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The Bulletin Board is for gratitude for Christian Science and the Church, as well as timely excerpts from the Bible, the works of Mrs. Eddy, and the early workers that help and encourage. We are very grateful for all posts that conform to these guidelines, but will edit or remove anything that the Practitioners feel is not in complete accord with pure Christian Science or in any way disrespectful of it.
We also ask that you keep your postings as concise as possible. If you quote the Bible, please use The King James Version, as this is what Mrs. Eddy used. Thank you!
I love this idea of the 24 hours of the day governed by God, and I think it fits very well with the notes about this this verse in Rev. G. A. Kratzer’s ‘Revelation Interpreted’ on the ‘publications’ section of the Plainfield website – (starting on page 107). This refers to the elders as ‘symbolising the leading ideas or manifestations of Mind, such as liberty, justice, changelessness, purity and the like..’ and that the phrases ‘clothed in white raiment’ and ‘on their heads crowns of gold’ indicate that the elders are ‘free from sin, and crowned with the authority of God.’ Thank you very much JoanneF, thank you to the lesson writer, and thank you Plainfied Church for the opportunities to learn more about the Bible.
Thank you for this posting!
Mrs Eddy also demonstrated over physical travelling and other limitations as recorded in the book The Healer: The Healing Work of Mary Baker Eddy –
“It was not until the last year of her life that she spent any time on demonstrating other aspects of the unreality of matter and the allness of Spirit for her own benefit. Some fascinating examples have survived that illustrate the possibilities of rising above he pull of the flesh or mortal sense.
“…there are accounts of her overcoming gravity….And Mrs Eddy did this in an age with strong beliefs about material law, giving great weight to thought contrary to spiritual law. Our Lord could could appear or travel anywhere, overcoming distance and time (see John 6:21-26). Evidence shows that Mrs Eddy did this also. There are instances of workers at Pleasant View seeing Mrs Eddy at the top of the steps, a moment later in the kitchen, and a moment later way out in the yard.”
” ….Ira Knapp related an interesting account where Mrs Eddy did in fact walk on the water. It seems one day when Mrs Eddy and Mr Knapp were on the coast at Red Rock near Lynn, Mass., Mrs Eddy was caught out on the rocks as the tide was coming in. Mr Knapp saw what had happened, since he was closer to the shoreline. He started looking around for a small boat in which to go out and convey Mrs Eddy back to the shore. However, Ira Knapp could find nothing to accomplish this and Mrs Eddy walked back herself over the water!
“Calvin Fry stated in his diary that one day he entered Mrs Eddy’s room and found her floating, suspended up near the ceiling. He was no doubt bewildered and surprised, but Mrs Eddy allayed his concern, telling him not to be afraid, that all was fine. She subsequently settled down into her chair.
“She once said in class in Columbus Avenue, (in years previous at the ) College, ‘Were it not for the minds around me, I could step out of this (second story) window, and not fall to the ground.”
I am so grateful that Mrs Eddy demonstrated for us that Jesus’ experiences in overcoming mortal so-called laws were not only for himself but for all mankind, and that the clear teachings at Plainfield help us to progress in realising this.
I am grateful for the above post, and the reminder that we should never think of ourselves as victims. In addition, whilst considering this story, I was struck this time about the issue of justice. Solomon did not condemn these women for the way they were living, nor require them to have expensive lawyers to represent them before he would consider their case. He knew that justice, wisdom and mercy are spiritual qualities of God, Mind, and thus everywhere present and so available to all. I’m very grateful for this thought, and for all I am learning at Plainfield.
Thank you very much for the above post, Susan. I have found in Charles Spurgeon’s writings that he explains ‘a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart’ as a person in whom –
– all idea of self importance is gone,
– frivolity and trifling have gone – a broken spirit is serious, solemn and in earnest,
– hypocrisy is gone,
– our relationship with God is genuine and not superficial.
This chimes with the above post, that our sacrifices must be of ungodlike thinking and acting. I am so grateful to be learning this, and improving my understanding of the teachings of the Bible, through finding Plainfield. Much gratitude to the writer of this week’s lesson.
Acts 17:26 And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;
The Bible commentaries I read this week about the above verse brought out the comforting fact that all nations were created by God, and none should ‘assume for itself that it is the cream and flower of humanity’ (Elliott’s Commentary for English Readers). How grateful we can be that God is therefore with every one of us at all times, and none of us can be disadvantaged by where we live, or any other perceived human limitation, such as ethnicity or human past. I am very grateful to be learning this, and that we can all fill our own niche, and do the work God has for us to do.
I was interested to learn from a Bible commentary that the word translated as ‘wrestle’ also means to ‘be-dust’, or to cover with dust, as wrestlers used to do to their bodies. This suggests to me that Jacob was wrestling with a mortal sense which was ‘be-dusting’ his thought about himself and his brother, until the clarity of Love prevailed. So grateful for what I am learning.
I found these related statements also helpful –
“Every man and woman should be to-day a law to himself, herself, – a law of loyalty to Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.” (Misc Writings p.12 line 12)
“[CS teachers] shall teach their students how to defend themselves against mental malpractice, but never to return evil for evil; never to attack the malpractitioner, but to know the truth that makes free, – and so to be a law, not unto others, but themselves.” (Misc Writings p.315 line 32)
Very grateful for this week’s lesson.
VAGARY. A wandering of the thoughts; a wild freak; a whim; a whimsical purpose (Webster’s Dictionary 1828).
Very grateful to the writer of this week’s lesson.
Very grateful for this reminder that Life is abundant and not limited, and this is ours to prove. This made me think of the sermon ‘Life’ by Mary Baker Eddy, which includes these extracts “Health, life and mortals will will never reach their maximum until we relinquish the belief that matter has aught to do with Life” and “I am glad there is but one God, but one Life, and this one is shadowed forth in order, beauty and goodness. I am glad that evil hath no life or immortality, that mortal pain-giving sources are but the things of belief, dreams and not realities, the vagaries of the mortal, and not the immortal thought; and that this shall sometime be learned and the body be free as the pinions of a bird, and every sense of weakness or of pain shall disappear.”
Thank you to Jeremy Palmer for the above posting. From Bible commentaries, I found that the Greek verb translated ‘occupy’ here is used in the sense of ‘engaging in business’ or ‘trading’, and what this suggested to me is to occupy thought, or perhaps to work for gain in thought, until I (Mind, or spiritual inspiration) come – and hence show me more of my true relation to God. In thinking about this, I have been very grateful for the article on the Plainfield website entitled ‘The Fruit of Right Thinking’, by Gilbert Carpenter. This warns about comparing ourselves to others, or envying them, and includes the sentence ‘It breaks a moral precept for a student to desire what he does not deserve, and he does not deserve that which he has not demonstrated or cannot pay for’. Very grateful for this Bible lesson.