How important is it to understand Soul and Body? Well, it has a lot to do with understanding who you are, so that is pretty important indeed. Mary Baker Eddy knew the ongoing religious debates about Soul were often based on a mistaken view of what Soul really is. And she likens this mistake to a famous mistake in human history. She refers to this mistake in her book Science and Health and it is in the this weeks lesson, Section 1, S-2

In a quick Google search of definitions for the word probation, I found the first one offered very interesting. * a trial period during which your character and abilities are tested to see whether you are suitable for work or for membership

If you read last weeks Bible Lesson you read in Section 2 of how Jesus faced several temptations, it was from Matthew 4:111. Just before this temptation period Jesus had received the revelation that he was indeed Gods son.
In the Hebrew-written Torah (what we know as the Old Testament) there are the stories of men and women who like Jesus had a clear revelation of their relation to God. And then shortly thereafter they were tested. Their character and abilities were put to the test [–and in the spot light. One could paraphrase the Golden Text as: “Face the Light to stop seeing the shadow!”]

A Fathers welcomed invitation, Do you want to go up on my shoulders
Lots of my inspirational perspective at the moment seems to be shaped from the perspective of little ones eyes. (Could be because of who I spend most of my time with). Anyway can you remember the times when you wanted to see the parade passing by and all you could see were knees and bottoms? Then comes a welcome invitation, Would you like to go up on Papas shoulders? Wow, in one instant the world offers you a whole new vision. You can see the parade going by and not just bottoms. A vast improvement. This weeks Bible Lesson offers us a similar improvement of our view of reality.

“Greater work”? It is not like we are in a contest with Christ Jesus to somehow be better than he was, or to do more than he did. Remember Mrs. Eddy writes, (S-4), in a paragraph about the Sonship of Jesus, “He was inseparable from Christ, the Messiah…”

Our Savior, you might say, is like my grade school teacher, Mrs. Urquhart. They both loved what they did. They both demand a lot of us. They both expect us to learn a lot, and………they both expect us to use what we have learned.

And that is why I think this Golden Text is just perfect for you and me. Our beloved Savior wants us to be our best because he knows we can do it. So, let’s find out how in this week’s Bible Lesson.

Okay Campers, buckle up. Have you ever thought of CedarS as a flight school? You could think of your adventures at CedarS as teaching you to fly above the clouds of error. And when you fly above the clouds of error, you get closer to the Truth. At CedarS we learn to demonstrate the Truth everyday and in every activity. And that is one of themes I found so powerful in this weeks Bible Lesson, you learn to know the Word of God, the Truth, through demonstration. As Mary Baker Eddy says, If Christ, Truth, has come to us in demonstration, no other commemoration is requisite, for demonstration is Immanuel, or God with us; and if a friend be with us, why need we memorials of that friend? S&H page 33

Every summer and special camp session an eager group of campers (prospective flight students) arrives at CedarS. They have a wonderfully-equipped flight school, skilled and well-prepared instructors and ground crew–(Thanks Bill and Amy). All the various activities and adventures are like training stations for developing skills and talents that will allow the hopes and dreams of CedarS campers to take wing. You rise on spiritual wings to the summit of a joyful, adventurous and inspiring life of demonstrating Truth.
As you dig in to this weeks Bible Lesson on Truth, think of yourself as one of those adventurous campers at CedarS, ready to take wing and demonstrate what you have learned.

Isnt it great to study a Bible Lesson on the subject of Christian Science at Christmas time? What a great decision Mrs. Eddy made. For me it makes Christmas presents time into more Christmas presence time. And it is a great time to cherish one of Gods greatest gifts to humanity, the practical, life-giving Science of Christ. It is wonderful to remember that God promised us Immanuel and in a very little package, He delivered a giant present. Then when that present grew up he promised a Comforter, the Spirit of truth, that would lead into all truth, and He delivered again.

The 26 weekly subjects that Mary Baker Eddy selected for study in the Christian Science Bible Lesson were what she viewed as key topics to understand in gaining a practical knowledge of Christian Science. This week’s lesson on “Soul and Body” is certainly no exception. There are so many theories, teachings, and beliefs swirling around in human thought about soul and body, it is sure refreshing to see what “light” Christian Science or the “Science of Soul” (S&H page 467, Citation S-2) has to say on the topic.

A theme running through this week’s lesson is the Sun as a symbol of Soul shining in the universe. And it is interesting to look at the history of how the sun was viewed years ago. For many years there was the theory that the earth was the center of the universe, this is known as the “Geocentric theory”. A big promoter of this view was Ptolemy. (You will read a reference to that in Science and Health in the lesson, S-4.) A Polish astronomer, Copernicus advanced another view, the “Heliocentric,” or Sun centered view. This view was embraced by others including the Italian, Galileo.

Galileo has been called the “father of modern observational astronomy, the father of modern physics, the father of science, and the Father of Modern Science. Stephen Hawking says, “Galileo, perhaps more than any other person, was responsible for the birth of modern science.” (You would find a Google search or look at Wikipedia interesting regarding Copernicus and Galileo.) What did Galileo get for supporting this “new” theory? The Catholic Church (the church of the day), put him on trial (the Inquisition) and eventually sentenced him to “house arrest.” So being someone who supports new views of the universe is not always the safest thing to do, even when the “new views” are closer to the truth.

It has often been the same with revelations in what Mrs. Eddy called the, “Science of Soul.” (See S-2) Among Mrs. Eddy’s “new” views were revelations regarding “Soul” as a synonym for God. She shows man as a reflection of Soul rather than possessing an “indwelling soul”. She was not sentenced to house arrest, but she and her followers have often faced an inquisition of their own. Does that mean that her theories were incorrect? Well, just because you are persecuted does not mean you are wrong. And sometimes you do find “voices in the wilderness” that are ready to support or respect your “new views.”

The following is a quote from a letter from the Mary Baker Eddy Library, “We are aware that Einstein attended at least one Wednesday noon meeting at Fifth Church of Christ, Scientist, in New York City in the early 1950s. On this occasion he said to a member after the service (not to the congregation), “Do you realize what a wonderful thing you have?” The member he spoke to and who reported the remark to us was the late George Nay, former associate editor of the Christian Science periodicals. The two spoke in German.”

In this week’s Lesson we see clear examples of how God leads us to a present understanding of eternal life. We, like obedient sheep, learn to walk in the safe path that our Shepherd marks out for us. We are fed, watered, protected, and folded in the loving care of a Shepherd that is Life itself. We learn to demonstrate that God is Life, here, now, and eternally and like a Shepherd, God guides us in our path of Life eternal.

The Christian Science Bible Lesson active in consciousness is the glue that holds things together. Our Movement, our churches, our families, our friends, our world, and even our bodies are embraced by the powerful spiritual truths contained in the citations from the Bible and Science and Health. Each Bible Lesson is unique, individual, and stands on its own for right now and for eternity.

But isn’t it nice when we see a favorite Bible Lesson subject come up and are reminded of wonderful healings, insights, or instructions from past lessons? That is exactly what always happens to me with the subject, Reality. I vividly remember my Sunday School teacher, Iris Link, beginning our class with a question. “What is the real thing?” The class all laughed right away, because the then current advertising campaign for Coca-cola proudly indentified Coke as the “real thing.”

Ever since that insightful Sunday School discussion, it has been easy for me to understand and remember, that the “real thing,” is not some soft drink, some popular product, some trendy health care system, or anything material. The one and only “Real Thing,” is God, Spirit and Spirit’s creation.

So let’s get started in discovering what unique and individual aspect of “The Real Thing,” is unfolded in this week’s Bible Lesson on “Reality.”

Every Sunday the Christian Science Bible Lesson is read as the sermon in Christian Science churches around the world. It also forms the basis for instruction in the older Sunday School classes. But remember that the whole week leading up to Sunday you can study and live the ideas in the Bible lesson at camp and at home. And Mary Baker Eddy says that it is this study “on which the prosperity of Christian Science largely depends.”
As the ideas of the Bible Lesson are studied, applied, and lived, the effect is a living, practical Christianity that stirs human thought to a change of base. And that “change of base,” is what this particular Bible lesson helps us understand. The change of base that is the change from believing in a personal mind, contained in a material body to that of the reflection of infinite Mind, the one true Mind, God.

The importance of this week’s subject, Mind, might be illustrated by the following quote from one of the great thinkers of this age. The physicist, Albert Einstein, is reported in a well-known story to have said of his physics career, that everything he had done, he had done in an effort to “know the mind of God.”

A friend of my Christian Science teacher once spoke briefly with Dr. Einstein. This friend was at a Wednesday noon testimony meeting in New York City. He noticed Dr. Einstein on his way out of the meeting and greeted him with a “nice to have you here today.” Dr. Einstein spoke back almost as if thinking out loud, “I wonder if these people really know what they have?”