LIVING PROOF
Deanna Mummert’s testimony in the December issue has meant so much to me that I had to write to tell you. It has contributed to several healings in my practice of Christian Science and in my own life. The metaphysical ideas she shared were especially inspiring. I was so impressed that she had studied the Church Manual By-Law, “Alertness to Duty,” for several months before this inspiring healing. Mary Baker Eddy tells us, “Of this I am sure, that each Rule and By-law in this [Church] Manual will increase the spirituality of him who obeys it, invigorate his capacity to heal the sick, to comfort such as mourn, and to awaken the sinner” (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 230). This testifier certainly is living proof of all Mrs. Eddy says are the benefits of so doing. To say I am grateful is an understatement.
Kansas City, Missouri, US
ENRICHING ARTICLE
Thanks to Barbara Cook Spencer for her article in the November 2013 Journal titled “True entitlement for all.” How many times have I read, studied, and heard explanations and explications of the prodigal son? But I have truly been enriched with this article. It has helped me continue my growth in Christian Science and increased my willingness to drop my “mortal thinking that is completely separate from Love,” and enter into the “house” with humility and growth as the prodigal did. I have rarely experienced this kind of growth from any feature article in any publication.
I am so much in debt to those who write for our periodicals and those who so lovingly and conscientiously bring them to us.
Flushing, Michigan, US
THANKS FOR ‘MESSAGE BOARD’
Just a note to say how grateful I am for the “Letters” section of the Journal. I used to pass this by and get straight to what I considered the “meat.” But often those writing in the “Letters” will alert me to some article I missed or may have glossed over. It’s so helpful to have this “message board” published.
San Francisco, California, US
WALKING WITH LOVE
Sylvia Messner’s “Spiritual Short” in the October issue on the familiar hymn that begins “I walk with Love along the way” got me to thinking. I think she sums up the image of many of us when she says she momentarily had a vision of two figures walking together.
As I thought about it with her, I knew she was right that the vision of two figures, while it can be helpful, still admits a separation between God and the walker. Then I reasoned that if I said, “I walk with joy, I sing with inspiration, I dance with delight,” I would never see a second figure walking, singing, or dancing with me. I would know that I was walking with joy in my heart, impelled by joy. I was singing because my inspiration overflowed. I was dancing in response to my delight. That helped me see that I walk with Love is the same as being impelled by Love, a joyful, spirited, or quiet, calm response to Love’s presence. I am the expression of Love’s being. the manifestation of infinite Love; therefore, I walk with Love along the way.
Albuquerque, New Mexico, US
THE BIBLE’S SPIRITUAL MEANING
My sincere thanks for the two great articles on Mary Baker Eddy and the King James Version (Robert Warneck’s “Mary Baker Eddy and the King James Version of the Bible” in October and Mary Trammell’s “The ‘eternal version’ of the Bible” in the November Journal). I acknowledge you, the Journal and its editors, for your insight and leadership in finding space for the emerging global conversation on Bible translations and associated issues.
As a relatively new student of Christian Science I have struggled considerably with the archaic language of the KJV, and it is only slowly that I have discovered how useful other translations can be in elucidating obscure and misleading passages. But while other versions have been helpful, the greatest help has been the thoughtful input from friends more accomplished at seeing beyond the language to the spiritual meanings of Biblical texts, to the real-time application of the radical metaphysics of Christian Science. It is this that has kept me “on the court” at times when I would have thrown my racquet into the bushes!
While the “eternal version” is indeed “way beyond any translation built with words” as Trammell says, it is nevertheless the words (in various translations) that give an important access to the Bible’s message. At times they are even the main vehicle for enquiring into it—the words are the flagstones I tread along as I develop a more robust spiritual mindedness. To understand more of Eddy’s own journey with the words of the Bible in various translations is encouraging and motivating me to hang on to my racquet and stay on the court!
Auckland, New Zealand
‘GORGEOUS COVERS’
I can’t resist writing to tell you how very much I am enjoying the gorgeous covers on The Christian Science Journal! They are truly head-turning. You can’t walk by one without wanting to investigate.
Their beauty draws me in month after month, and the wonderful articles take off and soar! Thanks to the wonderful artists who are expressing their visual and spiritual gifts on such a high level! I look forward to each month!
Atlanta, Georgia, US
