Bring New Life to your New Year! [Revised Section 2 & 3]

[Bring New Life to your New Year by using Jesus' method of giving gratitude in advance!]
CedarS MetaphysicalApplicationIdeas for the Christian Science Bible Lesson: “Life” for 1-16-11
by Dan Carnesciali, CS of St. Louis, MO (314.374.5616/dancarne@gmail.com) [with bracketed italics by Warren Huff]

 

[Editor's Note: The following application ideas for this week, and the Possible Sunday School Topics that will follow, are offered primarily to help CEDARS campers and staff (as well as friends) see and demonstrate the great value of daily study and application of the Christian Science Bible lessons year-round, not just at camp! You can sign up to have them emailed to you free — in English by Monday each week, or by each Wednesday you can get a FREE TRANSLATION in French thanks to Pascal, in German thanks to Helga or in Spanish thanks to a team of Ana, Erick, Claudia and Patricio. YOU CAN SIGN UP at www.cedarscamps.org/newsletters]

 

Why is it we feel justified in complaining? What would our lives be like if we stopped complaining entirely? I mean, just dropped it. I think a great weight would be lifted off of all of us.  Do you think that is impossible? A violent storm with tornadoes touched down in the St. Louis area recently. The local newspaper featured an elderly woman's house which was heavily damaged by a tornado. If that wasn't bad enough, her home is uninsured. On top of that, looters got into the house and stole belongings, including some plumbing fixtures and her TV. Sophia Austin's response was unexpected. The 86-year old said, “I feel terrible,” she said. “But ain't no use in crying about it.  What I want to do is go in there … and get started all over again.  That belongs to me.  It's paid for.  When I go, I'm going to leave that to my family. I'm not giving up now.” (http://tinyurl.com/25mf568)

 

Golden Text:

It is that time of year where we are writing thank-you notes for gifts we recently received. God gives us health, joy, companionship. The gift of life is priceless. No matter what your situation is, gratitude for what you have truly gives you a lift.  That may sound simplistic, but it is true. Gratitude for what you have, even if you don't have much, orients thought towards God. Healing is the outward expression of inward growth. Gratitude gives thought forward momentum. Through Christ Jesus, we have the proof that God gave us eternal life.  
[Hymn 146 is a wonderful reminder of the healing power of “the gift of gratitude”. “In God I find a precious gift that knows no fear, no feud, that glows so still, serene and pure: The gift of gratitude.“]

 

Responsive Reading: [Using Jesus' method of thanking God in advance can raise the dead for you!]

The story of Lazarus of Bethany is one of my very favorites. It is like a good movie that I enjoy over and over. Jesus told the disciples, “Lazarus's sickness will not end in death. No, it is for the glory of God. I, the Son of God, will receive glory from this.” (New Living Translation, NLT)  Jesus also told them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but now I will go and wake him up.” Martha met Jesus outside of Bethany, away from all the mourners. Jesus asks her whether she really believes that he is the resurrection and the life and that those who believe on him will live again. She says that she has always believed that Jesus is the Messiah. (What a declaration.) While Martha and Jesus talked, Mary was with the mourners. (Why did Martha stay away from the mourners?)  Jesus was greatly troubled by the mourners. It moved him to tears. Lazarus was a close friend. He had been in the tomb for four days, but Jesus asked for the stone that covered the tomb to be removed so he could wake him. Even with her great faith Martha told Jesus that it was too late. (She didn't say that, but you get the idea.) Jesus paused and glorified God and gave gratitude [out loud so that his powerful method of healing by expressing gratitude in advance would be known by the bystanders and be passed along to his followers throughout the ages.]. Next, he walked right up to the door of the tomb and yelled for Lazarus to wake up and walk out. He recognized the Source of healing and Life was God.  Recognizing the Source of your abilities is humility. And Lazarus walked out of the tomb proving that that which never happened needs no recovery period. Mary Baker Eddy, who raised several people from death said, “Jesus restored Lazarus by the understanding that Lazarus had never died, not by an admission that his body had died and then lived again.” The rest of the lesson helps us to understand this healing and what Life and life are.

 

Section 1 – What is Life?

What is life? There is no one answer. Some say life is the difference between rocks and trees and birds. Some say that all the diversity of life on Earth evolved from nothing but rocks and water and time. That version of life is a cycle of birth, growth, decay, death. According to the five senses, it is undeniable that the planet is living out that dream called the circle of life. But the Bible says that Jesus came to give us everlasting life. That doesn't sound like birth, growth, maturity, decay, death. God, who is Life, loved His Creation so much that He blessed it with everlasting life. Life, God, is infinite, unending good. Since we are God's creation, our lives are unending good.  Either life is perpetually now (in God) or life is the circle of life (time). (B1) You might look up what happened in John 16 to understand the second Bible passage (John 17). Jesus coached his disciples that he was not going to be around forever. He said, “In a little while, you will see me no more …” (NIV, John 16:16). In the second Bible passage, Jesus declares that his time is come. Well, we know how the story ends. We know that he sacrificed himself out of love for us. But, travel back in time to ancient Judea and imagine that you are a disciple with Jesus.  You don't know how the story is going to end. You know that Jesus is the Messiah, but you don't expect a tragic end. You expect a triumphant end. You saw him raise Lazarus and others from the dead, so you expect that Jesus will be around for a long time to come, maybe forever.  But, look at how Jesus defines eternal life. He doesn't define it as perpetual bodily experience, but as a present knowledge of the true God (as good), and Christ, the true idea of God. (B2) This is Life's conception of Life. Mind alone can interpret itself.   And you have this view naturally by reflection because Mind's Mind is your Mind. You and your Father are One.

 

Section 2 – A Life Restored [“blood, … has nothing to do with Life”! See key citation S5]

I recently overheard a woman remark about how her blood was iron-deficient or iron-poor. This section of the Bible lesson reveals the truth that Life is not dependent on blood. Christian Science takes it further and says that your life is not dependent on blood and that you don't have to suffer from sickness. Mary Baker Eddy comments that “Life is Spirit, and that there is more life and immortality in one good motive or act, than in all the blood which ever flowed through the mortal veins and simulated a corporeal sense of life.” (S6) She is stating two facts. Life is Spirit. Secondly, divine Life blesses us with abundant, healthy life (right where we are). How do we experience this abundant health? By starting correctly. A focus on human cause and human effect is a dead-end. Your life is not separate from Life, but Life's experience. (That is why you are a reflection of Life.)

There was a woman, as related in the 5th chapter of Mark, who had an illness that caused her to bleed for many, many years. She probably wondered if she would ever find healing. In Jewish society at that time, having a bloody flow was a big, big problem. It meant you would be excluded from praying in the synagogue, or even coming to the synagogue.  (So you were cut off from your church family.) Those who were religious, who had a strong sense of what was right and permissible would not associate with you or talk to you. Associating with you would make them also dirty through association. They feared you would make them impure. A woman who was a member of a Christian Science church had a visible tumor. Another Christian Scientist told her that she was an embarrassment to the Christian Science Movement. The woman never came back to church. (Sad)  We are all working things out. Some feel it is correct to judge rightly.  Jesus said, “Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.” (John 7:24) Some of us have sins or challenges that are visible and others have sins or challenges that are not visible. Jesus also told us to get rid of the beam in our eye before trying to remove the speck in someone else's eye. (Matt 7:3) So he told us not to judge according to appearance, and to focus on correcting of our own sins. When the woman approached Jesus for healing, he didn't try and figure out why she was sick. He just treated her with love.  What he did was extraordinary in that culture. According to the customs of that time, he shouldn't have talked to her. But, he did talk to her. He blessed her and told her she was whole, or healed. (B4) “Jesus beheld in Science the perfect [woman], who appeared to him where sinning mortal [woman] appears to mortals. In this perfect [woman] the Saviour saw God's own likeness, and this correct view of man healed the sick.”  Jesus could have seen what would appear to us as reality, sickness. But he didn't. The Christ in Jesus saw the Christ in that beautiful woman. He saw God's perfect likeness standing before him. And, Mary Baker Eddy taught us how to do the same.

 

Section 3 – Healthy Heart [“heart, … has nothing to do with Life”! See key citation S5. Feeding hourly on the heart-healthy ideas in this section is better than merely eating heart-healthy food to overcome the claim of heart disease, heart attack and heart failure that are advertised to be the leading cause of death.] 
It is fun to find the concepts that relate back to quotes that tie back to previous lessons. Last week's Bible Lesson had the quote, “The baptism of Spirit, washing the body of all the impurities of flesh, signifies that the pure in heart see God and are approaching spiritual Life and its demonstration.” (Science and Health, pg. 241:27) When I do not feel I understand a Bible passage in the KJV [King James Version], I look at other translations. Sometime that doesn't help, so I look at the literal meaning of the original Hebrew or the Greek text. In passage B7 from Psalms 73:26, the word translated as flesh also means physical power, or self. My self, the human me, the puny me, is inadequate and fails. Do you know someone who feels because a healing has not come, that there is something wrong with them? They are not the problem. Mortal mind is. They are not an exception to God's blessing. Does this beautiful person think that they have not lived up to others' expectations or God's expectations? What a terrible burden.   You can sense that they do not feel like they are a good Christian Scientist. (Does anyone know what this mythical “good Christian Scientist” is really?) People feel like they just don't measure up and they beat themselves up about it. Well folks, feeling inadequate is nothing but an imposition. An imposition is a burden that has been put on someone fraudulently.  Realizing it is an imposition is key. Without that realization you can pray and pray and not make progress. The false self gets confused and burdened with impositions. But the real Self, Soul, is never burdened.  (See S&H 210:11) That real Self strengthens us and helps us to lean on or trust in God. (B7) 

Again and again, the Bible urges us to have courage, be bold, and to trust. [Like the good shepherds they were, and continue to be, both David and] Jesus again and again tell us [like a fearful flock of sheep] to not be afraid. [In citation B8. Ps. 31:24, David says that if we hope in God and have the good courage to take to take the first steps on the path He directs, He will strengthen our hearts to take the next steps.]    What does pure in heart mean? Pure means genuine, purified (through repentance), free from guilt or stain. Heart means “the center of all physical and spiritual life”, vigor, center of affections, thoughts, passions, appetites, emotions or desires. (Strong's Concordance). (B9) Have you noticed how not facing a problem doesn't heal it? It's like pushing that something into the shadows. Bring it out into the open and let the sunlight of Truth shine on it. Then see what happens to those shadows. “Christian Science brings to the body the sunlight of Truth, which invigorates and purifies. Christian Science acts as an alterative, neutralizing error with Truth. It changes the secretions, expels humors, dissolves tumors, relaxes rigid muscles, restores carious bones to soundness. The effect of this Science is to stir the human mind to a change of base, on which it may yield to the harmony of the divine Mind.” (S&H 162:4) [I am grateful beyond words that earnestly applying the truths in this statement to myself specifically and frequently  healed me from the lethal claims connected with an aggressive tumor. Surveys show that a far more common fear that many face is the fear of public speaking–and of verbally sharing a testimony with those needing to hear it. It's great that a newly-released film “The King's Speech” is about how a Christian Scientist speech therapist, Lionel Logue, helped King George overcome his fear of speaking and a speech impediment.  Here is a link to more fun, information from the Committee on Publication for Florida

http://flcompub.org/blog/2011/01/lionel-logue-passionate-about-healing/ You can also cick the link below to see a video interview with a biographer of Logue made by the Committee on Publication for the Australian state of Victoria (Logue was from Perth, Australia).
http://aunzblog.wordpress.com/2010/11/17/the-king-and-lionel]

 

Section 4 -Life's air quality is all good! [“lungs, … have nothing to do with Life”! See key in S5]

“For the Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.” (NLT) Some religions believe passages like this mean that God created mortal man, but Christian Science says that God, Spirit, created man spiritually. Speaking of spiritual man, Jesus said, “The kingdom of heaven is within you.”  Let us realize that Christian Science is not saying that mortals are perfect. On page 92, Mrs. Eddy refers to mortal man as a burlesque (a ludicrous parody or gross caricature) of God's man.  The mortal is the counterfeit. (B11)   God gives life to all. Have you ever had a week where your family, friends, and coworkers are sneezing, coughing and sniffling?  It's tempting to believe that colds are real and contagious.  I find I have to wake up and stop believing that they are sick (or I find it hard to believe that I am not sick). Here are some good ways to heal a cold. The best way to heal a cold is to not get one.  What I mean is, if you feel your throat getting sore or you start sneezing, relax. This is the time to commune with God and get a fuller sense of God's presence. This is the time to refuse to take on a belief that you are just going to have to get rid of later. Even if the symptoms do not go away, do not give up. Keep leaning on God. When you have felt the healing presence of God in thought, your healing is sure. It is kind of like your healing is already recorded in a book and you can read about as often as you need to. (B12) “The Lord himself is my inheritance, my prize. He is my food and drink, my highest joy! He guards all that is mine. He sees that I am given pleasant brooks and meadows as my share.” (The Living Bible) (B13)

 

Section 5 – Heal with Mind's Authority [“brain, … has nothing to do with Life”! See key citation S5]

A word about animal magnetism.  Mrs. Eddy said sometimes you have to talk something up, so you can talk it down.  Animal magnetism is the belief of intelligent matter. It is the belief that life is in or of matter, is dependent on matter. It is this sense of intelligence that opposes God. Because it is false, it hates Truth. Notice how the scientific statement of being is a treatment of animal magnetism. It declares that there is no life in matter and that there is only one Mind, God. It declares that matter has no sensation, no intelligence and that there is no truth in this belief. What is Life afraid of? What is Life seeing? To Life all is Life. When Life looks at you, it says, “There I AM. There I AM in all my beauty, grace, health, and abundance.” Life sees Life. Only Life and Christ are an authority on Life. Life is not afraid, because it is always Life. It is always well.  Life is not impressed with any of the claims of life, or lack of life, in matter. Life knows Itself to be Spirit. Life is experiencing Life to its fullest. It calls this experience you. From this standpoint of the I AM, you pray. Life causes the human mind and the problems it contains, to change its base, to yield to the presence of what is true. Mind's Mind is your Mind. Christ, which is divinity embracing humanity, comes to the human experience and destroys evil. (B14)   In this passage, Jesus rebuked the devilish belief with authority and healed the young man. “Like the great Exemplar, the healer should speak to disease as one having authority over it, leaving Soul to master the false evidences of the corporeal senses and to assert its claims over mortality and disease. The same Principle cures both sin and sickness.” (395:6-11) What if we did not overthink this quote and simply spoke to disease with authority, and allowed Soul to master the senses and their claims?

 

Section 6 – Victory over the Grave [and over grave mistakes]

 “Understanding is a fountain of life to the one who has it, but stubborn fools punish themselves with their stupidity.” (B16) (God's Word Translation) We have a choice then whether we are going to punish ourselves with our stupidity or slow down and listen to God. Let us have the Life of Christ. We have learned a lot about life. We have learned that there is nothing that can kill Life.    Through Christ, our lives are reconciled to God inwardly and outwardly. The Holy Spirit anointed Jesus to do great things. We too have been anointed (chosen, commissioned). One of the reasons Jesus was hated was that he was good. And, sometimes it appears to be the same with us. (B17) What can we do? Follow Jesus' example, be a witness rather than a victim. Bless people who curse you and want to do you harm. Bless them continually. You will be changed. You will be renewed. (B18) Christ is the true idea of God. It is God's manifestation. It sounds like Christ is what your life is.  Then, your life is God's complete expression and activity.  Since your life is a true idea of God, it is indestructible, joyous, and fulfilling. If your life were mortal, it would be a grave experience. [To avoid the grave mistake of being a “deficit thinker” who starts and ends with nothing, start and end with all as a “surplus thinker” as encouraged in Christian Science Lecturer Evan Mehlenbacher's “Daily Lift”. Click here to hear his full message.]

 

Section 7 – Freed from Death[by your Image-and-Likeness Identity that can resurrect you hourly (S28).]

Paul, as you might remember was a Pharisee. You cannot remember the difference between the Sadducees and the Pharisees? The Pharisees believed in the resurrection of the dead while the Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection of the dead and that is “sad, you see.” (That pun was originally coined by Cobbey Crisler.) And, that difference is important here. Paul, as a Pharisee, believed with his whole heart that Jesus was crucified and resurrected. (B19) The Father has given us life, as a reflection of Him. (B20) As a Christian, we do believe in the resurrection of Jesus and that have eternal life through Christ and through Jesus' sacrifice on the cross. (B22) This is all great theory, but does it affect how we live today? Biblical healings served to instruct Mary Baker Eddy that healings were natural and were not just in Biblical times. Through trial and error she began to heal people, even bringing them back after they had succumbed to death. She raised her secretary Calvin Frye from death multiple times. Earnest prayers to know the truth about a friend's inseparability from the Life recently brought back to life one that had been given up by paramedics.  Glory be to God! 
[I have also witnessed the power of trusting, childlike prayer to resurrect a horse and a pet rabbit that both were not breathing, stiff and cold. They both gave years of added service with transformed character traits. Let's resolve this week and this year to “know no life divided” from God and to know that no matter the “tribulation … It makes no separation between my Lord and me.” Hymn 135]

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Please help CedarS keep a 50^th season New Year's resolution to each out to all the “un-camped” students enrolled in Christian Science Sunday Schools across the world.  In the United States they apparently outnumber Sunday School students who attend 1 of the 6 camps for Christian Scientists in North America by more than 2 to 1. Experience shows that “CS-camped” children who are given the laboratory experience of putting their training from their homes and Sunday Schools into joyous practice in a “24-7” Christian-Science-laboratory experience at camp want to continue to make Christian Science their own. Therefore, please tell all the “un-camped” families you know about our work; and if possible let us know about them and their email and/or other contact information. We will gladly send them–and you–a DVD, plus show host info for over 50 CedarS shows being scheduled and all the information that is needed to help get “un-camped” students to camp-from info on our programs for all ages; to session dates and rates; to online enrollment info; to transportation;  to financial aid forms; and more as needed.]

 

[[CEDARS weekly “Mets” or Metaphysical Newsletters are provided at no charge to the 1,200 campers and staff blessed each summer at CEDARS–as well as to thousands of CEDARS alumni, families, Sunday School teachers and friends who request it, or who find it weekly on our website or through CS Directory. But, current and planned gifts are needed: to cover the costs of running this “free” service; to provide camperships to make inspirational opportunities possible for deserving youth; and to help our facilities keep pace with our mission.]

Thanks to a matching pledge, if CedarS can raise $50,000 by next summer for our “Adopt the Herd” Riding Fund, a donor will match those gifts to cover the needs of feeding, shoeing and caring for our large and cherished herd of horses!  OF COURSE, donations are always needed and welcome for camperships -especially for the “uncamped”–because without campers there would be no camp!  Funds are also being gratefully realized and spent to complete parts of CedarS Bible Lands Park (BLP) including our new Mediterranean Sea!  We're happy to share more details if you wish to help these divine ideas come to fruition! 

[However it comes, your support is always very welcome and tax-deductible –but during the economic downturn, your generous, unrestricted gifts have been–and continue to be–more needed and appreciated than ever!  You can make charitable donations to our 501C-3 tax-exempt, charitable organization in many ways.

1)     Thanks in advance for GIVING ONLINE! Just click here to use a credit or debit card (Visa, Mastercard, American Express, or Discover card) or a virtual check to make monthly and one-time donations to CedarS' Camperships, “Maintenance Musts”, “Mets”, Bible Lands Park, “Mediterranean Sea”, Unrestricted or Endowment Funds.  Our international supporters can give to CedarS via PayPal using built-in currency exchange rates by filling in an amount under International Donors and clicking on the “Donate Now” button.

2)     Checks are also great and especially appreciated on a monthly basis! Please make them payable to “CedarS Camps” and mail them to: CedarS Camps Office, 1314 Parkview Valley, Manchester, MO 63011;

3)     Please call Warren or Gay Huff at (636) 394-6162 to discuss gifts of IRAs, stocks, other securities or property you are considering giving in order to help underwrite CedarS spiritual growth and progress.

4)     CedarS can almost always use late-model mini-vans, Suburbans and trucks, with lower mileage, in good condition, either 4-wheel or 2-wheel drive. Please email office@cedarscamps.org or call 636-394-6162 to discuss your vehicle, its transfer and tax-deductible gift acknowledgement.  Letting this need be known recently brought about a donation of a wonderful, late-model Suburban from Minnesota!

5) Many friends and churches have already made a profound impact on CedarS past, present and future by choosing to fund ongoing legacies of love and support. Tax-saving strategies for planned gifts and enabling wording for bequests, life income gifts, and beneficiary designations can be set up by CedarS Trustee Emeritus Bill Merritt who is a planned giving professional.]

 

 [Camp Director's Note: This sharing is the latest in an ongoing, 10-year series of CedarS Bible Lesson “Mets” (Metaphysical application ideas) contributed weekly by a rotation of CedarS Resident Practitioners and occasionally by other metaphysicians. (To keep the flow of the practitioner's ideas intact and to allow for more selective printing “Possible Sunday School Topics” come in a subsequent email.) These weekly offerings are intended to encourage further study and application of ideas in the lesson and to invigorate Sunday School participation by students and by the budding teachers on our staff. Originally sent JUST to my Sunday School students and to campers, staff and CedarS families who wanted to continue at home and in their home Sunday Schools the same type of focused Lesson study, application and inspiration they had felt at camp, CedarS lesson “mets” are in no way meant to be definitive or conclusive or in any way a substitute for daily study of the lesson. The thoughts presented are the inspiration of the moment and are offered to give a bit more dimension and background as well as new angles (and angels) on the daily applicability of some of the ideas and passages being studied. The weekly Bible Lessons are copyrighted by the Christian Science Publishing Society and are printed in the Christian Science Quarterly as available at Christian Science Reading Rooms or online at eBibleLesson.com or myBibleLesson.com. The citations referenced (i.e.B-1 and S-28) from this week's Bible Lesson in the “Met” (Metaphysical application ideas) are taken from the Bible (B-1 thru B-24) and the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health With Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy (S-1 thru S-30). The Bible and Science and Health are the ordained pastor of the Churches of Christ, Scientist. The Bible Lesson is the sermon read in Christian Science church services throughout the world. The Lesson-Sermon speaks individually through the Christ to everyone, providing unique insights and tailor-made applications for each one. We are glad you requested this metaphysical sharing and hope that you find some of the ideas helpful in your daily spiritual journey, in your deeper digging in the books and in closer bonding with your Comforter and Pastor.]

 

[You can now click on the pdf symbol (at the right of the webpage) to download a pdf version of CedarS Lesson mets for easier reading and printing from mobile devices.]

[Enjoy!    Warren Huff, Executive Director   director@cedarscamps.org]

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