Comforting Boston

A Christian Science perspective: The bombings at the Boston Marathon Monday afternoon left a city seeking comfort. 

Marathons, including the one in Boston, celebrate courage, endurance, strength, freedom, and joy, and the bombings that took place at this year's event cannot be allowed to have the last word.

Freedom cannot be despoiled by fear, and love cannot be replaced by hate. Our prayers – wherever we are, whatever our religious beliefs – can prove this. And as we pray, we can embrace in our hearts and thoughts all who have been injured, the families who have lost loved ones, and those whose joyful participation may now seem shadowed by fear and sorrow.

To all those, and others, the comfort of divine Love is present, right now, and is a powerful redeemer. The word "comfort" derives from two Latin words (cum + fortis), which mean “with strength.” This is the kind of comfort that is present for those immediately affected, for the police and other officials who are striving to find solutions, for all who are in any way engaged by this event.

With strength, divine Love, God, is with all who mourn. The prophet Isaiah – who witnessed his own share of violence – spoke from experience when he said of God, “As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you” (Isaiah 66:13).

With strength, divine Love is speaking to all who are fearful, including visitors to the city who may feel at sea in an unfamiliar place. Love’s presence comforts, guards, and guides them to intelligent decisions, to safety and peace.

With strength, divine Truth, God, is with those who are seeking the answers to these events and are also trying to help bring peace and safety to the city.

With strength, each one of us can push back against the belief that the mental darkness behind these events can despoil good and fill people with anguish and fear. Our prayer can insist that God’s love is present and that this love can never be taken away from any of His children. In her book "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," Mary Baker Eddy writes, “... Jesus taught that the kingdom of God is intact, universal, and that man is pure and holy".

Given the many situations Jesus faced – including terrorism in his own time – his unshakable conviction of God’s power to heal even in the most hopeless circumstances gives hope and strength to all who love God and pray for His goodness to be seen right now, in these times. Jesus' conviction that God could meet every need can strengthen our prayers. He didn’t just hope that God’s goodness would prevail, he expected it to do so. Behind this conviction was his consciousness of Christ, which Christian Science explains as the spiritual relation between God and man, between infinite Love and its spiritual offspring.

The Christ-power behind Jesus' healing work is present with each man, woman, and child – in Boston and beyond. This is the power that "comforts those that mourn" – not only with an arm around the shoulders (tender as that may be) but with something more: It was and is comfort “with strength.”

This is our comfort, and the comfort our prayers can bring to all.

Source: Christian Science Monitor

Use what you have

In an interior design magazine, an advertisement caught my eye: “USE WHAT YOU HAVE. No big deal. Take the terror out of decorating. Talented professional can help you. No job too small or too large. References. Immediate results.” 

It was designer Lauri Ward’s ad about using what people already have as a foundation to renew their home décor. For many people, her good idea revolutionized the interior design business. Rearranging for immediate and improved use what is already ours made such good sense, and I thought, That’s an essential principle that Jesus taught.

Speaking of what is already ours through God’s law of abundance, Jesus said, “Whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours” (Mark 11:24, New International Version [NIV]).

Believe that God’s gift of infinite good (abundant supply, perfect health, eternal life) is already ours, and we can make immediate use of it? That’s what Jesus was saying. But it wasn’t until I studied the Christian Science textbook by Mary Baker Eddy that I began to see something of the real meaning of our Master’s message. When I did, it immediately upgraded the way I pray.

In keeping with Jesus’ teaching about divine provision, one of the many statements Mrs. Eddy makes in that textbook, “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” is sweet and succinct, and specifically makes the divine and human connection clear: “Divine Love always has met and always will meet every human need” (p. 494).

This power of divine Love was what Jesus relied upon when he did all that he did to meet human needs. Even today they are often called miracles, but they were actually the natural expression of his absolute faith in God’s unlimited and ever-present provision (see John 14:12). It could be said about Jesus’ works that they were “no big deal” for him. He could take the terror out of any sense of need – lack of health, sustenance, order, or even lack of life. Jesus could help renew anything and anyone. No problem was too small or too large. He could produce immediate results. And he had references!

I know, some say: Really? Is affirming God’s abundant and ready provision really all it takes to be sure prayer will be answered? The Bible says that if not, then we have “asked amiss” (James 4:3).

That stipulation made sense after I paid closer attention to the first lines of Science and Health: “The prayer that reforms the sinner and heals the sick is an absolute faith that all things are possible to God, – a spiritual understanding of Him, an unselfed love.” It was that last little phrase, “an unselfed love,” that was mighty thought-provoking.

Instead of self-reliance, unselfed love identifies with divine power and provision. It holds thought in line with God and consciously makes the connection. It is at that sweet spot of spiritual sense where self-assertion is unnecessary. It is trusting God instead of oneself and not because we have to, out of need (Please, Father, I need this and that), but because we want to out of love, and know that we can (Dear Father, I thank You for always meeting my every need). Here, being is unselfed – effortless and complete.

Jesus acted out of a sense of being fully equipped, never out of a sense of lack. We know this because he expressed gratitude out loud, up front. He changed water into wine and raised Lazarus from the dead, effortlessly. He didn’t have to “create” wine, life, or anything, and he consciously knew it.

Another Bible story tells about Jesus feeding 5,000 followers. After a full day of teaching and healing, his disciples suggested the crowd be sent to surrounding villages to buy food. Shocked when Jesus responded, “You give them something to eat,” they reacted: “That would take more than half a year's wages! Are we to go and spend that much?” (Mark 6:37, NIV).

Thinking the source of food was somewhere outside themselves and God, Spirit, the disciples’ view was material. As they grew to understand the Master’s works, they ultimately saw – and we, too, will see – that harmonious life is not about asking for, getting, or getting rid of anything. It is about acknowledging and using what we already have and know as our ever-available, divine provision.

Science and Health explains that the ability Jesus had is ours to claim as well: “It is not well to imagine that Jesus demonstrated the divine power to heal only for a select number or for a limited period of time, since to all mankind and in every hour, divine Love supplies all good” (p. 494). Prayer in line with unselfed love is asking aright and is instantaneously answered. “Whatever holds human thought in line with unselfed love, receives directly the divine power”

Source: Christian Science Monitor

Beyond debate and dialogue

When I reach for the “off” button on my media device, it’s sometimes because I’ve heard and seen enough. We’re in an election cycle where the airwaves are heated with rancor and partisan bickering. We’re also witnessing a dynamic change in the way people communicate, with the advent of Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube enabling individuals to become their own public broadcaster. This has led to the start-up of social movements around the world and the ability to quickly influence public opinion at home and abroad.

It’s easy to get caught up in this tidal flow of information. How can we navigate our way through it, and think clearly enough, so that our contribution to the dialogue promotes progress and healing? 

Ignoring the media is not the answer, because I’d like to contribute to the resolution of the world’s problems. But I’m finding that this demands lifting thought above the attention-grabbing headlines and being receptive to the spiritual facts about God’s creation. These facts are found in an inspired reading of the Bible, which reveals man as spiritual and good (see Genesis, Chap. 1), and as naturally drawn to God, man’s source of light. The Bible says, “Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness” (I Thessalonians 5:5). As children of light we can be attracted only to the light – to goodness, to whatever uplifts and inspires thought.

Yet the world tells us something different: that the more sensational or controversial a story, the more appealing it is and the more likely it is to draw an audience. Challenging such assumptions can be the starting point in healing impositions like this which attempt to bring down the level of discourse and thought. Mary Baker Eddy, who discovered Christian Science, made this arresting statement: “In a world of sin and sensuality hastening to a greater development of power, it is wise earnestly to consider whether it is the human mind or the divine Mind which is influencing one” (“Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” pp. 82-83). Rather than allow opinions to influence thought, or media headlines to darken our outlook and become the story line to our day, I’ve found it helpful to affirm that God, divine Mind, is the only influence in our lives.

Each day brings opportunities to prove this and to discern the spiritual innocence of every man, woman, and child. God-derived qualities such as integrity, love, health, artistry, and intelligence manifest themselves day-in and day-out, and this is certainly worthy of our attention.

There have been periods in my life when a growing understanding of contemporary issues made me more critical of people and events in the news. Also, I would chafe at the opinions and commentary of certain media personalities and their political ideologies, found at both ends of the political spectrum. Sometimes my anger stemmed from the fear of their harmful influence on society. I would be drawn into arguments over various social and political issues, feeling justified in my remarks and ready to score a point. However, very seldom did I leave a conversation feeling satisfied or at peace.

When I realized that contentious discourse – being audience to it or engaging in it – didn’t contribute to the healing of individual or collective thought, I decided to change course. I tried to use the day’s headlines as a springboard for affirming what is spiritually true about government and economy, the environment and the health and safety of humanity. Debate and dialogue can be useful in the exchange of ideas when done with respect and a willingness to move conversation forward. However, finding solutions through civil and progressive discourse, rather than friction or incivility, meant spending more time in prayer, yielding to a deeper understanding of God and His creation.

I was ready to move beyond the battlefield of political opinion and mentally engage not with the media pundits but with spiritual ideas – the word of God, the healing message of Christ, Truth. Exercising my God-given spiritual sense in seeing the world through God’s eyes, rather than making judgments about people and organizations or drawing conclusions that furthered a certain political ideology, was a way I could lovingly and figuratively put my arms around my family, my friends, and the world.

The example of Jesus has been instructive. He conducted his healing ministry in the midst of political and religious struggle, and allowed himself to be influenced only divinely. He blessed and healed others with a fresh sense of God’s mercy.

We can contribute to the public weal by following Jesus’ example. Whether the day’s headlines or heated political commentary comes to us through high definition or stereo, a tweet, or a web page, we have an opportunity – even a duty – to offer a prayer-based response that will carry us, and our community, forward.

Source: Christian Science Monitor

The way life is

“Welcome to Maine: The Way Life Should Be” reads the sign as you cross the border from New Hampshire into Maine on I-95. As someone who loves the pristine waters of Maine’s lakes, its glorious rocky coast, the simplicity of waking up to pull on a pair of well-worn jeans, and the smell of pine needles as I walk through an evergreen forest, it might seem logical that I would agree with that sign. But I always correct that sentiment when I read it. I’ve learned through my study of Christian Science that any good that I see in Maine or anywhere in the world is just a hint of the way Life, God, really is. Life is not conditional on anything but God since God is Life. God is where we truly “live, and move, and have our being” (Acts 17:28).

So no matter where we are, and no matter what our circumstances, we are free to discern the way Life really is. We are free to look out into the infinite and to discern that divine Life is perpetually and universally good. It is beautiful, harmonious, simple, pure, invigorating, joyous, loving, and inspiring, because it is infinite Mind infinitely manifesting itself within its own self-completeness. And when we discern even a little of divine Life shining into our human situation, it enlightens and transforms our circumstances, pulling back any limited sense of supply, health, or well-being.

It is our thoughts, then, about our environment and situation that either see life through God’s lens of infinite goodness or filter it through the lens of the personal mind’s finite limitation. The key, I’m finding, is to keep thought in constant relation with the Divine and to perpetually ask God to reveal His presence in every detail of our day. New England spiritual reformer Mary Baker Eddy stated, “To live so as to keep human consciousness in constant relation with the divine, the spiritual, and the eternal, is to individualize infinite power; and this is Christian Science” (“The First Church of Christ, Scientist, Miscellany,” p. 160).

I remind myself often of this beatitude from Christ Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount: “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8). In other words, the purity of seeing as God sees reveals that the kingdom of heaven is always at hand. It is never far off, but always within consciousness. And if a challenge of inharmony comes up, the need is not to fix the phenomenon that thought is projecting, but to be sure that our lens of thought is the divine Mind.

Recently, I had a simple but meaningful illustration of the power of seeing more clearly the way Life is right here in Maine. A handyman was helping me do some repair work on my little cottage. Suddenly some ground gave way, just enough to reveal that the cover on the septic system had rusted out. The handyman informed me that this was a serious problem, as the local authorities would require me to redo my septic system in order to bring it up to present-day standards.

In his concern for the expense that this might be for me, he suggested we put a temporary cover over it and wait a while before telling the authorities. At first this seemed like it might buy me some time to figure out the best solution; but upon taking some time to pray, I knew this was a limited and fearful approach to life, and not the way I know Life to be. It seemed clear that honesty and forthrightness would express my trust in Life as whole, complete, and harmonious, so I decided to go on the offensive with the situation.

I asked the handyman if he would contact the authorities and see what my options were. After all, Mind is infinite; and there just had to be an honest, joyous, and abundant solution to this need. He was happy to do that, even relieved, as he said, “This is the right way to handle things.” On the way to his appointment with the man in charge of code enforcement, he and his wife dropped by with a basket of canned pickles and relishes for me. As I looked at this beautiful basket of home-canned garden produce, I couldn’t help feeling God’s love and assurance. How loved and supported I felt by these Mainers. No matter what the authorities said, I felt sure there would be a gracious way to see my need met.

Within a couple of hours, they came back with bashful Maine-smiles on their faces. (Folks in Maine tend to be subtle in their joy, but I’ve gotten to the place where I can spot it easily and enjoy it all the more for its quiet twinkling behind the eyes.) They reported that all I needed was to have a soil engineer draw up a plan, get a permit, and then I had as many years as I needed to complete the project. I just had to show that I was making progress. And this is the way Life is, I thought. Life is full of the possible, full of tender care, full of adventure, full of solutions, full of harmony, and baskets full of blessings.

Source: Christian Science Monitor