Bosnia 1998 and the redwood trees

Some years ago, my husband and I had the wonderful experience of seeing giant redwood trees in northern California. We had seen one tree that was apparently just a sapling when the Magna Carta was signed in 1215!  So, I was especially interested to read about them in Janet Horton's account of a sermon she gave in Bosnia in 1998. 

In order to sustain her 'flock' in difficult conditions she "encouraged everyone to recognize how effective prayer could be as the armor for our hearts, quoting Mrs. Eddy's statement, 'Clad in the panoply of Love, human hatred cannot reach you' (Pulpit and Press 15:18-19). Explaining that love's panoply was an armor that protects completely, [she] pointed out that this protection from hatred was not just from hatred directed at you from sources outside yourself -- it was more important to understand that love protects you from hatred's getting a foothold within your own thought or heart."

She reasoned along these lines (paraphrased):

1. Just as the trees' thick resistant bark provides protection from pests and diseases, so the Christian virtues like compassion, honesty, a gracious spirit, kindness, and forgiveness...would protect each soldier from hatred entering their heart.

2. Just as the trees' roots grow laterally and intertwine with each other to provide resilience and strength through mutual support, so the soldiers could support each other through studying the scriptures and following Jesus' instruction to love God and their neighbours.

3. Just as the redwood trees never stop growing, so each soldier was encouraged to continue to grow in grace and stay close to the scriptures.

The absolute joy of this story is that while Ms Horton was preparing her sermon, some severe cuts vanished from her face -- unnoticed by her (there were no mirrors in Bosnia!) but noticed by the Jewish rabbi who had accompanied her on the Bosnian trip. See pp. 144-146 of Cracking the Camouflage Ceiling. Available from Hawthorn Press.

This is a marvellous book - and worth every cent of its US$20 purchase price (plus postage to Australia). You'll probably want more than one so that you can share its blessings freely!

Julie Swannell

Speaking with great authority

I just love our book this month and I am so grateful for the earlier blog posts from Joyce and Marie. Janet Horton has written eloquently about her experience in the military. She writes with warmth and naturalness and without pretence.

I am especially impressed by her ability to speak with authority. An example is on page 104 where, following an incident she 'knew instantly [she] needed to turn to God for a more harmonious sense of what was happening'. She then asked her 'very upset' colleague 'not to speak' because she absolutely needed to pray about having slammed a car door on her hand.

As a result of having 'immersed [herself] in the sense of God's omnipotence and omnipresence', she soon completely forgot about her hand until her colleague asked her about it an hour later. The hand was completely healed, much to the confusion of her colleague.

I am reminded of Biblical references to 'authority', for example the following:

Then he called his twelve disciples together, and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases. And he sent them to preach the kingdom of God, and to heal the sick.
(Luke 9:1, 2)

This  authority is still current in the twenty-first century. It is for all disciples of Jesus in all time.

Julie Swannell

Prayer makes significant difference

Janet Horton’s book opened the door on military life for me, and I now better understand and appreciate that model of command more. I love this statement: “Fair and square is part of the moral undergirding of the best of army life” p 131. Janet recognised the great good achieved by the military in protecting freedoms and promoting peace, and despite all the hurdles and opposition she encountered, she unfailingly showed respect for the order of command.  Having said that, no aspect of military life escaped the elevating effect of prayer in Col Janet Horton’s experience.  There were many practices and attitudes that needed revising and uplifting, and this pioneering woman made great inroads into improving standards, especially as they applied to women in the chaplaincy. This was all accomplished through her application of Christian Science.

The book emphasised the foundational need for moral courage and the importance of always being at a position of spiritual attention. This protected Horton from all sorts of attacks, including the day of the 9/11 attacks, when she was in the Pentagon and was able to minister to the needs of all the casualties without feeling any fear. There are many outstanding accounts of protection and deliverance, accomplished through prayer, a profound faith in God, and intimate acquaintance with Bible verses and stories. She writes on p 25: “It surprised me a bit that people found it so hard to believe that prayer made a significant difference. I felt so certain that God was willing to help if we made a practice of acknowledging his ability to protect us, no matter what the human circumstances tried to dictate.”  Examples included experiencing no ill-effects from being in a tear-gas chamber without a mask, defusing the threat from an encircling pack of coyotes, and effecting a complete change of heart in a chaplain who had hatefully spat on her.

Another theme which made a deep impression was the need for identifying what was in the heart. “Instantaneous self-awareness of what is happening in your own thought is critical” p 138. When we know what is in the heart, we are able to heal. The author tells of two young chaplains, one a Mormon and one a Methodist, who learnt from her how to give themselves a prayer treatment. Subsequently they had delightedly let her know how they had healed a sprained ankle through identifying what was in the heart.

I recommend this book to anyone who wants an inspiring read about a truly courageous woman and natural leader who relies on God and Christian Science in every aspect of her life.

Marie Fox

An amazing account

Cracking the Camouflage Ceiling by Janet Horton.  ("Faith Persistence and Progress in the Army Chaplaincy During the Early Integration of Women in the Military" says the cover.)

      

This is an amazing account of a Janet Horton's demonstration in combating the many challenges of being a woman chaplain in the United States military; a woman and a student of Christian Science.

I would like to give you an idea of how this soldier of Christ worked when confronted with the necessary military exercise of experiencing the tear gas chamber.

Janet says she was absolutely terrified at the thought of doing this exercise, having heard stories of the effects of the gas on eyes and breathing.

She explains, “I spent some time praying about what to pray about.  I quietly listened and the direction was very clear.  I felt led to study the Bible story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego being thrown into the fiery furnace and Moses experiencing a bush that burned but wasn't consumed.  I also studied a chapter on how to pray to stop animal magnetism (an old world name for hypnotism) in our denominational textbook.  I made a commitment to study these passages once a day for two months.  They were so inspiring that I found I would sometimes look at them as frequently as three times a day” (p. 108).

What an example for us all on how to prepare for a challenge!  We notice all the way through the book that Janet was always ready to hear God's voice directing and pointing out the way.  I think that this is the only time she talks about being afraid.

Janet also had a Daniel in the Lions' Den-type experience!

The book does not include an Index, so I have made my own list of healings which are related in its pages.  Perhaps I will enlarge on it. . . maybe add in the Bible stories used.  We will see.

She had additional monthly training sessions at The Mother Church while studying at Boston University School of Theology.  These provided the metaphysics of Christian Science to her education.

She encouraged soldiers who were Muslim or Jewish, or other denominations, to go to their own scriptures for inspiration.

It is of interest that Mary Baker Eddy's book is called Science & Health with key to the Scriptures – not Key to the Bible.  So the book must open up any and all scripture or sacred writings.

My assessment of the book is that it is written for the military.  There is a lot of military talk which the layman is inclined to gloss over (well, this one did).

There is a video of a talk Janet gave at Arden Wood which is a little more inclined to be for the layman, especially Christian Scientists.  There are a few additional titbits there.

I have written this way to endeavour to whet readers' appetites, and I do so encourage any reader of this blog to please find yourself a copy of this remarkable book and read it for yourself.  And write your comments on this blog!

I have a funny story about the word “chaplain.”  At school we had to write a sentence with the word.  My friend wrote, “I went into the bush and caught a chaplain and brought it home to see if it would live in a cage.”  (Our spelling list included “Chaffinch”.)

 Joyce Voysey

  

Some healings noted:

Dehydration  13

Shyness  13

Safety  13

Violence in night security job in Back Bay, Boston 16/17

Long run: wolves met and preached to  18/19

Bleach on tropical fish. Apartment raided. Car avoided ramming  20/21

“Position of attention” on being harassed by lower rank soldier.  Threat to kill her.

     Athletic avoidance of an out of control van. 22-24

Car hitting tree. Memory: a sense of a hand reaching out and tenderly lifting me and setting                       me down on a patch of grass  25

As corps chaplain she called together all the chaplains a “spiritual safety briefing” in field exercises  in Germany.  None of the expected and anticipated dangers occurred.  The corps surgeon was out of business. Little finger severed. Found and reattached with full movement of the finger.  26/27    

Self-righteousness corrected. Mosquito bite blood on legs and nylons disappeared.  31-33

3     Easily does obstacle course.  Despite the men. 34

Getting into chaplain study at Boston Uni. Entry, place to live, fees paid, a job within 12 hours.

       44-46

2 mile run > 6½ mile run: "run and not be weary"  35

Back healed  54/5

Shyness  78

Cut finger  79

Dog healed  80

Woman healed  81

Hand caught in car door  104

Voice 105

Arm and condemnation 106                                                     

  (You can't heal someone you do not love.)

Tear gas  107

Getting to a lecture  110

Eating and form 112

Morman and Methodist - heal sprain  113/4

Tennis collapse  116

Cough 117

Brain tumour  117/8

Cat scratches  144-146

Sept 11 148  

Moral strength in business

Before we leave our January book, I wanted to capture some of the marvellous ideas shared by business man William Howlett. His chapter in Living Christian Science - Fourteen Lives by Marcy Babbitt is entitled 'The Scientific Man in Business'.

It seems often that business gets a bad wrap, but there are millions of honest, hard-working, responsible business people worldwide whose businesses or business practices benefit others. William Howlett was one of these.

As a teenager, full of ideas, he was told that he could have 'room and board [at home] but that [his father] expected [him] to earn [his] own money for everything else, including higher education' (p. 150). And so that's just what he did. (Interestingly, the famous musician Leonard Bernstein paid for his own piano lessons by teaching children younger than himself.) How wonderful is that.

After being 'jilted' by his fiancee, he looked up a girl he had met some time earlier. He writes: 'After dating almost every night for two weeks, we were married. It was the best fast decision I ever made' (p. 152). Ruth was a Christian Scientist and she recognised William's desire was not only for companionship, but also for things of the Spirit. A couple of years after their marriage, the pregnant Ruth started to suffer a miscarriage. She insisted they call a Christian Science practitioner (William wanted to call a doctor). Soon 'the healing came' and a healthy baby boy was born. At this point, William started attending church with Ruth and pretty soon he started a study of CS and began using it to sort out difficulties at work. One idea that sustained him was that 'man really loves to do what is right' (p. 154). Over the years, Ruth was instrumental in started a number of CS churches.

Realising that he was always 'about [His] Father's business' (p. 157), William knew that impeccable honesty would promote effectiveness and respect. He quotes Mary Baker Eddy: 'Honesty is spiritual power. Dishonesty is human weakness, which forfeits divine help' (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures p. 453). He writes 'when you tell an associate that you never want him to do anything that he wouldn't be proud to tell his family, that you never want a dollar that isn't honestly gained, you bring into a business a tremendous moral strength. That strength enables you to ride out difficulties with the courage that is often needed in business. Fidelity to Truth eliminates the fear of the job--the fear of failure' (p. 157).

At one point, Howlett had to decide whether or not to accept a new position. He shares this - 'I had made it a rule to accept at any given time the highest demand made on my services, even though acceptance might be uncomfortable for me' (p. 159). He took the less comfortable but higher demanding job and rich rewards followed for service to his fellow man. As a business leader he would explain to his people that he would adhere to the highest possible standards. His rationale was that 'any idea serving people honestly and constructively will grow if it is handled carefully and thoughtfully... All one needed to do was to take the things of value in the business and enlarge them' (p. 162). On profit, he writes: 'It is as important for a business to enjoy financial health as for an individual to enjoy bodily health... And profit is not only earnings before taxes, it is also the profitable benefits that come to all who participate--employees, suppliers, customers, and shareholders' (p. 163).

William shares a healing of impaired hearing. When healing was not immediately apparent, he used a hearing aid as a temporary measure but it soon became clear that he had been feeling burdened by aspects of his work. He learned that he had to be more grateful for 'this opportunity to be of service' (p. 166). Later, when the hearing aid was ruined by going through the washing machine, he began to 'think more firmly about the problem and its scientific solution. [He] knew that nothing can obstruct the scientific man who is about his Father's business...' (ibid). He was healed.

I believe I must have read this story many years ago when my husband and I were in business. All of the ideas here resonate with me because we endeavoured to operate on the same principles. I am so grateful that William Howlett shared his story with the world.

Julie Swannell

If anyone wants a copy of this book for their library, there is a donated second-hand copy at the Redcliffe Reading Room.