Ken’s “POETIC POSTLUDE” shares Bible EXAMPLES of how ONE GOD Preserves (…not Protects!) Man.
Thursday, December 8th, 2022
Ken Cooper’s “POETIC POSTLUDE” shares Bible EXAMPLES of how ONE GOD Preserves (…not Protects! – what from?) Man.
inspired by The Christian Science Quarterly Bible Lesson on
“GOD THE PRESERVER OF MAN.”
for Sunday, December 11th, 2022
- In Ken’s new poem, “How Shall We Do? – WELL!” we see the power of God overcoming fear and leading to LIGHT!
- In Ken’s monologue, “The Leper Cleansed” we share the personal experience of a man who seeks out Jesus, and sees perfect life revealed and preserved!
- Ken’s poem “NOW is Come Salvation” , shows that the angel armies of God already have their victory, because salvation is now, not still to come.
[Ken writes:] The Golden Text this week stands as something we could all say, may well have said, at some point, and not just David: “O Lord, stand against all those who oppose me. Dispel those who fight and strive against me……Let them be blown quite clear and gone, like chaff before the wind, with your angel driving them away for ever!”. The lesson is full of examples of the effectiveness of turning to God when faced with all kinds of challenges, and neatly brings together the previous two lessons: as God is the Only Cause and Creator, we know that man is always safe, for nothing exists that can threaten or harm what God has made. The mesmerism of any such claim is exposed and denounced in no uncertain terms! Each of the poems gives a different perspective on what may be attacking our calm, – enemies, the dread of disease, the great red dragon of fear and finality. Yet all are overcome. We win the fight not by looking at the problem(s) but by knowing the presence and power of God, Mind, Love, Life, in all their glory.
WE DO NOT NEED PROTECTION, WE NEED THE UNDERSTANDING OF OUR PRESERVATION BEING AT ONE WITH GOD.
My new poem “How Shall We Do? – WELL!” shares the experiences of the servant of Elisha, who is terrified by the sudden appearance of horses and chariots, – a great host, the army of Syria, which is actively surrounding them. While going about his normal work, he looks out and sees them!
I ran up to the mantel and peered through the open space
Hostile chariots filled my view, fear froze upon my face.
A thought has just come to me, – his normal work did not begin with his “daily defence”. He was unprepared for what he saw, and part of the healing process was his later recognition to start each day with the light of Truth.
I turned in fear to Elisha, “Alas how shall we do?”
We have no hope, we will be killed. I’m so afraid, -aren’t you?
He responded with assurance, a calmness quite serene,
As if he knew of something, saw things I had not seen
As Science & Health (S&H) citation S15 says: “We lose the high signification of omnipotence, when after admitting that God, or good, is omnipresent and has all-power, we still believe there is another power, named evil.” (p. 469:25–28). False evidence is always false, but we are often taken in by it. But what is it that is taken in? There is no mortal thought, – for this is the red dragon, (see Section 5) which Truth dispels.
Elisha turned to God in prayer, I should have guessed as much,
And then he smiled, and turned to me and with a gentle touch
He pointed from the window and to the mountains higher.
Behold ‘twas full of horsemen and chariots of fire!
I love the fact that the servant saw what he needed to see to overcome his fear. He had to look up, away from the material picture. The Bible has so many stories of when people so look up they see the provision of good, – the presence of God revealed to meet our human need. Hagar looked up and saw a well, Jesus fed the five thousand, – it could have been fifty thousand, in the storm he could only see peace. Our needs are always met, because in the infinity of Mind all good is always provided in the way best required, – often more so than we ever foresaw!! The impact of looking up was life changing for the servant, who now begins his day with rejoicing:
(I) Still glance out the window but now rejoice with all my heart!,
For I THANK GOD. I see HIS LIGHT. That LIGHT is where I start!
As the pdf copy of the poem indicates “And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.” Genesis 1:3”. THIS LIGHT OF GOD IS THE CONSTANT PRESERVATION AND LIFE OF MAN.
Whenever we feel encompassed by fear, and at a loss what to do, we can be as those in the Bible who were unconcerned, because they knew that God was the only power. On this basis, there is nothing, and is never anything, to fear. False Evidence Appearing Real is shown for what it is! A Lie!
This is brought out in Section 4 with the healing of a leper. In my monologue, The Leper Cleansed, when this man discovered he had leprosy, he had to live in a leper colony. Like Elisha’s servant, he was surrounded by an “enemy”, and the enforced cry “Unclean” only kept it to the foremost of thought. But an angel thought reached him, and he became aware of this man Jesus passing near-by:
“My heart leaps. I think of my wife, my sons, my lost life and suddenly a new life that might just be, and determine to meet him,”, and having made this decision, he listened for guidance. When we listen, our focus turns away from the problem to the solution, a light shines! “With sudden hope I drop to my knees and humbly and deeply pray to God to guide me. For the first time for a long time, I feel as though He is holding my hand, and yet with the other I will be ringing my bell. My hope is greater than my fear, yet I’m still holding on to my past. I leave, and with each step taken to find this Jesus, the leper village recedes from my thought.” When we pray, truly listen, when thought is committed in this way, the past and all its attachments disappears. It is based on knowing our co-existence with God. Not the past but the now. The leper is led to Jesus and makes his request:
“If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.”
He reaches out with his hand and I feel his gentle touch on my face! No one had dared touch me for more months than I could remember. But what touches me more is the compassion that flows out from his very being: like a stream of living water, unstoppable, bathing me in purity and love”.
Jesus was simply beholding “the perfect man, who appeared to him where sinning mortal man appears to mortals.” S&H pp. 476:32–2 the) The healing is instantaneous:
Transformed in the moment of his tender touch, transformed indeed for me to touch with my deepest thoughts a life eternal, a life at one with God, at one with Spirit, in which evil and disease have no power, no existence. The stunning thought, — God really is my Father! Our Father!
The healing power of the Christ is the demonstration of the nothingness of all forms of error. It may appear as a battle of good over evil, but the Truth never battles to win, Light never struggles to remove the dark. The preservation of man is not a challenge but a fact of our co-existence with God, or expression of His consciousness.
The monologue concludes: “Let this be your day! Your moment!” Yes! Let the present perfection of the kingdom of God be at hand, as Jesus said. (citation B15, Mark 1:15)
In the same way, the book of Revelation is not a view of the future, with the forces of good mounting up against the forces of evil, to have a final battle in the years to come. It is the glorious revelation of NOW. Webster’s dictionary 1828 shares revelation as “The act of disclosing or discovering to others what was before unknown to them;”. Jesus beheld the kingdom of heaven at hand, now. So can we.
The description of Michael and his angels is but the inspirational simple truth that the great red dragon began as a tiny serpent, and that tiny serpent was itself a lie, – the start of all lies, – a belief in life / consciousness apart from God. The lie of duality breaks the first commandment, and it has consequences:
“It became a red dragon gigantic and tall,
And I thought with regret of the day it was small”
“Just how to escape from this terrible fate?
Could I pray now to God? – Or was it too late??”
Just as the Syrian army, the leprous disease, the great red dragon, all problems may seem insurmountable, but the truth is otherwise, constant. We do not have to wait for truth to happen, it is now:
“In the now of salvation, there is no past.
No serpent, no dragon, their nothingness vast.”
“I live in God’s kingdom, Love governs each thought,
For God is All power, in Him truly wrought!”
God preserves all that is, for there is no future period in the I AM THAT I AM of all existence. SALVATION IS NOW, for that is our nowness with God.
“Salvation wraps round me, in Love am I held!”
The acceptance of man being immortal must mean that man is immortal now. What is deemed to be perfect in the future has to be perfect now, for perfection can have no taint of mortal history. “The divine Mind that made man maintains His own image and likeness. … All that really exists is the divine Mind and its idea, and in this Mind the entire being is found harmonious and eternal.” (cit. S30, p. 151:23–24,26–28)
GOD PRESERVES MAN AS ME, MIND EXPRESSED. THIS IS THE INFINITE CONSTANT OF MAN’S LIFE, OUR LIFE, AS THE PRESENT CONSCIOUSNESS OF GOD.
Bible verses are taken from my combined translations, a free copy of which is available on an excel spreadsheet for those who may be interested. The spreadsheet also includes a genealogy from Adam to Jesus, with related notes. Shared with love. Write to Ken on kengcooper@btinternet.com.
Copies of these poems are available in pdf format in color and B&W as DOWNLOADS at the bottom of the online version of this Poetic Prelude to this week’s Bible Lesson. The full range of Ken’s videos on YouTube can be found on KenGCooperPoetry. All Ken’s poetry and other writings can be found on Ken Cooper Poetry.
