Tell the Truth

Archive for March, 2007

Count Your Blessings – Lyrics

Count your blessings
Name them one by one
Count your blessings
See what God has done
Count your blessings
Name them one by one
Count your many blessings
See what God has done

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The LORD is my shepherd;

God is guiding and governing me.

I shall not want.

I will have everything I need–strength, wisdom, opportunity, health.

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.

He calms me down. He gives me peace.

He restoreth my soul:

He restores my spiritual sense. He puts me back in touch with spiritual reality. He gets me out of the human, worrying mind.

he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

He leads me down the right path. There is always an opportunity to make things better in my life, and God leads me to it.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

Even when things appear to be at their worst

I will fear no evil:

God has not given me a spirit of fear but of power (I have all the strength and ability I need to get through any situation), and of love (Perfect Love casts out fear), and of a sound mind (I am not worried, unstable, or out of balance. I have God’s intelligence and wisdom. I will know what I need to do.)

for thou art with me;

God is always with me. There is nothing in life that is outside of God’s kingdom–nothing is outside of Spirit.

thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

From the center to the circumference of my life, God’s unchanging principle and eternal harmony pervades all.

Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies:

There is no situation that is an obstacle to God’s provision for me. Nothing can block God’s good, and God is always providing spiritual light and understanding to me.

Thou annointest my head with oil,

God is never ignoring me or unaware of me.

my cup runneth over.

God is always giving me more than I need. He is always pouring out His goodness.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life:

I can count on God’s goodness ever appearing in my life. I can always count on his mercy. He is always providing a way to make my experience better.

and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

I will never be apart from God. There is nowhere outside of Him. I have only the expectation of dwelling in His presence forever.

The hymn I posted yesterday, In Heavenly Love Abiding, has been much on my mind. Last night, I realized that it was comforting me about changing churches, and that this is a change I need not fear.

Wherever I go, I still live and move and have my being in God, not in a location or a set of human relationships. Wherever I go, Love is there and Love goes with me. I will meet wonderful people (and am already) and am always in God’s loving care.

I’ve lost all my fear and anxiety about the coming change. I have no fear about leaving the church I’ve been so close to, nor of moving into a new church environment. It will be more than alright. It will be wonderful.

In heavenly love abiding, no change my heart shall fear.
And safe in such confiding, for nothing changes here.
The storm may roar without me, my heart may low be laid,
But God is round about me, and can I be dismayed?

Wherever He may guide me, no want shall turn me back.
My Shepherd is beside me, and nothing can I lack.
His wisdom ever waking, His sight is never dim.
He knows the way He’s taking, and I will walk with Him.

Green pastures are before me, which yet I have not seen.
Bright skies will soon be over me, where darkest clouds have been.
My hope I cannot measure, my path to life is free.
My Savior has my treasure, and He will walk with me.

Words by Anna Waring, 1850

Woo! Woo! I’ve been accepted for Christian Science Primary Class!

I spent about 45 minutes being interviewed with a teacher Monday evening. This was necessary because I’m involved with another church (Unity) and am just becoming serious about CS. Taking CS class is not just spending two weeks in class, it is also about starting a life-long relationship between a student and teacher–there are yearly association meetings, and she will be available to me as a reference as I continue my practice.

Here are some of the things she asked about. What am I doing at Unity? How did I learn about CS? How serious am I about practicing Science? Have I read Science and Health? Am I acquainted with Prose Works? Am I open to practicing as a healer? What was my experience at the Plainfield Christian Science Church? How do I feel about the Directors?

I chose my teacher by looking through the lists of those in my area. As I did so, her name just jumped out at me and I knew that she was the one, and boy was I right! I found her insightful, light-hearted yet serious, probing in her questioning, appreciative of my commitment and desire, and altogether a delightful person–a perfect fit for me. She asked me to spend a few days praying about taking class and if I thought she was the right teacher for me. I told her I would, but that I knew I wanted to study with her and was committed to learning and practicing Christian Science. I knew I would pursue taking the class. To my delight, she accepted me as a student on the spot and is sending me the application form I need.

I am so excited! I’m preparing for class by rereading Science and Health between now and then, and listening to the tapes of the chapter, Recapitulation, since that what the class will focus on. I have no doubt that I am taking the next important step for my spiritual growth, and I am pumped up about it!

As you could tell from my previous post, I’ve had some conflict between my current involvement at Unity and my inevitable future in Christian Science. Interestingly enough, the class is being taught the last two weeks of July. The weekend between the two weeks is when the mandatory Chaplain’s training weekend is going on at Unity. So I was given an easy choice to make and have already notified our minister that I will not be serving as a Chaplain next year. That’s one roadblock out of my way forward. The minister is appreciative of my metaphysical studies and I am grateful for her support.

I know that it will take some time for me to tie up the loose ends at Unity, but I am confident that it will happen and that God is guiding and governing me.

Thank you, God!

OK. I admit it. I’m wrestling with an angel — Christian Science.

I am active at my local Unity church: I’m a chaplain, the President of the Board of Trustees, the leader of the web team. I perform special music, and am a worship assistant from time to time. In other words, I stay busy. Happily busy.
Here’s my dilemma. Unity just doesn’t do it for me spiritually. This morning I asked myself some questions, and looked at my answers…

• What does Unity have that is anywhere close to the depth or the power of the weekly Bible lesson? Nothing
• What classes does Unity have that I want to take? None
• What power am I sensing in the prayers at Unity? I’m not
• What demonstrations as I seeing at Unity? Not many
• Compare Mary Baker Eddy and Charles Fillmore… There is no comparison. MBE was a spiritual giant. CF was confused and obscure, inconsistent and materially-minded.
• Are you moved by Silent Unity’s prayers? No.
• Have you ever had any healings through Unity? With the help of one of Catherine Ponder’s books, I was able to begin forgiving my parents for their imagined wrongs. That’s it. Not much is it?

There’s not much for me spiritually there. Much of the time, I’m correcting error thoughts that I’m hearing in conversation, metaphysical discussions, song lyrics, or talks. It can’t be helping my consciousness.

What’s keeping me there? People. It’s my social and creative outlet.

I feel like the rich young man in the parable who when Jesus told him, “Follow me,” he went away sad for he had many possessions. It’s not a good place to be.

“Those who want to come with me must say no to the things they want, pick up their crosses every day, and follow me.
Luke 9:23 (GW)

The things we want certainly include emotional comfort and human attachments.

When it comes to Christian Science, there is profound teaching. There are dramatic demonstrations of Truth going on. I’ve experienced them. I’ve had healings from depression, insomnia, smoking and a deteriorating disk in my neck. There is a solid metaphysics that continually attracts and inspires me. There is no acceptance of material conditions, instead, there is a commitment to healing through prayer. And Christian Science heals.

That’s what I’m struggling with. It’s embarrassing, because it should be no choice at all, and yet it is.

John Hargreaves was a profound Christian Scientist thinker. Here’s one sublime passage for you from his book, The Christian Science Revolution in Thought. It is available from is available through Mulberry Press.

This process [the enlightenment of human consciousness] is analogous to the dawn, which, though it may appear to be taking place on earth, is actually incidental to the sun shining and dispelling the darkness that hides it, to give a clear sense of itself, the sun, shining. The dawn is a celestial, not a terrestrial, process, and of course to the light it is not a process at all. From the standpoint of the light, the cause of all that is taking place, there is no darkness and no dawn. There is only light. The beauty associated with the dawn sky, the revealing of the landscape, the unfolding of the flowers, and the awakening of the birds are all incidental to the light.

To someone on earth the sunlight often appears through a cloud. But any light that reaches the earth in this way is never the property of the cloud, but always of the sun shining through despite, not because of, the cloud. The best cloud is no cloud, since it is in the ratio that the cloud disappears that the light appears.

So it is with Mind’s true sense of man and the universe, which Mind demonstrates, or shows forth. Any good that we now perceive is always the divine, not entirely hidden by the belief it is person, place, or thing. We could say that the sun shining represents the divine Mind unfolding its own true sense of being; that the cloud represents the human mind; and that all that is good, beautiful, useful, or worthy in human experience is actually the divine, not wholly obscured by the belief it is human. As we read in Science and Health, “No wisdom is wise but His wisdom; no truth is true, no love is lovely, no life is Life but the divine; no good is, but the good God bestows.” These are the only facts.

M. is always OK. There is never a moment when he is not expressing God.

Whatever is governed by God, is never for an instant deprived of the light and might of intelligence and Life. Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, page 215:12-14

• God is always expressing through M.–always
• There is never a moment when M. is not alive–he is always expressing God’s life
• There is never a moment when M. is not thinking–he is always expressing God’s intelligence
• There is never a moment when M. is living outside of reality–he is always expressing God’s Truth
• He is never lacking God’s goodness–the Lord is his shepherd
• He is taking the right path because God is leading him in paths of righteousness
• He is never for an instant without the light of God–God’s light is always shining on him
• He only has strength to move and breathe because of God’s life within him–God is his strength

M. has the wisdom to know what to do because God is his intelligence and Mind. He CAN do whatever is best for him because God is his strength. He IS doing the right thing because God is leading him in paths of righteousness. M. is OK. Always.

Everything in this world is continually changing. There is birth and death, sickness, deterioration, and discord. This is not the world that God created. The real world, the world He created at the beginning, is all good. Man is made in His image, the image of Mind, of Spirit, and in reality, there is no birth, no death, no sickness, no decay.

Where does all of the change in this unstable world come from? From mortal mind–a state of mind which is unstable because it is not the One Mind. It is unable to sustain its thought, and the image before it wavers continually.

A double minded man is unstable in all his ways. James 1:8 (KJV)

Mortal mind cannot sustain its thoughts. Thus God’s Truth easily makes short shrift of it. Knowing that a problem or an illness arises from mortal mind and not of God establishes in our mind that it is not eternal; it is not established by God, and thus cannot sustain itself. It is a wavering and unsustainable condition. Not being of God, it is not of creation. It had no beginning. It has no mode of operation. It has nothing to sustain it unless I sustain it with my wrong thinking, and once I get a clear vision that it has no reality, it will disappear.

As Mrs. Eddy, in the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, says,

567:9 Against Love, the dragon warreth not long, for he is
killed by the divine Principle. Truth and Love prevail
against the dragon because the dragon cannot war with
567:12 them. Thus endeth the conflict between the flesh and
Spirit.

Technorati : ChristianScience, Inspiration, MaryBakerEddy, Metaphysics

This weeks Bible Lesson on Substance is wonderful. Last night I didn’t sleep and got up at a quarter till two. I used the time to study the 2nd section of the Bible Lesson and got so much out of it!

God is Mind: all that Mind, God, is, or hath made, is good, and He made all. S&H 311:4-6

Well, God is Mind. That seems obvious to me. When we think of infinite consciousness, we automatically think of Mind as being our experience of consciousness, and equate God and Mind. The creation story in Genesis tells us that God made all and that all He made was good. I don’t have a problem there; the problem I can get into is if I’m thinking there’s bad stuff in His creation too that had to come from somewhere. That leads to breaking the 1st commandment.

As God is substance and man is the divine image and likeness, man should wish for and in reality has, only the substance of good, the substance of Spirit, not matter. The belief that man has any other substance, or mind, is not spiritual and breaks the First Commandment, Thou shalt have one God, one Mind. S&H 301:17-23

Mrs. Eddy says that the First Commandment is her favorite text!

Thou shalt have no other gods before me. (Exodus xx. 3.) The First Commandment is my favorite text. It demonstrates Christian Science. It inculcates the tri-unity of God, Spirit, Mind; it signifies that man shall have no other spirit or mind but God, eternal good, and that all men shall have one Mind. The divine Principle of the First Commandment bases the Science of being, by which man demonstrates health, holiness, and life eternal. One infinite God, good, unifies men and nations; constitutes the brotherhood of man; ends wars; fulfils the Scripture, Love thy neighbor as thyself; annihilates pagan and Christian idolatry, whatever is wrong in social, civil, criminal, political, and religious codes; equalizes the sexes; annuls the curse on man, and leaves nothing that can sin, suffer, be punished or destroyed. S&H 340:15-29

Mind creates His own likeness in ideas, and the substance of an idea is very far from being the supposed substance of non-intelligent matter. Hence the Father Mind is not the father of matter. S&H 257:12-15

God is Mind and what does Mind do? It thinks. God only creates divine ideas–not material forms. This reminded me of Mrs. Eddy saying,

The likeness of Spirit cannot be so unlike Spirit. S&H 475:10

All the objects of God’s creation reflect one Mind, and whatever reflects not this one Mind, is false and erroneous, even the belief that life, substance, and intelligence are both mental and material.

Once you introduce material concepts, you introduce error into your thinking. Mrs. Eddy here says that the belief that life, substance, and intelligence are in matter is error. She also says that the believe that they are both mental and material, or that the two cooperate in some way is also error. Mrs. Eddy makes that clear.

Spirit and matter can neither coexist nor cooperate, and one can no more create the other than Truth can create error, or vice versa. S&H 279:13

Symbols and elements of discord and decay are not products of the infinite, perfect, and eternal All. From Love and from the light and harmony which are the abode of Spirit, only reflections of good can come. All things beautiful and harmless are ideas of Mind. Mind creates and multiplies them, and the product must be mental. S&H 480:2-8

God never created a material creation. Those things that appear are not God’s creation–not God’s ideas. They are subject to decay and destruction; and thus, don’t reflect God’s eternal nature. These outward symbols are not God’s creator. The product of God’s creation is Mind’s idea.

All is Mind and Mind’s idea. S&H 492:20

The Scriptures declare all that He made to be good, like Himself, — good in Principle and in idea. Therefore the spiritual universe is good, and reflects God as He is. S&H 286:17-20

And the spiritual universe is see in God’s ideas which reflect the divine Mind. Those ideas are perfect and not subject to decay or discord. Creation is spiritual, not material.