Merry Christmas – An Everpresent Present Is Waiting for You!
Go ahead and accept God’s “unspeakable gift.”
Lesson Met for the week of December 15-21.
“Is the Universe, Including Man, Evolved by Atomic Force?”
Prepared by: Kathy Fitzer, CS (St. Louis, MO)
For a gift to be truly effective, it must not only be given, but also received. How about it?
GT & RR: “Alleluia, the Lord God omnipotent reigneth!” Celebration is being demanded! Great joy is in order because the promise has been made (and fulfilled) that all the earth shall see salvation (permanent deliverance from sin, disease, and death) and peace. “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: … Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end,”
Section I: The Promise
We start with the affirmation that God is all there is – there just isn’t anything else! So, there must be one creator and thus one creation – and that creation is spiritual. Hard to believe with the illusion of matter staring us in the face? You don’t need to be fooled. Mary wasn’t. She received a promise from God that she would have a child before she had been with a man – and she believed the promise. She didn’t get stuck on the material suppositions, but “rejoiced in God.” “The illumination of Mary’s spiritual sense put to silence material law and its order of generation…” (S&H 29) And the birth of Jesus proved that man is not created materially, but spiritually. It’s been proved – we can now demonstrate it for ourselves. As we use our spiritual sense (our “conscious, constant capacity to understand God.” – S&H 209: 31), we too will accept the promise: “the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.” (Isa. 40: 5) We don’t need to be fooled by the testimony of the physical senses – of what has been, or seems to be, or we fear will be. The Christ is here! Rejoice and accept the promise of salvation!
Section II: God’s Gift: The Incarnate Jesus
Incarnate is “a concrete or actual form of a quality or a concept.” Divine Love meets every human need in a way that we can comprehend! God didn’t just promise salvation – he delivered! Jesus was born. Joseph and Mary had the courage to fulfill their obligations to go to Bethlehem to be taxed. As they went, a place was prepared for them – a place that provided quiet and privacy – away from the world-thought which filled the inn. The shepherds saw the light of the Christ and, although their first response was fear – of what they didn’t understand – that fear yielded to joy as they listened to the angels. The Christ first appeared humanly over 2000 years ago, “but the Christ is without beginning of years of end of days.” (S&H 333) Today, we, too, recognize the love of God, which presents the Christ idea in a way that we can understand. Let us join with Paul, “Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.” (II Cor. 9: 15) This gift proved forever that the universe, including man is not evolved by atomic force, but by the divine Principle, Love.
Section III: Perception of the Gift
The star that led the wise men to the Christ child was in the sky for all to see. But, most people went about their business – too caught up in the material trappings to notice, question, or take the time to follow the light. Mrs. Eddy refers to the “wakeful shepherds” who beheld the “first faint morning beams, ere cometh the full radiance of a risen day.” Being alert to the Christ (“the divine manifestation of God, which comes to the flesh to destroy incarnate error” – S&H 583) we can glimpse the presence of the saving power of the Christ, (even if it is only a faint light) before we fully understand the spiritual nature of the universe. Herod couldn’t possibly find the Christ child on his own. His nature was too foreign to the innocence of Truth and Love which Jesus embodied. He tried to sneak in with them – let them do the work (like trying to sneak into a movie without buying a ticket; or like the wolf in the “3 Little Pigs” who tried to trick the pigs into letting him in by dressing up like a sheep.) The wise men were alert enough, though, to not fall for it, and they avoided sharing with Herod their discovery of this priceless gift. Let us be “wise men” and persistently follow the light of Truth, undeterred by the attempts of “Herod” to snuff out that light. We, too, are being led to witness “the birth of a new-old idea, … the spiritual sense of being and of what Life includes.” (S&H 191) That spiritual sense breaks us loose from all limitations. It is definitely worth the journey!
Section IV: Protection in Egypt
Herod felt threatened by what he believed to be a human child who would one day grow up to overthrow him as king. He lacked the spiritual discernment to recognize “the human herald of Christ, Truth, who would make plain to benighted understanding the way of salvation.” (S&H vii: 6-8) Error, evil, incapable of comprehending Truth, attempts to rob us of our Christly nature. Mortal mind, alias the body, feeling threatened by the omnipotence of Spirit (the divine Mind) tries to convince us (through discord of whatever name or nature) that the Christ can be destroyed and harmony taken away. BUT, God’s angels are ever at hand. Figuratively speaking, “his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back?” (Isa. 14: 27) In the case of Jesus and his family, Joseph was listening and obediently took Jesus and Mary into Egypt to be safe, until the threat had passed. When error threatens our harmony, we, too, can travel into Egypt (so to speak) by staying with the Truth of the Science of the Christ. “Undisturbed amid the jarring testimony of the material senses, Science, still enthroned, is unfolding to mortals the immutable, harmonious, divine Principle, – is unfolding Life and the universe, ever present and eternal.” (S&H 306) As we “learn that there is neither power nor reality in evil” (186) we are freed from the suppositions of evil. We are safe in God and the Herods of today, “erring human mind-forces,” (186) can do us no harm. But, we must be active! Joseph didn’t just sit and wait to see if Herod was serious in his pursuit. He obediently took the Christ child to safety. Our Egypt is the knowledge that “all that God imparts moves in accord with him, reflecting goodness and power.” That knowledge brings safety!
Section V: Demonstration of the Divine Power
As the “child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: … the grace of God was upon him.” This grace of God naturally healed whatever would oppose the nature of God. Because of Jesus’ divine origin (evidenced by the virgin birth) he had “more than human power to expound the facts of creation, and demonstrate the one Mind which makes and governs man and the universe.” (S&H 539) In proportion that we recognize the divine origin of all the universe, including man, we too can demonstrate the principles that Jesus taught. “Jesus never spoke of disease as dangerous or as difficult to heal.” (S&H 147) He was unimpressed, no matter what picture was presented to the physical senses. Using spiritual sense, he understood and demonstrated that “nothing inharmonious can enter being, for Life is God.” (S&H 228) We read in the gospel of Mark (9: 17-27) about a man’s son who had “a dumb spirit” from the time he was a child. Recognizing the lack of authority of this spirit (like the lack of Herod’s authority) to destroy the innocence of this individual’s Christly nature, Jesus spoke with authority to the spirit. He identified the spirit as both deaf and dumb. He never recognized the child as anything less than perfect, but rebuked the dumb and deaf spirit, ordering it to “come out of him, and enter no more into him.” It appeared that after the spirit departed from the child, the child was dead – as if to say that the only life of the child came from this mortal personality. But, Jesus, understanding man as the offspring of Spirit, “lifted him up” and the Christ-man arose above the belief of disease. Jesus wasn’t impressed by the theory of heredity, knowing that “nothing inharmonious can enter being, for Life is God.” (S&H 228: 5-6) We, too, can demonstrate this – accept the gift of healing!
Section VI: Rejoice! The Science of the Christ shall reign for ever and ever!
Jesus showed us the way, demonstrating the power of the Christ to destroy all suggestions of error. Christian Science has come (as the promised comforter) to show us that it is possible to consistently heal as Jesus healed because there is a divine law that demands error to yield to Truth. “Mind’s control over the universe, including man, is no longer an open question, but is demonstrable Science.” (S&H 171: 12) How joyous we must be that this Science has been discovered. The book of Revelation uses the word “Alleluia” as an adamant – an imperative. It isn’t an option. We must praise God through demonstration! It is a privilege to see the light of the Christ NOW and feel the blessings of the acceptance that the universe, including, man, is not evolved from atomic force, but rather “Mind is the grand creator; and there can be no power except that which is derived from Mind.” (S&H 171) So, as we give all power and all credit to Mind and accept God’s glorious gift, we are sure to have a very merry Christmas – celebrated in the holiest of ways!
