CHRISTIAN SCIENCE READING ROOM REDCLIFFE: May 2016

Thursday, 26 May 2016

Choreography of equality

We may think that chapter 8 of Paul's second letter to his friends in Corinth is about abundant supply, and it certainly is that.

I am reminded of Mary Baker Eddy's piece on "Angels", which includes the following: "God gives you His spiritual ideas, and in turn, they give you daily supplies" (Miscellaneous Writings p. 307).

However, rather than speaking about receiving, Paul emphasizes equality. The ingredients for this balanced sufficiency are
1. willingness to give and to share, followed by
2. the doing of it ("performance").

That's just what a musician or any artist does: nurture the willingness to give, using and improving available talents, and then give (perform)!

Giving and receiving. "That there may be equality" (II Cor 8: 14). Nothing left over or wasted. No-one left out. Everyone blessed.

It's Soul's dance, choreographed by Love.

Thank you Paul!

Julie Swannell

What are we thinking?

We may think that Paul was received with a warm welcome and perhaps even reverence. His second letter to the Corinthians tells a different story. Here he explains that he is involved in divine warfare, that of "casting down imaginations", capturing every Christ-like thought (II Cor 10: 5).

I love verse 10: "For his letters, say they, are weighty and powerful; but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible". How he made plain the doubts evident in the thought of this group at Corinth. And how meekly he concludes (verse 18) "For not he that commendeth himself is approved, but whom the Lord commendeth."

It's all about God. Fancy that.

Friday, 20 May 2016

"Know the love"

II Corinthians.

Verse 4 of Chapter 2 seems to sum up Paul’s attitude to the people of Corinth:

For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote unto you with many tears; not that ye should be grieved, but that ye might know the love which I have abundantly unto you.

I read through II Corinthians in the Harper Collins Study Bible – New Revised Standard Version and marked a few passages.

The first one is about the veil. The definition of ‘veil’ in the Glossary to Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures (by Mary Baker Eddy) has me thinking of the Muslim religion. Eddy refers to the veils which "Jewish women wore...over their faces in token of reverence and submission" (p. 596-597).

How Paul suffered “through great endurance” for his faith – “afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger.” He overcame through, “purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, holiness of spirit, genuine love.” (II Cor. 6:3-6) And there is more the following verses - Chapter 11:23-27 goes into detail on these trials.

We read that, “Godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation and brings no regret, but worldly grief produces death” (II Cor 7: 10).

Abundant supply is covered in II Cor 9:6-10.

NRSV offers an interesting note about the serpent which beguiled Eve by its cunning - “Paul is probably thinking of the Jewish legend, that Eve was sexually seduced by Satan (the serpent) who appeared to her disguised as an angel” (II Cor 11.3 and note).

Joyce Voysey

NRSV: New Revised Standard Version of the Bible

Thursday, 19 May 2016

Paul's confidence

Have you ever thought about Paul's confidence and willingness "...be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord" (II Cor 5: 8)?

Here is a lovely discussion between Rita Politan and Ken Girard about this, recorded November 2015 and available on jsh-online. Here's the link:

http://journal.christianscience.com/audio/putting-it-on-record/to-be-present-with-the-lord.

If you don't have a subscription to jsh-online, feel free to visit the Reading Room at 61 Ernest St., Margate. We care currently offering FREE subscriptions to this wonderful tool, which gives access to all the Christian Science periodicals via the Internet.

Julie Swannell

Thursday, 12 May 2016

Looking outside our circle - it's all about God!

I've had a couple of people tell me they are reading II Corinthians with us this month and that it is not so easy! So tonight I've done some research.

Commentators regard this letter (written less than a year after his first) as revealing Paul's character as he addresses difficulties encountered by this early Christian group in a city that was sometimes called the "city of sin". Eugene Peterson's introduction to the letter in The Message explains that Paul's leadership was being questioned and that he followed the lead of Jesus as he patiently and selflessly led God's flock in Corinth.

I found some useful maps too!

https://www.google.com.au/search?q=map+of+corinth+in+biblical+times&espv=2&biw=1326&bih=707&tbm=isch&imgil=NNskLUTkCJddhM%253A%253BiCxv-P4iPbolTM%253Bhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fwww.middletownbiblechurch.org%25252Fnewtesta%25252Fntesta6.htm&source=iu&pf=m&fir=NNskLUTkCJddhM%253A%252CiCxv-P4iPbolTM%252C_&usg=__AzVRST7nj47zT6W2OgBkcjyqaMw%3D&ved=0ahUKEwjX47qFs9TMAhUFkpQKHYzzBo0QyjcIMQ&ei=YWQ0V5evFoWk0gSM55voCA#imgrc=NNskLUTkCJddhM%3A

This part of the world is very much in the news today, as people fleeing Syria and Afghanistan reach the shores of Greece, hoping to forge new lives for themselves and their families.

Here are some passages from Paul that I have found worth a second look. It's interesting how often Paul uses the pronoun "we" and it's helpful to ask what problems or false perceptions Paul may have been seeking to address here. I offer possibilities here, but of course, you can determine your own reasons for Paul's writing as he does.

Maybe the Corinthians were bemoaning their own lot -

II Cor 1:8 - 10 "We felt like we'd been sent to death row, that it was all over for us. As it turned out, it was the best thing that could have happened. Instead of trusting in our own strength or wits to get out out it, we were forced to trust God totally..."

Regarding a fellow church member who had apparently erred in some respect -

II Cor 2: 8 "Wherefore I beseech you that ye would confirm your love toward him ." (KJV)

II Cor 2: 8 "My counsel now is to pour on the love." (Message)

It's not about "me". It's all about God -

II Cor 5:9 "Cheerfully pleasing God is the main thing..." (Msg)

II Cor 5:9 'Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him." (KJV)

Small or limited thinking or vision -

II Cor 6: 12-13 "Ye are not straitened in us, but ye are straitened in your own bowels. Now for a recompence in the same, (I speak as unto my children,) be ye also enlarged. (KJV)

II Cor 6: 12-13 "We didn't fence you in. The smallness you feel comes from within you. Your lives aren't small, but you're living them in a small way...Open up your lives. Live openly and expansively!" (Msg)