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Sunday 29 September 2013

Peter, Pilate, and three Mary's

Simon Peter. - how we feel for him in having, like us, to learn the hard way.  The story of his having denied Christ three times will never disappear from his story.  Each of the Gospels recounts the sad facts.  Perhaps it is most stark in Luke’s account, for it is there separated from the interchange between Jesus and the high priest. How stupid it all seems to us that Jesus was accused of blasphemy for admitting that he was the Christ, the Son of God, or ‘the Blessed’, as Mark has it.

The Jews were so determined to find a ‘lawful’ way of putting Jesus to death that they took him to Pilate, the Roman procurator of Judea.  Here he is accused of making himself king.  It was Pilate who suggested the title for Jesus’ cross: JESUS OF NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS.

We come to the crucifixion and are told that three Mary’s stood at the foot of the cross – Mary his mother, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene.   How Mary Magdalene must have grown spiritually under Jesus’ influence!  After all, he cast out seven devils from her, seven being recognised as a perfect number.  It was she who was first at the resurrection scene.  And she was the first to speak with the risen Christ Jesus.

This ‘first’ reminds me of Mrs. Eddy’s poem, 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.”

Joyce Voysey


PS. There is always another question to ask: Why is the last line in inverted commas?  It doesn’t seem to be a quote.

Saturday 28 September 2013

Sons of God

The other day a friend pointed me to a Bible Lesson on page 180 of Mary Baker Eddy’s book Miscellaneous Writings.  Here she writes about John 1, verses 12 and 13 which begins (King James Version): “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God…”

Eddy writes “Here, the apostle assures us that man has power to become the son of God.  In the Hebrew text, the word “son” is defined variously; a month is called the son of a year.”

Just think about what a month signifies and the relationship between a month and a year, or the relationship between each of the months. My friend pointed out that a year is not a full year if one month is missing.

The Gospel of John is a treasure trove for hungry seekers.


Julie

Our Friend and Comforter

The King James Version (KJV) of the Bible, John, Chapter 14, brings us “the Comforter”.  Most of the other versions I have, translate the idea as “a Friend”; one has “Someone.”  I feel quite bereft without that grand idea of Comforter. 

Mrs Eddy has set the “Comforter” forever in the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures (S&H).  It is a particular name she has given to Christian Science itself.  On page 55 of the textbook, the last paragraph of the chapter Atonement and Eucharist reads: In the words of St. John: “He shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever.  This Comforter I understand to be Divine Science.”  And what a comforter it is!  Healing sickness and destroying sin.  NOW!

However, “Friend” is good.  We find it in 8 of the hymns in the Christian Science Hymnal.  One of my favourites is hymn 291 Quiet Lord my froward heart.  The last stanza reads:
                                    As a little child relies
                                       On a care beyond its own,
                                    Being neither strong nor wise,
                                       Will not take a step alone,
                                    Let me thus with Thee abide,
                                    As my Father, Friend, and Guide.

Then, of course, there is the beloved children’s book My Best Friend.  I do not have a copy of this book, so cannot really comment on it, except to say that just the name of the book gives comfort when we know that God is indeed our best friend.

O Oh!  I just read Dummelow1.  He says of the Comforter: “RM2 ‘Advocate,’ or, ‘Helper.”  Attractive, and suitable to the context as the rendering ‘Comforter’ is, there can be little doubt that the true meaning of the Gk. Paracletos is ‘Advocate.’”

…Which reminds us of the “Trial Scene” in S&H where Christian Science is the advocate at the trial of the man “charged with having committed liver complaint.  What an example this allegory is to us as we endeavour to practise Christian Science in our human experience!  One of my favourite bits is “We send our best detectives to whatever locality is reported to be haunted by Disease, but on visiting the spot, they learn that Disease was never there, for he could not possibly elude their search” p. 439:31-1.

As I read all that Jesus shared with the disciples, I wonder who wrote it all down.  Were there people there, the oral historians, who could recall it all mentally until it could be written down?  There are whole chapters of Jesus speaking to the disciples, expounding the facts about himself and his Father and the Comforter.  Now in Chapter 17 we find him praying for them, and for all those who follow him.  Is this perhaps an expanding of The Lord’s Prayer as recorded in Matthew and Luke, but not in John’s Gospel?  I think I would like to record Luke’s version from the KJV –
                        Our Father which art in heaven,
                        Hallowed by thy name.
                        Thy Kingdom come.
                        Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.
                        Give us day by day our daily bread.
                        And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive
                              every one that is indebted to us.
                        And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.

I find it interesting that Jesus preached first and then prayed for his disciples, then and now.

Joyce Voysey


1Dummelow’s One Volute Bible Commentary

2 Roman

Mansions, welcomes, and pardons

“In my father’s house are many mansions.”
- John 14:2 

“Divine Love…brings back the wanderer to the Father’s house in which are many mansions, many welcomes, many pardons for the penitent.”
- The First Church of Christ, Scientist and Miscellany (p. 132: 3) by Mary Baker Eddy

Dummelow’s One Volume Bible Commentary makes an interesting point: “There are various degrees of glory in heaven, and various employments, suitable to the deser(ving) and capacity of each … The word used, which sometimes denotes a place of refreshment for travellers, is thought by Westcott to suggest that heaven is a state of continual progress, but this is unlikely.” 

Mary Baker Eddy’s advanced thought would not agree with Dummelow.  She has given the world a whole Lesson-Sermon, twice a year, on the topic Probation after Death.  She tells us that if we do not overcome difficulties on this plane of existence, we will meet them again in the hereafter. 

A useful study is to look up all the references to hereafter in the Concordance to Eddy’s book Science & Health with Key to the Scriptures (S&H).  Here are some examples.
·        Page 296: 4-9: Progress is born of experience.  It is the ripening of mortal man, through which the mortal is dropped for the immortal.  Either here or hereafter, suffering or Science must destroy all illusions regarding life and mind, and regenerate material sense and self.” 
·        Page 427:29-30: The dream of death must be mastered by Mind here or hereafter.”

Yes, there is definite room for progress in the hereafter, though, according to S&H (page 587), there is only the here and now of heaven – “Heaven.  Harmony; the reign of Spirit; government by divine Principle; spirituality; bliss; the atmosphere of Soul.”




Joyce Voysey

Wednesday 25 September 2013

And John bare record (John 1: 34)

Don’t you love the way Jesus got his little group of followers together?  It started when John the Baptist was asked to provide his credentials.  Who WAS he (John 1: 19 and 22)?  (This reminds me of the movie The King’s Speech where Bertie’s speech therapist Lionel was questioned regarding his credentials.  Who did he think he was?  Where had he studied?  What gave him the authority to be the teacher of the King of England?)

John’s reply was completely honest.  He wasn't pretending to be anyone other than himself.   He says he’s simply doing what the prophet Isaiah preached.  He would “make straight in the desert the highway of our God” (verse 23).  He was preparing the thought of the people to be ready to recognize the Son of God, the “God-revealer” as Eugene Petersen has it in The Message.

To further explain the fulfillment of that prophecy, John tells his students about a very spiritual event he’d witnessed.   He saw “the Spirit descending” on the man Jesus.  And it was plainly visible to him because he said it was just as if a dove had flown down and rested on him.  Can you picture it - a dove quietly landing on Jesus shoulder or hand?  Obviously this was no ordinary rapport between man and bird.  Something extraordinary had been seen and felt – a palpable, heart-stopping presence beyond human reckoning; surely, a spiritual and holy peace.

Perhaps you've had a holy experience at one time.  It’s difficult to really convey its meaning and its effect.  I've felt it most frequently in Church or in prayer.  I've felt it most recently in a Laundromat in Gladstone when I picked up a book called “Have a little faith” by Mitch Albom and found my thought so grateful for the author’s candid approach to God-matters.  What John witnessed and what we sometimes feel is not an emotional thing; it’s spiritual, a connection to God, the source of all good.   Some might call it the touch of Christ.  Some might say it’s the finger of God or the grace of God.  Others might not have even noticed.

Later, two of John the Baptist’s disciples were with him when he pointed out Jesus as “God’s Passover Lamb” (John 1: 36 The Message).  They must have trusted John in this, because apparently they right away went after Jesus.  They quickly realized and spread the news that this man Jesus was the promised Messiah.  The two students soon turned into four and then five and six as word passed from one to another: “Come and see” (John 1: 39 and 46).  Everything they had studied in the Scriptures was true – from Moses to the Prophets (John 1: 45).


Mothers can sometimes give us a little nudge when we’re perhaps reluctant to get going.  So Mary gently urged her son, the thirty year old Jesus, to supply the need for wine at a wedding.  She needed no convincing that he was ready and able to begin his public ministry.  Jesus heeded the nudge.  Jesus ministry was underway and his career as a spiritual teacher and healer was launched.

Julie Swannell

Saturday 21 September 2013

God's glorified


The Gospel of John, Chapter 12

Judas was the apostle who was in charge of the ‘kitty’, the money bag.  Dummelow’s One Volume Bible Commentary has this to say about the communism ideal: “The apostles had one purse, because they realised that those who have spiritual things in common, ought (ideally, at least) to have temporal things in common also.  But though communism is the ultimate Christian ideal, and has always been regarded as such (see Ac 2:44), it does not, therefore, follow that it is practicable or good in the existing state of the world.”  (Historical note: this Commentary of Dummelow was first copyrighted in 1908.)

I am taken with all the “glorified” references in this chapter.  What is glorified being, I wonder?  Dictionary definitions didn’t satisfy.  However, this sentence from Science & Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy did: “Man and woman as coexistent and eternal with God forever reflect, in glorified quality, the infinite Father-Mother God” p. 516: 21.

Our real being is the glory of God in expression.  What a healing concept!  In reality, we are never less than that glorified being.  “God’s glorified” (see Mary Baker Eddy’s poem/hymn Satisfied) through our glorious expression of His wondrous Being. 

I am bankrupt of words to express this wonderful knowing.

Joyce Voysey
 
Ed. Do we detect a "shininess" in others?  Maybe this is God, being glorified.  Then let us all shine!

Who's for a walk?

The Bible has Jesus moving from Jerusalem to Galilee and back a lot.  And we are told he walked everywhere!  
I wondered how far it is from Galilee to Jerusalem - or the other way round, for I understand that everyone was said to “go up to Jerusalem”.  So I "Googled": “Distance from Jerusalem to Galilee.”  There is an amazing site called Miles Jesus and Mary walked, the Official website of Arthur Blessitt. Blessitt says that Mary walked half way round the world at the Equator; Jesus walked almost the whole way.
Every religious Jew was required by the law to visit Jerusalem three times a year (Ex. 34:23).  And there were “extras” which Jesus would have undertaken each year.
Blessitt mentions that Samaria (both mountains & Samaritans!) would be avoided when travelling between Jerusalem and Galilee.  He describes the route taken as going from Jerusalem east, down the Jordan Valley (the Jericho Road), across Jordan, north on east side to Decapolis, crossing back west over Jordan just below the Sea of Galilee, then north on the west side of the Sea of Galilee past Tiberias, and through Magdala to Capernaum.  Or from Decapolis north west to Nazareth and then east to Capernaum.  The direct route from Jerusalem to Galilee through Samaria was about 90 miles; the over-Jordan route 120 miles.  Blessitt says the company on the move would have been in the thousands.
I reckon there weren't many overweight religious Jews in those days!

Joyce Voysey

What's making an impression?

The Gospel of John, Chapter 6.
Jesus saw that he was confronted by danger to himself from two sources – a) the Pharisees and Sadducees; and 2) the people who would make him a king – by force (John 6:15).  The people seem to have been rather ho-hum about the physical healing Jesus did, as recorded in John 6:2, but mightily impressed with the provision of bread.  “Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled” (John 6:26).  However this opened the way for Jesus to declare himself to be the “bread of life” (see John 6:35).
Jesus also said he was the giver of living water (Chapter 4), and “the light of the world” (John 8:12).   He was continually confronted by minds which questioned his authority to make such statements.
So…we mortals need bread, water and light – they are life to us.  Jesus was saying that it was the Christ which gives us these blessings.  Jesus came to teach these truths because mortals needed help.  In Science & Health with Key to the Scriptures (S&H) by Mary Baker Eddy (p. 494:11) we find this statement: Is it not a species of infidelity to believe that so great a work as the Master’s was done for himself or for God, who needed no help from Jesus’ example to preserve the eternal harmony.  But mortals did need this help, and Jesus pointed the way for them.  Divine Love always has met and always will meet every human need.”
Our task is to exchange the objects of sense for the ideas of Soul, to change things into thoughts.  This we do through the metaphysics of Christian Science, S&H being our authority:
p. 269:14: “Metaphysics resolves things into thoughts, and exchanges the objects of sense for the ideas of Soul” and
p. 123: 14: “Divine Science, rising above physical theories, excludes matter, resolves things into thoughts, and replaces the objects of material sense with spiritual ideas.

Joyce Voysey

Friday 20 September 2013

Two sisters and a brother

Now about Lazarus
Having spent some time wondering about and researching Jesus’ travel around the Holy Land, I am interested in the timing of his journey to Bethany when called by sisters Mary and Martha following the death of their brother Lazarus.  It seems that Jesus was on the other side of the Jordan River where John had been baptising.  How far away was this area from Bethany, which was very close to Jerusalem?  John tells us that Jesus waited two days after hearing of the death before going anywhere.  In pondering this matter, I wondered if Jesus always walked when he was needed somewhere, or was it sometimes an experience like when “…immediately the boat was at the land where they were going” (John 6.21)?
And about Martha
I once gave a testimony in First Church of Christ, Scientist, Perth, in which I mentioned Martha.  I must have voiced my thought (at the time) that she wasn't as spiritually minded as Mary.  Soon after I got home to the Gold Coast, I received a copy of an article about Martha from a friend who had heard my testimony.  It is a wonderful Christian Science Sentinel article from the July 5, 1998 issue titled Martha still served, written by Virginia S. McHenry. http://sentinel.christianscience.com/issues/1998/7/100-27/martha-still-served
Martha was instructed by Jesus, she was loved by him, and she was rebuked by him.  The article likens Martha’s experience to that of Simon Peter’s.  Virginia McHenry puts the case that they both made big spiritual strides because Jesus loved them enough to point out their errors.  The article is well worth pondering.  All those years ago, it took me back to read the Bible narrative with a different perspective on Martha’s spiritual understanding. 
The article finishes with this paragraph: “Martha continued to serve.  But from all she had experienced of the Christ-love, she must at this point have served with a liberating joy, without resentment or rebuke.”
As for Mary, I feel that her part resembles that of a Christian Science practitioner.  She sat still in the house (consciousness).  Was she “be(ing) still and knowing” that Jesus, the Christ representative, would bring God’s healing to the situation?
The raising of Lazarus was what you might call the last straw for the Pharisees.  Jesus must be seized and brought to (their concept of) justice.

Joyce Voysey

Favourite Chapters: John 9 and 10

Chapter 9 of John’s Gospel is a favourite of mine.  I distinctly remember reading the whole chapter as the Bible selection for a Wednesday evening meeting at my church.  That was back in 1977 – I just looked it up in the record I kept at that time. My notes tell me that I have read from the chapter at some later date as well.  The first time, in 1977, the topic was “Vision” and the citations from Science & Health with Key to the Scriptures (S&H) by Mary Baker Eddy were almost all centred on that idea. 
The second time, the selections concentrated more on the ignorance of the Pharisees.  I have no date for that one but it was possibly 20 years later. 
The hymns chosen illustrate the different angles as well.  The “Vision” ones were: 148 In Heavenly Love abiding, 421 From these Thy children, and 23 Blest Christmas Morn, while the “Ignorance” ones were 34 Christ comes again with holy power, 346 Thou whose almighty Word, and 384 When God is seen with men to dwell.  It is still inspiring to read over those citations.
All of this seems to point to some spiritual growth in the intervening years.  I wonder what angle I might come up with now?
John 10 throws up some more instances of Jesus saying “I am.”  It seems to me that he is using repetition to get his message over to the people.  Different audiences require slightly different aspects.  It reminds me that S&H does this.  It covers all human situations and thoughts in order to reach those in different states of consciousness.
Chapter 10 takes the shepherd approach: “I am the door of the sheep.”  “I am the door.” “I am the good shepherd.”  “I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep.”
Later we have “I and my Father are one.”  And “I am the Son of God.”  The consternation this caused!  Mary Baker Eddy also caused consternation when she declared, “There is no life, truth, intelligence, nor substance in matter” (S&H 468:9-10).  And when she further declared that knowing this truth will heal the sick and reform the sinner.
I am reminded that Jesus also said, “Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword” (Matt. 10:34)!!  Perhaps this was the sword Mrs. Eddy had in mind when she wrote the Glossary definition of “sword”: The idea of Truth; justice; revenge; anger” (S&H p. 595:3).  Turmoil of mortal mind was predicted.  Perhaps we are experiencing it now.

Joyce Voysey 

Wednesday 11 September 2013

Jesus makes a difference to those he meets

Have I mentioned before my thought about being “born again”?  Dear Nicodemus of the enquiring mind, posed a question to Jesus: “How can a man be born when he is old” (John 3: 4)?  My Peloubet’s Bible Dictionary says of him: “A Pharisee, a ruler of the Jews and a teacher of Israel (John 3:1, 10), whose secret visit to our Lord was the occasion of the discourse recorded only by St. John.  In Nicodemus a noble candor and a simple love of truth shine out in the midst of hesitation and fear of man.  He finally became a follower of Christ, defended him in the Sanhedrin, of which he was a member (John 7:50-52), and after the crucifixion came with Joseph of Arimathaea to take down and embalm the body of Jesus.  (John 19:39)” 

Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicodemus) says: “Biblical historians have theorized that he is identical to Nicodemus ben Gurion, mentioned in the Talmud as a wealthy and popular holy man reputed to have had miraculous powers. Christian tradition believes that Nicodemus was martyred sometime in the 1st century.”

My little thought about being “born again” is, that we are born again when we know that we were never born into matter and do not die out of matter, for “man is not material, he is spiritual” as the Scientific Statement of Being demands that we know - see Science & Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy p. 468:9.

Chapter 4 brings the story Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the Sychar well.  Samaria, my Bible dictionary tells me, was an area of the Holy Land which was probably about 20 miles from north to south and 30 miles from east to west.  It was just south of Galilee and west of the Jordan, but difficult to give exact boundaries.  Oh boy!  It has a complicated history.  The area was depopulated at the time of the captivity of Israel and populated later by Assyrians.  Arch-villain of the story of Nehemiah’s rebuilding of Jerusalem (see the book of Nehemiah), Sanballat the Horanite, gets a mention!  His daughter married Manesseh, who was expelled by Nehemiah and settled in Samaria, where he and his family became high priests.  The Samaritans “are said to have done everything in their power to annoy the Jews.”  (Peloubet’s Bible Dictionary under ‘Samaritans’)

In a word, the Jews and the Samaritans didn’t get on very well.  Although Samaritan worship was now purely Jewish, they accepted only the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Old Testament teachings.  Sounds a bit like doctrinal disagreements among to-day’s Christians.

The story of the Samaritan woman with Jesus at the well is an illustration of the universal nature of the Christ.  Even though the men believed Jesus, they wouldn’t take the woman’s word that Jesus was indeed “the Christ” (John 4: 29), the Saviour of the world.

Joyce Voysey

Monday 9 September 2013

Possibilites: Simon becomes Peter; water becomes wine

What qualities did Jesus see in Simon Peter that he dubbed him “Cephas, which is by interpretation, A stone” (John 1:42)?  If we turn to the Glossary definition of ‘Rock’, we find both a positive and a negative interpretation: “Rock. Spiritual foundation; Truth.  Coldness and stubbornness.”  (Science & Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy p. 593:18). 

Jesus later named Simon “Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church” (Matt. 16:18). 

First “Stone”, and then “Rock”.  A stone will not give a good solid place on which to stand, so perhaps Jesus saw at that time Simon’s tendency towards “coldness and stubbornness” whereas Simon later grew to be the Peter of the rock’s “spiritual foundation”.  Perhaps Peter’s spiritual growth is more notably impressive than that of the other disciples.  We can rejoice in Peter’s experience, for it shows that it is possible for us too to move “from sense to Soul” (Hymn 64).

I love the “come and see” theme of this first chapter of John’s Gospel.  I recall, but cannot quote the source, that Mrs. Eddy used that phrase when speaking with an enquiring student.

So…back to the water into wine!  This story was in the Christian Science Bible Lesson-Sermon last week.  It seems there was a huge amount of water which Jesus turned into wine – 6 waterpots of two or three firkins each, a firkin being about 9 gallons as I read it.  In church yesterday, I wrote in my Quarterly, “Abundance of wine.  Jesus supplied a need.  What a way to begin his ministry, by seeing to it that there was an abundance of “inspiration, understanding” (S&H’s Glossary definition of Wine p. 598) on tap!”  I can now add, “in exchange for “error; fornication; temptation; passion.””

Joyce Voysey

Sunday 8 September 2013

John the Baptist - repentance and recognition

I think perhaps lots of us have a “John the Baptist” experience where we have discovered that “This is the way, walk ye in it” (Isa 30: 21), and which leads us on to Christian Science.  John recognised the Christ – “Behold the Lamb of God” (John 1: 36).  Two of John’s disciples (Andrew and his brother Peter*) heard that, and accepted that Jesus was indeed the Lamb of God.  Note the definition of Lamb of God in the Glossary of Science & Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy: “The spiritual idea of Love; self-immolation; innocence and purity; sacrifice.”)  They became his followers, and this entailed living in some degree that definition. 

In my wonderings about John the Baptist’s place, and remembering that Jesus said of him, "Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist" (Luke 7: 28), I came across Helen Wood Bauman’s Christian Science Sentinel article, The Blessing of Repentance March 15, 1930 – Check out the article in the bound volumes at the Reading Room or go online to jsh-online at http://sentinel.christianscience.com/issues/1930/3/32-28/the-blessing-of-repentance

Bauman points out that John’s theme was repentance.  As Matthew has it, “In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matt. 3:1, 2).  She writes:

The Christ, Truth, comes to us as we consciously make room for it by destroying sin. Thus, in the spiritual interpretation of the Scriptures we may see that the mental state which John the Baptist symbolizes is that most desirable state of repentance which precedes the fuller coming to individual consciousness of the Christ, Truth. With this fact before thought, we shall better understand what our Leader has written on page 15 of her Message to The Mother Church for 1900, "The Passover, spiritually discerned, is a wonderful passage over a tear-filled sea of repentance—which of all human experience is the most divine; and after this Passover cometh victory, faith, and good works."

So, as Andrew and Peter had been John’s disciples, they therefore had presumably been through the repentance stage, or at least started on that path; hence, they were ready to go forward as Jesus’ followers.

I am gradually coming to grips with John the Baptist’s role, and for that I am very grateful.  It truly amazes me the way my Redcliffe Book Club reading brings out the student in me.  I love it!

 

Joyce Voysey

 

*Ed – My reading is that Andrew and an un-named disciple of John heard John say “Behold the Lamb of God”, and that later Andrew went and told his brother Simon (later called Peter) about it.  How exciting is that!

Saturday 7 September 2013

John: delving into the heart of patient and healer

A little thought about John’s and Paul’s writings.  This morning I am likening John’s writings to Mrs. Eddy’s Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures (S&H), and Paul’s writings to Eddy’s Prose Works.  This thought came from reading Dummelow’s One Volume Bible Commentary: “[John’s] ideas are far deeper than St. Paul’s, but are much more simply expressed.”  

Dummelow quotes many of John’s sublime passages, and then states: “In these and many other passages, the peculiar union of simplicity and profundity produces the effect of sublimity, a characteristic often noted by the ancients, who expressed it by the figure of a soaring eagle, which became the accepted symbol, even as early as the second century, of the Fourth Gospel.”

My thought is that we could say that S&H is the absolute truth, and Prose Works the working out in human experience of the truths affirmed and set forth in S&H.  Thus, John’s account of Jesus’ life and works could be, at least in part, the basis of Paul’s working out “the problem of being” (as Eddy expresses it, e.g. S&H p. 271: 21).

I found this interesting note pencilled in at the beginning of the Gospel of John in my very old Bible: “John lifts law into demonstration, prophecy into ultimate spiritual fulfilment. He delves into the heart of patient and healer as he establishes resurrection to eternal life for all.”  Sorry I have no record of where I found it.  Another note says: “The Word: divine revelation.”

Now about the “Word” – just as Christ is God’s Word, even so is Christian Science God’s Word.  The Bible is also the Word, and so is Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. This brings to mind the lovely hymn, O Word of God, most Holy (hymns 251, 252), the last two lines of which are worth quoting: “It is the heaven-drawn picture/Of Christ, the living Word.”

What a record we have in the first chapter of John!  It feels to me like an overview – a sort of “helicopter” view.

Joyce Voysey

Friday 6 September 2013

The True Light


On reading the Introduction to John in Dummelow’s One Volume Bible Commentary, I came across Basilides Version1 of John 1:9 “There was the true light which lighteth every man coming into the world.”  The slight change from the King James Version hit me with the idea that all the babies coming into the world (our family is contributing well this year!) come equipped with their own light.  Did not Jesus teach “in earth, as it is in heaven” (Matt 6:10)? We all have our own light, direct from the Source of light, God, and we can never lose that light; it is never dim; it is never obliterated.

I am always amused by Mrs. Eddy’s statement in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures about light and darkness: “When one appears, the other disappears” (p. 281:5). How can darkness appear where there is light?

At our Wednesday Evening Meeting this week, where the topic was Government, the sentence that stood out to me was: “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light” (Isa. 9:2).  I first related this to our upcoming elections, but then I thought of Syria and it was a promise about that awful conflict too. This morning I see that it has relevance much closer to home for me.

It seems there is a big question mark among Bible scholars on the matter of the authorship of all the writings we attribute to John, i.e. the Gospel of John, I, II, and III John and Revelation. I would like to know what Mrs. Eddy’s inspiration told her about it.  A Bible scholar, who was also a thorough student of Eddy’s writings, stated that revelation is higher than scholarship.  He said he would trust her inspired interpretation above what scholars are currently saying.

So I must turn to her writings.  I find that she definitely attributes John’s third Epistle (III John) to him when she states, “The Apostle John says: “There is no fear in Love, but perfect Love casteth out fear….”” (III John 4:18).

And her chapter The Apocalypse (S&H p.558) begins “St. John…”.  Surely only the Apostle would be designated “Saint.”  And in Miscellaneous Writings we find “The divinity of St. John’s Gospel….” (Mis. p.292:2).

I have always had the impression that Mrs. Eddy classifies all these books as the work of the Apostle John.  I am satisfied.

Here are some passages which refer to John, the Apostle John, or St. John ,from the writings of Mary Baker Eddy.

·         S&H 410:17-20 – “The Apostle John says: “There is no fear in Love, but perfect Love casteth out fear…. He that feareth is not made perfect in Love.”

·         S&H 558:1 – St. John writes, in the tenth chapter of his book of Revelation: --

And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was on his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire, and he had in his hand a little book open: and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth.

·         Miscellaneous Writings292:2 - The divinity of St. John’s Gospel brings to view overwhelming tides of revelation, and its spirit is baptismal, he chronicles this teaching, “A new commandment I give unto you. That ye love one another.”
Joyce Voysey

Ed. 1 Basilides was an early Gnostic religious teacher in Alexandria, Egypt who taught from 117–138 AD, and claimed to have inherited his teachings from Matthew. He was a pupil of either Menander, or an interpreter of Peter named Glaucias. Wikipedia

Monday 2 September 2013

A book to encourage, enlighten and alter your whole perception of life


It’s been said before, but I love the way reading a book can alter your whole perception of life; can enthuse, encourage, enlighten.  Over the past month, the book We Knew Mary Baker Eddy, Amplified Edition, Vol II, has done all that and more for me.  I am indebted to my Mum (our very faithful blogger, Joyce Voysey) for setting the pace in delving in to its treasures. 

 

Some writers are completely new to me; others I have known about for decades; all of their accounts provide compelling reading.  What they have given us are warm, tender, and grateful accounts from those who knew from close-up association, a remarkable spiritual leader, Mary Baker Eddy.

 

This blog site, sponsored by Christian Science Society Redcliffe, is for sharing the joy of the riches available in Christian Science Reading Rooms.  One might think that Reading Rooms are, these days, an anachronism.  However just last week I visited a yacht club in the north of Queensland that had its own Reading Room/Library which was comfortably and suitably furnished so that one or more people could simply sit and read there.  Alas, we were not able to stop to enjoy doing so, but the welcoming “feel” of that attractive space has remained with me nevertheless.  I hope, as you join in reading our chosen book each month, that you will feel just as welcome on our blog.

 

This month, as I have been reading, I have had my pretty, gifted black pencil at hand to mark passages which stand out to me.  Dear readers, there are far too many to list them all, but it occurs to me that I might collate a number of them here so that they can easily be referred to later.  The overall impression I am left with as I near the completion of this marvellous collection of reminiscences, is the tender solicitude felt by these students from their Teacher.  She was indefatigable in supporting, correcting, encouraging; always listening to God’s direction and leading her students on.  And so, today, we can learn and grow through our study of the Bible in conjunction with her writings, and be buoyed by the stirring accounts of these faithful early workers.

 

1. Jennie Sawyer – on thinking

I love that Jennie Sawyer writes, on page 21 “In all these trials, we had letters of guidance and cheer from Mrs Eddy that sustained and comforted us” and that after 47 years of “continuous practice and teaching of Christian Science, it has been one glorious experience of endeavour to undo self and sense and thereby serve God” (p. 26). 

 

An outstanding comment from this writer is the following recollection of Mrs Eddy’s having said “To never be found thinking on the wrong side of any question would solve the problem.”

 

And also from Eddy: “If a negative thought comes to you, rise to your feet immediately and declare the Truth aloud.” 

 

2. Victoria Sargent – on attachment

Mrs Sargent quotes Eddy (p. 35) “Evil cannot attach itself to man, and you deceive yourself when you believe that it can.”

 

3. Janette Weller - regarding getting along with others

Weller shares a time when “a difference in opinions and methods of work arose between two students” (p. 50).  She writes: “The Christian Science pathway, while leading heaven-ward, is not always strewn with flowers, and like all other religious denominations, its followers are not always of the same mind...” and she shares Eddy’s letter to her, which begins “What a great matter a little fire kindleth.  What an unruly member is the tongue—what a mischievous thing is the pen if not governed in wisdom...” and continues “Help each other. In union is strength.  But it is best not to take the opinion of any student on points of Science...”  

 

4. Captain Joseph Eastaman - on working diligently

 Eastman’s account is very touching.  He speaks so humbly of himself as (p. 62-3) “a sailor, with only a seaman’s knowledge of the world” and that he “felt very much out of place” in joining “many highly cultured people” in the class when he was taught by Mary Baker Eddy.  However, he explains that Eddy’s answers to his earnest questions “brought forward and cleared up many points that otherwise might not have been touched upon” and so the result was that “all, except one, went into active work in the Master’s Cause.”

 

In speaking of the obstacles he faced in establishing and maintaining his Christian Science practice he writes (p. 66-67) “Unless faithfulness and energy are at the helm, there is and can be no permanent success.  Each must diligently work, and watch his own work—not that of others—here as well as elsewhere, if he would succeed.  I myself never worked so hard...but I can say...never did I find, in any other work, the abiding happiness that is mine in the service of suffering, sin-sick humanity.  I have proven beyond all doubt that errors of every sort, whether foolish or malicious, are cowards.”

 

5. Mary Eastaman – on remuneration

Mrs Eastman shares the following helpful comment (p. 78): “Captain Eastaman always said that he worked for one-third of his patients for love, expecting no remuneration but rejoicing in their healing and acceptance of Christian Science.  In after years, as God had prospered them, the expressions of gratitude, monetary and otherwise, from many of these patients [were] very gratifying and beautiful.  He never hesitated to sow the seed and leave the rest to God.”

 

6. Julia Prescott – Bible passages in times of great need

Mrs Prescott shares a defining moment in her experience on p. 90.  Her son was unwell, and had not recovered under Christian Science treatment.  She writes “in my extremity I resorted once more to the old medical remedies and used them just as I had for months every winter before.  But the child continued to grow worse until, at six o’clock the next morning, I cried out to God for help and laid the child down and left the house, saying as I rushed out, “I will never come back until I find my God.”  As I looked up to the stars, these words came: “Abide in me and I will abide in you.”  Instantly the whole world changed to me from a sense of agony to one of peace and rest...[the child] was perfectly normal...and never had another attack.”

 

Prescott writes of Mary Baker Eddy’s “gentleness and loving interest” (p. 90) and shares some teaching that left a deep impression on her (p. 91): “First, that Love was our only weapon and would destroy all error that might come to our consciousness.  Second, that all Bible passages that came to us in times of great need were messages direct from Him.” And regarding “seeing the error”, “always know it was the ‘adversary’, that Jesus came to destroy, not personality.”

 

Finally, Prescott shares what many writers have noted, Eddy’s generosity of spirit, expressed in tangible ways. “She delighted to give always in every direction” (p. 94).

 

7. Emma Estes – on healing

Estes shares her first encounter with Christian Science (p. 99 – 100).  Her mother was critically ill when a visitor (whose little boy had been cured of heart trouble), drew her aside and cautiously suggested she take her mother to a Christian Science practitioner, adding that “That will heal her.”  Her first visit with the practitioner resulted in a “holy calm” and “through earnest, faithful study of that precious book [Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy], one by one the dreadful physical ills began to disappear, and health and strength were slowly restored.”

 

She also relates (p. 101) an early experience of helping a man “groaning in agony” to whom she said: “God can help you if you will let Him.”   He replied “I don’t believe in God.”  She said “You surely will when you are helped.”  And he did.

 

Later, when an “urgent call for help came from a gentleman,” Mrs Eddy answered Estes’ reluctance to attend the case with the encouraging words “You have only to be a transparency for Truth” (p. 103).

 

8. Lida Fitzpatrick – helpful comments on healing

Here are some helpful comments from Eddy as recorded by Fitzpatrick (p. 110- 112):

·        “You do not have to argue; know.”

·        “I speak sharply sometimes but the thought must move.”

·        “The building up of churches, the writing of articles, and the speaking in public is the old way of building up a cause. The way I brought this Cause into sight was through healing; and now these other things would come in and hide it, just as was done in the time of Jesus....be a transparency for Spirit.”   

 

I found this especially helpful (p. 113) “You do not have to wait for your patient to tell you all about what to meet; you should see it and meet it.”

 

Some other noteworthy passages include:

p. 117 “In healing a patient, do not try to regenerate the whole; be like a carpenter—strengthen the weak place first, and while [you are] doing so, the patient will be helped mentally.  You cannot take the whole structure until you have reached that point.”

 

“Break the so-called laws which say you cannot heal...Work at it every day until they are destroyed; [do] not wait until you have to meet with the patient, but work every day just as hard as though the patient was dying until you have the mastery.  Then you will have dominion over your work.  Look to God, whose only law is harmony.”

 

“Keep awake by loving more; love the idea of God and you will love God. You can only love God as far as you love His idea...”

 

p. 118 “...speak with authority, stamp your foot if necessary...”

p. 119 “It is not necessary to eat as much as we do...”

p. 124 “There is a time to do everything...”

p. 129 “Learn what watching means.”

p. 140 “It is not Science to be too thin or too fleshy; either is a state of fear, for flesh manifests mind.”

 

9. Joseph Mann – a faithful servant

Mann writes (p. 150) “It is not an exaggeration to say that without doubt, in her time, Mrs. Eddy was the busiest woman on earth.”  And speaking of some of her qualities he tells us she (p. 154-5) “bore her daily cross with Christian dignity and godly poise...She allowed neither multiplying years nor time’s vicissitudes to interfere with her usefulness.  Her riper years only added wisdom to her ability to do, while age but added to the stateliness of her womanhood...”

 

In response Mann decided he “must demonstrate an aliveness to duty which amounted to a spontaneity of wisdom in action...to be so alive to the originality of God-with-me as to enable me to do harmoniously and quickly the things of which I knew she had need...” (p. 155).  He reports (p. 155) that “Mrs. Eddy rejoiced not so much in whatever was accomplished as in the manner of its accomplishment.”

 

I love when he shares the story of her rebuking his false modesty on p. 161-2 by pointing out that “God is never seen apart from man...”  As a faithful servant, Mann learned (p. 166) that “it is impossible unselfishly to give without also receiving.  I had come to Pleasant View only to give, but I left feeling greatly enriched.”

 

An Easter lesson was that “You must get rid of the ‘old man,’ the old woman; you cannot make them better and keep them” (p. 167).

 

As a trusted worker in Eddy’s household, Mann was called upon to help others who may have been homesick – see page 170. 

 

10. Clara Shannon – seeing and conquering error

Shannon relates an incident (p. 188-9) which showed Mrs. Eddy was always of woman of action if she felt God demanded it, ready to obey in the middle of the night if necessary.

 

Some lessons:

o  “If we are misjudged, persecuted, it is a sure sign that we are ascending the mount.”  See p. 93.

 

o  “For us to progress, we must go alone and work out our own salvation, and then if we meet one to teach Truth who has not learned before, we know more than that one and teach what we have learned of God through experience; this is progress.  We have not got the momentum of long years to work out of...” (p. 194).

 

Shannon had a patient who, after a week of Christian Science treatment was “much better, but not completely well.”  She “was alarmed at having a patient for so long as a week” and wrote to her teacher (Mrs. Eddy) to let her “know of what sin [she] was guilty.”  Eddy “told [her] that man was already healed and that what was preventing both of us from realizing this was malicious mental malpractice against [her] Christian Science practice, and that [she] must ...just handle that.”  The patient was soon well.  See p. 196-7.

 

She learned to always “give God the glory” (p. 209) and to say, “With God’s help I will do so and so...”

 

In Shannon’s account of the dramatic healing of Calvin Frye she includes her teacher’s instruction that “when you speak the Truth to anyone, if the Truth you speak causes him to laugh, cry, or get angry, you have reached the thought that needed correction.”  See pp. 210, 211.

 

On seeing and conquering error, Shannon says Eddy showed the students that if they “neglected to do [their] duty and did what was wrong without detecting, correcting, and overcoming error, but continued repeating the same mistakes and justifying [themselves}, the suffering which would result would be simple interest, which [they] would have to pay.  Then, if Christian Scientists refused to see the error when it was shown and wilfully or maliciously continued to repeat it, allowing their thoughts to be governed by hate, malice, jealousy, or any of these subtle conspirators, this would result in moral idiocy and would bring compound interest.”  See p. 215.

 

There are some interesting comments regarding insanity, dementia, imbecility and moral idiocy on p. 217.

 

11. Laura Nourse – beloved hymns

Readers will be interested that verses from Nourse’s poem “In Transitu” are the basis for hymns 197/198 (Now sweeping down the years untold, The day of Truth is breaking), and 392 (one of my all-time favourites with music by Arthur Sullivan)/393 (With love and peace and joy supreme).  See Endnotes p. 603.

 

Nourse opens her recollection with a description of her experience of class taught by Mary Baker Eddy in November 1888.  She speaks of having Eddy’s words “burned into [her] consciousness...and never forgotten” (p. 223).  The words were: “You will handle it, [malicious animal magnetism] or it will handle you.”

 

12. Septimus Hanna - support for a diligent worker

Hanna’s account is both interesting and important.  He speaks of Eddy’s “dignity of demeanour” (p. 230), and observes that she was “wholly devoted in all her thought and purpose to God and humanity” (p. 231). He also shares with us how Eddy strongly supported and instructed him in his work as a healer, preacher, teacher, lecturer, and editor. 

 

I love the portrait of Eddy on p. 232.

 

I was interested to read in Mrs. Eddy’s letter of Nov. 29, 1898 that (p. 250) “No student shall receive a certificate of qualification nor shall be accepted for examination who has not a fair education in English and especially the grammar of the old tongue and the branches requisite for good writing, speaking, and teaching Christian Science in good English.”

 

13. Edward Norwood – moments of profound clarity

Norwood, like many others, shares his experience of the Class of 1889, and especially Eddy’s two questions: “What is God?” and “How would you heal the sick instantaneously?”  Her answer to the latter question rings out to me (p. 269) – “It is not so much to realize the presence of Love—but love! Love enough, and you’ll raise the dead!”

 

On page 273, Norwood shares a tender letter from his Teacher: “When any strong impression comes to you..., ‘try the spirits’ before you submit.  Mentally treat yourself that nothing can govern your actions or come to your thought that is not from the divine Mind.”  Such wise counsel.

 

Norwood states bluntly that “Mary Baker Eddy was the most remarkable woman in the history of the world,” adding that one on her staff many years told him, “You would not tell Mrs. Eddy more than once that a thing could not be done” (pp. 282, 283).

 

I like when he writes (p. 283) that “We find God only as we find our real selfhood.  And Mary Baker Eddy showed us how to do it.”  The second last paragraph on that page is so interesting on the effect of the Christ on the physical and moral.

 

Page 286 has a wonderfully witty quote from Eddy “Some people are like wheelbarrows—they need to be pushed along.”  There is also a wonderful account here of Eddy’s healing a child with cataracts.

 

And finally, a pithy remark that will be helpful to us all in doing our own work faithfully whilst leaving to others the work that is rightfully theirs: “I will do what belongs to me patiently and faithfully but this is not my work” (p. 287).

 

14. Anna White Baker – pray at least 3 times a day by giving thanks

Baker tells us (p. 292) that having a medical practitioner become a Christian Scientist, and Christian Science healing cases given up by physicians, resulted in better attendance at church services in Concord and respect given to Christian Scientists there.

 

Baker also tells us of Eddy’s “longing to make every day count as gain.  Her demands had to be met, and she had neither time nor desire to tarry with inefficiency” (p. 297).  “There was no time for idle thinking or listless waiting.  The entire household was awake and alert in the early morning.  Mrs. Eddy was herself the first to greet the day, for at five o’clock, even on dark winter morning, she was accustomed to read from both the Bible and Science and Health and to make a note of thoughts which came to her then” (P. 301).

 

Page 303 is interesting.  Baker writes: “Mrs. Eddy deplored lack of culture at every point.  I once told her that I had been severely censured for sending my daughter to college...” Mrs. Eddy responded that “I wish every student I have had a college education.  I want them to be able to talk intelligently with educated thinking people everywhere.”  We learn that Mrs. Eddy subscribed to the Literary Digest and “read it regularly, thus keeping herself generally informed of important world conditions.”  We also learn that students should be reading the Christian Science periodicals with an educated thought which “silently corrects” and therefore helps to improve them.

 

I LOVE the section headed “Advice for parents” which begins p. 313.  We must not antagonize through “mistaken zeal.”

 

Page 314 gives a wonderful recollection on the topics of “body” and “numbers of a problem” – so

interesting and helpful.

 

I like that students need “faith, pluck, and patience enough to endure without fainting, apparent defeat and delayed rewards” (p. 315).  Two paragraphs on this page have been really helpful to me.  Praying at least three times a day by giving thanks and realizing the perfect, has transformed my days from worrying about what I have not accomplished to listening to what God is telling me—sometimes with surprising results, always resulting in more peace.  It’s really trusting as a child does (explained on p. 316).

 

The importance of naturalness is brought out on p. 320.  Baker writes that Eddy “disliked affectation or mannerisms.  It was this perfect naturalness about Mrs. Eddy that drew me to her...” 

 

A lesson on erasing error is pointed out on p. 326.  After hearing from Mrs. Eddy on the subject, Baker responded “When I cross out a figure as error I erase it from the problem, and it is no longer in my thought.”

 

Regarding how we regard Mrs. Eddy and represent her to others, Baker shares a letter from Eddy (p. 327): “Do not say to anyone ‘You must love Mrs. Eddy to be well,’ or anything like this.  It gives the enemy a plea to urge, ‘You make her as God.’  You can speak of the good I do and so incline the individual to the truth relative to me.  Any other way hurts the Cause.”

 

15. Mary Eaton – just love (p. 336)

Wonderful.

 

16. Lydia Hall – the time to work

Hall reports that Eddy said “...when everything seems to be going smoothly, that is the time to work as much as when you are having the struggle with the error” (p. 343).

 

17. Charles Reynolds - revelation

Reynolds wrote a lovely letter which included the following comments: “I saw clearly that Christian Science came by revelation.  That God spoke to Mrs. Eddy as truly as [He] did to Moses or Isaiah...I saw, as I had not before, that Christian Science is God manifesting Himself and that He had found in Mrs. Eddy a channel that was transmitting His presence and power.

 

“My impression of Mrs. Eddy might be summed up by saying that her view of men and issues was from an altitude of thought and insight so high and pure that she discerned their needs.”

 

We read of Reynolds’ own healing on p. 352.  He writes that “I read almost day and night for several weeks when the light broke through.”  The book was Eddy’s Retrospection and Introspection.

 

18. George Kinter – regard for others

Kinter makes a keen observation (p. 362): “I submit that the kindly thoughtful attitude of Mrs. Eddy’s mind, her regard for others, and her consideration for others’ comfort and happiness has here a fine, practical illustration in fact, well worth emulation by us all in all our dealings with each other as Christian Scientists and with people generally.  The general adoption of her philosophy in this respect would make and keep the world young.”

 

Here we read a further stirring account of Mrs. Eddy’s rousing Calvin Frye back to consciousness after which Kinter recalls Eddy’s “wholesome, good humor” when she said to Frye “Now, Calvin, don’t let the devil catch you napping again, for it takes a lot of valuable time sometimes to outwit him” (p. 369).

 

19. Minnie Scott – lean on God as a little child

Scott was called to work in Eddy’s home and doubted her ability to carry out the tasks.  How lovingly Mrs. Eddy responded “My dear, you have only to lean on God as a little child and divine Mind will teach you all you need to know every moment.  Love will direct your footsteps and lighten your labours.”  How encouraging as we today sometimes despair over learning new computer skills!

 

During the “Next Friends” lawsuit we are told that Mrs. Eddy was “patient, courageous, and joyful”, but Scott felt that “the whole affair seemed oppressive” until Eddy called in the staff and said “We are never worse for persecution but better because we turn more unreservedly to God...” (p. 377).  What a Leader!

 

Scott demonstrated her practical good sense when confronted with a “disgruntled woman” at their door.  Her method of caring for the situation, as explained to her teacher, would be not only to know that “Love was [her] protection” but also to “take special care that the windows and doors on the first floor were kept fastened” (p. 379/380)!

 

20. Adam Dickey – an able bodyguard

This man was solid and faithful and Mrs. Eddy soon knew it.  She relied on him and trusted him.  He comments that “People were not invited to Mrs. Eddy’s house for their own improvement.  They were invited there to work and what she required of them was not that they should work for themselves but that they should work for the Cause of Christian Science” (p. 389).”

 

“...every person who went to Mrs. Eddy’s home had to be tried and tested before he assumed his duties” (p. 391).

 

“I had no idea that she was constantly besieged by all the forces of evil and that she had to be in the frontline of battle, day and night, throughout all the years of her leadership” (p. 391).

 

Dickey speaks of Eddy’s “beautifully modulated voice”, the “daintiness and neatness of her attire” (p. 400) and of her “orderliness, neatness, and dispatch” (p. 417) which of course spilled over into the lives of those in her household.  It seems that mealtimes demonstrated both orderliness, promptness and regularity.  Dickey writes that “There was no confusion, no friction, no lost time. Indeed the question of meals and mealtime occupied very little space in the thought of the members of Mrs. Eddy’s household” (p. 421). 

 

I find it instructional that (p. 422) “Mrs. Eddy never let down on anything.  She kept everything up to the highest point of perfection—her appearance, her hair, her fingernails, her house, her horses and carriage—in fact, none of the evidences of age or neglect were ever allowed to show themselves.  She admired pretty things and beautiful things as one may infer from a [telegram] to the St. Louis church, in which she points out that it is not evil to enjoy good things but that it is evil to be a slave to pleasure.”  This is such a lesson in caring for our churches, our appearance, and our homes.

 

He recalls that she said to “Never fear a lie.  Declare against it with the consciousness of its nothingness.  Throw your whole weight into the right scale” (p. 406), and then she “picked up a lead pencil ...and balanced it there like a pair of scales...,” concluding that “When we admit a lie we put the weight into the wrong scale and this operates against ourselves.”

 

Faithful work was required and Eddy’s counsel was to “Never forsake your post.” (See Retrospection and Introspection p. 85: “Seek to occupy no position whereto you do not feel that God ordains you. Never forsake your post without due deliberation and light, but always wait for God’s finger to point the way.”)

 

Eddy’s students often got things wrong, as is illustrated in the passage regarding her instructions regarding praying about the weather.  She asked “Can a Christian Scientist control the weather?”  They all answered in the affirmative, to which Mrs. Eddy replied “they can’t and they don’t.”  She repeated the statement “They can’t,” but immediately she added, “but God can and does.”  The next paragraph of explanation (see p. 413) is very helpful regarding the nitty gritty behind that statement.

 

Dickey recounts an incident when Mrs. Eddy was obviously struggling physically prior to her daily carriage ride.  See pp. 423 – 424 on how he was instructed to pray, and the good results ensuing!  It demonstrated how to become law to oneself.  (See S&H p. 442:30.)

 

I love that Mrs. Eddy was very comfortable in passing on gifts so they could do double service (p. 424/5).  Indeed we learn how generous she was.

 

Dickey speaks of Eddy’s “accuracy”, of leaving “nothing unfinished or uncertain”, and of “painstaking exactness” (p. 427).  He also recalls her speaking about being changeable—that she had been accused of changing her mind frequently, but that it was always because she had got new light and a new point of view.

 

Dickey points out Eddy’s firm insistence on accurate statements when voicing truths.  See pp. 430 and 432. 

 

A noteworthy recollection is on page 443: “Often I heard her say with great impressiveness that in over forty years of church leadership, she had not made a mistake, a record that is most truly remarkable. 

Mrs. Eddy’s ideas of church government differed greatly from those of the general run of mankind. She knew that her Church, established as it was under divine direction, would incur the hatred and opposition of every known form of religion which has been evolved according to the wisdom of man.”

 

21. Adelaide Still – personal maid

This is such a lovely account.  Still served as Mrs. Eddy’s personal maid, and recounts many of the same experiences we’ve previously heard from the others, but with a new, clear, fresh and lively perspective and extraordinary wisdom.

 

She shares what Mrs. McKenzie said to her just before Still embarked on her work for Eddy: “Remember, half the world is condemning Mrs. Eddy, and the other half is deifying her, and the workers there stand between the two” (p. 460).  She recounts that she was willing “to do anything that God wants...” (p. 464) and that she “was very anxious to save Mrs. Eddy any unnecessary trouble” (p. 466).

 

Still tells us about Eddy’s love of “homemade ice cream and custard pudding” and also recounts Mr. Frye’s telling her that “nearly all of Unity of Good was dictated between the hours of four and six on cold winter mornings...” (p. 470)!

 

I find it particularly instructive to think of Eddy’s saying “God’s face is there...” when confronting a storm, as narrated p. 471.

 

Homesickness is mentioned again on p. 478.  I had never before thought of Mrs. Eddy’s response to the move from Pleasant View to Chestnut Hill as homesickness.  I love that “she grew to love her rooms and her drives...very much” (p. 479).  Home is such an important concept for us all.

 

This is lovely – Eddy’s response to Mrs. Sargent’s query “Mother, how did you do the wonderful healing when you first discovered Science?” –

 “I just got out of God’s way” (p. 482).

 

There is a lovely sketch of a time when a sixteen month old baby was brought to Eddy and how she absolutely delighted in it (p. 495).

 

22. William Rathvon – study her books

Rathvon describes Eddy as “the chosen evangel of Truth” (p. 503) and he lists some of her accomplishments as (p. 504):

-        The installation of a simple form of service

-        The building up of efficient agencies and institutions for the dissemination and protection of a radically new system of ethics

-        The launching of a great metropolitan daily in the interests of clean journalism

and he recounts her

-        Wisdom and sagacity

-        Strength and determination

-        Wit and humour

-        Love of little children

-        Delight in the beautiful

-        Inexpressible charm of manner

-        Eloquent voice.

And then he tells us that it was her desire that her followers “disregard her personality and address their thought to the things of God...She would have us study her books... (p. 514).  As our Church Manual tells us in the section Teaching Christian Science – Care of Pupils sect. 2 (Article XXVI Section 2)  - [The teacher] “shall persistently and patiently counsel his pupils in conformity with the unerring laws of God, and shall enjoin them habitually to study the Scriptures and Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures as a help thereto.”

 

Julie Swannell

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