Phil Davis, C.S.B.

A friend said this some time ago, about how we devote ourselves to one hour in church every week.  We hear the Word of God preached to us about His love for us and our need to love Him as well as those around us.  We hear about His ability to practically help, guide and heal if we devote ourselves to prayer and to spiritual growth.  And then within a minute we’re in the parking lot, walking to our cars, thinking about everything else but that spiritual message.

We all tend to think about lunch and get updates on what our friends are doing and just chit chat.  That’s normal.  But can we honestly say that the spiritual message from the pulpit is still in our thought?  Is it stirring our thought or did it just disappear on our way out the door?  Be honest now!

In some cases, it’s not just forgetting the message from church but actually acting in opposition to it.  I’ve seen and been told of members who shortly after the service, tell off-color jokes; use profanity; become critical or condemning of others; or even get into arguments with other church members.   I’ve seen a church member react violently to a church message of love and healing simply because it did not uphold her traditional view of church.

Maybe the next time you’re in church it would help to stay seated for just a second or two after the service, and pray that the Word of God, like the Sower and Seed parable, will take root and grow both in you and others.  You could pray for yourself: that God’s Word is still with me; that divine Mind’s reflection does not forget His word; and that I’m capable right now of living that Word and taking it further to help and heal others.  Just a few seconds after each service could make a huge difference in what happens in that parking lot and beyond!  I do think it’s true that what occurs after the church service is even more important than what happens during the service.

We are taught early on to measure progress by physical and human criteria.  As a child, we learn to measure the growth of the body by examining its height, weight, size etc.  At school we measure progress by test scores.  At work we measure our performance from the standards and goals that are set for us.  We measure financial progress by numbers.  I suppose all of these measuring tools have their place within the world we live in.

But when we are challenged with our health, at school or work or with finances, this kind of measuring can be very depressing and limiting.  And when looking to a spiritual solution, I have found that dwelling on the human condition actually works against the progress we desire.

That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t measure what’s going on.  You should.  Just make sure you measure by spiritual standards.  What does that mean?  Well, it starts with our thinking.  Are we looking to God, Good or looking to the body?  Are we learning more about how He is the source for our joy, happiness and fulfillment?  Or are we dwelling on all the interactions at home, school or work or the numbers in our bank account?

Mary Baker Eddy, who discovered Christian Science, wrote:

Anatomy, when conceived of spiritually, is mental self-knowledge, and consists in the dissection of thoughts to discover their quality, quantity, and origin.  Are thoughts divine or human? That is the important question. This branch of study is indispensable to the excision of error. The anatomy of Christian Science teaches when and how to probe the self-inflicted wounds of selfishness, malice, envy, and hate. It teaches the control of mad ambition. It unfolds the hallowed influences of unselfishness, philanthropy, spiritual love. It urges the government of the body both in health and in sickness. The Christian Scientist, through understanding mental anatomy, discerns and deals with the real cause of disease.

Dealing with “the real cause of disease” is far from ignoring the problem.  It is looking to a higher source for truth.  It is a focus on what divine Mind knows about us.  It is disciplined effort to understand how our Father/Mother God knows us as the child of His creating—perfect, whole, blessed.  Think about it.  Measuring the inspiration that comes from God is a whole lot more uplifting than all the stuff happening in our world.

Spiritual healing, even though it heals physical and other problems, is not just a human fix-it system.  It’s all about God and our relationship to Him.  The rest are symptoms.  You can change the symptoms by physical, human means, but that won’t get at the root problem.  On the other hand, when you make real progress with understanding God—how He beautifully loves and cares for you—that meets both the spiritual and human need.  And that’s worth measuring!

My good friend and fellow Christian Science practitioner just wrote an excellent blog in two parts:

Is Life a Debris Field?

Debris Fields, Part II

This is a blog on Christian Science, which by its very definition means that I have to be focused on God, prayer and healing.  Without these three, it just wouldn’t be about Christian Science.  In other words, God, prayer and healing represent vital aspects of Christian Science theology and practice.  So to leave any of these out would seriously mischaracterize Christian Science and diminish its application to the world.

Let me illustrate:

Without God there is no good.  In other words, the only good there is comes from God.  By leaving God out, you leave out good.  Someone might call it good or talk about a good result, but without it being attributed to God, it’s just a human concept.  This is not a question of semantics!  The difference between human good and God, Good, is profound.  Atheism or secular humanism says that good and bad are mere randomly occurring events.  You get both.  Is that really how you want good to be represented; as a random balance to bad?  Without the link to God, that’s all it is.  The same is true about gratitude, truth, love and good deeds.  So next time, don’t just say you’re grateful for the good, but remember to be grateful for who makes that good possible!

Whenever prayer is left out, the process of achieving something good is relegated to positive thinking, some form of mesmerism or a self-help approach.  Why?  Talking about how things just happen to turn out well is positive thinking.  Repeating a phrase over and over again is hypnotism.  Getting what you want is the definition of self-help systems.  In contrast, prayer as taught in Christian Science is God-centered.  It is an affirmation of His omnipotence and applied towards you and me as His perfect reflection.

Mentioning God and prayer without the proof of Healing makes Christian Science a mere philosophy.  Religious platitudes may give you a warm and fuzzy feeling, but forget any real practical result.  Healing is the only way to confirm the truth of our words, our prayers and our metaphysics.  To talk about spirituality and omit healing is equivalent to having a cause with no effect.

The purpose of this blog is to help us be alert to the influences around us that would have us unwittingly leave these three foundational points out of our writings, our testimonies in church and our discussions about Christian Science.  We should always applaud others for their philanthropy, charity, acts of love and kindness.  But the demand of Christian Science is to reach far higher than any human endeavor.  A greater spiritual understanding and closer relationship with God that brings practical blessings to ourselves and others is the goal.  And we can only do this through God, prayer and healing.

I think we’d all love to know what is going on in our lives—that there is a divine plan at work for us, to know exactly what that plan is, and when it will be realized.  And of course, God should only do what we want, right?!

Well, that rarely happens.  God’s ways are so much higher than our own.  That doesn’t mean He doesn’t care about us.  It doesn’t mean that our own desires in life don’t matter.  They do!  It is always  God’s desire to see us blessed, healthy, fulfilled, happy and joyous.

And yet, because there is usually a disconnect between divine Mind’s plan and our own, we don’t always see what He is doing on our behalf.  That’s where trust and prayer come in.

Many years ago, I set out to become a successful recording engineer.  I studied hard in college, took the recommended courses, excelled at them and found a job at a recording studio.  I prayed each step of the way.  But I was miserable.  The studio’s parent company was dishonest with their employees and clients, my boss was immoral and often high on drugs.  He hated my “boy scout” attitude.  Plus I was working long hours at near minimum wage.

I was willing to work hard and put up with hardships, but what really bothered me, was the more I prayed the worse it got.  Usually prayer in Christian Science worked really fast for me.  Now it wasn’t.  I felt lost.  But I kept praying.

I didn’t really figure it all out until a couple of years later.  What I thought was a year in hell was actually a watershed year of progress for me!

As much as I loved recording studios, (and I did!) I loved Christian Science far more.  A position turned up for my wife that year as a houseparent.  Suddenly I was surrounded by children—lots of them!  That childlike thought had quite an impact on me.  My goal for a successful career gradually shifted to a goal of greater love for God and others.  That same year I realized the need for class instruction and took it.  And all that led to the career of a full-time healing ministry in Christian Science.

What looked like stagnancy and a dark tunnel with no light at the end, was actually tremendous progress in the making.  I just couldn’t see it.

We all need God’s spiritual sense–His divine wisdom and vision.  But until we achieve it, there will be times when we don’t get it; when it looks like He isn’t helping us; when it looks like He isn’t fulfilling our desires.  It may even look like he is deliberately taking us away from what we want.

He isn’t.  He may be adjusting and lifting up those desires, but he is not forgetting us.  He never could.  He really loves us in every way.  But we need to be patient and constantly humbling ourselves  to know that He knows, better than we do, what’s best for us.

There are times when I still don’t see what God is doing for me and others.  But I know He is always there, ready to take us up higher in unexpected but beautiful ways; far better than we could ever plan.

If this is your situation, this Psalm may be helpful to you:

Trust in the Lord, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. Delight thyself also in the Lord; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.

There seems to be an increasing amount of information being presented today as Christian Science, but that doesn’t mean it is.  Maybe you’ve heard comments like these:

“You should get this new book or article that was written by Mary Baker Eddy”

“This new book or new movie is all about Christian Science.”

“Conventional health care is adopting Christian Science because of research on mind over matter, the placebo effect or how mentality affects disease.”

Actually, whenever I hear these kinds of comments, I’m immediately skeptical.  Why?  For several reasons.

First, I’m a student of the Christian Science that Mary Baker Eddy discovered and a member of the church she founded.  She said that her book, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, is the full statement of Christian Science.  She also said Christian Science is the Comforter that Jesus promised us.  In addition, Science and Health declares Christian Science as the “final revelation of truth to this age.”

While others are free to disagree with these statements, this defines the Christian Science that Mary Baker Eddy discovered.  And that’s what defines it for me.

So when someone tells me that something is written by Mary Baker Eddy, I ask:  how is that verified?  Does the Mary Baker Eddy Library verify it?  Even if Eddy is the author, who was it written to and within what context should it be read?

When someone tells me that statements, articles or books are on Christian Science, I ask:  What makes it Christian Science?  Is it fully supported by all of Mary Baker Eddy’s published writings, especially from Science and Health?  Is the author a full-fledged Christian Scientist or someone who is purporting his own hybrid religious views about Christian Science?

Hey, everyone is welcome to read what they want to read.  I would never try to censure anyone.  But the problem is, Christian Scientists who subscribe and dedicate themselves to Christian Science, are often given literature to read and are told it is genuine Christian Science when it is not.

The Christian Science that Mary Baker Eddy discovered is a specific, systematic and demonstrable approach to the worship of God.  That’s what makes it scientific!  Its foundation is the healing ministry Jesus taught and lived.

To emulate his ministry requires our devotion and practice.  That also means that it’s easy to depart from these teachings if one is not alert and aware.  And that has everything to do with our ability to help and heal others as well as ourselves.  That which may look and sound like Christian Science, could subtly move us away from its theology.  And when that happens we can end up drifting away from its healing practice and Christian Science as well.

So, if you care about that, get used to asking questions (the fine print).  If you wouldn’t buy the Brooklyn bridge for a bargain, don’t buy Christian Science look-alikes without a healthy degree of skepticism.  Yes, even blogs like mine should be subject to all the above questions.  My blog, hopefully, can be an augment but never a substitute to the foundation of the Bible and Science and Health.  They keep us on track.  No matter what you’re reading, if it doesn’t move you back to the real source materials of Christian Science with increased devotion, then I would not call it Christian Science.  I hope you would not either.

Some practitioners I know tell a similar story about telling a patient to pray for more humility.  The patient responds, “But I am humble!”  I had someone once say to me, “I’m the most humble person I know!”

Think about how you would respond to that one!

The truth is, we often think of ourselves as humble to some degree.  Some feel that there are times when we just have to stand up for ourselves and even times when we’re justified in getting frustrated, angry or resentful towards someone or some situation because it’s so unjust.

On the other hand, some might even discard humility as impractical.  They might think that the only way to get ahead in life is to think of yourself first—to be aggressive, self-serving and tough.

There is a humility, though, that is far different than most people think.  I think of humility as looking to God for the source of everything.  That’s right; humility is to God not to others.

There is a huge contrast between humility to God versus being humble to people.  For instance:

• Humility to people can be demeaning.  It can have a negative effect on self-esteem; feeling put down or even abused by others.  Humility to God is empowering.  Through it we are able to reflect His power, His dominion, and by it we live by divine authority, not letting others have authority over us.
• Humility to others can mean following what they want to do and having to give up our own plans and desires.  Humility to God is a realization that He knows what is best for us.  And as we do His will, He lifts up our desires and plans.  He doesn’t discard them.  He makes them better, higher, more expansive, having greater impact for good on ourselves, and on the world around us.
• Humility to people can lead to thinking of others as better or more important than us.  Humility to God means that everything about us comes directly from God—that we reflect all His qualities in our own special, unique way.  Yes, it’s true that we are no better than anyone else.  God loves each of us equally.  But that also means that no one is better than us!

Christ Jesus said that the greatest in the kingdom of God is a child.  And that’s because of their receptivity and readiness to grow and change.  But Jesus was talking about a child who looks to his parent for help, not to other children!  Let’s pray to be children before God in every spiritual way.  And as we look increasingly to our Father-Mother God, for help and healing, we can discover how to better love others from a basis of equality not subjection.

No, this isn’t about a new sweetener for coffee.

Most Christian Scientists will recognize those words from a poem by Mary Baker Eddy called “Christ My Refuge.”  (see entire poem below)  I had someone recently ask me what those words mean.  The verse reads:

O’er waiting harpstrings of the mind

There sweeps a strain,

Low, sad, and sweet, whose measures bind

The power of pain,

If that kind of spiritual music can bind the power of pain, then it’s worth giving more thought to those three words.  With the help of a few dictionaries and a few friends, I came up with these thoughts.

“Low” can refer to each note’s “fundamental”.  Music is made up of many sounds.  Some help define the sound, but without the fundamental for each note, there is no individuality to each sound and therefore no identity to the music.

“Sad” can mean serious, wise, prudent, sober and permanent.  It’s not shallow, light or just for the moment.  And as such, it moves our thought and changes our entire perspective.

“Sweet” means mild, soft, gentle, harmonious; as in the “sweet” bestowing of His love upon us.

With those definitions it’s easier for me to realize what the Christ, Truth brings to our consciousness.  It is God’s law of Life and Love for each of us.  It moves us off a material to a spiritual foundation which changes our whole approach to life.  And through this we feel that divine grace—His amazing grace; lifting us up, redeeming us and restoring us to wholeness.

There’s no doubt that the impact of such a transformation would instantly nullify pain as well as result in healing.

I’m sure there’s more to say on these three words.  What are your thoughts?

Christ My Refuge

By Mary Baker Eddy

Have you noticed how many traditionally quiet places are becoming endangered?  Airports, airplanes, elevators, hotel lobbies, grocery and department stores, taxis have tvs for news, weather and ads.  Even roadways now have billboards that display bright videos.  It’s becoming harder and harder to find public places where some form of media isn’t aggressively trying to get your attention and keep it.

Is this so bad?  I think it is.  As a metaphysician and a Christian Scientist, I see the world as not just made up of what we see with our eyes.  I see a world where thought and our thought process mean everything, and have an impact on everything around us.  

Some may think this is what life is like in the 21^st century.  Some may think it’s no big deal.  But losing the ability to think clearly is a big deal!  And one mentality controlling another is still called mind control.  Left unchallenged, it will always have a profound and debilitating impact on our identity, well-being and health.

This aggressive, intrusive media provides what our society thinks it needs—a constant flow of new, titillating, quickly changing information to satisfy our multitasking, busy lives.  And then we wonder why so many children and adults are diagnosed with attention deficit disorder and why so many look to drugs, massages, meditation and relaxation techniques to calm down.

Some would argue that this frantic information stream is good because we’re thinking and using our brains more.  But the fact is, we’re not.  There have been studies that prove that people don’t multitask as well as they think they do.  In fact, multitasking usually results in doing each task less well than if we did them one at a time.

But that’s just a side note.  The major problem with this expanding media blitz is that it tries to takes away our ability to think clearly, and especially to think spiritually.

So, what do we do?  Do we just have to put up with it?  No!

The beauty of prayer, especially as taught in Christian Science, is that it gives us the ability to tune out all the distractions no matter where we are, no matter what we see and hear.  How?  

• First, be alert to it.  Don’t just be numb to it.  Know what’s going on around you.  You can’t deal with it if you’re unaware of it.
• Second, Challenge it mentally.  You’re not a mindless sponge.  Realize as an intelligent, individual child of God, you have the God-given ability to “think and act rightly.”
• Third, Cherish what God gives you—His love, wisdom, grace—focusing more on what God is and what He knows about you.  This is the starting point of prayer, and one of the effects of this prayer is to nullify the hypnotic influences of this world.

No matter how noisy this world gets, God is still with us, still loving us and we always have access to Him.  We can easily paraphrase and apply the Apostle Paul’s words to this, and say:  For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor images, nor blaring voices, nor seductive techniques shall be able to separate us from the love and peace of God.

Here are a couple of health care facts for you.  The current cost of treating incurable diseases in the USA is over a trillion dollars a year.  90 cents of every Medicare and Medicaid dollar is spent treating these diseases.*

We’re not talking about curing or healing.  This is just about providing medication to alleviate the symptoms.  It is what the industry calls “managing disease.”  There’s no real hope of curing the problem—just “managing” it.  And it has become so common that it extends into every aspect of life—not just health care.

So, some questions to ask yourself:  Are you just managing your problems, not only for health care but for other challenges in your life?  Have you learned to just live with them, trying to just cope as best you can?  Have you found a way to make some of symptoms go away, but don’t really expect complete healing?

If so, then you’ve been influenced by the millions of people around you, to just deal with life the best way you can.  The problem is, just coping with problems and never really solving them, is not a very fulfilling or satisfying way to live.  In fact, it can be downright depressing.

Christian Science presents an entirely different approach.  While many think that it is their problems that cause them to be disappointed or to give up, it’s really the opposite.  Regardless of our problems, we decide if we’re going to be disappointed or give up.  We choose our mentality and that determines the outcome.

Once I suffered from a chronic restrictive physical illness.  One night I had a dream that I couldn’t do something in my dream because of this handicap.  It literally woke me up from sleep and woke me up spiritually.  I had accepted this illness as part of my identity.  How could I expect healing when the problem was part of who I was?  Unwittingly, I was accepting my disease rather than realizing it was never connected with me.  Shortly after that I noticed the problem began to get better until it was fully healed.

We control our own thoughts.  We choose to be disappointed or hopeful.  We choose to dwell on the problems of our life or to look upward to God for help.  We choose to accept how bad it looks or to look for a higher, more spiritual answer in life.  The fact is, expectancy is crucial.  It’s hard to be disappointed when you’re expectant.  It’s difficult to dwell on your problems, when you find really good reasons to expect healing.  And God is the only good reason to expect healing!

I’ve said before that Christian Science is not positive thinking.  Only God heals.  Only God brings practical good to our lives.  The understanding that there is one, omnipotent Mind, life, Truth and Love, will always bless and heal.

The effectiveness of Christ Jesus’ healing ministry and the fact that he taught his disciples to heal, gives us great reasons for expectancy.  The discoverer of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, had the same effective healing record.  She once wrote:  “Realize the presence of health and the fact of harmonious being, until the body corresponds with the normal conditions of health and harmony.”  That takes a firmness of thought and consistent expectancy.  But if it’s based on the “presence of health and the fact of harmonious being”—God’s law—then we will do far less managing and far more healing.

(Thanks to U.S. military chaplain, Brian Hall, for suggesting this topic to me.)

________________________________________

*  Health Information Website  http://bit.ly/w1NKv3

Goodness never fails to receive its reward, for goodness makes life a blessing. As an active portion of one stupendous whole, goodness identifies man with universal good. Thus may each member of this church rise above the oft-repeated inquiry, What am I? to the scientific response:  I am able to impart truth, health, and happiness, and this is my rock of salvation and my reason for existing.

This quote from Mary Baker Eddy speaks about our purpose in life—a very special purpose.  Even though these words were written to members of her church, the truths in it apply to everyone.

If you don’t feel very special right now; if you don’t feel like you have much purpose in life, then this citation can help you to pray for yourself.  There’s nothing in this citation that is just hoping or pleading with God.  These phrases “…goodness makes life a blessing” and “…goodness identified man with universal good” are powerful declarations that you directly reflect the good that is God.

Think about those words:  “I am able…”  When others say, “You can’t…” or “You aren’t…” try using the phrase instead, “I am able…”.  Your prayer might sound something like this:

God is a “very, present help in trouble.”  In other words, He really cares about me and I am able to acknowledge it, even be grateful for it right now.

No matter how lost or useless or directionless I feel, I am still able to trust that I dwell “in the secret place of the most High” and “abide under the shadow of the Almighty.”  What I feel is not as important as what I am able to declare and understand.

No matter how dark things look, I am able to see God’s good around me.  No matter how small or insignificant it seems, it is still evidence of His light, presence and care.

No matter how unjust and unfair my situation is, I am able to look beyond it to God’s law at work in my life.  I am able to realize that my life depends solely on Him.  By trusting fully in Him, I am able to see that neither my happiness or my life depends on what another person does to me.  God and my relationship to Him are the only factors.  God only sees me as a victor, never a victim!

I am able to walk through this world because of God’s love for me.  Yes, God is Love.  Yes, God loves all His children.  But right now, I am able to know that He loves me.

In God, I am able!  In God, I have purpose and life.

Several years ago while traveling in Germany, some friends and I toured a castle on the Rhine.  At one point, the tour guide announced we would go to the dungeon to see several torture devices.  One of my dear friends stayed behind.  She said to me, “I know these things happened.  I know it’s part of the history, but I don’t need see it or go down there.”

I was so impressed by her stand and the words she chose.  She was not ignoring the evil of a dungeon or the torture that took place there.  She was aware of it, but chose not to take in more of it or be brought down to that level of thinking.

There seems to be a fascination with and desire for dark topics today, whether it’s in the news, in conversation, or what we read in books or watch in movies.  Some admit that they like the excitement.  Others may even try to argue that these dark scenes and plots, usually involving graphic sensuality, gore and violence, are somehow educational or helpful to them.  I do not.

We all decide what we’re willing to endure when it comes to dark topics.  However, it is also true that you can know something is bad, be aware of it and alert to it without having to dwell on it, study it and look for it.  I find that such fascination does not lead us upward, but tends to take us downward in thought and make it far more difficult to heal these evils.  Being fascinated with evil practices is a type of hypnosis drawing you down from the towers of light, joy and harmony into the dungeons of bondage to matter-based thinking.

Mary Baker Eddy writes about this:  “What is the model before mortal mind? Is it imperfection, joy, sorrow, sin, suffering?  Have you accepted the mortal model? Are you reproducing it? Then you are haunted in your work by vicious sculptors and hideous forms. Do you not hear from all mankind of the imperfect model? The world is holding it before your gaze continually.”

The same thing happens when we get sick.  We tend to look right at the body and keep looking at it, fascinated by the problem.  Or if something bad happens to us at home or work we tend to play back that mental scene over and over.  Well, Eddy tells us what to do about it:  “To remedy this, we must first turn our gaze in the right direction, and then walk that way. We must form perfect models in thought and look at them continually, or we shall never carve them out in grand and noble lives.”