Digging deeper
[“Finding our Savior,” Kevin Reeder, August 2015, Journal]
Moved by its depth and purity, I’ve reread this article several times. Kevin’s description of Christ is so clear and practical. It inspires me to pray with greater humility and dig deeper to better know and demonstrate Christ, Truth, as Jesus knew and expressed. I’ve recommended the article to several friends, and each one was touched in similar ways. Thank you for sharing this.
Upholding true identity
Thanks to Lauren Nofsinger for her article, “Upholding true manhood and womanhood,” in the August Journal. An intelligent and spiritual understanding of life is so needed to offset materialistic views that invert and pervert identity.
No good comes from “giving in to the carnal mind’s view of identity as mortal and vulnerable,” as Nofsinger writes, and we need to “pray daily to ensure that [we are] not being influenced by mortal concepts of [men and] women.”
The Monitor’s mission
What an arresting article—“The Christian Science Monitor—an appreciation” by George Moffett in the August Journal. He talks about Mary Baker Eddy’s conviction that publication of the Monitor was urgently needed—not so much for journalism as for the Cause of Christian Science. He points out that “the Monitor is a crucial point of connection between Mrs. Eddy’s Church and the world, a link to Christian Science for the world and a link to the world for Christian Scientists.”
I had already seen the Monitor play a role as ambassador for Christian Science. A relative who was opposed to the religion, but who had a deep respect for the Monitor (she had heard Monitor reporters on the radio), finally accepted my being a Christian Scientist and would pray with me because of her respect for the Monitor. But Moffett urges the “far more important” purpose of the Monitor “to bring redemption to the world by requiring its readers to focus on the world and not … to pass by on the other side.” The Monitor “provides the quieter mental environment essential to the deep prayer that, in turn, is essential to the world’s salvation.”
This demand is as urgent today as when Eddy first launched the Monitor. Through the focus on world issues the Monitor provides, we can work to do the “greater works” that Christ Jesus said we would be able to do. Thank you for this insightful article.
Great one to share
[“The oil of inspiration,” Deborah A. Huebsch, July 2015, Journal]
This article was so helpful and uplifting!
I love the analogy of the “oxygen mask” and the reference to the parable of the ten virgins and their oil lamps. I like the article because it is equally easy for both new and experienced students of Christian Science. I can be comfortable sharing it with friends who ask how Christian Scientists pray.
Still fresh and relevant
I so enjoyed the article “Being made over” by Lucy Hays Reynolds in the June 2015 Journal, reprinted from the June 1917 Journal. She told of a woman who was facing greater responsibilities in her life and felt fearful about having the courage to trust spiritual intuition to guide her along new paths rather than human judgment. Months later the woman emerged from her human doubts as the Christ, the divine influence on consciousness, gradually entered and enriched her thinking.
I loved the freshness of these ideas, which are as relevant today as in 1917 when she first shared them, and I found them very helpful with some challenges I experienced.
This is definitely one to save in my “bookmarks,” which I have discovered on JSH-Online!
The assurance needed
Thank you so much for the article “Our real purpose for prayer,” by George Moffett, in the May 2015 Journal. Getting up very early one morning and needing some good thoughts in praying about a difficult situation, I found this article. This thought arrested my thinking, where he wrote in part that “the objective of Christian Science treatment” is “to gain a clearer understanding that man’s perfection is already an established fact, and to prove this fact through healing.”
I continued to read and began to get a clearer understanding of how to pray more specifically and to establish this fact in thought for myself. The article brought out that thinking “I know this [that man dwells in God’s consciousness] is true, but …” leads to doubt and fear. Dr. Moffett discussed how God’s infinity is applicable to every detail of life. This divine presence then reveals that error truly is nothing and that God’s goodness has always been present and active. These ideas made a big difference in my prayerful work, and I referred to this article several times during the next several days for continued inspiration.
Thank you for the constant variety of uplifting and focused articles in the Journal, which support healing and progress. The recent reprinting of articles from earlier Journals has been very helpful also.
