Christian Science today
Christian Science Weekly Bible Lessons are now in audio, released every Wednesday at…
Christian Science weekly Bible study, read from the Bible. With a spiritual interpretation from 21st Century Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, a contemporary version of Mary Baker Eddy’s Science and Health, read by Cheryl Petersen, author and copyright owner.
Listen to the following menu because it has changed. If you’re calling about Covid-19, press one, if you’re calling about racial injustice, press two…if you’re calling about economic failure, press nineteen.
Please wait, your call is important to us. All our representatives are busy.
Whereas we have the option to:
“Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him.” –Psalms 37:7
If time has less power than God, Love, then “waiting” isn’t a matter of waiting around for something to happen. To wait patiently is to wait on God with perseverance. To serve Love.
Blooming Dogwood trees. It’s happening around town. And for me, each tree causes a flush of memories and calm. I’m not talking about a calm that sits down with a cup of cocoa and good book to read. I’m talking about a calm that says, I know, I know, I don’t know.
The statement begins agitatedly, I KNOW. Then quieter, I know. Then in a whisper, admits, I don’t know.
I release all “my knowing,” look up and…calm. Even if for a second. It’s the calm of trusting goodness.
In Washington state, one Dogwood tree ornamented our orchard. One. One Dogwood tree on the outskirt of our forty-acre orchard. An orchard planted with about eight-thousand trees, all blooming delicate pinks and whites.
The one stood out.
While the fruit tree flowers came in bunches of nickel-sized florets, flailing every which way, the Dogwood flowers carried a look of independence. The Dogwood flowers were large, the size of saltines and they faced upward.
Each time this year, I’d walk to the one Dogwood tree and cut a few long stalks of flowers to take home, arrange in a vase, and put on top of the piano. The Dogwood flowers became my classic décor when hosting Easter dinners for family and friends and anyone else I previously bumped into in town to invite, no matter what their religious or nonreligious background.
We all had one thing in common, appreciation for, or at least getting a kick out of the dignity and uniqueness of the grandiose Dogwood bouquet.
But the next day, those flowers went to the compost pile, because they started stinking.
I know, I won’t be hosting a dinner anytime soon or bumping into people, because I hardly go into town and when I do, I avoid people.
I know, my typical way of seeing and celebrating this time of the year, full of renewal and friendship, has been contradicted and dashed.
It’s enough to make me look down and feel afraid, frustrated, weary. Apathy grabs me. But I shake it off and say, nope, I don’t know. Or rather, I admit that what I currently do know won’t last. I don’t need to hold onto what I know.
More knowledge will come. It is coming.
And every day of late, even when I’m not trying, glances of Dogwood flowers infuse me with increased knowledge of a trust in life and renewal.
I John 1:1-4
“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— 2 the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us— 3 that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. 4 And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.”
One of many jewels found in Warwick Valley is apples. The gem comes in assorted colors and varieties. And because 2019 is a bumper crop year, we can enjoy and invite others to enjoy apples. A local farmer recently told me, “Apple picking will go into November.”
While living in southeastern Washington state, my husband and I grew Granny Smith and Gala apples. Tart to sweet. Couldn’t be beat. Just ask the horses that lived with us on the orchard.
We brushed, saddled, and mounted our horses for afternoon walks that took us through the orchard and up into the Horse Heaven Hills. I know, it all sounds like I’m making this up, but I’m not.
If you have a minute, search online Wikipedia, Horse Heaven Hills. Skip the site linked to American Viticultural Area, unless you’re interested in todays booming wine grape business in the northwest.
But Horse Heaven Hills stretches through three counties in Washington (we lived in Benton county). The hill range is a ridge that folded upward a gazillion years ago (give or take a few years).
Notice on Wikipedia, the photo mentioning Wallula Gap? Those Horse Heaven Hills is the view from the cemetery where we buried my mother and father-in law. We also had an orchard in Wallula.
The history of Horse Heaven Hills has it that early pioneer, James Gordon Kinney was romping around the hills in 1881, and while admiring the native grass that fed large herds of feral horses, he said, “This is surely a horse heaven.”
But that version of history daggers me. Like Columbus Day.
Columbus Day commemorates the landing of Christopher Columbus in the Americas in 1492, however, up against the facts, conscience calls out the blindness associated with this holiday. Blind to the poor behavior toward humanity on the part of Columbus and the fact that native Americans were settled here long before the Italian-born explorer plodded the ground.
I’d like to know what the native Americans called the hills, that I call Horse Heaven Hills. For centuries, probably millenniums, before others came from afar, native Americans used the land as hunting ground and boundaries between tribes. Maybe they called the hills Pantry.
“Your shelf in the pantry is looking pretty good.”
“Ah, yes, but if need be, I’ll rustle up some of the food for your shelf.”
Either way, I understand why some cities and states in the United States replace Columbus Day with alternative days of remembrance, such as, Indigenous Peoples Day.
A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver. Proverbs 25:11.
So back to our valley rich in apples. Eat up. Tell your friends from the City, or wherever, to bring their families, buy a bag and pick apples for eating fresh or using in applesauce, crisps, cakes, pies. Heck, it’s worth the bucks to just enjoy visiting an orchard, walking outdoors through rows of trees, reaching out to nab and munch on a natural delicious snack. Right there on the spot. That’s what our horses did.
First posted in September 2014
Our culture avoids it, fears it, is attracted to it, and uses it as a threat.
Death.
But every now and then, an anomaly shows up. I met a couple who raised 7 children, successfully, on a farm. The mother told me, “The farm life taught the children about life and death.”
Interesting. She spoke of life and death as equal, mortal elements that shouldn’t absorb so much attention when the true task is to live.
How can we live life and death?
By not making life and death something they are not.
Mortal life and death are not immortal or lasting.
Life isn’t a competition for wealth and fame and human approval. Death isn’t something we escape or dodge.
Life expresses itself through us as spiritual beings. Life is God, manifesting itself, in countless individuality, through us.
Death is the human interpretation of spiritual life unattached to mortality. Someone dies and we realize they are still alive in consciousness.
Human life and death can be beautiful, but it can also be ugly. We read in Matthew 16:21-23:
From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. 22 And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” 23 But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”
I bet it was somewhat of a struggle, but Jesus didn’t focus on human life and death. Christ Jesus lived immortality; he expressed integrity, forgiveness, courage, and wisdom.
Added 2019, from 21st Century Science and Health:
“The complicated mis-creations must finally give place to the glorious forms which we sometimes glimpse through the eye of divine Mind when the mental picture is spiritual and eternal. Take the time to look past the fading, sensational pictures. Gain the true sense of life. Rest your gaze on the unsearchable realm of Mind. Look ahead and act as possessing all power from Truth and Love in whom you have your being.”
It’s Four degrees Fahrenheit outside. Thick ice covers the ground. Wind.
I’m inside a house with a temperature of sixty-four degrees. In awe. And telling myself not to take the warmth for granted. I feel fortunate. The warmth should humble me. Am I desiring humility?
The reward for humility and fear of the Lord is riches and honor and life.
21st Century Science and Health
Praying fervently for humility doesn’t always mean humility is desired.
The effective prayer is a fervent desire for growth in grace, expressed in patience, humility, love, and good deeds.
Wake up, pray, wash laundry, get children to school, cook, pay a bill, wipe down the bathroom, interview an official and write an article, call to make a dentist appointment, care for the cats and dog, change a lightbulb, errands, get children from school, help with homework, chat with husband, more laundry, pray, fall into bed at 10:45 p.m. Rats, I forgot to pull the garbage can out to the curb.
The can will stink all week and overflow with more garbage.
Before sleeping, I wonder: is there a prayer I’m forgetting? Or not even thinking of?
The question of a forgotten prayer stays with me. For days. Weeks. Months.
As for the unforgotten prayers to love God and my neighbor, and for healing of sickness and sin, they bear fruit. Faith grows into understanding and I see God as reality. I see anything unlike God as unreality, illusion. God didn’t make hate or sickness and I pray that my human mind yields to reality.
It’s easier to yield to reality when confirming the unreality of decline, loss, aging, chaos, and forgetfulness. I practice expanding love, expressing gratitude for all I have, and maturing wisdom, order, and knowledge-with-no-end.
Then I read a prayer championed by Mary Baker Eddy about health-illusion. What is a health-illusion?
The illusion of healthy physical bodies. The illusion of a strong mind. The illusion of a healthy bank account. The illusion of successful human beings.
We read in 21st Century Science and Health, “Bear in mind, it is as necessary for a health-illusion, as for an illusion of sickness, to be instructed out of itself into the spiritual understanding of what constitutes health.”
Remember to pray the prayer that transcends healthy measurable units. For example, notice the uncomplaining organs and admit the illusion of uncomplaining physical organs. But don’t stop there. Confirm and understand Soul-sense, a sense of uncomplaining forgiveness and spiritual courage.
Remember to pray the prayer that transcends a healthy bank account. For instance, deny the comfort that comes from money. Confirm and share the riches of open-mindedness, spiritual comfort, and unbiased actions.
Remember to pray the prayer that transcends successful human beings. Avoid the tendency to adore a human. Stop living in past successes. Worship God, Truth. Practice truthfulness.
Too often, prayers are only directed at sickness, loss and fear, which is fine, but those prayers are more effective when also directed at health-illusions.
Health is spiritual. Universal. A force. Sustained by God, Spirit. Health is made of honesty, mercifulness, integrity, and joy.
From Romans 12: “Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.”
14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. 17 Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. 18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.
“No one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. And then he will plunder his house.”
Mark 3:27 provides a basis for separating the person from the evil. The “strong man” is the devil, a demon, and Christ Jesus cast out demons or evil spirits, leaving behind healed individuals.
The “goods” of evil are depression, jealousy, fear, for examples. Christ is my authority to bound evil and plunder those goods. To bound evil is to immobilize jealousy, fear, and self-doubt. This weakens the devil and strengthens us to clean out our house and experience a freer consciousness.
Okay, I admit, I liked watching the flick, Spiderman: Homecoming, 2017.
Casting was superb. Acting was fine. Script was catchy enough. A few times, I got bored and of course there were too many of what I call, chase scenes.
The writers managed, however, to bring out the importance of family and looking after one another.
Now, at the same time, I’m listening to, In the Footsteps of Paul, by Richard Rohr, and I really like it too.
The topic is superb. The spoken words are fine. Ideas shared are catchy enough. A few times I doubt his conclusions, and of course it sometimes seems like I’ve heard it all before.
Rohr manages, however, to bring out the importance of thinking for oneself, and only criticizing one’s own religion and not others. Speaking for oneself, not others.
Quoting from science & religion to God:
Divine Truth is known by its effects, not words. When you do experience spirituality, you may not be able to explain the experience in words that others will understand. Human thought doesn’t immediately capture an understanding of the divine equation and its solution. We feel stuck on this material plane, stuck in problems, stuck in words that have multiple meanings. We must educate our thought to the higher meaning where substance is understood to be Spirit.
How we interpret life affects not only our outlook and expectations, but also the consequences. Interpretation is either literal or spiritual.
Taken literally the words, “Clean your room,” produces decent results. But when dealing with less concrete concepts, open to wide interpretations, such as, “Be nice,” the results can vary. Spirituality comes to our rescue.
Divine interpretation gives us the deeper meaning our hearts yearn for. Spiritual interpretation maintains our life purpose and makes our experiences, words, expressions—even myths—useful.
Experts say, surprises are good for us. How can this be?
Research shows that surprises work on the brain’s dopamine system and allows us to focus our attention better. Data claims that surprises inspire us to look at our situations in new ways, to keep us learning, or bring satisfaction.
The problem with this data is, it doesn’t feel completely true. And experts even warn against bad reactions to bad surprises.
I remember being a kid and playing baseball with my siblings and cousins. My big cousin swung the bat and hit me smack in the forehead. The whack was totally unexpected. And not satisfying.
What typically happens after a bad surprise?
I’ve caught myself adjusting my expectations and training myself accordingly so as not to be disappointed.
I trained myself to stay away from baseball. It was my best effort to using that surprise-whack to my advantage. And so far, so good, I haven’t been hit in the head with a bat again.
Basically, I avoided baseball in the effort to avoid a disappointing surprise.
But think about this Cheryl, I tell myself, are experts telling me that, if I hadn’t avoided baseball, would I have become a star baseball player earning millions?
Probably not, I can’t even throw a ball.
But for this address, that incident hints at what experts warn against. Avoiding surprises. Experts gently encourage us rather, to grow benefits from surprises.
Which means, I can’t do its opposite of avoiding surprises. Avoidance is a short-term solution, similar to the option to lower my expectations in the hopes it will reduce disappointments when the unexpected comes my way.
Let’s take half a minute here though, to distinguish between realistic and unrealistic expectations. In regard to unrealistic expectations, yes, it is effective, it is to our benefit to avoid or lower unrealistic expectations.
But, when it comes to realistic expectations, expectations of bettering our world, we can treat surprises with more lasting answers or advantages. I think we do it already.
We’re learning about human nature. We learn how resilient and progressive we can be, while at the same time learning how destructive we can be.
We learn how to use reason and conviction, to strive to grow the good in human nature.
Because of my own limitations, I find having a power greater than myself helps in this effort. I call the greater power divine Spirit, or God. And remind myself Spirit is the source of benefits and satisfaction, not surprises. Which means therefore, that surprises can’t take away benefits or satisfaction.
I’ve also taken the time to observe. To look around and ask, just how many people get surprised?
Some people get surprised often, whereas some people don’t seem to get surprised at all. The older I get, the less I get surprised. Every time a surprise comes my way, I shake my head and think, doesn’t surprise me one bit.
Then I plow ahead through the situation, to grow benefits. For inspiration, I often look to others who have successfully grown benefits themselves.
There is the story of Joseph, in the Bible. He was thrown into a pit, by his jealous brothers. I can’t help but assume that the family dysfunction was a disappointing surprise to Joseph.
A tribe came by the pit, brought Joseph out and sold him as a slave.
Joseph’s owner learned to trust him. Until, that is, Joseph was falsely accused and so sent to prison.
Despite the surprise of prison, Joseph kept his God and believed in advantages, not only for himself but also for others. It’s interesting, because whereas Joseph previously worked for the privileged, he now had the opportunity to work for the underprivileged. And, he could, because divine Spirit is in force everywhere, designed to uplift and empower satisfaction.
A couple years after prison life, Joseph was remembered for his good skills, and released. Moreover, he was put in charge of saving the country from starvation, which included saving his immediate family.
In a contemporary book titled, “Surprise: Embrace the Unpredictable and Engineer the Unexpected,” authors, Tania Luna and Leeann Renninger argue that surprise, whether good or bad, brings vitality to our lives.
But what about the times when a series of bad surprises overwhelm the good and eat away at vitality or satisfaction?
This nearly happened to me in religion.
My religious background includes a religion associated with Mary Baker Eddy, born in early 19th century. She realized the value of applying the unseen power of Spirit, and taught it to others through a schooling called Christian Science. She wrote a book titled “Science and Health.”
A group of followers formed, and Mrs. Eddy later started a church. And, one surprise followed another.
At the turn of the 20th century, people were flocking to churches of Christ, Scientist, led by Eddy.
The institution gained in credibility especially when it came to spiritual health and healing. Christian Science was so in vogue that nonreligious and religious people clamored to be in her church.
Thousands of Jews left the synagogues in the 1920s to join her church.
Jewish leaders were taken by surprise by the migration, but used the surprise to a greater advantage by acknowledging their own access to mindful health. Morris Lichtenstein, wrote and published the “Jewish Science and Health.” He could, because the unseen force of Spirit, supporting Eddy was also supporting him. Jews began staying in the synagogues.
The Society of Jewish Science organized in New York City and is still there today.
Back to Mrs. Eddy, after she died in 1910, her church began losing leadership throughout the 20th century.
By the time I was born in 1961, the state of the church did not resemble the early history of Christian Science.
The church was in decline, and at that point, Christian Scientists were known as the people who never go to doctors. It was an accepted stereotype, believed by both admirers and critics of Christian Science. Even I believed it, until it became unpleasant and alarming.
I felt guilty when I went to the doctor. I also heard remarks that children’s health care was compromised by parents who were praying.
I heard people justify or debate this stereotype using one sentence from Eddy’s Science and Health. The sentence reads, “Only through radical reliance on Truth can scientific healing power be realized.”
In efforts to discuss healing or benefits, that sentence was repeated as if it meant healing comes through radical reliance on prayers. But it doesn’t say that.
Reliance on prayer is not the same thing as reliance on Truth.
Sure, prayer is a big part of Christian Science, but prayer isn’t equal to Truth. Prayer is only a method of discovering truth, even discovering the proper use of medicine.
I also learned the definition for radical had, well, radically changed during the 20th century. The definition of radical found in a 19th century dictionary, was “pertaining to the root or origin.”
Today, radical means extremism.
So, the religion I was familiar with, did not condone extremism or fanaticism, but encouraged reliance on truth for progress and satisfaction.
In other words, religion has no power other than what human nature gives it. And human prejudices make mistakes.
Surprisingly, this conclusion made my mind more peaceful. It made my mind not so quick to link religion with radicalism.
Honoring that lesson to my advantage, I practice not judging a person by their religion, and not judging a religion by a person.
But I had to do more, because sitting around thinking I was no longer involved with the stereotyping and extremism, I was still indirectly letting the misconceptions carry on. To reverse this, I revised and published a revision of Eddy’s Science and Health.
In my latest edition of 21st Century Science and Health, the sentence I referred to earlier now reads, “Only by advancing from the root of Truth can scientific healing power be realized.”
Advancing from the root of Truth, realizes healing power.
Writing and publishing are only a few of many ways the force of Spirit encourages us to grow benefits, for ourselves and the world.
Now, I’ve noticed something else about surprises. They can be confusing. So confusing, that I forget to reap any benefits.
But can I reap benefits later in life? Yes.
In the 1960s, I was barely old enough to be amazed and confused at what NASA and the Russian Federal Space Agency were doing. When the elementary school “emergency test” alarm came over the speaker system, we kids dove under our desks for protection from Russian bombings that never came. At home, I watched on the black-and-white television, American and Russian astronauts, respectively, escape the powers of earth, orbit in outer space, and return to earth. It all came with elements of surprise. But I didn’t reap any benefits.
And now today, outer space adventures are ho-hum. After five decades and spending a bazillion dollars, we have astronauts, today, living where we once thought no person could live. And they’ve been doing it continuously, since year 2000, at the International Space Station.
I later-in-life determined to reap benefits on a mental level. I used my memories to serve as symbols of our ability to escape physical limitations, orbit in freedom, and return with new perspectives.
We can, escape limiting thoughts, live in spiritual freedom, and share actively new perspectives with humanity.
A couple of weeks ago in the New York Times, American liberal journalist and commentator, Charles Blow, wrote an op/ed titled, “Checking my male privilege.” The author addressed the recent rash of high-profile accusations of sexual harassment and assault toward women. Blow confessed that he was shocked by these men’s vulgar behavior toward women, because he hadn’t and probably won’t harass women.
As a male outside the harassment issue, Blow admitted though that he still needed to check himself. He didn’t want to work implicitly, or indirectly, on the side of sexism. He wanted pro-actively, to stand on the right side of fighting for justice.
He also wrote, “There is no magical solution here for the infinite and permanent expansion of empathy and awareness. It is work, hard work.”
“The infinite and permanent expansion of empathy and awareness.” What a cool statement.
I believe, the force of divine Spirit, is behind this infinite and permanent expansion of goodness.
Spirit is in force. It’s universal. It attracts and surprises us with our ability to fight for justice and equality. And then, what happens to the sexism, racism, and fanaticism?
No, wait, that’s not the question to ask.
Here’s the question: When we act with divine Spirit, what happens to justice, respect, and lasting satisfaction? They expand. As does our ability to face any surprise, and use it to benefit our self and humanity.
(Text above is sermon written and delivered by Cheryl Petersen at Unitarian Universalist Society in Oneonta, New York, November 26, 2017)
Healing law of God at your fingertips. A briefer narrative of Mary Baker Eddy's "Science & Health"
34 pages
A true story about hope and assurance. 26 pages
Healing Science Today 