English
Español
FrançaisLive Life LARGE! Richly, joyously and fully!
Metaphysical Application Ideas for the Christian Science Bible Lesson on “Life”
For the week of July 16 – 23, 2007
Prepared by Janet Hegarty, C.S. of St. Louis, MO
Editor’s Note: The following background information and application ideas for the Christian Science Bible Lesson for this week are offered primarily to help CedarS campers and staff (as well as friends) see and demonstrate the great value of daily study of the Christian Science Bible lessons year-round, not just at camp! You can sign up free to have these mets emailed to you in English by Monday or in French or Spanish by Wednesday: CHECK www.cedarscamps.org/metaphysical/ FOR A FREE TRANSLATION of this weekly “met” offered in FRENCH by Pascal Bujard of Switzerland AND NOW in SPANISH by Ana Arcioni of Spain.
Golden Text: God, perfect Life, and infinite good, comes “from inside out” and therefore is always right where you! Every day His “mighty” power protects you by pouring out loads of good right “in the midst of thee.” You are God’s joy! Hymn 56 shows the spirit of the Golden Text. This is from verse one: “Father, Thou joy of loving hearts, Thou Fount of life, Thou Light of men, From all the best that earth imparts, We turn unfilled to Thee again.” (To really live Life LARGE – richly, joyously and fully!)
Responsive Reading: God, Life, is rich and his children are wonderfully blessed! “The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup.” (Ps 16:5) The word “cup” refers to the circumstances and experiences of a person’s life (Dummelow & Easton’s Bible Dictionary). The two Psalms in the Responsive Reading show, if a person trusts his life to God, no matter what the immediate circumstances are, he can be assured of God’s unfailing care. Each section of the Bible Lesson emphasizes God’s rich Love for us and guides us in our efforts to enjoy the full benefits of this love by living in obedience to God – enjoying the Life that is God, good.
Section 1: Discover and share your abundant God-given gifts! This summer the CedarS family is working to discover and generously share “the fruit of the Spirit.” (Galatians 5:22-25) The Message translates Galatians 5:22, part of the Cedars theme, this way, “What happens when we live God’s way? He brings gifts into our lives much the same way fruit appears in an orchard…” This section of the Bible Lesson tells us all about these gifts. It tells us what some of the gifts are, why we have them, and what kind of power is behind them. Search the citations to discover your gifts. Here are just a few I found: Life (B2 & S3), harmony (S3), strength and humility (S4). There are many more wonderful gifts so keep looking until you find them all. Why do we have these gifts? I found a good answer to this question in S3. “Everything in God’s universe expresses Him.” God has given us these gifts to express Him. To express means “to give or convey a true impression of: show, reflect (Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary).” When we identify and appreciate these gifts in ourselves and in others and then use the gifts to bless the world, we are showing the world what God is like. Keep in mind these gifts are not wimpy little bits of strength or an “off and on” kind of harmony. These gifts are given and empowered by Almighty God – these are powerful gifts, unfailing strength, continuous harmony – you can depend on them. So, your strength, and every other gift on your list, is complete and will always prove equal to every job you’ll ever have because God is the power behind it. Look at your list of gifts each day, add to it as you discover more, and always remember these are God-powered gifts that are yours to use today!
Warren adds that Bible Scholar Cobbey Crisler shed light on one of the biggest gifts or victories obtainable as sung about in verses 2 and 3 in Revelation 15 (B4). The celebrants in Revelation 15:2 are those individuals who have gotten the victory over animality (animal magnetism) and its presence in the forefront of thought (“victory over the beast, and over his image”) and over slavery to a sense of animal origin and to mass media’s marketing to the vast numbers of people seemingly claiming kinship with the animal (the beast’s “mark (of the master), and over the number of his name.”) Cobbey continues: “Verse 3 tells something of what those individuals were thinking and knowing actively that enabled them to sever the animal connection, thus freeing their own concept of origin to where Genesis 1 indicated that man originated. The songs they are singing are the essence of the teachings of Moses and of Jesus, with ‘the song of Moses’ being The Ten Commandments and ‘the song of the Lamb’ representing the Beatitudes and Sermon on the Mount.” Note how a mastery of, or sense of victory over, these key elements of the curriculum of Christian Science Sunday Schools lead to the monumental victory of “standing on and seeing right through the sea of glass, that most mysterious, unknown part of the world, naturally murky, always moving unpredictably with the to and fro motion of the seas where evolutionists tell us we come from – our own origin covered up in the murky depths – no longer murky, mysterious or unpredictable, but having a sense of victory, standing on it and seeing through it.” (from Warren Huff’s notes taken October 13, 1981 at a Cobbey Crisler talk in Tulsa, OK on “What the Spirit saith to the Churches.”)
Section 2: 365 years and he just keeps on going. Enoch must have known that “the secret place of the most High” was a place of unstoppable life. (B5, B6) He must have felt the perpetual power of Life, God, as he lived “under the shadow of the Almighty.” (B5, B6) The deaths of all of Enoch’s relatives are recorded in history. But there is no record to show that Enoch died. (The New Westminster Dictionary of the Bible) “Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.” (B6) Enoch left the earth but he didn’t die. Age was no obstacle for Enoch. At 65 years he had a son. After this son was born it is recorded that he also had more sons and daughters during the next 300 years. The second verse of Hymn number 247, which begins, “O walk with God along the road,” gives a glimpse of what it means to walk with God: “Ye shall not to your daily task without your God repair, but on your work his blessing ask and prove his glory there.” Enoch understood that the gifts he had were spiritual and came from God. He knew they were perpetuated by Almighty power. His life was God-centered, not centered on, or defined by, matter. Enoch certainly wasn’t “a pendulum, swinging between evil and good, joy and sorrow, sickness and health, life and death.” (S8) He didn’t swing between matter and Spirit. He consistently walked “in the Spirit.” As a result he demonstrated life eternal. Mrs. Eddy encourages, “Life is eternal. We should find this out, and begin the demonstration thereof.” Follow the example of Enoch, walk in the Spirit, and demonstrate eternal Life.
Section 3: Honesty, goodness, humility, and love (obeying the Ten Commandments and Beatitudes) make life large. Lying, stealing, pride, and hatred (breaking the Ten Commandments and Beatitudes) make life puny (B9). (Note in Isa. 35 (B11) that “the ransomed of the Lord … come to Zion with songs” and remember and sing the songs of Moses and of the Lamb” from Section 1, B4) It’s really a question of what brings real, lasting satisfaction. If you have to tell a lie to get what you want, you’ll not only get what you want, but you will also have to live with the fear that your lie will be found out. When it is found out, and it always is, then you not only lose the fun of the thing you lied for, you will have lost something even more valuable – the trust of those who discovered the lie (S13). It’s the same with stealing. What kind of a life is it when you always have to look back over your shoulder worrying about who might be watching. The law of life makes the thief poor, always wanting something, but never free to be truly satisfied with what he has (S13). A proud person that refuses to be corrected will always be making the same mistakes. A person can’t learn a thing, if they won’t accept that they’ve made a mistake and then learn how to correct it (B9& 10). And what about hatred – is anyone happy when they hate someone or something? No! There’s nothing pleasing about hatred (B9). Don’t let your life get tangled up and puny in the shrink-wrap of evil, live the large life of goodness. It may require more patience to achieve success through honesty, but if you seek success this way you will really be successful. To earn what you have rather than steal it, may take more time but if you earn it, you will be totally free to enjoy it. Never be afraid or embarrassed when God corrects you, imagine the progress you’ll make when you learn the lesson He’s teaching. And what about love, Hymn 30 says it all, “For Love alone is Life.” Have a large life, build it on honesty, goodness, humility and love!
Section 4: The healer’s “to do” list. Jesus was not only a healer, he also taught us how to heal. The healing of the man with palsy demonstrates an important point. Sin, as well as sickness, must be healed. When Jesus healed the palsy he showed that Christian healers have divine authority to “forgive sins,” to remove the false belief that there can be enjoyment in sinful thoughts or actions. By this means both the sin, and whatever form it has taken in a person’s life, are removed. So here’s our first item on the healer’s “to do” list:
– Uncover and cast out sinful thoughts.
Citations S18, 19 and 20 are also full of “to do” list items. Here are some of the list items I found in citation S18:
– “Never deny the everlasting harmony of Soul.”
– Seek a “right understanding” of God.
– “Dismiss” any claim of sin or sickness “with an abiding conviction that it is illegitimate.
– Remember “you have divine authority for denying (sin and sickness) and healing the sick.”
I also found 3 more list items in S18, two in S19, and two in S20. Can you find them? Make a healer’s “to do” list for yourself, then put it into action, and enjoy the blessings.
Section 5: The way of Life (B16). Jesus taught the way of Life. His demonstration of Life eternal started a revolution in thought. This revolution continues to leaven human consciousness with regard to the true nature of Life. Jesus didn’t agree with death. He fought the mental battle against the belief of death and he won. Death is the foe; the idea of death must be fought against (S24). We, too, can follow the way of Life, fight the good fight, and win. Jesus’ resurrection proved; that Life is God (S22); that Life is unlimited (S22), and like a circle, it has no starting point and no end (S21). We can prevail over the idea of finite existence the same way Jesus did – by mentally and courageously fighting against this false idea. You can demonstrate the facts of eternal Life today. To get started, challenge all suggestions that you are limited. Anytime you hear yourself say “I can’t” – think again – “I can” is the truth because you reflect the infinite. Do you think you are too young or too old to do something new? You’re not. You reflect eternal Life which has no beginning and no end. By knowing and expressing the truth that our lives are not limited by apparent material boundaries we can defeat the lie of death and live fuller lives. Life is eternal and you can prove it, get started today!
Section 6: 1 Mind + 1 God and Father = the unity of man (S29). Let’s celebrate the brotherhood of man! (Warren notes that such a celebration was the goal of Cobbey Crisler’s parents whenever he and his brother showed disunity. They would have to recite the whole of Psalms chapter 133 in our lesson as citation B17. By the time they finished everything about Aaron’s beard they were laughing so hard that they forgot why they were squabbling.) When everyone respects and cooperates with each other, life is rich and full. This life is as rich as Aaron, the high priest, who was anointed from head to toe with special oil and as full of life as Zion enriched with the dew that comes down from Mount Hermon (Dummelow) (B17). When we live at peace with our fellow man, life is good. But what happens when no one respects or cooperates with the others? It’s a mess; nothing gets done, no one can enjoy what they’re doing and all the good activities that were planned are spoiled. At a time like this, it can seem as if each person has their own separate mind telling each of them to pull in a direction opposite to all the others. Don’t give up hope, though. If we use the equation Paul and Mary Baker Eddy give us – 1 Mind + 1 God and Father – we will solve the problem. Paul says, “God …made the world and all things therein,” “and hath made of one blood all nations of men (B18).” The one Mind is the only creator, the only Father. All that God creates has to move together in harmony because God is good. Mary Baker Eddy explains our oneness with God through the image of a drop of water in the ocean. This drop “is one with the ocean (S26).” It moves in harmony with the whole ocean that is made up of countless other drops. Each of us is one with God so we are also one with each other. The image of “a ray of light one with the sun” shows how each of us shine out from the same source (S26). We all come from the same source and reflect the one Mind. Apply this equation of Truth today and enjoy a rich, full, day!
Camp Director’s Note: The above sharing is the latest in a series of CedarS Bible Lesson “mets” (metaphysical application ideas) contributed weekly by a rotation of CedarS Resident Practitioners and occasionally by other metaphysicians. This document is intended to initiate further study as well as to encourage the application of ideas found in the Weekly Bible Lessons as printed in the Christian Science Quarterly and as available at Christian Science Reading Rooms.* Originally sent JUST 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 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, background and daily applicability to some of the ideas and passages being studied. The citations referenced (i.e. B1 and S28) from this week’s Bible Lesson in the “met” (metaphysical application ideas) are taken from the King James Version of the Bible (B1-24) and the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health With Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy. (S1-30) 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 these ideas helpful in your daily spiritual journey, in your deeper digging in the books and in closer bonding with your Comforter and Pastor. Spirituality is your innate estate that connects you moment by moment with God. (See S&H 258:30) Christ is the gift of light that Jesus gave. This Christ light of spiritual understanding comes with and reveals infinite blessings. So, have fun unwrapping and cherishing your very special, spiritual gift(s)! Then, wherever you are, share them with all as big blessings that make the Infinite difference!
Enjoy!
Warren Huff, Camp Director director@cedarscamps.org (636) 394-6162
————————————————————————–
The weekly Metaphysical Newsletter is provided at no charge to the 1,200 campers and staff blessed each summer at CedarS, as well as to CedarS alumni, families and friends who have requested it. However, current and planned gifts are a big help and are greatly appreciated in defraying the costs of running this service and of providing needed camperships, programs and operations support. Click http://www.cedarscamps.org/giving for more about how you can provide support online or to get information or discuss privately how to make a special gift to help perpetuate CedarS work.
You can also MAIL your tax-deductible support to:
The CedarS Camps, Inc. THANKS TO YOU PRECIOUS DONORS
19772 Sugar Drive FOR YOUR ONGOING SUPPORT
Lebanon, MO 65536 OF CedarS IMPORTANT WORK!
LETTING SPECIAL NEEDS BE KNOWN –We are seeking funds to help cover:
1 Four recently-scheduled Christian Science lectures at CedarS (for different 2007 sessions). These 30-minute talks are being offered by the Manual-based authority of the Christian Science Board of Directors with a topic of: “HEALING: the ultimate adventure!” Campers and staff are LOVING these!
2. The CSO (formerly “College Org”) Summit over Labor Day 2007 (Aug. 31-Sep. 3) at CedarS for all college and university students, professors and incoming high school seniors. Please help spread the word about this hopefully annual event sponsored by TMC Youth (The Mother Church Youth committee) with talks by Christian Science lecturers, speakers and writers for the Christian Science Monitor, Journal and Sentinel. You can find details on the inside covers of recent periodicals and register at tmcyouth.com.
To print a formatted and printer-friendly version of this week’s Met just go to: http://www.cedarscamps.org/metaphysical/met.asp or your e-mail address can be added per your request by our staff at CedarS. For additional support, or if you have any concerns, please send e-mail to: director@cedarscamps.org.
A new, visually-oriented and very helpful resource for study of the weekly Bible Lesson is being produced by The Christian Science Publishing Society and can be found at: myBibleLesson.com. What a great auxiliary to lesson study — maybe even reading beyond citation markers using the handsome new student books now sold in Reading Rooms! MyBibleLesson contains word definitions, Bible background, timelines and translations, plus many healing ideas to use. Why not check out this effort to help bring to life each beloved Bible lesson in order to bless the youthful thinker and Sunday School student (and teacher) in us all! (Check out the picture again on the front cover of this week’s MyBibleLesson that was taken at the 2006 CSO Summit at CedarS.)
You can receive or stop your free subscription to this weekly newsletter in your email box by Sunday or Monday of each week by subscribing – or unsubscribing –at www.cedarscamps.org/myCedars.
