Look for and Find Priceless Reality GEMS Everywhere!

Look for and Find Priceless REALITY GEMs everywhere!
insights from Cobbey Crisler, Ken Cooper & others from the Christian Science Quarterly Bible Lesson on

“REALITY”
for Sunday, March 28, 2021

shared by Warren Huff
CedarS Executive Director Emeritus warren@cedarscamps.org

APPRECIATE GEMs FOUND EVERYWHERE! Even if circumstances seem to have us thrown down to the depths of hell, "Whither Shall I Go from Thy Spirit" from Psalm 139 in the Responsive Reading comforts us with assurance of the uplifting ever-presence of Spirit. We can sing together of this in Hymn 599, "Whither Shall I Go from Thy Spirit", in the 2017 Christian Science Hymnal.

This psalm is a favorite song at several camps and is especially lovely when sung with the descant. You can hear another version of it (and buy a 50th Anniversary trilogy of CedarS CDs all for $25 to go totally to camperships) at http://blog.cedarscamps.org/2011/07/16/order-around-the-clock-a-collection-of-3-cds-with-camp-songs-you-love-created-just-for-cedars/

“WORK TOGETHER for GOOD” GEM in Romans 8:28, in the Responsive Reading & cit. B18
Prove for yourself what Mary Baker Eddy calls “the dictum of Scripture… (that) All things work together for good to them that love God” (Science & Health 444:4). Here she’s quoting Paul in Romans 8:28 (Responsive Reading) which provides us with the true “prayer… fervently offered (that) includes no opposing element” (Miscellany 293:21). The news lately is full of arguments for the existence of all kinds of evil and opposing elements these days. Most of them are based on the VIRUS of unwise atheism and its family members (according to Wikipedia) of “the supremacy of human reason… secular humanism… religious criticism…free-thought skepticism…” They all doubt Paul’s assertion that that “God is always at work for the good of everyone who loves him. They are the ones God has chosen for his purpose.” (Romans 8:28, CEB) It’s been said, “There are no atheists in foxholes.” or in Intensive Care or on Ventilators…]

Leading up to a Cobbey Crisler comment on Romans 8:28 below are helpful Bible insights on VIRUSES from Psalm 14:1-3 & II Corinthians 10:5 :
“In Chapter 14, Verse 1, “The fool”— that’s the kind of point of view it is, completely unwise—“The fool that said in his heart, [There is] no God,” has a foolish point of view that exposes you to the infection of that idea. It communicates a contaminating influence if it cuts one off from the very source of life and health. Because treatment is available.

In Verse 2 “The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, [and] seek God.” Notice what arena we’re dealing with here. God was not checking our pulses [or our temperatures], but our thoughts. How do we know what effect thoughts actually have ultimately on the pulse, for example? “To see if there were any that could understand and [seek] God” because that’s the bottom line.

Instead, in Verse 3 “They are all gone aside, and become filthy.” Something that is unsanitary doesn’t belong; it’s not part of the health code of the Bible any more than it’s in the health code of material medica. Because what is unsanitary [W: is part of the unreality family and] is liable to cause or promote a disease.

It’s also interesting to note that the word “virus” which is being used so generally today as the cause of much of man’s physical complaints and effects [W:—as well as the cause of issues from implanted computer viruses or hacks].

The virus, according to Webster, is able to break down the defensive mechanism of the host. And, by the way, it comes from a Latin word that means poison or slimy liquid, virus. The word “filthy,” in part of its Hebrew meaning, is morally corrupt. So, we know we’re dealing really at both levels here, moral and physical. If out of that filthy condition, that polluted state of human consciousness, we’re coming to the conclusion “[there is] none that doeth good, no, not one,” has the defensive mechanism broken down? Have we become the host of ideas that are contaminating to our pure relationship to God? Or, are we ingesting only those pure Words? It’s a question of thought. It’s the faculty of knowing that which God is addressing here.

Consider what Jesus lists in Mark 7, Verse 20, where he lists the toxic causes of man’s problems. He says, “That which comes out of the man, that defies the man.” Now we’re going the opposite route from those pure Words from God.

[Mark 7, Verse 21] “From within,” and, by the way, that is almost the literal translation of the Latin word intestin from which our word “intestine” comes. “Out of the heart of men, proceed,” and look at the list; it’s certainly not intestinal fortitude, “evil thoughts, adulteries, fornication, porneia, root of our word pornography, murders.” [Verse 22]. “Thefts,” do we need to go into the headlines as current as this morning? “covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness.” [W: fool, as in Psalm 14.1] And Jesus says in Mark 7, Verse 23, “All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.” That’s where disease is also felt; the “within.”

[W: Instead of affirming that in God (and in reality) we have everything that we need,] We [often tend to] yearn for so much within, don’t we? How imperfectly that’s often expressed. Our longing often, perhaps most of the time, is expressed in terms that we would conquer the world outwardly in some way. Be appreciated. Be applauded. Be loved. [W: Have lots of social media “likes” or followers…] Be served. Be patted on the head. Be comforted. Have obeisance shown to us. That we have the homage of the world outwardly. We want to conquer the world in some way. That’s trying to impose domination. That kind of longing is imperfectly expressed.

A more perfect sense of longing, the desire that Jesus calls prayer, would be to conquer all the influences of that same world inwardly. [W: “to bring EVERY thought”—NOT EVERY OTHER THOUGHT— “to the obedience of Christ.” (2 Corinthians 10:5)] Then, you’re a king. In that sense Jesus was always a king. There’s nothing wrong with that messianic attribution to him of “king.” He ruled and nothing overruled him. But, look at all these things that [would attempt to] take over our “within” where the kingdom of God is supposed to be. And instead, we find anarchy most of the time.

What is disease? If the kingdom-of-God-within is the healed, whole state, then anarchy-within must also tell us what disease is. It’s an outright rebellion. It’s a “Declaration of Independence” by one organ over the rest of the bodily systems. The Bible endorses only one system [Romans 8.28] “All things work together for good to them that love God.” There is the prerequisite. We always have to have this prescription filled. We’ve got to love God. Then, “all things work together for good.” That’s the ideal situation for any system, bodily or solar, all things working together for good. That’s the definition of perfect health as well.”
“Leaves of the Tree: Prescriptions from Psalms,” by B. Cobbey Crisler**

EXPECT A GOD-ORDAINED and “EXPECTED END”:
Sift plus & minus thoughts for “an expected end” of 100% precious reality, 0% vile unreality!
Cobbey Crisler on Jeremiah 15:18 thru 31.3 (before & after Jer. 29:11/citation B2):

Bonus Prelude/Postlude: “Verse 18 in Chapter 15, “Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable?” Look at the prescription in Verse 19 “If you return, then will I bring thee again, [and] you will stand before me.” Look at this for a mental sifting of plus and minus. “If thou take forth the precious from the vile, thou shalt be as my mouth.” How much do you and I reflect or image forth God’s mouth or words? Remember what James [3.10] says, “Out of the same mouth proceedeth both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.” That’s what James wrote in his epistle. Notice the control of thought and therefore, our communication here. If we take forth the precious from the vile, we will be more like God now. If we want the word to become flesh, we must conform to what that word is. It’s indivisible. It does not have part precious and part vile in it, nor should man.

17th Chapter of Jeremiah, Verse 14, “Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed.” There’s Jeremiah’s prayer. “Save me and I shall be saved.” The Anchor Bible points out that the word “salvation” as used in the Old Testament is often used in terms of a not-guilty verdict in court. Salvation is often used in the Old Testament in terms that we would understand today as a not-guilty verdict in court.

The salvation of man would eventually include a verdict of not-guilty, or innocent. This is, of course, the entire theme of Job, his guilt or innocence.

Here is God being quoted, in Verse 12 Chapter 30 [of Jeremiah]. “Thus saith the LORD, thy bruise is incurable, and thy wound is grievous. [Verse 13] “There is none to plead thy cause [of innocence], that thou mayest be bound up: thou hast no healing medicines.”

In Verse 15, “Why do you cry for your affliction? Your sorrow is incurable.” Why? [Voice: “The multitude of your iniquity.”] That’s all. Just because of “the multitude of your iniquity.” There is the Bible definition of an incurable disease. It’s just up to us whether it’s incurable or not. Our outlook, our comprehension, and what we are going to do about the iniquity aspect of it. Moses was shown that man has just as much dominion over the serpent, symbolizing iniquity, as over the leprosy on his hand [symbolizing disease].

Verse 17 is God’s view of whether there is any incurability or not. “I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds.”

Religion has got to be practical, especially in our century. There’s no room for anything that’s not practical anymore. There are too many problems requiring solutions. Humanity in its history has run [from problems] long enough. Like Jacob ran for twenty years until he began to wrestle [Genesis 32. 24, 25]. Collectively mankind is wrestling now. As John Bunyan said about religion. “The soul of religion is the practical part.”

In Chapter 31, which is Jeremiah’s greatest chapter, he predicts the new covenant will come. He defines it. In Verse 3 he shows that the new covenant is definitely based on the comprehension of God as love. It’s that very “lovingkindness” that will draw all mankind to God for the solution of the world problems.”
“Heal the Sick”: A Scriptural Record, by B. Cobbey Crisler**

EXPERIENCE NO SIDE EFFECTS or AFTER EFFECTS from God’s HEALING & PREVENTATIVE CARE:
[Cobbey:] “Psalm Chapter 33, Verse 9 (in midst of cit. B11), we've already alluded to. The swiftness of God's treatment. It’s not a process, according to the Bible. It’s not recuperation. It’s not convalescence, or gradual recovery. "He spake, and it was [done]." In case we have had room in our thinking for a possibility of relapse, it is stated, "He commanded, and it stood fast.” No side effects, no after effects.

In Psalm 33, Verse 11/cit. B3, "The advice or counsel of the LORD stands” for how long? "For ever." What good is that, if we aren't there forever to receive such advice? "The thoughts of his heart to all generations." What good are God's thoughts unless those are the potions we are supposed to be taking, imbibing, ingesting. God's thoughts, His potions. Take them, eat them up, drink them in. That makes the Bible a pharmacopoeia which is a word the dictionary says describes "preparations issued by official authority and recognized as a standard." [Voice from audience] Pharmacopoeia, which is a word that in its ordinary meaning without uplifting it to what the Bible would require of the term anew would just simply be an authority to which one would turn to know where the remedies all are.

Psalm 34:19. We have the therapeutic and the prophylactic. We have the healing and the preventive art. "Many of the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all. " That's the therapeutic power of God. But it goes even a step further in Verse 20, "He keepeth all his bones. " That means "He guards or protects all his bones not one of them is broken. " [It] is the prophylactic, the preventive, power of God’s therapy.
“Leaves of the Tree: Prescriptions from Psalms,” by B. Cobbey Crisler**

ACCEPT PROPHESY FULFILLED NOW and "incurability" healed instantly by changing your concept and believing! Cobbey Crisler on Mark 1:14-27 (cit. B5) 4 foundational points for Jesus:

Mark 1, Verse 14. We have "John put in prison." He has already disappeared from the scene.

And, ‘‘Jesus comes into Galilee, and his work begins."
Verse 15. There are four foundational aspects to the gospel we need to study. Normally, an architect might refer to just one cornerstone in a building. But let's remember that all four of the corners have cornerstones. To that degree, let's ask ourselves if this is not a clue to understanding Mark. We have a foursquare gospel, and at each corner we have a particular point. If this is true, you should be able to compile the information that follows in the gospel under one of the following four headings.
(1) The announcement that, "the time is fulfilled." What does this mean? Prophecy. The time for the fulfillment of prophesy has arrived. So, everything is just brimming in the gospel of Mark with this great news. All of the expectation is over for the Messianic prophecy: We have a fulfillment now. ‘What could be more exciting than to be living in an era of fulfilled prophecy? Nothing, apparently, because this is what impels the gospel writers to pick up their pens….
Study Mark as if it were a textbook, filled with data that Jesus needed us to know in order to follow him. It is a handbook, so to speak, a textbook where we can find data that can be applied. Those four foundational points, under "the time is fulfilled," you will see over and over again, explicit or implicit, in the text.

(2) The second one, “the kingdom of God is at no distance.” It is right here. Even that idea is radical to Christendom today often because the kingdom of God, or often heaven, is considered to be so far away from any of us now. It is out of reach, and we’re not really behaving ourselves sufficiently to get there. It takes Palomar’s 200 inch reflecting telescope to even get a glimpse of it. But we find the founder of Christianity saying, ''Not so." His theology is based on the fact that "the kingdom of God is at hand."

Do we act like it is? We moan and we groan most of the time. We wouldn't if our state of mind was the “kingdom-of-God-is-at-hand" and the “prophecies-are-fulfilled." But those are only two of the cornerstones.

(3) The third one is “Repent!" That means to change your concept. Now, we’re going very deeply to the roots of what is required of us to get anywhere spiritually. The problem is mental or he never would have stated it in this way.

It would be cruelly misleading if he laid down as one of the four important aspects of his theology the fact that we had to change our concepts of things. The implication is that every human ill, physical, moral, mental, all can be changed mentally. Otherwise, repenting wouldn’t make any. Changing one's concept wouldn't make any difference.

This might be where maybe we temporarily get off the train leading to Jesus' theology. We may say to ourselves, if our bodies are riddled with cancer, of what avail would it be to change our concept? How would that affect the body? The implication is that this is the panacea. Repent ye. Change your concept about things.

Do you realize what kind of a religion that suggests? It's very revolutionary in this respect: nothing is incurable from the point of view of Jesus' theology. If you can change your concept, then everything is curable. That's some good news of victory that has yet to hit the human race with any impact like Mark, the hammer.

(4) The fourth and final cornerstone is to "believe the gospel," That "believe" is not just to hold an opinion that waves in the breeze. This is a conviction and a trust in the pronouncements of the gospel of the kingdom of God, and that "kingdom of God is at hand."

With that structure of the gospel in mind, we can do this kind of work together. As a matter of fact, the reward comes from doing this work individually and meeting each other that way. It affects the world's climate by doing this kind of deep research. In your own individual study, try those four columns.

The time is fulfilled,

The kingdom of God is at hand,

Repent ye,

Believe the gospel,

and see how you can outline the whole gospel in that way.

We may just discover that Peter becomes one of the most polished orators of all time. Yet he is regarded as a rather simplistic fisherman who probably stumbled in Greek and was more at home in his Aramaic.”
Let's look at the gospel from above. Let's see the divine structure here that is motivating what we are being told. Aside from simply gathering the first disciples and paying tribute to John the Baptist's fulfillment of his mission, a greater sense of baptism, the fact that Jesus is defining things in Mark for us. He's defining things like church, and baptism, and man, and repentance, and relationship. All of these things are major definitions. But we have to move from the day-to-day approach into the narrative and see this happening in an over-all tenor behind the text.

Verse 21, “Straightway on the sabbath day."

The Sabbath day is an important thing, because what we’re supposed to do on the Sabbath day had already been defined by a commandment (Exodus 20:8). We’re to keep it holy. Is he going to be consistent or inconsistent -with this commandment? We test his every move. “He enters into the synagogue," where worship is going on, "and he teaches.”

Mark 1, Verse 22. What he is teaching is so radical that his hearers acted as if they'll never heard this before. How wonderful! That means it's inspired. They didn't recognize in his method anything they were used to in the scribal method the Bible experts, the teachers of that period. In Jesus' remarks they heard more authority coming across than they had ever heard from the local ecclesiastics.

"Now we're going to really see part of Jesus' definition of church. He begins with this preaching that we have heard him do. But his preaching is never separate from his practice of what he's preaching.

(Verse 23-31 Jesus introduces healing as an appropriate if not mandatory church activity there in that synagogue when he heals a man with an unclean spirit.] “Is the church of that period prepared for healing? Is it ready to be regarded as a place to remedy health and other problems?
Verse 27. “Authority” is the point that's raised. It's almost as if religion, as defined by human kind, has come across to us with splendor, with robes, with grandeur, spectacle, but without authority. "The authority Jesus proves is illustrated by the results." This is what spreads Christianity. Not knocking on doors, not even one-to-one that we so reverence, but healing. There's a one-to-one. That news, the good news, the gospel of healing, spreads by itself. Who can hold it in? It's bigger than all of us. It's God's word applied, and capable of being applied.

BONUS “REST of the STORY”—Verse 28. So, we find that "his fame spread abroad all-around Galilee.”

Mark 1.32-41 Then "at even,” Verse 32. What that tells you is that it's now after sunset and other people can come and be healed. It was a Sabbath day we find out from another gospel. They all come and the Sabbath is over and he heals a great multitude. In fact, in Verse 34, "He [even] healed many who were sick of divers diseases." That's not the bends. That's simply "diverse diseases and casts out many devils;"
“What Mark Recorded,” by B. Cobbey Crisler**

TREASURE PUTTING ALL ASIDE FOR THE PRIORITY OF HEALING! Cobbey Crisler on Jesus healing Peter’s mother-in-law of the flu from Matt 8:14-16 (cit. B9) & as in Luke 4:14-40.
"(Verse 14. We come to the third healing [in Matthew's series of 10 of Jesus' proofs after the Sermon on the Mount of his Messiahship by his works, the healing of Peter's mother-in-law. To have a mother-in-law, Peter had to be married. Peter had a wife. It's on the Sabbath day, too. But does Jesus consider women that important? Would he break the Sabbath for a woman? One may think that he might for a man. But would he do it for a woman? He does.

Whatever business he had in Peter's house, he puts all aside and gives priority to the mother-in-law's needs. Despite the fact that it was the Sabbath. (Verse 15). He heals her of fever. [W: So much, for the supposed length and severity of the flu—as well as for its being communicable… "and she arose and ministered unto them."]
(Verse 16). "Many come, when the even was come to be healed." Why the evening? Because then the Sabbath is over and they could all come without any fear of recriminations from the Jews.”
“Book of Matthew, Auditing the Master: A Tax Collector’s Report”, by B. Cobbey Crisler**

LISTEN TO or read a classic GEM of article that was inspired by the sentence in Science and Health on page 230 (line 3, between lines 1-2 and 4 in citation S8.) Milton Simon wrote it in the February 1949 Christian Science Journal with the title of "WITH DRUGS, OR WITHOUT." It clearly shows the importance of waking to see disease as only an illusion to cast it out. (It’s also featured on Disk 9 of Anthology of Classic Articles II.
Click to HEAR it at: https://journal.christianscience.com/audioplayer/shareview/7zh9chpc2o

JSH-Online is the official website of The Christian Science Journal, Sentinel, and Herald.

TREASURE the GEM of Paul confidently putting down lies and reaching influential leaders. Cobbey Crisler on Acts 13.1-12 (B11) where Paul calls out a liar & reaches powerful people.
[Cobbey:] “We have certain members of the “church at Antioch” listed. Do you see that it says “Simeon that was called Niger” there? That, in Chapter 13 of Acts, actually some commentators translate that as Simon the black man. So it may very well indicate the mixture of races in this most liberal of the branch churches of Christianity. Antioch, where a lot is happening, a lot of action, the name Christians up there, you have a lot of Greeks, you have a mixture and many steps forward in breaking down the conservatism of Judaism. (See below)

“Acts 13:1 Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.

“These missions in the field begin from Antioch rather than from Jerusalem. “The Holy Ghost is associated with every prompting and motivation here in the beginning.” (Acts 13:2 paraphrased)

“Here is Antioch, and we are leaving the coastal point of Seleucia and heading west now across the Mediterranean, and we’re arriving at Cyprus.” (Acts 12:4 paraphrased) …

“Now, what do we know about Barnabas? He came from Cyprus. So, it seems like a logical stopping place. Barnabas obviously would know people there. It was his native country. And so we are starting comfortable in a way, with some degree of familiarity in the spreading of the gospel on this journey.

“And when they get to Salamis in Cyprus, they are preaching, and a sorcerer is introduced here who has a great influence on the proconsul who is named Sergius Paulus. {Summary of Acts 13:5-7) …

“We do know archeologically that Sergius Paulus was proconsul of Cyprus because an inscription dated A.D. 55 has been found at Paphos (on Cyprus) with the words “in the time of the Proconsul, Paulus.” So we do have archeological evidence that this man, and his position, which is an underpinning of the historicity of this account.

“And the sorcerer has occurred to him what had occurred to Paul, the blindness. “And he falls into that mist and darkness and had to be lead by the hand.” (Acts 13:11 paraphrased) …

The deputy however, the proconsul, in, “believes in Christianity.” (Acts 13:12 paraphrased)

There’s no mention of baptism at all. So we have no idea whether he became the symbol of joining in membership in this way, or whether he became a friendly influence. But this is one thing we know: Paul is now reaching into palaces and governor’s courts, and reaching people with influential public positions. This has not happened before.”

“After the Master, What? The Book of Acts”, by B. Cobbey Crisler**
To buy your own copy or transcripts (and audio CDs) of most of Cobbey’s 28 talks at www.crislerlibrary.co.uk Email your order or inquiry to office@crislerlibrary.co.uk, or directly to Janet Crisler, at janetcrisler7@gmail.com ]

PAUL’S GEMS OF ACCIDENTS REVERSED & PERSECUTION OVERCOME! (Acts 20:7-12, cit. B19+)

Verse 6. They’re getting ready to sail. Paul separates from them. At Troas, “We abode seven days.” Paul, and maybe Luke, were there seven days.

Verse 9. You know how long-winded Paul could be. And I hope I’m not repeating his example here, and I don’t want to find any Eutychae here in the audience, because “Eutychus, fell into a deep sleep.” Anyone here feel like entering into that condition? I hope not because “Eutychus sank down and fell from the third loft.”

Verse 10. If that wasn’t enough of a problem, “Paul ran down and fell on him as well, but announces, Don’t trouble yourselves, his life is in him.” This looks like it may not have been as instant resuscitation or healing. It could have involved broken bones and everything.

Verse 11. Paul goes back, continues talking, breaks bread, and eats.

Verse 12. “At dawn they bring the young man alive, and were not a little comforted.” The man was alive and healed, no broken bones, apparently. There is, again, a major healing that we see.

[The rest of chapter 20 & Paul’s telling of persecution overcome in his farewell to the Ephesus church:]
Verse 13. The first person continues. “Traveling by ship…”

Verse 15. The we. “We come to Miletus.”

Verse 18. Talks to the Ephesian church representatives in his farewell speech.

Verse 19. “He tells with all humility of mind what he’s been doing, serving the Lord, with many tears, and temptations.”

Verse 24. One of the greatest things Paul ever said, “None of these things move me.” Lest you forget what these things are, note 2 Corinthians 11, Verse 23 and the following verses. When you add those things together right next to this comment. Listen, for instance, He said, “in labours more abundant, stripes, in prisons, [Verse 24] the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one, [Verse 25] thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, three times shipwrecked, a night and day in the deep, [Verse 26] journeyings, perils of waters, robbers, and so forth.[verse 27] weariness, watchings, fastings, cold, nakedness…” and so forth. After all that list just to spread the Word and see the church begin to embrace universal humanity. He went through that for us because we’re in the line of that same Christianity. Then he could turn to us and say that the same time that “none of these things move me.”

None of these things move him because none of these things could move the rock on which the church was based, and that’s where he was. “He neither counted his life dear, and he wanted to finish his course with joy.”

Verse 25. “He said they won’t see his face anymore.”

He predicts that after he leaves right within the church men will arise, speaking perverse things, to fragment the unity which church means.

Verse 31. “Therefore, watch…” he said. Watch, an important aspect to avoid, having church, or the unity destroyed, which is so important.

Verse 35. It’s a very touching scene indeed, the last four lines; you get one of the very few comments we have outside the gospels of a statement of Jesus. This is not in any of the gospels. It really is something unique. “The words of the Lord Jesus, It is more blessed to give than receive.” That’s something Paul got from some place, but it was not the gospels.

Verse 36. “After he’d spoken, he kneeled down, and prayed.”

Verse 37. “They wept…They fell on his neck…They kissed him.”

Verse 38. “And sorrowed mostly because they would see his face no more.” Look at the human relationship in that church. The love for one another. Ask ourselves if we have that same kind of affection today.”
“After the Master, What? The Book of Acts”, by B. Cobbey Crisler**

KEN’S GEMS: HEAR ON YOUTUBE TWO KEN COOPER MONOLOGUES— “A Parents Revelation” and “The Mother of Eutychus”— both related to this week’s Bible Lesson.

[Ken wrote:] “God’s “thoughts which are to us-ward” are infinite in number, for they express the infinitude and splendor of what God is. There is nowhere where God’s thoughts are not present, for there is nowhere where God is not present, and fully expressing Himself. Infinite Mind can only know Itself. It voices Itself as the Word, can only see and hear Itself. That is all there is, all that is going on. Man is the manifestation. Therefore, the infinite beauty and wonder of God is seen as His wonderful unlimited expression, man. Reality is the infinite presence and proof of God, His present perfection, and the present perfection of man. Reality is now and wonderfully complete! “..nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it." (see Ecclesiastes 3:14)

This is what Jesus saw, knew, and proved. It was his starting point, the principle which governed his actions. The understanding that God is the only Life, Love, Spirit, Truth were not mere words, but the living expression of the Word, unaffected by the illusion of matter. When Jesus reached out with love to Peter’s wife’s mother, she also felt in his touch the simultaneous wonder of man, spiritual and harmonious. This touch of love, described in the monologue “A Parents Revelation” led her to see everyone as wonderful, worthy of love. What a lesson, what a treatment.

This is mirrored in a detailed testimony recorded in the book "Twelve Years with Mary Baker Eddy" Irving Tomlinson [pages 60-62] of a mother whose daughter was instantly healed of a painful growth on her head, when she and her two children met with the Discoverer of Christian Science. The mother wrote "I wish I could make the world know what I saw when Mrs. Eddy looked at those children. It was a revelation to me. I saw for the first time the real Mother-Love….This Love was everywhere, like the light, but it was divine, not mere human affection." And it healed.

Reality is not confined to one spot, or one moment in time. It is the now of God’s ever-presence. When Paul was travelling he never left God behind, or was looking forward to reaching Him! Not only is God everywhere, but as man is God’s reflection, we are never left behind, forgotten, ignored. Our life is God’s very presence as man. In the monologue “The Mother of Eutychus”, a healing treatment in itself, Paul’s statement “His life is in him” is a universal and wonderful fact. Both Peter’s wife’s mother and the mother of Eutychus share with us the wonder and glory of Love. Reality is the beauty of Love, the now and wow of being, God’s every thought infinitely expressed. There is nothing else.

PDF versions of the monologues in color and B&W can be found on the top right of CedarS metaphysical article for this week.

CedarS Sunday Hymn Sings every Sunday! Don't miss CedarS TWO special Easter Sunday Hymn Sings by Andrew Brewis of the UK! You can sing along with Andrew and hundreds of friends worldwide the 8 hymns he wrote for the 2017 Christian Science Hymnal, as well as several favorite Easter hymns! Click here for fuller, special details.

Invite family, church and other friends and even neighbors to join us by Zoom every week at 7pm Central Time for CedarS Sunday Hymn Sings. (A precious prelude precedes each sing at 6:45pm CT.) We encourage singing along in Zoom’s gallery view to share the joy of seeing dear ones in virtual family-church reunions that bless all generations.

To protect privacy and copyrights, these “brief, but spectacular” sessions are NOT recorded. So, calibrate your time-zone clocks, mark your calendars, and remind friends, so that no one misses any of these inspiring, weekly reminders of our precious, spiritual oneness with each other and with our ever-loving, Father-Mother God who owns and embraces us all!

Lovingly singing prayers and praise to God for 30 minutes each Sunday is such a warm, “Welcome Home” tradition to bless the start of each week with joyous, peaceful GRACE. (Our 2021 theme.) We have loved singing-in this grace with longtime as well as first-time friends—not only from ALL 50 of the United States, but also from 21 other countries! So far, our “Hymn Sing family” has clicked or dialed-in from Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, England, Germany, Ghana, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Kenya, New Zealand, Pakistan, Paraguay, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Scotland, Spain, South Africa, Switzerland, as well as from each of the United States! In the universal language of divine Love, the “still, small voice”’ of scientific thought reaches over continent and ocean to the globe's remotest bound.” (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 559:8–10)

Double the blessings of a gift to CedarS & the dear ones we serve in meaningful ways. We send our special thanks in advance for clicking here to electronically share your tax-deductible support. It is especially needed during this reduced-income period to help "keep our oil lamps burning."

• Here's our camp office address to MAIL your gift to:
  The CedarS Camps Office, 410 Sovereign Court #8, Ballwin, MO 63011
• or call CedarS team at 636-394-6162 (Gay, Kim or Jennifer) to share a credit card gift.
• CedarS is a not-for-profit, 501-C-3 organization with a Federal ID # 44-0663883.