Working on one side

The message to each of the seven churches is written to the “angel of the church.”  Does my branch church have an angel?  Only one?  Science & Health with Key to the Scriptures (by Mary Baker Eddy) assures us that angels are God’s representatives.  See p. 299:12.  The Glossary also has an “angel” definition; however, I am attracted to the definition of “Children of Israel” for it includes “representatives.”  I love it! 

p. S&H 583:5 - Children of Israel.  The representatives of Soul, not corporeal sense; the offspring of Spirit, who, having wrestled with error, sin, and sense, are governed by divine Science; some of the ideas of God beheld as men, casting out error and healing the sick; Christ’s offspring. 

Surely this also defines angels.  A recent entry on Evan Mehelbacher’s blog,  http://www.findevan.com/ - “When I thought I lost my wife” -  seems to indicate to me that Evan has earned the right to be called an angel!

Of course, John (the writer of Revelation) did not have individuals in mind when he was addressing the churches.  No doubt he hoped everyone in the churches would seek the substance of his messages.  Mmm.  I wonder if they all understood them.  I must remember that it was on Jesus Christ’s instruction that John wrote these messages.

The website: Images of the Seven Churches of Revelation indicates the proposed location of the churches in Asia Minor.  I find it helpful to get an idea of distance.  It is 187.8 km from Ephesus to Laodicea.  Driving time 2 hours 17 minutes.  Walking time?  As long as it takes, I guess.

In Mary Baker Eddy’s Message to The Mother Church for 1900 we find some wonderful information about the seven churches and the messages to them.  See pp 11, 12, 13, 14.

Another reference on Revelation from Mrs Eddy is on page 280 lines 3-17 of Miscellaneous Writings, where she refers to the opening of the third seal and the balances.  It is in the article The March Primary Class – 1889:

The third picture-lesson is from Revelation, where, at the opening of the seals, one of the angels presented himself with balances to weigh the thoughts and actions of men; not angels with wings, but messengers of pure and holy thoughts that say, See thou hurt not the holy things of Truth.

You have come to be weighed; and yet, I would not weigh you, nor have you weighed. How is this? Because God does all, and there is nothing in the opposite scale. There are not two, — Mind and matter. We must get rid of that notion. As we commonly think, we imagine all is well if we cast something into the scale of Mind, but we must realize that Mind is not put into the scales with matter; then only are we working on one side and in Science.

Joyce Voysey