Cooper poem PDF ye-are-the-light-of-the-world-bw-1
Cooper PDF ye-are-the-light-of-the-world-1
Cooper poem PDF power-is-of-god
Cooper poem PDF power-is-of-god.bw_
Soul’s GEM of Spiritual Sense will lead you THROUGH all dark periods!
insights from Cobbey Crisler, Ken Cooper & others from the Christian Science Quarterly Bible Lesson on
“Soul and Body”
for Sunday, May 23, 2021
shared by Warren Huff
CedarS Executive Director Emeritus warren@cedarscamps.org
KEN’S POETIC PRELUDE this week:
HEAR on YouTube a KEN COOPER POEM, “Ye are the light of the World” Plus enjoy another he titled “Stand in Purest Light” (from the Oct. 2020 Christian Science Journal). Both bring inspiration to citations in this week’s Bible Lesson. See later an earlier poem with the view of the woman Jesus healed of an 18-year infirmity.
[Ken wrote:] “Soul and body are the identity of God expressed as man. What God is, man reflects in that instant, in the now of God’s glorious perfection. When the senses are silent, the presence of God becomes visible and tangible to spiritual sense, thought becomes at one with all the synonyms of God, and the light of understanding glows in our hearts. “Life, Truth, and Love are the realities of divine Science. They dawn in faith and glow full-orbed in spiritual understanding.” (SH 298:2-4) This is the song of Soul, the demonstration of “my salvation”, (see Golden Text). “SALVATION. Life, Truth, and Love understood and demonstrated as supreme over all; sin, sickness, and death destroyed.” (SH 593:20). This light is constantly dawning and glowing in our hearts, the consciousness of God.
When we “take a candle to a problem” we have an expectation of shedding such light onto a difficulty that it no longer poses a challenge. Letting our light shine, the light of spiritual understanding, the presence of infinite Mind, that light removes any shade of darkness and reveals the presence and supremacy of God. Our joy is in knowing that ONENESS of being with Love. What Jesus saw was what Light revealed: He said: “I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” (John 8:12 I) He also said “Ye are the light of the world”. (Matthew 5:14) We all share the light of Life, the glory of God. We are all at one with God.
The beauty of light is its manifestation of Soul, a healing joyful presence. In “Ye are the light of the World” we see God’s light shining through us, as us. We are not the source of this light. It is Life, Truth, Love, glowing full orbed as SOUL, man the expression of all that God is. We can do nothing else but shine. This takes away all darkness, all sin, disease, death. They are not and never were part of man. Darkness was never part of light. What God sees is all there is. Light cannot see its unlikeness. In infinite light there is no unlikeness. This truth is our salvation. Jesus saw the perfect man, – shining bright and full of joy. That is also what we do now and what we share.
In my journal poem Stand in Purest Light the closeness we have with God is illuminated. Listening to God takes away material sense, and we feel the shine of His light, a purity that instantly destroys the dark shadows of sin, disease, and death. Knowing we are loved, that we are ever in the light of God at all times, gives confidence that we have all we need every moment, and that all God provides is good. The infinity of Soul is man’s constant provision of good. We are never outside of God’s shining.
This was proved by Jesus throughout his mission. The bible story of the woman infirm for eighteen years, “Power is of God”, (read by Sue) is a lovely example of the power of light. Imagine a cupboard that has been shut for that length of time. The darkness inside has not increased over time. When the door is opened to the light, the darkness doesn’t win. It is no more. Instantly. When we let God’s light shine, the millions of years of material evolution are no more. The power and light of God is all we can know and experience. Its impact and presence is immediate.
PDF copies of the poems are available in color and B&W on the top right of the week’s metaphysical articles. See YouTube Ken Cooper Poetry for a full range of Ken’s YouTube videos.
CALL UPON THE LORD! LET GOD BE YOUR ROCK! IT WILL NEVER BE IN VAIN!
CedarS campers, staff and families love it when all or part of what we call “The Rock Song” is in the Bible Lesson because it reminds us of a favorite CedarS camp song by that name. Part of this song is found in Psalm 18:3 (Responsive Reading) of this week’s Bible Lesson. You may want to see a video with the traditional CedarS motions along with the audio as found in Psalms 18:3 and 46. If so, there’s a link below to Stephen Hanlin, a CedarS counselor and a CedarS 365 Hymn Sing leader, doing the motions while singing “the Rock Song” (in a round for 44 seconds). Here’s the link: https://www.facebook.com/238522559504897/videos/382837602949483
“The Rock Song” was also selected by former CedarS counselor, Erin Williams, for “CedarS Round-the-Clock” Trilogy of CDs that she put together as a campership benefit project for CedarS 50th anniversary summer of 2011. Erin sang and played the prelude and opening hymn for CedarS June 7, 2020 Zoom Hymn Sing. You can hear Erin leading this call-and-response song by clicking on: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPHaT93Uob4 (You can skip the ad.)
SILENCE DIVISIVENESS! PRAY for our DIVINE SENSE of ONENESS to INCREASE!
As we eager launch into Summer 2021, it’s very fitting & needed that Section 1 kicks-off our new Christian Science Quarterly Bible Lesson with what Jesus was trained to pray to begin each day (and what all Jews still are supposed to pray to begin as well as end each day). Jews call this key prayer of theirs the “Shema” – the Hebrew word for “Hear”— because Deuteronomy 6:4 starts with that word.
4 Hear, O Israel: “The Lord our God, the Lord is one.” (citation B1/Deut. 6:4, 5)
[The rest of the Shema prayer… ] 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.” Deuteronomy 6:4-9, (NIV), verses 6-9 after citation B1
Please note how constantly throughout each day (as yellow-highlighted above) Jews are supposed to prayerfully affirm the supremacy of God’s oneness and commandments to rule over all!
The significance for us of this key prayer of oneness is that it leads into the Christian Science Bible Lesson that began 2021. In it the word “one” in used 60 times while alerting us of the importance of oneness as a healing keynote to focus on throughout each day. This will be especially helpful in the coming weeks and months of the world’s emergence from the pandemic as well as from an escalated exchange of missiles and violence in the Middle East.
As Christie Hanzlik, CS, points out in the opening paragraph of the CedarS Met for that week’s Christian Science Quarterly Bible Lesson: “It is tempting to see a world consisting of millions of human opinions, warring media reports, racial strife, class warfare, tribalism, gender inequity, political personalities, family disagreements and even conflicts within ourselves. The singular answer to this seeming divisiveness is the oneness of Truth, the oneness of good, the oneness of God. God is indivisible. And therefore we, as the outcome of God, are also indivisible.”
Verse 3 of Christian Science Hymn 157 calls for us to make daily progress in demonstrating unity: “Day by day the understanding / Of our oneness shall increase.” This prayer request to God for oneness comes from no other than Jesus in the final hours before he allows himself to be captured for crucifixion, when he prayed for his disciples and us that we may feel at one with God and with one another! (John 17:11, 21, 22)
Christian Science Hymn 157
“Jesus’ prayer for all his brethren: / Father, that they may be one, / Echoes down through all the ages, / Nor prayed he for these alone / But for all, that through all time / God’s will be done.
One the Mind and Life of all things, / For we live in God alone; / One the Love whose ever-presence / Blesses all and injures none. / Safe within this Love we find all / being one.
Day by day the understanding / Of our oneness shall increase, / Till among all men and nations / Warfare shall forever cease, / So God’s children all shall dwell / in joy and peace.
(Christian Science Hymnal, No. 157:1–3)
WHOLEHEARTEDLY SEEK & SIFT to FIND GOD & YOUR “EXPECTED END”!
Sift plus & minus thoughts for “an expected end” of 100% precious peace, 0% vile division!
Cobbey Crisler on Jeremiah 15:18 thru 31.3 (leading up to Jer. 32:15-41/citation B2):
[Bonus Prelude from Cobbey:] “Verse 18 in Jeremiah Chapter 15, “Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable?” Look at the prescription in Verse 19 “If you return, then will I bring thee again, [and] you will stand before me.” Look at this for a mental sifting of plus and minus. “If thou take forth the precious from the vile, thou shalt be as my mouth.” How much do you and I reflect or image forth God’s mouth or words? Remember what James [3.10] says, “Out of the same mouth proceedeth both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.” That’s what James wrote in his epistle. Notice the control of thought and therefore, our communication here. If we take forth the precious from the vile, we will be more like God now. If we want the word to become flesh, we must conform to what that word is. It’s indivisible. It does not have part precious and part vile in it, nor should man.
17th Chapter of Jeremiah, Verse 14, “Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed.” There’s Jeremiah’s prayer. “Save me and I shall be saved.” The Anchor Bible points out that the word “salvation” as used in the Old Testament is often used in terms of a not-guilty verdict in court. Salvation is often used in the Old Testament in terms that we would understand today as a not-guilty verdict in court.
The salvation of man would eventually include a verdict of not-guilty, or innocent. This is, of course, the entire theme of Job, his guilt or innocence.
“Here is God being quoted, in Verse 12 Chapter 30 [of Jeremiah]. “Thus saith the LORD, thy bruise is incurable, and thy wound is grievous. [Verse 13] “There is none to plead thy cause [of innocence], that thou mayest be bound up: thou hast no healing medicines.”
In Verse 15, “Why do you cry for your affliction? Your sorrow is incurable.” Why? [Voice: “The multitude of your iniquity.”] That’s all. Just because of “the multitude of your iniquity.” There is the Bible definition of an incurable disease. It’s just up to us whether it’s incurable or not. Our outlook, our comprehension, and what we are going to do about the iniquity aspect of it. Moses was shown that man has just as much dominion over the serpent, symbolizing iniquity, as over the leprosy on his hand [symbolizing disease].
Verse 17 is God’s view of whether there is any incurability or not. “I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds.”
Religion has got to be practical, especially in our century. There’s no room for anything that’s not practical anymore. There are too many problems requiring solutions. Humanity in its history has run [from problems] long enough. Like Jacob ran for twenty years until he began to wrestle [Genesis 32. 24, 25]. Collectively mankind is wrestling now. As John Bunyan said about religion. “The soul of religion is the practical part.”
“In Chapter 31, which is Jeremiah’s greatest chapter, he predicts the new covenant will come. He defines it. In Verse 3 he shows that the new covenant is definitely based on the comprehension of God as love. It’s that very “lovingkindness” that will draw all mankind to God for the solution of the world problems.”
“Heal the Sick”: A Scriptural Record, by B. Cobbey Crisler**
“CORRECT MATERIAL BELIEF BY SPIRITUAL UNDERSTANDING AND ‘SPIRIT WILL FORM YOU ANEW.’”– “Perfect for all to see!” (cits. S16/425:25; S18/476:32; S32/249:31) plus Hymn 565)
Like Jesus, behold in yourself and in all mankind “…the perfect man who appeared to him where sinning, mortal man appears to mortals…” (cit. S18/476:32)
What a joy to know that Spirit is forming anew your perfect, divine identity as a perfect for all to see “expression of “God’s being”— of “INFINITY, FREEDOM, HARMONY, BOUNDLESS BLISS.”
These words are carved into 5-ft. long signs at CedarS Cable Ski launch as you can see below. Have fun applying them to yourself as noted below!
As God’s Genesis 1, exact “image and likeness” you have been irrevocably given “dominion over every creeping thing” that would attempt to creep into thought and action. Nothing can separate you from your joyous right of being “perfect for all to see!” (Hymn 565)
Let every aspect of your being sing with that Hymn of being “carefree and strong… (as) His song…” — the very expression of “infinity, freedom, harmony and boundless bliss.” (SH 481) The images posted below show these words of “who we are” carved in 10” high letters in four 5-foot long signs at CedarS Cable Ski launching platform… What a picture of peace and of health we have to share with all as the very “image of His love” fully radiating the harmony and dominion of God’s law that “There is no involuntary action.” (SH p. 187:22) and that in effective prayer possesses “no opposing element…” (My. 293:22)
One-liner, word equations in Science & Health are “textbook” illustrations of the “Transitive Property of Equality” (www.mathwords.com) (See page 470:23 and 481:3)
470:23 and 249:31/cit. S32) (the first two simple, one-line, word equations under review) state:
(a) “Man is (=) (b) the expression of God’s being.”
(a) “Man is (=) (d) the reflection of Soul.”
Science & Health (p. 481:23) another simple, one-line, word equations under review) states:
(b) “God’s being is (=) (c) infinity, freedom, harmony, and boundless bliss.”
[W: Let’s apply to ourselves the Transitive Property of Equality: If a = b and b = c, then a = c.]
(a) “Man or YOU is/are (=) (c) “the expression of infinity, freedom, harmony, and boundless bliss.”
AND
(d) “the refection of Soul” (=) (c) “the expression of infinity, freedom, harmony, and boundless bliss.”
Therefore, like CedarS Cable Ski system and like its skiers and the “Energizer Bunny,”
YOU as the reflection of Soul express synonyms for Infinity including: inexhaustibility, eternity, limitlessness, immeasurability, perpetuity (See https://www.thesaurus.com/browse/rodule )
Like CedarS Cable Skiers and like the Statue of Liberty,
YOU express synonyms for freedom including: opportunity, power, ability, exemption, flexibility, immunity, privilege, right, discretion, facility, leeway, liberty, prerogative, range, scope, unrestraint, carte blanche, elbowroom, free rein, full play, full swing, plenty of rope
Like CedarS Cable Skiers and like Band, Chorus, Cabin or Family members,
YOU express synonyms for harmony including: cooperation, friendship, consistency, good will, kinship, peace, rapport, tranquility, unanimity, understanding, unity, accord, amicability, compatibility, concord, like-mindedness
Like CedarS Cable Skiers, and like Happy Campers and Stress-free Reflections,
YOU express synonyms for boundless bliss including: unchangeable blessedness, inexhaustible happiness, unlimited gladness, untold joy…
The reign of “infinity, freedom, harmony, and boundless bliss” rules out of you all their opposites of limitation; restraint, restriction, slavery; Inharmony, Strife, disagreement, discord, fighting; depression, sadness, sorrow, unhappiness, grief, upset…
FULLY ACCEPT that ANYTHING that SEEMS to BIND YOU IS NOT from GOD!
Cobbey Crisler on Luke 13:10-17 from his talk on “Jesus and Equality of Woman”
[Cobbey:] “Luke Chapter 13, Verse 11. Here is a case which only Luke gives us. Luke, supposedly a physician, does not say she has an infirmity but “a spirit of infirmity,” a mental sense of infirmity, “eighteen years bowed over,” spinal difficulty of some sort, rheumatic perhaps, “she could not lift up herself.”
Verse 12. Jesus addresses her in his typical fashion. That way that no one other than Jesus had ever addressed a woman before. It seems kind of impersonal, perhaps abrupt, but it has the general sense of womanhood, as if he were addressing womanhood generally through the representative in front of him: “womanhood, You are loosed from your infirmity.” Notice that declarative statement, “you are free, Woman, from your infirmity.” That must be the truth because Jesus said, “It is the truth that makes one free.” (John 8:32). Therefore, what has bound her or kept her in bondage must not be from God who would only be capable of truth, but if that liar, which he defines (in John 8:44) the devil as Satan.
Verse 16, “Satan (i.e. the “Prosecuting Attorney”) hath bound this woman.” She was created to be free (like YOU). Satan and disease are linked there. Not God as the cause of loss or pain, or disease, or failure. Satan (the Prosecuting Attorney’s) has already been defined as a lie. Truth is the only way to freedom in Jesus’ theology.”
“Jesus and Equality of Woman,” by B. Cobbey Crisler**
MORE on WHAT this INSTANTANEOUS HEALING could MEAN TO YOU from the intro of a KEN COOPER POEM about it:
[Ken:] “Jesus perceived the thoughts and righteousness of a woman with a spirit of infirmity eighteen years. She was receptive, and that loosed her from infirmity. He knew the expression of Truth is never failing, our freedom constant and now. Her poem is attached, her story narrated by my wife, Sue. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRYNnM_XxQs
“One healing proves the truth for all healings. The touch of the Christ is available to everyone, it needs to be perceived, received and then conceived in demonstration and joy, – like a flowing river assured of its own progress and fulfillment.” More information is available on You Tube under SHOW MORE.
PSALMS to HELP YOU get THROUGH any long, waiting period of SEEMING STAGNATION
“My soul, wait thou only on God, for my expectation is from him.
In God is my salvation (from false beliefs) and my glory.” (Ps. 62:5/cit. B20; SH 593:20)
“Unto You, O Lord, do I lift up my soul… Lead me in Your truth and teach me, For You are the God of my salvation; On You I wait all the day.” (Ps. 25:1, 5/cit. B21, NKJV; SH 593:20)
“Divine Love leads me and you “THROUGH the valley of death,
(where) I will fear no evil; for [Love] is with me…” (Ps. 23; SH 578:10)
[Warren:] In the header of this GEM about waiting, I capitalized THROUGH, because Love means for us to keep moving and serving—never to wallow (and “stall-oh!”) in the “darkness” (and “vestibule”) parts of the definition of “Wilderness. Loneliness; doubt; darkness.” Spontaneity of thought and idea; the vestibule in which a material sense of things disappears, and spiritual sense unfolds the great facts of existence.” (SH 597:16-19) These great correlative passages are perfect for our rite (& divine right) of passage to come out of this unprecedented pandemic when right activity seems to be on “pause — (for us to) wait on God…” (SH 323:10). Check-out a variety of other very helpful insights about this in “Recent Daily Lifts” at: https://www.christianscience.com/christian-healing-today/daily-lift
The idea of being a patient waiter, as if on God’s wait staff, means being ready to graciously wait on and do whatever is needed to be an attentive host only to good—to “entertain angels…” by actively hosting only good. (SH 299:15) This also relates to when Jesus finished a 40-day period of sheltering in place in the wilderness, that he “returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee… and… their synagogues (churches) and laid his hands on everyone (at least symbolically) and healed them.” (Luke 4:14) Let us, like Jesus, as we come out of our wilderness, waiting experiences, return to a higher sense of church and to stick with the only real power, the power of the Spirit!
EXPAND YOUR OUTREACH to ALL RECEPTIVE to the CHRIST, NO MATTER WHERE or WHO!
Cobbey Crisler on Acts 16:1-15/cit. B22 on Paul’s concessions as a matter of convenience for outreach
[Cobbey’s insights on citation B22, Acts 16:1-15:] “Chapter 16, Verse I, Timothy joins them at Derbe and Lystra. Timothy is the son of a Jewess, but his father was Greek. That presents problems in circumcision.
[Verse 3.] “Paul…” after he got this splendid precedent-shattering decision not to have to circumcise Gentiles, nevertheless “urges Timothy to become circumcised, partly undoubtedly because his mother is a Jewess.”
Right now [in 1980] that’s a matter of hot debate in Israel, who is a Jew and who isn’t. The general consensus I believe is that if your mother is Jewish, you are. Paul undoubtedly needed Timothy to work in the synagogues with him and, perhaps in Jerusalem, visit the Temple, and no Gentile who was uncircumcised could have gone in there. Probably a matter of convenience, rather than Paul losing the opportunity he had gained about the Gentiles earlier.
Verse 4. “They now go through the same area, bringing the decrees, or the letters, from the mother church in Jerusalem, and spreading them around the infant churches.”
[Verse 8] “Now they’re coming to Troas.” Look how fare they’ve traveled, near ancient Troy on the western coast of Turkey, on the border between Europe and Asia.
[Verse 9] Arriving in Troas, “Paul gets a vision that a Macedonian man is saying, Come over and help us.”
Verse 10. Look what happens to the grammar beginning in Verse 10. The person changes to first person. Many have suggested what would be the common-sense conclusion. The author of the book suddenly is participating. Luke may have been with them. Maybe he was there in Troas. This is where, perhaps, they picked him up. It’s all speculation, but it certainly is a good and logical reason as any. You get a feeling of excitement when that person shifts. “We endeavored to go to Macedonia.”
[Verse II.] “We, loosing from Troas, came to Neapolis.” Neapolis means New City. It’s now Kavalla in modern Greece, the Macedonia part; it was the port to Philippi, a beloved city later for Paul, one of most beloved churches.
… [Verse 13.] There isn’t even a synagogue there, apparently because those who are Jews, or who want to pray other that in the Roman style, must meet out of the city near the river. “there we find women praying in the outdoor synagogue.”
[Verse 14.] Lydia is mentioned, “who sells purple,” that was the color of the emperor, which would be quite expensive clothing. “She was from Thyatira,” one of the churches in the book of Revelation. Here she was in Philippi as a merchant of purple cloth.
[Verse 15.] She becomes, therefore, apparently, our first woman convert in Europe.”
“What Next? The Acts of the Apostles,” by B. Cobbey Crisler**
**Join us for a virtual CedarS Sunday Hymn Sing! (by Zoom Sunday at 7pm Central Time.) Invite family, church and other friends and even neighbors to join in this healing CedarS tradition along with a happy, worldwide “chorus” every week. You can sing along (muted) with CedarS unmuted, host musicians seven hymns that all are invited to request.
Click here for a link and fuller details.
(A precious prelude precedes each sing at 6:45pm Central Daylight-savings Time (CDT.) We encourage singing along in Zoom’s gallery view to share the joy of seeing dear ones in virtual family-church reunions that bless all generations.
To protect privacy and copyrights, these “brief, but spectacular” sessions are NOT recorded. So, calibrate your time-zone clocks, mark your calendars, and remind friends, so that no one misses any of these inspiring, weekly reminders of our precious, spiritual oneness with each other and with our ever-loving, Father-Mother God who owns and embraces us all!
Lovingly singing prayers and praise to God for about 30 minutes each Sunday is such a warm, “Welcome Home” tradition to bless the start of each week with joyous, peaceful GRACE. (Our 2021 theme.) We have loved singing-in this grace with longtime as well as first-time friends—not only from ALL 50 of the United States, but also from 21 other countries! So far, our “Hymn Sing family” has clicked or dialed-in from Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, England, Germany, Ghana, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Kenya, New Zealand, Pakistan, Paraguay, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Scotland, Spain, South Africa, Switzerland, as well as from each of the United States! In the universal language of divine Love, “the ‘still, small voice’ of scientific thought reaches over continent and ocean to the globe’s remotest bound.” (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 559:8–10)
Here are some areas where financial support is needed and would double the blessings in very meaningful ways to thousands of dear ones served by CedarS:
- UNRESTRICTED & OTHER MAINTENANCE AND HERD-SUPPORT GIFTS WILL BE MATCHED UP TO $100,000! Extra thanks in advance for clicking here to electronicallyshare your tax-deductible support. It’s especially needed during reduced-income periods to help “keep our oil lamps burning.”
- ENDOWMENT GIFTS to help cover CedarS camperships & operations are being MATCHED up to $200,000/year ($1-MILLION total). This will solidify support for our outreach efforts in all conditions!
- Here’s our camp office address to MAIL your gift to THIS WEEK:
The CedarS Camps Office, 410 Sovereign Court #8, Ballwin, MO 63011 - Next week (5/24) we’ll settle into our offices at our CedarS Camps SUMMER HOME & ADDRESS:
The CedarS Camps, 19772 Sugar Drive, Lebanon, MO 65536 - or call CedarS team at 636-394-6162 (forwarded to Gay, Kim or Jennifer)to share a credit card gift.
- CedarS is a not-for-profit, 501-C-3 organization with a Federal ID # 44-0663883.
