THE ROUTE WAS A-24 from Hamburg to Berlin. A comfortable trip on the autobahn with little traffic, past lots of fields and woods.
It was a windy day, with constantly changing cloud formations and majestically turning wind turbines. As soon as a turbine appeared on the horizon, you simply had to look.
Why? Wouldn't the new appearing of a tree be equally as fascinating?
A simple explanation: A wind turbine turns; a tree stands relatively still.
Are 90 percent of our thoughts yesterday's, or are we "moving," listening for fresh inspiration?
Movement involuntarily draws attention. It's not for nothing that animals play dead when they want to escape notice, and people wave to someone when they want to be recognized in a crowd. This is just as true for mental movement as it is for physical movement. Unchanging window displays are soon forgotten and unnoticed, while a company with new ideas and products attracts interest.
Let's see how this applies to our individual thought. How agilely and freshly do we think? Are 90 percent of our thoughts yesterday's, or are we "moving," listening for fresh inspiration? The latter makes us more interesting and contributes to finding solutions.
The benefits of movement and fresh thinking relate not only to people but also to institutions. For example, the institutions of the Christian Science movement—the churches and Reading Rooms, Sunday Schools, and public lectures. In a way, Mary Baker Eddy viewed spiritual movement as inseparable from the spiritual concept of Church. Among other things, the defined Church as "... rousing the dormant understanding from material beliefs to the apprehension of spiritual ideas and the demonstration of divine Science ..." (Science and Health, p. 583). Does that sound like stagnation or movement? And a key result of this activity? Healing.
What does all of this mean, practically speaking? Having the humility to let the Christ move us. Being childlike. Looking in a forward direction. Having the courage to grasp innovation. Willingness to find security in fresh and inspired approaches, rather than just in tradition. Also, making new discoveries in the meanings of familiar words in inspired writings.
Unavoidably, the product of a fresh spirit is a fuller life, more freedom and healing. When we feel the rousing power of the Christ renewing and inspiring us, our church services and Sunday Schools can only reflect this fresh spirit. And in the end, you have to ask: What is more appealing, and attracts more attention, than that?
CHURCH ALIVE: WHAT WORKS? Send us YOUR ideas—what's helped to broaden or enrich your branch church, Reading Room, Sunday School, lectures, or any other church-related activities. Your fellow church members around the world want to know! E-mail us at jshwrite@csps.com. And please put "Church Alive" in the subject line.
