Clocks, timeliness and structure

At our Wednesday testimony meeting this week, a testifier mentioned Longyear.org,  referencing her research on the topic of "promptness". This research had uncovered an article about a documentary film called "Who shall be called?". The film is about the workers who were called to serve in the household of Mary Baker Eddy in her later years. (The 90-minute documentary, produced in 2008, is available for purchase from Longyear as a DVD, and the full story behind it can be read here at this link.) 

For our blog readers, we include some points of interest.

HISTORICAL IMPORTANCE

The introduction to the article explains that:

  The film covers the years when Mary Baker Eddy was founding the Church of Christ, Scientist, a period of great historical importance for Christian Scientists and the world. 

KNOWING THE FACTS - INSPIRATIONAL AND ESSENTIAL

Describing the purpose of the film, the article continues: 

     Knowing the facts about how Mrs. Eddy and her household practiced Christian Science in their day-to-day work is historically instructive. It’s also inspirational. Knowing more about Mrs. Eddy will, hopefully, inspire viewers to reread and study her published writings on which she worked so tirelessly...

    Also, knowing the facts is essential to clearing away myths about Mrs. Eddy. And there are plenty of them! For just one small example, there’s the notion that Mrs. Eddy was not one to run her life by the clock. 

     In fact, Mrs. Eddy did keep her eye on the time. She had three or four clocks in her study. She had a clock on the table beside her bed. She even had an illuminated clock in the sitting room (also known as the “swing room”) where she relaxed at the end of the day... 

     Mrs. Eddy set aside for herself specific times for prayer. When she went to her desk in the morning, she opened her Bible seemingly at random (but actually with a prayer for guidance), read the first verses her eyes lit upon, and worked prayerfully with that passage for a period of time. Then she turned to her morning’s work. 

     At 11:00 A.M. on the dot, she set her work aside and went on the back veranda for an hour to “talk to God,” as she told her household. Systematically structuring her day hour by hour assured she would have the times for prayer that were essential to maintaining her mission.

Our testifier had also discovered a lovely article written in 2001 and titled "Timeless Timepieces". Here, author Stacy Teicher Khadaroo writes about Mrs. Eddy's gift of a monogrammed pocket-watch to one of her secretaries who was also superintendent of her grounds, Joseph Mann. (Readers will be interested to read Joseph's affidavit regarding his remarkable recovery from accidental gun shot - see Calvin Hill's reminiscences in We Knew Mary Baker Eddy volume 1, amplified edition, pp. 344-348.)

Stacy's article concludes with a quote from Mrs. Eddy's "Improve your time", originally published in The Christian Science Journal 1883 and now in Miscellaneous Writings 1883-1896, p. 230:

   All successful individuals have become such by hard work; by improving moments before they pass into hours, and hours that other people may occupy in the pursuit of pleasure.

Thank you, Karen, for sharing your research with us!

Julie Swannell

A good Christian woman

Longyear have created a new 30-minute tour which features the artwork at Chestnut Hill (home of Mary Baker Eddy 1908-1910).

Here's part of the background to that decision:

One inspiration for creating the tour came when Rex Nelles, Longyear’s senior manager of historic houses, had to think on his feet to accommodate visitors’ request for a 30-minute tour (the main tour is up to two hours). 

They hadn’t realized that Christian Science was based on the Bible, so he walked them through several rooms to talk about Mrs. Eddy’s Bible-based art. Examples include a sculpture of David’s victory over Goliath, a print of Daniel answering the king after his night in the lion’s den, and a large painting based on the angel in Chapter 10 of the book of Revelation.

After that spontaneous tour, Rex recalls, one of the visitors said, “I really get it now! Mrs. Eddy loved the Bible, and she was a good, Christian woman.”

Read more about the tour here.

There is also lovely piece about the artwork in Mrs. Eddy's home which I am sure will be of interest to our blog readers. 

Julie Swannell

Three welcoming cheers

I was on a search for a story about Mrs. Eddy and her husband getting to Boston from Lynn (I thought) by public transport. It hasn’t shown up yet on the Longyear site, though I do have a copy of it somewhere.

 

Anyway I came across a fulsome account of the gathering of Christian Scientists at Mrs. Eddy’s home (Pleasant View in New Hampshire) and her address from the home’s balcony, where the famous photo of her was taken. It was the Fourth of July long week-end 1897, and also coincidently Communion Sunday week-end. The report has some wonderful details.

 

Many people were expected to gather in Boston for the Communion Service at The Mother Church, where over 1,400 new members were to be admitted. Mrs. Eddy didn’t wish to appear at that service, but she could see an opportunity. At that Communion Sunday service, just before the benediction, the First Reader, Septimus J. Hanna, read this invitation from Mrs. Eddy:

I invite you, one and all, to Pleasant View, Concord, N.H., on July 5 (Monday), at 12:30 PM, if you would enjoy so long a trip for so small a purpose as simply seeing Mother.

(There is a photo of Judge Hanna here.)

 

The article then tells us that the plans had been set in motion less than a week before. Judge Hanna had received a telegram instructing him to read that invitation and to “ask Edward P. Bates to secure from the railroad sufficient travel arrangements. Given the short notice, this was a massive undertaking, but true to his reputation, Bates pulled off the logistical feat. By 9.30 AM on Monday, July 5, about 1,200 Christian Scientists were ticketed, seated, and on their way to Concord, New Hampshire.”

 

It was a very hot day, 102 degrees. “There was lemonade in front of the barn and people scooped water from the fountain with tin cups.” But the people were “unfazed”. A total of about 2,500 people had come.

 

Meanwhile, Edward Bates was inside, freshening up after his transportation work. What a surprise when Mrs. Eddy asked him “to escort and introduce her to the crowd waiting outside.” So, “with her hand on his arm, they stepped through the front door at 1:00 PM to a chorus of three welcoming cheers.” There were eight speakers apart from Mrs. Eddy. The whole event took about one hour.

 

The article speaks of the debuts of “up-and-coming Christian Scientists, namely William P. McKenzie, George Tomkins, and Irving C. Tomlinson.”

 

Thirty-six year old William McKenzie was a member of the Bible Lesson Committee, for he had a record in that direction. He was educated in theology and had been for years a professor of both English and rhetoric. The article includes a picture of him standing with a hand on his hip. McKenzie was also a poet, and we have his heart-touching poem What brightness dawned in resurrection, set to music in hymn 381.

 

I was not acquainted with Englishman, the Reverend George Tomkins, DD, but may go back to him after I have spoken about the Reverend Irving Tomlinson, of whom we have a lovely photo.

 

Tomlinson’s book, Twelve Years with Mary Baker Eddy, was, in my early days, my go-to reference on Mrs. Eddy’s life. (Sybil Wilbur’s Mary Baker Eddy was the only other biographical work available at that stage.) Having recently re-read Tomlinson's book in its updated format, I have come to feel that his place in the Cause of Christian Science has largely gone unrecorded and not fully appreciated.

 

I must tell of a precious quote which I think is only printed in Twelve Years, namely: “One time she told us not to say there is too much or too little of anything. She said: God governs. He knows best. He will do all things right” (Twelve Years with Mary Baker Eddy, Amplified Edition, p. 87, original edition, p. 74).

 

When I read these biographical books which have no indexes (and even those which have sometimes), I make notes of points that impress me and record the page numbers. (You should see my copy of Robert Peel’s Mary Baker Eddy: Years of Authority!) 

Here are some points recorded in my original copy of Twelve Years:

·        Page 134 “Think before you act.” [p. 175 in the Amplified version]

·        Page 121 “The hall looks shabby.” [p. 153 in the Amplified version]

·        Page 76 “Exposing error.” [p. 85 in the Amplified version]

·        Page 156 “Home. Where sense has no claims and Soul satisfies.” [p. 211 in the Amplified version]

·        Page 74 “Resist resentment – take sides with God.” [p. 87 in the Amplified version]

·        Page 205. Talking too much. [p. 271 in the Amplified version]

 

Tomlinson was a new student of Christian Science. His first article** had come out in the June 1897 edition of The Christian Science Journal. He had recently had Class Instruction with Flavia Knapp, and we are told “his remarks [on the day] were prepared with guidance from her.” Mrs. Eddy granted him a brief interview after the program. She later recalled to him that: “From my first moments with you I have felt that you had come to help us and weighed in the balance would not be found wanting.”

 

All three (William P. McKenzie, George Tomkins, and Irving C. Tomlinson) were called to the Board of Lectureship in 1898.

 

Next, the article speaks of Mrs. Eddy’s address for the occasion*. It was of interest that she read from a prepared text rather than extemporaneously. Our article states: “While the particular “fire” she had faced is unclear, it is apparent her address came together just a few days beforehand. However, some of her main ideas and even distinct phrases were developed a number of weeks, or even months, earlier.”

 

There is a photo of Edwards Bates with a little story.

 

But I have written at length. How interesting this has all been. Thank you to our audience of readers.

Joyce Voysey

Ed. *Mrs. Eddy's address can be found beginning on page 251 of Miscellaneous Writings 1883-1896.

Ed. **Tomlinson's first published article appeared in The Christian Science Journal and was titled "The religion of the Bible a religion of healing". It begins: As a clergyman my eyes were blinded to certain patent facts. I did not so intend, but I now know that I read into the Bible what was not there, and read out of it what was there.

"Upon Life's shore"

These days, one doesn't have to travel to the United States to appreciate the work of Longyear Museum in providing an accurate view of the life of Mary Baker Eddy, Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science.

A short video titled "Upon Life's shore" may be a good place to start. The story of Mrs. Eddy's long life, as described here, is uplifting, hopeful, and remarkable.

I enjoyed the costumes, scenery and true-to-the-age depictions of life in the New England of the 1820s through to 1910.

The name of the video comes from the fifth verse of Mrs.  Eddy' poem Christ My Refuge - 

                Thus Truth engrounds me on the rock

                Upon Life's shore,

                'Gainst which the winds and waves can shock

                Oh, nevermore!

It's worth taking a little time to imbibe the spirit of this introductory film. It lifts the heart.

Julie Swannell

Where are the other women?

 A past-last-minute word on our July book, The Bible Atlas: A pictorial guide to the Holy Lands.

Page 44 has the title: Jesus' birth and early life.

2. The birth of Jesus 

The accompanying picture has 6 men + Mary (the only woman!)

Joyce Voysey

Israel emerging in the Iron Age

 Continuing with The Bible Atlas: A pictorial guide to the Holy Lands

Pages 24-25: Israel and the Philistines

I am very impressed with the opening shortened history of the dealings of Israel and the Philistines. Very neat!

So the Philistines came from the Aegean Sea by ships as illustrated; surely a quicker way than the track taken by the Israelites in their 40-year wanderings, much of which was in desert.

No doubt each journey had its perils.

I have used that word “perils.” Not one I might use every day, I must say. It reminds me of Paul. He has given a list of perils in II Corinthians 11. Here he speaks at length of his experience in spreading the Word:

...in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft.

Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one./Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep;

In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren;

In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.

Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches.” (II Cor. 11:23-28)

 

Pages 26-27: David’s kingdom

Page 26 gives us the 23^rd Psalm. It lacks the King James Version’s last two verses. Must look into that.

Ah! Maybe verses 1-3 are the “Shepherd” ones and that is what the heading promises: The Lord is my shepherd. Or was it perhaps that the space only allowed 3 verses?

By the way. AI goes on at length about the Psalm.

Page 27. So, I am grateful to read that David “lived at the beginning of the Iron Age (1000-500 BCE), so his metalworkers were able to make the latest iron weapons for his army. Absalom’s rebellion (drawing and text at the lower right-hand of the page) shows David’s men using weapons that would therefore have iron “business ends.” A gory story. It hadn’t ever impressed me enough to know what happened to Absalom.

Joyce Voysey

All hands on deck

The story of Solomon's temple appears on pages 30-31 of this month's book, The Bible Atlas: A pictorial guide to the Holy Lands, available in Christian Science Reading Rooms. 

The opening paragraph offers helpful background:

               Solomon became king of Israel when his father, David, died in about 970BCE. Solomon inherited a large kingdom, with taxes pouring in from many surrounding lands. He became very rich, built a huge palace for himself and had many servants and many wives. ... Solomon was also a clever businessman. He bought horses from Egypt and then sold them to traders from other countries. He also imported gold, parrots, spices, and perfume. ... his biggest project was the building of a magnificent temple, where all the Israelites could come to worship God.

The atlas reminds of:

- Cedars transported by sea from Tyre

- King Solomon's mines (copper and other precious metals)

- The visit of the Queen of Sheba (to see for herself his fabled wealth)

- Solomon's wisdom (as shown in his resolution of a dispute between two mothers)

- The cut-out drawing of the temple shows its magnificence. 

 

The story of building this temple is fascinating. Here are a couple of details: 

I Kings 6:2, 7

And the house which king Solomon built for the LORD, the length thereof was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof twenty cubits, and the height thereof thirty cubits. ...[27.5m x 9m x 13.7m; 90’ x 30’ x 45’]

And the house, when it was in building, was built of stone made ready before it was brought thither: so that there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house, while it was in building.

Everything was prepared in advance! What a project. And what a lesson in planning, preparation, focus, cooperation, and attention to detail for us today. How the people must have loved being part of this building project.

Having a temple in which to worship was very significant. Previously, Solomon had gone “to Gibeon to sacrifice there; for that was the great high place” (I Kings 3: 4). Now, the people would have a temple right there in Jerusalem just where David had decreed it be built. No wonder they worked harmoniously together. Even King Hiram of Tyre, who had loved King David, was an enthusiastic participant (see I Kings 5:1).

Julie Swannell

Twelve tribes looking for home

Pages 22 and 23 of The Bible Atlas: A pictorial guide to the Holy Lands (text Dr. Stephen Motyer, illustrations Brian Delf) offer a spread titled “The Promised Land.”

There is an interesting set of stories: (1) Moses sees the Promised Land (remember, he wasn’t allowed to cross over Jordan and enter it because he had struck the rock to get water, whereas God had told him to speak to it: disobedience); (2) Rahab and the spies; and (3) The Fall of Jericho. There are two more stories (not numbered):  The Twelve Tribes of Israel – a small map shows the tribes and the symbols which represented them, and The campaigns of Joshua.

The River Jordan

My first reading found me curious about the River Jordan, which is shown in its length. We are told that it flows from north to south, passing through the Sea of Galilee and ending in the Dead Sea which is 1,365 feet (416 m) below sea level. I wanted more figures, so I consulted Google.

The river rises at the base of snow-capped Mount Hermon*, and it just happens upon the Sea of Galilee then travels 100 miles to the Dead Sea. 256 miles in all. It is only 1 to 2 foot deep! The Dead Sea is endorheic: a closed body of water with no outlets, the water only leaving the lake through evaporation or seepage. (Lake Eyre is an example of an endorheic body of water until it is flooded by water coming down from Queensland.)

The 12 tribes

West of the Jordan (N to S):

•                 Asher
•                  Naphtali
•                  Zebulun
•                  Issachar
•                  Manasseh
•                  Dan
•                  Ephraim
•                  Judah
•                  Benjamin
•                  Simeon

East of the Jordan:

•                  Gad
•                  Reuben

I have found it difficult to get details of the symbols shown against each tribe. This next list is from Wikipedia (Ed. This list excludes Manasseh and Ephraim but adds in Joseph and Levi.):

•        Asher: a tree
•        Naphtali: gazelle (Genesis 49:21)
•        Zebulun: ship, due to their bordering the Sea of Galilee and Mediterranean
•        Issachar: Sun, moon and stars (1 Chronicles 12:32)
•        Dan: Scales of justice
•        Judah: Kinnor, cithara, and crown, symbolising King David
•        Benjamin: jug, ladle, and fork
•        Simeon: towers and walls of the city of Shechem
•        Gad: tents, symbolizing their itinerancy as cattle-herders
•        Reuben: Mandrake (Genesis 30:14)
•        Joseph: Palm tree and sheaves of wheat, likely references to the dreams he received as a child (Genesis 37:7)
•        Levi: Priestly breastplate, symbolizing the Kohanim

It is interesting to compare these with the Glossary definitions in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy of some of the sons:

·       Asher (Jacob’s son).  Hope and faith; spiritual compensation; the ills of the flesh rebuked. (p. 581)

·       Benjamin (Jacob’s son).  A physical belief as to life, substance, and mind; human knowledge, or so-called mortal mind, devoted to matter; pride; envy; fame; illusion; a false belief; error masquerading as the possessor of life, strength, animation, and power to act.

       Renewal of affections; self-offering, an improved state of mortal mind; the introduction of a more spiritual origin; a gleam of the infinite idea of the infinite Principle; a spiritual type; that which comforts, consoles and supports. (p. 582)

·       Dan (Jacob’s son). Animal magnetism; so-called mortal mind controlling mortal mind; error, working out the designs of error; one belief preying upon another. (p. 583)

·       Gad (Jacob’s son). Science; spiritual being understood; haste towards harmony. (p. 586)

·       Judah. A corporeal material belief progressing and disappearing; the spiritual understanding of God and man appearing. (p.589)

·       Levi (Jacob’s son). A corporeal and sensual belief; mortal man; denial of the fulness of God’s creation; ecclesiastical despotism. (p. 590)

·       Reuben (Jacob’s son). Corporeality; sensuality; delusion; mortality; error. (p. 593)

Of course the Bible is the source of this knowledge. For example, Dan is, for me, a stand-out. In Genesis 49, where Jacob called his sons together, “Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days,” he says of Dan: “Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backward.” The horse was blamed rather than the real culprit, the adder.

There is much more on these two pages. I like the picture of the priests blowing the horns, for instance. I’ll leave it to the reader to catch up with those for themselves.**

Joyce Voysey

*Ed. Mt. Hermon is not on the map, unfortunately, but Wikipedia has a spectacular photograph and has this to say: “Mount Hermon is a mountain cluster at the southern end of the Anti-Lebanon range, straddling the borders of Syria, Lebanon, and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Rising to 2,814 m (9,232 ft), it is the highest point in Syria and features the only ski resort in the region.”  A further comment notes that Mount Hermon ... is uniquely special due to its strategic military dominance, profound biblical history, and its role as the primary water source for the region. Gotquestions.org/Mount-Hermon.html is helpful.

**Ed. I also liked seeing the trumpets (horns) and the Ark of the Covenant. I gather from this account, that after 40 years in the wilderness, there was still much work to be done in this, "The Promised Land", before they could settle down and call this place home.

The Mount of Olives

From time to time, the New Testament locates Jesus and his disciples in the Mount of Olives. For instance, Luke 21:37 says: "And in the day time he was teaching in the temple; and at night he went out, and abode in the mount that is called the mount of Olives." When we were in Greece and Turkey a couple of years ago, we noticed olive trees thriving everywhere. A little research tells me that they need a Mediterranean climate: hot dry summers and cool wet winters. To me, they offer a sense of timelessness, stability and peace.

Image by Chikilino, from Pixabay

Writing in the January 1926 issue of The Christian Science Journal, Allan Carson writes (The Mount of Olives) that "as night spreads her veil of silence over [Jerusalem's] activities, we catch another view of [Jesus], as he moves quietly away from the throng to the mount of Olives, there, through the still hours of the night, to commune more closely with God and gain inspiration, understanding, strength, and guidance for the work of the following day. We love to follow him in thought, as he slips unnoticed through the gate of the city wall, down over the brook Cedron, up through the quiet garden of Gethsemane, .... and on to the mount."

The Bible Atlas: a pictorial guide to the Holy Lands (written by Dr. Stephen Motyer, illustrated by Brian Delf, published by Penguin Random House 2001/2025) explains that the Mount of Olives is "just to the east of Jerusalem" and from there anyone travelling from Jericho would have had "a wonderful view" of that city. The double page spread on pages 56-57 of the Atlas describes Jesus' betrayal, death and resurrection in five clear and concise paragraphs, each accompanied by beautiful sketches, and a lovely map of the walled city of Jerusalem.

I especially like the sketch of Jesus and his disciples sitting down on the ground to celebrate Passover - when "Jewish families gathered to remember the night when the Israelites left Egypt for the Promised Land", and also the sketch of Judas' betrayal. The commentary explains that when Judas kissed Jesus, it was a signal to the menacing crowd - who were armed with swords and burning torches - that this was the moment they would arrest Jesus.

Julie Swannell

Doris Peel on angels and Ishmael

I have enjoyed reading the poetry that was selected over the past month and was particularly helped by the final post referring to a piece by Todd Nelson in the Christian Science Monitor of May 18. It reminded me that I am often as nourished by enlightened responses to poetry as I am by the poetry itself. So Thank You, Todd, for amplifying my enjoyment of e.e. cummings’ delightful poem, written with such a special feel for childhood’s adventures and wonders.

Though I am a few days late, I would like to add my contribution.

There is a little treasure of a book called Doris Peel, Selected Poems 1955 - 1975 which I happened upon in my bookcase a day or two ago. The frontispiece to this book is like a light which illuminates my appreciation of Doris’s poems. It reads in part:

 

These poems are deceptively simple. What may seem at first glance to be fragmentary, slight, casual, dipping and wheeling like the flight of a gull, reveals in the context of its fellow poems a remarkable centrality of vision,  a structure of relatedness that is both movement and rest, pattern and unpredictability.

 

Doris Peel’s work brings to mind T. S. Eliot’s definition of wit in metaphysical poetry as “a tough reasonableness beneath the slight lyrical grace.” The subsurface tension in this case is between a quick-witted woman and a wide-eyed child - that child who, in New Testament terms, can alone receive the kingdom of heaven.

 

Here is an extract from an early poem.

 

I AM EASILY PERSUADED

                  by the arrival of angels.

The feel of them: the sense of a melodious murmuring

in the air, and the faint stirring

of wings that will shelter me

if I am good.

                 I am much comforted

                             by the intimation of an authority

that has nothing to do with the discipline of nannies.

Angels never scold. Or rap over the knuckles

somebody who has stumbled. Being, themselves, shaped purely

from light, they are all lightness in performance and presence:

with song, not sermon, their special province

                  and laughter (I suspect) more native

to their nature than common--or even uncommon--speech. Not

that they resemble, for a split second, those sanguine earthlings

with their tedious insistence on Sunny-Side-Up. Angels

aren't optimists....

Oh, it is altogether otherwise with angels.

...

                     In what tongue tell

of a murmuring, a stirring, and that sudden incandescent elation

in the air? Or of how, long after the visitants have withdrawn

and room or street appears usual again,

            there is a lingering of intimations

all about, and even the lilt - faint - faint - not yet quite gone -

 

of law caught as laughter:

of power as song.

 

And another excerpt, this time from a poem called

 

WHEN WILL THE FORGIVING OF IT COME TO PASS?

 

Palestinian Village: Occupied Territory

 

This gone-from place,

these windows gaping in a golden glare

of pitiless sun,

      once knew (however poor it was)

life going on.

Once brimmed with breath.

Once throbbed aloud with those

 

who held it, passionately - Ishmael deep -

to be their home.

 

 Marie Fox

Antidote to dullness

 I was reading the May 18 2026 print issue of The Christian Science Monitor. Pages 40-41 feature a poem by e.e. cummings (1894-1962) and an essay by Todd R. Nelson. 

The poem is just wonderful. Here it is:

in Just-

spring     when the world is mud-

luscious the little

lame balloonman

whistles     far      and wee

and eddieandbill come

running from marbles and

piracies and it's 

spring

when the world is puddle-wonderful

the queer

old balloonman whistles

far     and     wee

and bettyandisbel come dancing

from hop-scotch and jump rope and

it's

spring

and

    the

      goat-footed

balloonMan     whistles

far

and wee

In the accompanying essay, Todd Nelson describes his first encounter with this poem in the seventh grade. He writes: "I look back on that poem as a starting line. I heard the call to poetry... I began to understand that a poet is describing the world, experience, or concepts in a way that antidotes dullness, commonness, and indifference; that stretches the possibilities of language; that sings and beckons. A poem is a discrete vessel of clarity and understanding."

Have a puddle-wonderful day!

Julie Swannell

Woman's Rights

 Some years ago in Queensland the Premier’s wife, Florence Bjelke-Petersen, was elected to be a Senator in the Federal Parliament. 

She was a religious person, and I felt she would need spiritual support in taking on this responsibility. She was more famous for her Pumpkin Scones than her politics!

So I sent her a copy of Mary Baker Eddy’s poem Woman’s Rights. Here are the words:

WOMAN’S RIGHTS

Grave on her monumental pile:

She won from vice, by virtue’s smile,

Her dazzling crown, her sceptred throne,

Affection’s wreath, a happy home;

 

The right to worship deep and pure,

To bless the orphan, feed the poor;

Last at the cross to mourn her Lord,

First at the tomb to hear his word:

 

To fold an angel’s wings below;

And hover o’er the couch of woe;

To nurse the Bethlehem babe so sweet,

The right to sit at Jesus’ feet;

 

To form the bud for bursting bloom,

The hoary head with joy to crown;

In short, the right to work and pray,

“To point to heaven and lead the way.”

Mary Baker Eddy, Miscellaneous Writings 1883-1896, pp. 388:14 - 389:4

I had a very gracious reply from Mrs. Bjelke-Petersen in which she acknowledged Mrs. Eddy’s place. I am sorry that I didn’t keep a record of that reply.

Joyce Voysey

Immediate Action

"The thread that traces the history of man's worship of God is spun of many strands. One of the longest, perhaps the strongest, is poetry." – from the Forward to Ideas on Wings (Christian Science Publishing Society, 1978)

One poem that has inspired and encouraged me is by Marcella Krisel. I'll share the first half here, but I would encourage you to find it on jsh-online.com or ask for a copy from your local Christian Science Reading Room.

Believe me—it wasn't easy

by Marcella Krisel from The Christian Science Journal, January 1977

---

For far too long
I played host to a problem
That I thought was up to me to solve.
I wrestled with it daily—
Denouncing, entreating, resenting it.
Unfortunately, it thrived
On all this attention
And the free room and board.
Finally, at a particularly low point
Of human discouragement
I was spurred into immediate
Action of a different sort
By a flash of insight:

"I can of mine own self do nothing."** 

....

The Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy encourages us: “Individuals are consistent who, watching and praying, can “run, and not be weary; . . . walk, and not faint,” who gain good rapidly and hold their position, or attain slowly and yield not to discouragement.” (SH 254:2–6)

Julie Swannell

*See posts on Ideas on Wings (available in most CS Reading Rooms) from August 2016 - here's a link.

** John 5:30

A holy air

 I was talking with a friend earlier this evening when she burst out with the first few lines of a hymn from the Christian Science Hymnal with such fervour it almost took my breath away.

    "A holy air is breathing round" she began.

    "A fragrance from above" she continued.

We looked it up in the hymn book and found it is number 4!

We completed the verse:

    "Be every thought from sense unbound, / Be every action love."

The joy of the verse spilling out from my friend reminded me of a time, some years ago, when our little congregation in Sydney substituted the recitation of a poem for the usual sung solo in the Sunday church service. The result was uplifting and much appreciated.

The words of the hymn, called "Pater Noster" - "Our Father" - are by Dr. Abiel Abbot Livermore (1811-1892). The very useful Concordance to Christian Science Hymnal and Hymnal Notes (available in most Christian Science Reading Rooms) explains that Dr. Livermore "was a Unitarian minister of Keene, New Hampshire, who later became president of the Theological School at Meadville, Pennsylvania."'

The music, by Dr. Percy C. Buck, employs a "free rhythm melody". Dr. Buck "believed that here was an opportunity to advance the music [at Harrow, where he taught] beyond the square-cut form of the conventional hymn tune" (ibid p 177). "After he left Harrow Dr. Buck found that many of his old boys remembered these tunes and even asked to include them in other hymn books" (ibid).

This might encourage congregations to have a new look at Dr. Buck's hymns. And to revisit hymn 4! Thank you DJ.

Julie Swannell

Sympathy

 I’m reacquainting myself with a wonderful poem in Mary Baker Eddy’s autobiographical work Retrospection and Introspection. 

The poem begins:

Ask God to give thee skill

In comfort’s art:

That thou may’st consecrated be

It appears on page 95, and although Mrs. Eddy does not name the poem, I can state that it is called “Sympathy”.

 

Mrs. Eddy gives the name of the poet as A. E. Hamilton. Last year I read Ron Chernow’s biography of Alexander Hamilton, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States of America, and noted that he wrote poetry, so I wondered if this poem could possibly have been written by him. (The title of the book is simply Alexander Hamilton. It is a very fine read indeed. And there is a musical Alexander Hamilton!!)

 

As I have written next to the poem in my copy of Prose Works (by Mary Baker Eddy), my research told me that Alexander Hamilton did not write it. Annie Hamilton did. And that Annie was from Dublin, Ireland, and that her dates were 1843-1875. She died at Castle Hamilton, County Cavan, Ireland. She published under initials only.

 

And now I cannot verify that information through the internet!!

 

How the student of Christian Science yearns to be given the “...skill / In comfort’s art”, spoken of in the poem. He knows so well that “...comforters are needed much / Of Christlike touch.”

 

Let us never stop yearning for such skill. And appreciating the wonderful poem.

Joyce Voysey

Outcome and income

Many poems have helped me over the years. One is called “Mind’s outcome: income” by Steven Alan Avey, published in the May 1979 issue of The Christian Science Journal.

The poem employs a lovely rhythm and repetition that invite me to press on to the next idea and are helpful in memorizing. It also employs all seven synonyms for God found in the Christian Science textbook (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy). This encourages the reader to continue on to see the role of each of those synonyms in working out that our income is Mind’s outcome – what Mr. Avey calls “usable ideas that develop themselves into action”. I love this!

I couldn’t quite remember the name of this poem and thought it used the word “outgo”. (It doesn’t; it uses “outcome” instead.) Anyway in my search on jsh-online.com I found a lovely idea that seems relevant to the topic of income. Writing in the Christian Science Sentinel, 29 Jan 1979, Geoffrey Barratt states that “there is no "fixed income," because the "outgo" from God is not limited, the infinite good that floods from eternal Love is not frozen” (More than ‘millionaires’).

We can’t print Avey’s entire poem here, so here’s a morsel:

Mind’s outcome: income

Steven Alan Avey

Yield to Spirit, and

in come usable ideas

that develop themselves

into action.

 

Look to Love, and

practice kinder ways

of caring for yourself

and your community…

I hope everyone can read the whole poem and perhaps pop a copy up on their fridge, where it sat in our family home for many years.

Do you have a favourite poem? Please share it with us.

Julie Swannell

How Jesus loved his audience

Here is one of my favourite poems from the Christian Science periodicals. I pray with this poem when my church has a Christian Science lecture, as it did last Sunday.  

The poem is from the April 1971 issue of The Christian Science Journal:

IN THE MORNING, IN THE SUN By Doris Peel

I love that we have the privilege of knowing, as expressed in the poem, that newcomers are 

"...drawn

by someone who knew about them

what no man ever had known before."

How Jesus loved his audience.  

 Joyce Voysey   

Ed. Dear readers, we are hoping you will be able to access jsh-online to read the poem, because sadly, we can't quote it in full. There is much free content on this site, and non-subscribers can further access several articles or poems each month for free, we believe. Those who do not yet subscribe, are invited to contact their local Christian Science Reading Room librarian, who will be very happy to send you a free copy of this beautiful poem. By the way, trial subscriptions are free. 

Mrs. Eddy's poems: prayerful driving companions

The other day I was driving to the Gold Coast to attend a Christian Science lecture. It's a 90 minute drive if the traffic flowing nicely - it was! ☺ 

I didn't feel like listening to anything, and wanted to pray, so I decided to sing the hymns that have words by Mary Baker Eddy.

After a while I stopped singing and just recited the words. Slowly and thoughtfully. It was a joy and so uplifting.

Readers probably know there are 7 of Mrs. Eddy's poems set to music in our hymn books.

I grew up with them. One of my Sunday school teachers gave me a pamphlet with the those words in them. I'm not sure how old I was. (Gift idea: Hymn books make a welcome gift for those of all ages! Check out the stock in your local Christian Science Reading Room.) I soon learnt them by heart and they have come to my rescue many times. I also learnt to recognize the hymn numbers for these and other special hymns, at least those in the 1932 hymnal - I have yet to come to grips with the numbers in the "new" hymn book.

Here are the titles and introductory lines of those 7 poems:

"Christmas Morn" - Blest Christmas morn, though murky clouds / Pursue thy way

"Love" - Brood o'er us with Thy shelt'ring wing / 'Neath which our spirits blend / Like brother birds

"Satisfied" - It matters not what be thy lot / So Love doth guide

"Mother's Evening Prayer" - O gentle presence, peace and joy and power

"Christ, my Refuge" - O'er waiting harpstrings of the mind / There sweeps a strain

"Communion Hymn" - Saw ye my Saviour? Heard ye the glad sound?

"Feed my Sheep" - Shepherd, show me how to go / O'er the hillside steep

The Mary Baker Eddy Library has an excellent page about the background of these hymns. You might like to guess which hymn was written first...it's in the MBEL article.

Also on the MBE Library site is a page of research regarding the frequency of having Mrs. Eddy's poems - as hymns or solos - in church services.

What is sure is that each word and each line of these poems is a healing prayer.

Julie Swannell