Questions & Answers
Suppose little me should climb up a tree the better to see the man Jesus.
Oh, I am glad; yes, I am glad To help the sick and lift the sad, To go to the house of the Lord And hear God's Word, the two-edged sword, Destroying fear on Sabbath morn. I follow Truth and am reborn! Oh, let us go; yes, let us go To overcome the worldy woe In quiet midweek evening hour, Rejoicing in our God's great power; In groups or joyous solititude, Hearing the voice of gratitude! Come, let us pray; yes, let us pray And find on earth the Christly way— At any time, in any place, See His goodness and tender grace Expressed by all who with accord Abide in the house of the Lord!
"God is love" I John 4:16. the Bible teaches.
As the rays of the sun break through the clouds and the storms and return the day to its natural splendor, bathing all in its warmth and light, so, when I study the textbook, every ray of Life, Truth, Love, is breaking through my doubts and fears, purifying my motives, correcting my actions, revealing my true substance, and illuminating my glorious inheritance as God's child. Principle embraces all in a love that is absolute and divine.
Giving and receiving are interdependent; One cannot exist without the other, Bestower and bestowed upon.
Here I was— thinking I was one of a tiny minority, working to love God with all my heart and soul and mind, and my neighbor as myself— struggling valiantly against incredible and almost overwhelming odds: until divine Love, in its gentle, irresistible way, penetrated the crumbling walls with tender rebuke: "If you love God as much as you profess, how can you believe He could produce an idea resistant to Himself? And if you really love your neighbor as yourself, how can you see an antagonist?" Chastened, humbled, I gladly rejoined the majority — all, in Mind, under the government of God.
(Storms are times of prayer for many. The following poem was inspired by the author's prayers during and after a hurricane in his home state.
As my freshly whetted kitchen knife will Slice tomorrow's breakfast fruit twice as easily As the same one dull, So Christian Science treatment prepares me For each day, letting Christ, Truth, tenderly and swiftly Peel away the mortal view of things and cut right through To the essential, divine standpoint that heals. Sharpened now, by the grace of Spirit, I refuse To believe the pointless lie of life in matter and see instead With Soul's sweet clarity, My life and all being in God, beloved.
This poem offers quick snapshots, as it were, of the process of learning in Christian Science. If the lighting and framing are somewhat unusual, the portrait is nevertheless genuine and sincere in its informality.
Coming freshly to this meal, this Christly banquet, feast of Soul, prepared by Love for morning disciples— breakfasting in the spirit of curiosity, hanging on the edge of expectancy, turning the eager page ready to mint coinage in a new currency (supple, pliable coins, designed for the marketplace of ideas not items, for the exchange of thoughts not things)— what preparation of the heart takes place, what humbling, meeking, overturning, stirring, waking, quickening, clearing, listening, hearing, feeling, knowing, clear discerning!