Surprises

I wonder if other folk have the same experience that I often do when reading our Book Club books:  I have a period of reading without seeming to have anything to write about, but one phrase can keep coming back to me demanding attention. This morning the phrase is:

And because Science is naturally divine, is this natural Science less profitable or scientific than ‘counting the legs of insects’? (178:10-12)

How valuable is this Science of Christianity!

I had a similar experience last night while reading a few pages of Science and Health (S&H) before going to sleep.  The phrase “influx of light” (47:7-8) left a strong impression and remained with me for much of the night. Without opening the book, I could not remember the full sentence, which is, “The influx of light was sudden”. I was trying to fit in “the Day of Pentecost,” which is in the next sentence. Was it “The sudden influx of light as on the Day of Pentecost”? The words had come to me as a surprise. I couldn't quite gauge the meaning in the context of the paragraph, and the sentence didn’t seem to fit.

As I opened S&H to read the paragraph this morning, it was thrilling! The passage speaks about Jesus’ students receiving the Holy Ghost, but was Mrs. Eddy also describing her own experience of receiving the Holy Ghost as an influx of light, an overwhelming power, just as the disciples had received it (see Acts Chapter 2)?  

Mrs. Eddy seems to intimate that we too can experience that influx of light.  Indeed, we must expect it as our right as children of the Most High.

Sometimes Science and Health surprises the reader in the way it teaches us and opens up our understanding. This reminds me of a delightful hymn in the Christian Science Hymnal – “Sometimes a light surprises the Christian when he sings” (Hymn 313).

Joyce Voysey