and-it-was-done,' is the nature of God, and if man in his relationship to God is what Genesis 1 says it is, namely, image, then the image of an original that speaks-and-it-is-done would also have to be able to speak-and-it-is-done."

“But it’s God’s word that we’re speaking, because that’s what the image is like, God.

Verse 27. ''Authority '' is the point that’s raised. It’s almost as if religion, as defined by human kind, has come across to us with splendor, with robes, with grandeur, spectacle, but without authority. "The authority Jesus proves is illustrated by the results:” This is what spreads Christianity. Not knocking on doors, not even one-to-one that we so reverence, but healing. There’s a one-to-one. That news, the good news, the gospel of healing, spreads by itself. Who can hold it in? It’s bigger than all of us. “It’s God's word applied, and capable of being applied…

Verse 34. …The word that is used for “heal” is the root of our word “therapeutic.” It doesn’t really mean heal in its primary sense. Why was this word selected to describe this healing? It means to serve. Look what the definition of healing is. It is serving. Serving whom? Serving God and man. Is this or is this not obedience to the Commandments? Loving God and loving man turns out to be the service if healing…
He did not have them standing in lines according to their diagnostic reports. All the ears-eyes-nose-throat people over here, and so forth. “He cured them of divers,” of many, “diseases.” There was no physical diagnosis made. Every healing was accomplished. Not one case was lost.”

“What Mark Recorded” by B. Cobbey Crisler]


[TOP NEEDS OF THE WEEK:

1) We still need donations of about $50,000 more to grant all the campership requests that continue to come during this season. PS. About $125k in campership requests have had to be granted from Unrestricted gifts in order to honor our top priority of getting kids to camp, BUT this cuts BIGTIME into our operating budget! Thanks for helping us fulfill the remaining $50k in campership requests without creating an operations shortfall!!

2) ~$600 is needed to give each of our 300 teens for the remaining 3 sessions of summer 2017 their own edition of the upcoming, special, teen-edition of The Christian Science Sentinel. (The Christian Science Publishing Society is extending a half-price offer for this bulk order to be distributed by us.)

3) We also still need ~$11k to meet our $50k match for Adopt the Herd! (CedarS Adopt the Herd matching fund opportunity goes through the end of our fiscal year, 9-30-17.)

4) ~$5k is still needed (of 9.7k total) for Bible Lands Park (BLP) upgrades: $2.2k for smaller BLP shade structure to replace by 19-yr old tent “Tabernacle in the Wilderness”; and $7.5k for scriptural pavers on “Paul’s Trail” so BLP visitors and Cable Skiers can hourly see and “Walk in the Way of God's Word”.

Thanks to earlier outpourings of love and support, the Sports Center sod is growing! And, CedarS is doing other needed Maintenance work before our 56th season, our "adopted" herd of horses are also being well cared for, AND a growing stream of campership applications are being granted.

Thanks way beyond words and whinnies to each of you who are grateful for CedarS weekly metaphysical and Sunday School offerings as well as for our work. Especially helpful are your much-needed MONTHLY gifts, past and ongoing, that can be started and adjusted at: www.cedarscamps.org/giving ]


[You can also reach a member of the Founding family nearly anytime at CedarS
by PHONE at 417-532-6699

or MAIL your tax-deductible support to our 501-C-3 organization
(Our not-for-profit, Federal Identification Number is #440-66-3883):

The CedarS Camps
19772 Sugar Drive
Lebanon, MO 65536

[THANKS TO YOU PRECIOUS DONORS FOR YOUR ONGOING, GENEROUS and NEEDED SUPPORT OF CedarS IMPORTANT WORK!]


[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) at http://www.cedarscamps.org/metaphysical/

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