GEMS of Soul and of spiritual sense for you!
Monday, August 10th, 2020
GEMS of Soul and of spiritual sense for you!
from Cobbey Crisler, Ken Cooper & others from The Christian Science Bible Lesson on
“Soul"
for August 16, 2020
GEM#1: Take-Home Pledges to keep the 10 Commandments & Receive God’s Blessings
[from Deuteronomy 11:8-21, in this week’s Responsive Reading]
A handout from a 2019 ICSNC Activities in CedarS Bible Lands Park
Shared by Warren Huff (as a Time-Travelling Moses & Joseph) at the request of scores of CSN participants
Before crossing the Jordan River into the “Promised Land”
Frequent ways we break the 10 Commandment (see pictured hula-hoop that’ll keep you going in circles)
- When it’s hard to stop worrying (being ungrateful in advance) retake a pledge to keep God’s 1st C below
- When obsessed with body worship & thinking most of things retake a pledge to keep God’s 2nd C below
- When saying “OMG!” (“Oh, My God!”) out of habit retake a pledge to keep God’s 3rd C below
- When I forget that everything’s already perfect now! retake a pledge to keep God’s 4th C below
- When tempted to disrespect authorities retake a pledge to keep God’s 5th C below
- When tempted to be angry, to put other down or to bully retake a pledge to keep God’s 6th C below
- When tempted to be dissatisfied and break promises retake a pledge to keep God’s 7th C below
- When tempted to take what doesn’t belong to me retake a pledge to keep God’s 8th C below
- When tempted to say (think) what’s not REALLY true of another or me retake a pledge to keep 9th C
- When feeling jealous of anyone’s possessions or accomplishments retake a pledge to keep God’s 10th C
Then, together as a prayed-conditioned team of Bible Students
and Christian Science Nurses, we made these solemn promises together:
I Pledge to: Keep these 10 Commandment & like Jesus heal with “the finger of God” that wrote them!
(See pictured soccer ball to help you kick dust-man habits, score goals for & bring healings to your team)
- Remember God saved us from worrying/bondage & to trust Love to do so again. No worries! (Ex. 20:2 for Jews)
- Stop the idol worship of thinking most about things & bodies that are not up to the job (of being God, Ex. 20:3-6)
- Stop saying O.M.G. (Oh, My God!) unless I expect God to answer quickly! (instant downpour out of clear blue, Ex. 20:7)
- Remember (give loving attention to) an always perfect Sabbath & work out from perfection, not up to it!
- Respect & obey all RIGHT authority figures and boundaries in my life.
- Refuse (re-fuse) to get angry, make fun of or put anyone down! (“little” things that lead to killing Matt.5:21-26)
- Seek deep satisfaction in all God’s given & to keep my promises (“little” things that lead to adultery Matt.5:27-28)
- Stop trying to GET happiness & instead try to GIVE it! (fulfill “my reason for existing… to impart…” My. 165:18)
- Stop saying what’s not REALLY true of others or of me (& bear true witness, “to tell …the whole truth… so help me God!”)
- Feel & say of another’s good “Thank You God! That’s Mine Too! (TYG! TMT! Is more powerful than TNT!)
When our groups of over 20 reached the “Promised Land” we saw where many of them had walked on the holy water of the Mediterranean (in CedarS Cable Watersports) and we discussed that those who get the victory over the animal –“the victory over the beast, … stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God. And they sing the song (the 10 Commandments) of Moses the servant of God, and the song (the Beatitudes) of the Lamb (Jesus)” (Rev. 15:2-3)
Those who went the next day on the Beatitude hike up CedarS A.P. (Answered Prayer) History Trail took pledges to live the song (the lived Beatitudes mindset) of Christ Jesus, as had Bible characters before him had, to answer all their needs and prayers. Examples include pledges to be “free from pride”—to be “quick to forgive”—to “win without a fight”…
Those wanting the full list of Beatitude pledges can ask for them at warren@cedarscamps.org
With deeply grateful love and all glory to God forever,
Warren Huff
GEM#2: Ken Cooper's poem Oh Stand in Awe on YouTube is an exultation of man “fearfully and wonderfully made” by God, (Ps. 139:14, B5) . His Oh Keep Your Violin In Tune resonates with the full glory of Soul being self-expressed.
[Ken writes:] "When something is done “with the whole heart” it is the epitome of unconditional love, – no reservation, hesitation, with absolute commitment to the objective / goal. It brings unlimited joy, for its unselfish expression is born of Love. The command “thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength” Mark 12:30 is simply the reflection of God’s infinite love for us, and like all the commandments can be seen as glorious statements of fact.
The poem Oh Stand in Awe is an exultation of man “fearfully and wonderfully made” by God, -the penultimate line shares this thought of man “as Love’s reflection thus ablaze” – the radiance and divine energy of Soul, our witness and proof of what God is. The infinity of God guarantees the fresh reflection of all that God is, every synonym, at the same time, as the moment requires. Praise and rejoicing go hand in hand as we see the true nature of man, of ourselves.
When someone plays a musical instrument, the potential of the instrument never changes, but the skill (or not!) of the musician illustrates what the instrument can achieve. They each unlock the potential of the other, and all who listen when excellence is brought forth, played with the Spirit and with Soul, indeed when played “with the whole heart”, are blessed. When we humbly drop all sense of self, and recognise that we are God expressing Himself, we have the majesty of being at one with the Christ, being the music of God. Jesus said “I can of mine own self do nothing”, and like the violin, and as in last week’s lesson, we are graven by the hand of God, who made us to play as He / She is. Oh Keep Your Violin In Tune resonates with the full glory of Soul being self-expressed.
The words in pdf versions are attached to CedarS online Met as upper right Downloads
GEM#3 (Newly transcribed): Application insights for stone pillows, a dream of a ladder and the gate of heaven from Genesis 28:10–13, 15, 16, 17 (B6)
10 And Jacob went out from Beer–sheba, and went toward Haran.
11 And he lighted upon a certain place [named by Jacob in verse 19 as Bethel, “the house of God.” Several parts of this story of Jacob’s dream of God’s promise to him as he flees Esau’s wrath on the way to his uncle Laban’s home appear in Hymn #192:3 “So, like the wanderer, the sun gone down, darkness be over me, my rest a stone. Yet in my dreams I’d be, nearer my God to Thee…”] and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took of the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep.
12 And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. [See Downloadable picture of a graphic symbol of a ladder in the marginal notes of my Bible that I made during a talk about Church in the 1990s given at Principia School by Cobbey Crisler as a CedarS Camps benefit. My sketch show God at the top of the ladder and man at the bottom with his head on a rock. Cobbey said that this is the first link between rock and church. (QAHAL or church, is translated as “multitude” in verse 3 and in verse 14 as Jacob’s msny promised descendants or “the children of Israel… until the Messiah should rename them… and … thet were to be brought back through great tribulation, to be renamed by Christian Science…” as “Children of Israel… Christ’s offspring.” Science & Health, 309:15-22 and 583:5-9.)
Cobbey points out that if the angels of God only descended from God, that would be like the Dead Sea, without an outflowing outlet. He likens the angels of God ascending from man to be like the required elements of prayer, healing and gratitude. “The ladder is rung by rung—one at a time— and each step closer to God, and all the time surrounded by angelic messages. That’s what God intends human consciousness to be… when ready for it, we takes it in as the Holy Ghost; don’t stifle it or ridicule it, but utilizes it for the benefit of humanity.” [from Warren’s marginal notes, see pic.]
13 And, behold, the Lord stood above it, and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed;
15 nd, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.
16 And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the Lord is in this place; and I knew it not.
17 this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.
[Warren: The little bit of “heaven on earth” place that we call CedarS Camps now has a reminder procedure before entering it through a new electronically-operable gate (of heaven”). Such a gate is the fulfillment of a feature long ago dreamed-of my electrical engineer dad, Warren Huff, Jr. “As in heaven, so on earth, God is omnipotent, supreme.” (spiritual interpretation of The Lord’s Prayer, SH 17)
One of CedarS entry gate codes symbolizes striving to gain entry to God’s blessings by thinking and acting out a commitment to keep the Ten Commandments and Beatitudes. Consider GEM#1 and try retaking its pledges early and often as did Jesus –“with the finger of God” (Deut. 9:10, Luke 11:20) to demonstrate healing and “the kingdom of God … within.” (Luke 17:21, citation 15)]
GEM#4: Grow Priceless “*Pearls*” from Grit! — Turn Trash into Beautiful Treasures of Truth and Love!
CedarS 2020 Theme from citation 9 in Science & Health, by Mary Baker Eddy, page 265:3-15:
"Man understands spiritual existence in proportion as his treasures of Truth and Love are enlarged. Mortals must gravitate Godward, their affections and aims grow spiritual, – they must near the broader interpretations of being, and gain some proper sense of the infinite, – in order that sin and mortality may be put off. This scientific sense of being, forsaking matter for Spirit, by no means suggest man's absorption into Deity and the loss of his identity, but confers upon man enlarged individuality, a wider sphere of thought and action, a more expansive love, a higher and more permanent peace."
We invite you to join us in "gravitat[ing] Godward." Camp is the perfect place to discover and enlarge your treasures of Truth. Every "met" (inspirational sharing before activities), every breakfast Christian Science practitioner talk, every Bible Lesson study, every Hymn Sing, every Sunday School class, and testimony meeting offer campers nuggets of Truth to make their own. And each activity offers opportunities to apply these Truths and prove their value – to really turn them into treasures for life!
The list in this passage is such a beautiful promise of the blessings realized through spiritual growth:
-Enlarged individuality
-A wider sphere of thought and action
-A more expansive love
-A higher and more permanent peace
We see this list as so contemporary, as so on-target, and as so timeless. This is as exactly what today's youth needs – and exactly what today's world needs.
*Pearls*are wonderful examples of the “treasures of Truth” and how they grow. A pearl grows in an oyster only because an irritant has entered its shell and the oyster responds by secreting on it layer after layer of an irritant–soother (the way that spiritual sense and love heal whatever irritates us and others). Let’s take that as a challenge to be like the oyster and turn everything that looks negative and ugly into a string of beautiful pearls by applying layer upon layer of love and spiritual sense to grow our treasures of Truth and Love!
Enlarging your treasures of Truth and Love will soon cancel the debt and make you “debt-free.” St. Paul simply describes Love’s ultimate “debt-forgiveness program” that freed him—as it will free you. It is to: “Owe no man anything, but to love one another” (Romans 13:8). Saul voiced this as one who “owed” Christ and all Christians BIG-time by being known as their most enthusiastic enemy and persecutor. He made up for it by becoming Christianity’s most missionary advocate and most eloquent friend after he was converted by a “virtual” meeting with Jesus. (So, don’t underestimate the power of virtual camp sessions, hymn sings or church services when the Christ is welcomed in!)
If you visit Saul’s road to Damascus in CedarS Bible Lands Park, you will be reminded to be like Ananias of the Damascus Christians. Like Ananias, you will be asked to stop “owing” any former persecutors and to stop “bearing false witness against” any Saul characters in your life—and instead to see them as if they’ve been on their “road to Damascus” and changed for good by the Christ. In the words of a young Sunday School student “Forgive us our “trash-passes” as we forgive those who “trash-pass” to us.” Had Ananias held Saul in the position that he’d outgrown after his “virtual encounter” with Jesus – if he had NOT obeyed God’s command to forgive Saul’s trash-passing and to restore his sight, the born-again Paul would not have become the most productive, treasure-passer of Christianity that the world has known. “Those unpretentious, yet colossal characters, Paul and Jesus” both did all they could to pass along the rich treasures of their resilient spiritual sense of oneness with God. May we each do the same with all the treasures of Truth that spiritual sense constantly gives us!
GEM#5: Change your concept when problems seem at hand to see heaven at hand!
Cobbey Crisler on Matt. 4: 17 (citation 8) “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
“Verse 17. After Matthew the prophesies [in verses 15 and 16 from Isaiah 9:1, 2) of the coming of the Messiah], Jesus’ opening word, according to Matthew’s gospel is “Repent.” Change your concept. Again, just as John the Baptist said in Matthew 3:2, “the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” That is radical good news for mankind.
“It’s not a far-off event. Many denominations have left the impression that heaven is something attainable in the far-off future. But, the opening words of John the Baptist, as well as of Jesus, are “the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” right here. That means that we must be able to do something with it and about it. And, apparently that had something to do with the changing of our concept, even theologically, that heaven can do something about the problems that that seem to be at hand.
“… Are the problems at hand, or is heaven at hand? That’s the test question that Jesus met so beautifully as a sovereign over it in the wilderness. He proved that heaven was at hand.”
“Book of Matthew, Auditing the Master,” by B. Cobbey Crisler**
W’s PS#6: Realize it’s all about God, not about you! Get up to ski like you do to testify. Citation 17 (SH p. 323:9) is a favorite met for water-skiing. Mary Baker Eddy says there: "Beholding the infinite tasks of Truth, we pause, — wait on God. Then we push onward, until boundless thought walks enraptured and conception unconfined is winged to reach the divine glory."
After saying "Hit it!" for the boat to start pulling you, it's all too easy for most beginners to lean forward right away, as if to get up "on their own." This causes quick nose-dives. However, when we PAUSE, waiting to acknowledge the boat, or really God, as the true power of the event, able to pull us through it, God precedes and PRE-SERVES us — and we express such dominion that we almost feel able to walk on the water. (A successful pausing posture for skiers to mimic is that of a testifier getting halfway up out of their seat and pausing for a few seconds before proceeding, because another testifier got up at the same time.)
In like manner, when we realize that life is about God, about Love, and not about us (as physical beings) or because of us (as sexual beings) we are free to merely reflect, instead of originate, the "incontrovertible" perfection of man AS A SPIRITUAL BEING, as the "image, reflection, of God, . . neither inverted" ('reversed in position, order, or relationship') "nor subverted," ('overturned from the foundation: RUINED: perverted or corrupted by an undermining of morals, allegiance, or faith') "but upright and Godlike." (S&H 200:19, with Merriam Webster's definitions in parenthesis)
From a Warren Huff Met originally Posted : 4/27/2003
GEM#7: Exercise the priceless gift of child-like receptivity! View God as your close "Daddy" like Jesus did! Cobbey Crisler on Matthew 18:1-4 (citation 12)
Chapter 18: The disciples are busy fighting among each other.
(Verse 1). Saying, “Who’s the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”
(Verse 2). That’s the time “Jesus called a little child,”
(Verse 3). “And said, Unless you’re converted, and become as little children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.”
There it is, again. What “Abba” (Daddy) does in the Lord’s Prayer. It makes us little children in that prayer. He has a lot to say about children and the child-like receptive thought in that chapter.”
“Book of Matthew, Auditing the Master, A Tax Collector’s Report,” by B. Cobbey Crisler**
[Warren: Here’s an invitation for YOU— and for all who you love – to join us with your “whole heart and whole soul” each week to celebrate the ever-presence of divine Love and its healing power of prayer-at-a-distance)!” This breakthrough principle –highlighted in yellow below – of the healing power of childlike thought that is receptive to remote prayer is on full display at CedarS weekly Online Hymn Sings. These 30-minute global gatherings could be thought of as “Prayer Sings,” since hymns are really healing prayers set to music. [Read past fruitage.]
Our upcoming “Take CedarS Home” Zoom sessions for grade grouped campers also continue each week to prove the healing power of childlike thought that’s receptive to remote prayer. These Zoom session gifts to children and their families could be thought of as prayers to daily put into action. This love in action springs from CedarS Five Fundamental Concepts which provide a Bible-based sense of identity, comradery, citizenship, skill development and fun. Here's the starting point of the reflection of perfection for our staff to infuse every CedarS program (onsite and ONLINE) with CedarS unique quality and style: We regard each individual at camp as a child of God, who reflects alertness, joy, peace, ability, love…
GEM#8: To demonstrate healing at a distance, exercise Christ’s proven force of the prayer of feeling Love’s ever-presence. Cobbey on Jesus healing paralysis remotely (John 8:5-13, B13):
(Verse 5) The second healing in this chapter is the centurion’s servant. This is a healing of palsy. Palsy is paralysis. This healing occurs over a distance. It’s almost as if Jesus were saying to the physical scientists of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, “Alright, gentlemen, you say in your list of things that represent action-at-a-distance, there can be light, magnetism, sound, and electricity.”
“Recognize that prayer is also action-at-a-distance and can out distance all on your list. You do not have to be present physically to heal the sick. God is present with the one in need of healing as he is present with the one who is the channel for the healing or transparency.
You don't have to move physically to heal spiritually. This is a tremendous breakthrough in a concept for healing which can occur even today, when it is considered that one must be at the bedside of a patient in order to accomplish anything. Jesus did not do that in every case. Remote healings required receptivity in the thought of those with whom he was dealing.
Here we have a centurion, who was not even a Jew. He is a Roman, a noncom officer in a sense over a hundred men. That's why he's called a centurion. He has enough concept of authority to say, "All you have to do, Jesus, if you’re good at what you're doing, and a professional, just say, 'Give the order,' and those orders will be obeyed. That's what happens in my profession," he said.
(Verse 10) Jesus makes the comment that he has not “found so great faith, no, not in Israel.” One wonders if he would find that kind of faith today?
(Verse 13). He says "to the centurion, as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour." We get a better view of it in the gospel of John [4:46-53], if it's the same incident which it undoubtedly is, where the nobleman's son is healed. The nobleman goes back home to check.
It's a day's travel. He's half way there and his servants have come to meet him. His servants say; "Everything's fine." The nobleman said, "What time?" And the servant said, "The seventh hour." So, the nobleman asked about the time and it was the same hour that Jesus had said, "Go thy way. Thy son liveth."
It’s a day’s travel for the centurion. He’s halfway home and his servant have come to meet him. … The healing got to the centurion’s home before the centurion got there. Which shows what is possible and how primitive we are in exercising the spiritual forces available to us. It may turn out that Jesus is the most important scientist in the history of the world in the sense of demonstrating his theory and proving it.”
“Book of Matthew, Auditing the Master, A Tax Collector’s Report,” by B. Cobbey Crisler**
