APPLY Bible-based GEMs to see yourself & others as Soul’s “carefree & strong… song!”
SEE BIBLE ILLUSTRATIONS as SPRINGBOARDS TO TRANSFORM YOUR MODERN-DAY DEMONSTRATIONS!
Let God Expressed Meekly/Mightily in you sparkle brightly with insights from Cobbey Crisler & others as found in The Christian Science Quarterly Bible Lesson on
“Soul”
for February 13, 2022
(Cobbey’s insights are shared with the blessing of Janet Crisler janetcrisler7@gmail.com)
by Warren Huff, CedarS Executive Director Emeritus, warren@cedarscamps.org
FIND FRESH WAYS TO “SING UNTO GOD A NEW SONG.” (Ps 96:1/Resp. Reading)
even “…a new song in … praise unto our God.” (Psalm 40:3)
When we fully embrace Life’s forever newness, you and I will fully expect fun, un-outlined ways for God to supply answers to our every need. We have examples of this in the way that the ravens supplied Elijah (I Kings 17:1-6) and in how Jesus is giving “living water” to us like he did to the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4:7-26). As our lives sing with new manifestations of “infinity, freedom, harmony, and boundless bliss,” (S&H 481) all their supposed opposites will naturally be ruled out of us enabling us to forever overcome every lie of limitation; every seemingly enslaving habit; every thought of inharmony, division and strife; and every unhappiness arising from disappointed human will.
What a relief to know that it’s by God’s will and “amazing grace”— not by any of our own efforts, other than leaning on God — that we are given lives “big with blessings.” As Mary Baker Eddy has proven and promised: “To those leaning on the sustaining infinite, to-day is big with blessings” (vii:1) What could be bigger blessings than daily demonstrations that the newness of Life in God is ALL-inclusive: “Behold, I make all things new!” (Revelation 21:5).
ANSWER THE CALL TO SOLVE ALL RELATIONSHIP PROBLEMS AND ALL CHURCH & HEALTH PROBLEMS!
Cobbey Crisler on Ps. 67:2, 5 (cit. B3 & prelude) & “saving health among all nations…and ”all the people…” “working together for good” (Romans 8:28)
“Verse 2 of Psalm 67 is the prophecy that God’s “way will be known upon earth,” … “Thy saving health among” what? A limited number? ”All nations.” No wonder the Bible could not close without that magnificent reminder that the leaves of the tree were not just for healing individuals, but for all nations. The medicine for international discord is on that tree.
“Just as it is for our own relationship problems. What’s a relationship problem [other] than a disease? Something’s not relating in our body. Look to our thought. Have we left relationship problems unsolved? Do you know when Jesus would not accept worship from his Christian followers when they (we) bring a gift to the altar? If you remember ought that you have against your brother or ‘vice versa,’ don’t even bother to give your gift in the environment of church.
“Church stands for healed relationships. No relationship problems. All things working together for good. [Jesus said Leave your gift behind. It’s imperfect. It’s incomplete. Go solve the relationship problem with your brother first, then bring your gift to church. That shows that healed relationship problems are the only satisfactory gift to church endorsed by the founder of the Christian Church.”
“Leaves of the Tree: Prescriptions from Psalms,” by B. Cobbey Crisler**
[Warren’s PS: Verse 5 and 6 of Psalms 67 (cit. B3): 5 “Let the people praise thee, O God; let all the people praise thee. 6 Then shall the earth yield her increase; and God, even our own God, shall bless us.”
[W: Notice again, that verse 5 features the collective/church nature of salvation. It’s only when ALL the people praise God, that the earth will yield her increase and receive God’s blessing!]
Here’s a link to the audio of an August 2, 2021 “Prac Talk“ by David Price, CS, on “the fruit of the Spirit” (Gal. 5:22/cit. B4) – as well as of the cashew tree.
David told us of the massive size of cashew trees in Brazil and of how the cashew nuts we enjoy are really their fruit. He also shared the list of “the fruit of the Spirit” from the citation B4/Galatians 5:22, 23 and how we might find nourishment in this fruit throughout our day. For “list-lovers” like David “… the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.” (Galatians 5:22, 23, KJV) – or these fruitful qualities as translated in The New Living Translation are “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” (NLT)
(NO further text from CedarS Prac Talks is available, so give loving attention to the audio.)
PRAY FOR GOD TO OPEN YOUR EYES TO REALITY and
PERSIST TO SEE WHAT THAT MEANS FOR YOU!
[Warren on a link from Ps. 119:18 “Open thou mine eyes…” to Elisha’s version of it in 2nd Kings 6:8+/citation B10]
[Warren:] Elisha prayed that his servant could see God’s presence and power right with them. “LORD, I pray thee, OPEN HIS EYES, that he may see. And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.” (2 Kings 6:17/cit. B10, caps added) As Lindsey and John Biggs, CS, shared in Section 1 of a CedarS Metaphysical application ideas: “What a beautiful, compassionate prayer. Elisha was already seeing the power of God and he knew his servant just needed a little help seeing clearly – spiritually discerning – the love of God that was surrounding them.”
[For a delightful prequel about Elisha’s helpful, “spiritual seer” insights that protected the king of Israel “not once, nor twice” see 2nd Kings 6:8+ (and Science & Health 593:4). And in the rest of this instructive story (2nd Kings 6:18-23) you can see how the eyes of your seeming enemies can be closed until you can graciously lead and feed them so that strife come(s) “no more.”
A poem inspired by this story called “Vision” by Elizabeth Glass Barlow was published in the December 17, 1969 issue of The Christian Science Sentinel.
DECEMBER 17, 1960 ISSUE
VISION
II Kings 6:15–17
Elizabeth Glass Barlow
“Lord, … open his eyes, that he may see,”
The mighty prophet prayed.
Send not armies great and strong,
Neither strength to battle wrong,
But lift his vision to behold
Thy truth already here,
The legions of omnipotence,
The hosts of Thy deliverance.
Awake, O man, and know
Love’s all-embracing sphere.
Lord, open my eyes that I may see
Thy presence everywhere,
My dwelling circled by Thy might,
My mountaintop aflame with light,
The shining sentinels of Thy love
Triumphant in this hour.
For Thou with me art greater far
Than all the seeming evils are.
Be still, O heart, and trust
His omnipresent power.”
A CedarS mother, staff member, and regular Sunday evening CedarS Hymn Sing leader, Desiree Goyette, wrote a wonderful musical setting of this inspiring poem that is sung as a favorite hymn (Hymn 527) at CedarS Hymn Sings. Here’s to letting you see and your lives sing its healing message!
GOD’S PROMISE OF BEING UPHELD APPLIES TO ALL WHO SERVE TO DELIGHT GOD’S SOUL! “Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delights; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.” (Isaiah 42:1, citation B13)
Cobbey Crisler on Isa. 42:1 (citation B13)) +verse 6
“Chapter 42:1 is a prophesy of a servant who should come, the “elect of God” who would have “the Spirit of God upon him.” [W: In Verse 6 there’s a shift from God calling this elect servant in the third person, to God calling YOU and holding your hand, and keeping YOU, to give YOU “for a covenant of the people, for a light to the Gentiles.” You will notice in Verse 7 – and in Isaiah 61:1 – what the assignment of this servant (YOU) would be, “To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, [and] them that sit in darkness out of the prison house (W: or out of a lockdown, shelter-in-place or quarantine).”
[Cobbey again:] “Isn’t it interesting that the prophet Isaiah foresees this prophesied individual in the terms of “a servant” when the Greek word most often in the New Testament for healing has the classical Greek meaning of “to serve.” You remember how Jesus defined his ministry in those terms, “I came not to be ministered unto but to minister” [Matthew 20:28; Mark 10:45]. Healing is serving by definition in Greek. Serving whom? God and man.”
“Heal the Sick”: A Scriptural Record,” by B. Cobbey Crisler**
[Warren:] These prophesies in Isaiah foretell the coming of Christ as God’s healing servant. But the verse in our Bible lesson also promises that YOU are the called this called and healing servant who will be upheld. That is a promise of protection that you can specifically affirm in your prayer walks and watches— not only for yourself, but also for all our brave workers in health care, law enforcement, food supply, election polling, and other essential lines of service. All the dear ones who seek to restore freedom and harmony to our communities, to our country, and to our whole world have been clad in Love’s complete protection as they (you, we) have “pictured this heaven and earth, inhabited by beings under the control of supreme wisdom” (SH 91:2).
Florence Nightingale, a famous wartime nurse in the Crimean war, was cited by Mary Baker Eddy as a great example of the endurance and immunity in the moment that God gives to all who provide care for and serve others. She wrote: “…Florence Nightingale and other philanthropists engaged in humane laborers have been able to undergo without sinking fatigues and exposures which ordinary people could not endure. The explanation lies in the support which they derive from the divine law, rising above the human. The spiritual demand, quelling the material, supplies energy and endurance surpassing all other aids, and forestalls the penalty which our beliefs would attach to our best deeds… Constant toil, deprivations, exposures, and all untoward conditions, if without sin, can be experienced without suffering. Whatever it is your duty to do, you can do without harm to yourself.” (Science & Health, p. 385:2)
[W:] Check out on JSH-online an excellent Journal podcast by Janet Horton, a retired US Army Chaplain. It gives context to the above passage by sharing a brief biography of Florence Nightingale and her tireless labors for the soldiers during the Crimean War. She also shares an example of the pulling together and protection that she and others in the Pentagon demonstrated when it was struck by the high-jacked aircraft on 9/11.
[W:] As I was praying to see as divinely protected all the world’s front-line, health care providers, including all dear Christian Science nurses—and all patients as well, I continued to read page 395 in the chapter, “Christian Science Practice.” I found especially helpful the paragraph with the marginal heading of “Mental Quackery.” There it says: “It is mental quackery to make disease a reality—to hold it (the coronavirus) as something to be seen and felt—and then to attempt its cure through Mind…. Mental practice, which holds disease as a reality, fastens disease on the patient and it may appear in a more alarming form.” (SH 395:21)
“LOVE INTO VIEW” YOUR DIVINE SUPPLY AS INEXHAUSTIBLE — from YOUR HEAVENLY SHEPHERD
[Warren:] To remind me frequently of this, I brought home from my January 2020 trip to the Holy Land both a spoon cradle and T-shirts with the graphic of an ancient mosaic of the loaves and fish. (See online Downloads at the bottom.) The T-shirt has this reminder that is perfect for all Christians as well as all CedarS workers and donors to live by:
“LOVE IS LIKE FIVE LOAVES AND TWO FISH.
ALWAYS TOO LITTLE UNTIL YOU START TO GIVE IT AWAY”
Below are Cobbey Crisler’s insights on Mark’s version of the feeding of the multitude. It comes to us this week in Matthew 15:29-38/cit. B15 with its provision of seven vs. “five loaves” to start with – and its twelve (vs. seven) baskets of leftovers as in the other three Gospels.
[Cobbey Crisler:] “Mark 6, Verse 34. And he sees that “they were as sheep not having a shepherd.”
Look up that comment and you will find it in the Old Testament. Then read around it in the Old Testament to get the context of it. You will hardly find a statement by Jesus that does not have an Old Testament root or precedent, which is why he is always saying, “It is written.” But, many of the times when he doesn’t say it-is-written, it is implied.
The only so-called miracle in all four gospels is the feeding of the “five thousand,” Verses 35-44. I put it in quotes because they were only counting the men. Out of the little boy’s lunch box comes five loaves and two fishes. We hear that from the gospel of John Chapter 6, Verse 13. They feed a multitude. Now we have a lesson on economics given to us by the Master. He didn’t regard that as a problem either. No Malthusian limitation on man that we’re going to outgrow our supply, and, therefore, we should kill off sectors of the human race in order to meet the supply. That’s Malthus and his philosophy of necessity. But we find Jesus saying instead in Matthew 14:16, “They need not depart.” Malthus says they need to be killed, but Jesus is saying, “They need not depart.”
Mark 6.37. The disciples say it would be impossible to feed the multitude, that it would take about “two hundred pennyworth.” The group was considerably more than five thousand if you count the women and the children.
What Jesus said to all the disciples made them become part of the remedy. Twelve baskets were taken around. There were twelve disciples. Each one was made to participate in the abundant result and learn from it. They started out with only five loaves and two fishes. They ended up with more fragments left over than they had when they started out. More available. That’s divine economics. It doesn’t exhaust.”
“What Mark Recorded,” by B. Cobbey Crisler**
[W: cLICK for a BONUS EXAMPLE that shares a modern-day, loaves-and- fishes, demonstration of divine supply as an amazing and quick answer to a humble prayer made with “an absolute faith that all things are possible to God, a spiritual understanding of Him, an unselfed love.” (SH1:1)]
As we give, give, give with a sense of divine Love and Her abundant supply, we find that we can never “out-give” God who constantly gives, Gives, GIVES back to us from an infinitely renewable resource! Jesus illustrated this law of divine abundance—even super-abundance –by quickly feeding the hungry multitudes with only five loaves and two fish and then symbolically taking up twelve baskets of left-overs (one basketful for each disciple in three Gospel accounts, Mark 6:38, Luke 9:13, John 6:8)
FOLLOW THE MASTER’S METHOD, LIKE PETER DID,
TO CLEAR OUT FUNEREAL THOUGHT & RAISE THE DEAD!
Cobbey Crisler on Acts 9:36+/cit. B17 & Peter raising Tabitha when all believed her dead:
[As a prequel in Acts to the raising of Tabitha, Cobbey said:] “at nearby Lydda, Peter heals a man named Aeneas who for eight years has been paralyzed, unable to move. It didn’t take long for the news to get around that this kind of healing work was being accomplished by the early Christians [and for Tabitha’s friends to send for Peter].
“In a neighboring “town of Joppa we find a woman named Tabitha. … She had had an exemplary life, had done much good for many.” (See Acts 9:36)
… Acts 9:39 Then Peter arose and went with them. When he was come, they brought him into the upper chamber: and all the widows stood by him weeping, and shewing the coats and garments which Dorcas made, while she was with them.
“Do you recall back in the narratives of the gospel where a similar situation occurred, and Peter was there? (Mark 5:22, 36-42, Matt. 9:24, 25) It was the raising of Jairus’ daughter… Do you remember when Jesus came into that environment that you could almost cut it into square blocks of moisture, the grief was so thick? There were paid mourners at that point. As a matter of fact, we are told that even the poorest individual was entitled to at least three instruments at the funeral service. You can imagine Jairus, being a ruler of the Synagogue, the extent of noise, and activity, and mourning that must have occurred at the passing of Jairus’ daughter.” [W: Peter clearly had an indelible image of what Jesus did and followed the Master’s method as shown in another video ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGJ0TKRTEFI&t=13s ) Peter began to follow Jesus’ method by clearing out the funereal thought of the mourners.]
Acts 9:40 But Peter put them all forth, and kneeled down, and prayed; and turning him to the body said, Tabitha, arise. And she opened her eyes: and when she saw Peter, she sat up.
Acts 9:41 And he gave her his hand, and lifted her up, and when he had called the saints and widows, presented her alive.
Acts 9:42 And it was known throughout all Joppa;”
“After the Master, What? – The Book of Acts,” by B. Cobbey Crisler**
TO NOT SEE a TOMB as YOUR ENDING, NEVER SEE a WOMB as YOUR BEGINNING!
Cobbey Crisler on John 8:51, 58 as a BONUS related to Acts 9:36-42/cit. B17)
[Cobbey:] “In John 8:51 Jesus said, ‘If a man keeps my saying, he will never see death.’
An unusual statement because certainly his disciples went on and saw the death process happening all around them. So once again, what does Jesus mean? What is the intent? What is the meaning? Dodd says it’s such a strong statement that it really excludes the possibility of ceasing to live. That there is an eternality to it. How would you feel that was intended? “If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.”
Take the raising of Tabitha or Dorcas. (in Acts 9:36-42/cit. B17) Peter went in there. Everyone else around there saw death. Was it helping the situation? Did it solve the problem called death? Peter must have gone in there with a radically different point of view. And did it have a radically different result?
The statement in John 8:58 really started a popular commotion. Jesus says, “Before Abraham was, I am.” Does that fit into his statement about, “no man ascendeth up to heaven save he that has come down from heaven, even the son of man that is in heaven?” Is there a beginning for man, divinely speaking? Does it hold within it the key of eliminating the last enemy called death?”
“Book of John: A Walk with the Beloved Disciple” by B. Cobbey Crisler**
