Daily Bread

04/30/2012

there is no spoon – video – original english

From spoon bending—to absolute science

By Alison Bristow

Reprinted from The Christian Science Journal

Though more than a decade has passed since the hit movie The Matrix was released, its bold exploration of timeless, spiritual themes keeps it alive with fresh relevance—and still a topic of conversation.

In the film the lead character, Neo, visits a prophet in a futuristic world. When he arrives, he finds a room full of others who, like him, are spiritually gifted in some way. Neo has an exchange with one of them—a young boy—who is bending a spoon without the use of any physical contact or force. When the boy notices Neo’s interest, he gives him the spoon. Neo stares hard at the metal object—but nothing happens. Then the boy instructs him: “Do not try and bend the spoon. That’s impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth.” To which Neo asks, “What truth?” The young boy answers, “There is no spoon.” Upon hearing this, Neo is able to bend the spoon without physical effort.

We love him because he first loved us.

If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?

And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God loveth his brother also.

I John

(4:19-21)

Daily Bread

04/28/2012

A family support system

A Christian Science perspective on daily life.

Throughout the nation, families of all blends are grappling to some degree with these thoughts of uncertainty. It raises the question of what it means to be a family and how to care for one another in times of need.

Trusting God and knowing that He wants the best for us is not mere positive thinking. It rests on the spiritual fact of God’s love, manifest through a neighbor sharing some food, a friend volunteering to take care of one’s children, a co-worker giving someone a ride to work, a spouse helping out with extra chores, a friend sharing some outgrown clothes, and many more unexpected blessings.

Since the traditional nuclear family has become less common over recent decades, many people have found a broader sense of family, including other relatives, friends, and neighbors. This less rigid, less traditional concept of kinship opens us up to share in a broader way that hints at a divine context.

Mary Baker Eddy, who founded this newspaper and whose study of the Bible helped her overcome many dark moments as a single parent in great financial need, wrote, “Father-Mother is the name for Deity, which indicates His tender relationship to His spiritual creation” (“Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” p. 332). Each one of us is God’s spiritual creation, so we’re connected to one another in a very significant way. And prayer to feel more of this divine kinship brings a deeper understanding of who we are as part of this universal family.

Regardless of the degree to which families are or are not encountering economic challenges, everyone is united through our relation to “one Father with His universal family, held in the gospel of Love” (Science and Health, p. 577). Instead of self-contained family units, we can all reach out and reap the benefits of a more tolerant, inclusive, and spiritual concept of family. This finds us with open hearts and arms, truly inspired. Your Father-Mother God cares for you unfailingly.

To read the article in its entirety click on the link below:

A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.  By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

St. John 13:34-35

“With one Father, even God, the whole family of man would be brethren; and with one Mind and that God, or good, the brotherhood of man would consist of Love and Truth, and have unity of Principle and spiritual power which constitute divine Science”.

Mary Baker Eddy

(Science and Health, pp. 469–470)

Daily Bread

04/27/2012

‘Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?’

A Christian Science perspective.

By Colleen Douglass

Once, while he was addressing a large group of people, Jesus learned that his mother and brothers waited outside to speak to him. When told about it, he “pointed to his disciples and said, ‘These are my mother and brothers. Anyone who does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother!’ ” (see Matt. 12:46–50, New Living Translation).

His comments surely meant no disrespect, but they illustrated that his expansive view of family went beyond the limits of flesh and blood. This derived from perceiving God as his real Parent and led him to understand the spiritual nature of kinship that’s based on one’s relation to God and His children. 

LIVE— to discover your real worth

BY MARGARET ROGERS

From the May 7, 2007 issue of the Christian Science Sentinel

WHEN I GOT TO KNOW Patricia several years ago, one of the things that struck me was her delight in what she was learning every day about life with God at the center. She wasn’t full of religious talk, but she brimmed with joy.

When you read her story [see sidebar], you’ll see she didn’t get to that place easily. Suicidal thoughts tormented her for years. But healing power sprang her from that mental prison. Patricia wouldn’t claim to have solved all life’s problems, and yet she has discovered her worth in God’s eyes and seen that she has something to give to the world. Now she can look people in the eye, laugh, love, and live unashamed in a way she didn’t think possible in earlier years.

Anyone can experience the power of spiritual truth to end self destructive thoughts. No matter how hopeless or ruined you feel, God knows you as His/Her worthy and loved idea, and as such you can’t be controlled by these hateful thoughts. Surrendering to the truth of your spiritual identity will defeat awful monsters that feel as if they’re you. Anyone who wants to change for the better can certainly live without shame, fear, and the desire to die.

Power is not in the lie but in spiritual truth. The truth that there is one good Life, and that Life is God, destroys the lie of many enemies, and even many personalities. As individual expressions of one Life, we exist in unity and harmony with everything else that lives. Jesus’ ability to heal came from his total conviction of this harmony. When he saw a tormented person, he saw through the lie to the reality—perfect Life expressing itself right there in a perfect identity. In the presence of that understanding, people woke up to their true selves.

To see and understand in that Christlike way is to reflect God’s love. The more we practice doing this, the more alert and prepared we’ll be to help those who are suicidal, or those affected by another’s suicide. Whatever thought or action claims to have destroyed happiness, or even life, can’t really do it—because everyone’s identity is spiritual and continually progresses. The divine consciousness that heals isn’t confined by barriers called birth and death, past and present. It’s always revealing to everyone the truth that causes misery to flow away and makes darkness bright as morning. | 

To read the article in its entirety click on the link below:.
	LIVE— to discover your real worth – Christian Science Sentinel Source: sentinel.christianscience.com

WHAT I WAS ALWAYS LOOKING FOR IS WHAT I HAVE NOW

By PATRICIA ORNETT

From the May 7, 2007 issue of the Christian Science Sentinel

I wanted to feel light, free, and find a way out of the trap, the monotony. I wanted to say I was so, so sorry. To move on, comfort those around me, say it would be OK and mean it. I wanted to feel unity with everything and everyone. For a long time I didn’t feel any of this. What I now know is, those desires for a better existence were prayer (see Science and Health, p. 1).

Starting in middle school, I was obsessed by thoughts of suicide. I was diagnosed as manic depressive and given medications. I look them off and on, but they made me feel worse. Later I got into heavy drinking and eating disorders. At first they seemed to offer hope, a way out of suffering, and a opportunity to change myself. But at some point that suddenly flipped, and my fears became more extreme.

This all went on for about ten years. I felt I was letting down everyone trying to help me, and I couldn’t help myself with will-power. I longed to be a better person than I felt I was. Finally, I started to be honest with myself about my fears — for instance, the fear that I was worthless. Honesty was key. I learned not to be afraid to pour out my heart to God. And then I prayed that these fears be removed. It was letting God be God, instead of thinking I had to fix everything. Things started to shift. I felt the action of God, and the fears began lifting. I was becoming childlike and open to receive more.

Someone introduced me to Science and Health. When I began reading it, thought, “This is what I know.” But it went further than I thought was possible — it gave me a clear sense of a whole, new identity. It filled a longing, a memory, a hunger for Something I knew — that we’re spiritual. I read, “Matter has no life to lose, and Spirit never dies” (p. 275). And, “Man is more than a material form with a mind inside, which must escape from its environments in order to be immortal” (p.258). It made sense. I saw the stark divide between the material and the spiritual — and that the spiritual was the reality I wanted to live by.

Science and Health described the ground to be covered—where I’d been and where I was going. It was about divine Love meeting my human need. It showed me what my true job was—being still and receptive, removing fear, and opening entirely to a consciousness of Love’s presence. I began living in the clear light of divine Life, translating everything into spiritual ideas, watching God’s grace elevating my thought and experience.

Click on the link below to read Patricia’s story in its entirety.
	WHAT I WAS ALWAYS LOOKING FOR IS WHAT I HAVE NOW – Christian Science Sentinel Source: sentinel.christianscience.com

With God all things are possible.

(Matthew 19:26)

Start with God

By Klaus-Hendrik Herr

Reprinted from The Christian Science Journal

 Sometimes there are situations that seem so daunting that we might harbor doubts about whether there will be a healing or even a change for the better. We might think that with all the prayer that has gone into finding a solution, all the understanding that has been brought to bear on the situation, the outlook is still uncertain. These, however, are not thoughts coming to us from the divine Mind, but only an attitude of beleaguered mortal mind. Overcoming such fears is only another branch in the climb, and one we’re sure to master and leave behind since “… progress is the law of God, whose law demands of us only what we can certainly fulfill” (Science and Health, pp. 233 ). With continued trust in the spiritual Science of good, we’ll find ourselves in the arms of divine Love, where we’ve been all along, and rediscover our childlikeness and the understanding that we’re eternally safe in His care.

Christianly scientific prayer doesn’t start with need or insufficiency. Rather it’s looking out from the pinnacle of perfect Life and perfect Love. A hymn puts it this way: “From glory unto glory, / From strength to strength we go” (Frances R. Havergal, Christian Science Hymnal, No. 65).

Following this line of thought we arrive at different conclusions. It’s like experiencing the view from the top of the tree. We see God and feel more His saving power in our lives, rather than limiting ourselves to the perspective of the need to be saved or freed from something dire. And God is not just asking us not to fear; He also gives the reason for this demand: “Because I am with thee.”

Trying to become better or to be healed without the perspective of God with us includes fear and doubt, because it is limited to a kind of blind faith, without a reason to trust. But looking first to God for all and as All brings the reason for reliance and fearlessness—the actual presence of the Divine. The intention is not to get rid of sickness or to acquire something we think we need, but to get to know God, to get to know Him as Love and Truth. Whatever needs to be accomplished, in reality it’s always all about knowing in our hearts the full Truth. Starting in this way expresses a higher form of selfless reverence for the divine Ego and exclaims, “It’s all between You and me, God!” From there every challenge has a solution.

To read the article in its entirety click on the link below:

Start with God

Stop the bullying!

Stop the bullying!

This blog often addresses issues of individual health.  Today I would like to address a national illness: bullying.  In his recent book, The Time of our Lives, NBC Broadcaster Tom Brokaw wrote, “Now there’s a new form of injustice in schools across the nation: the anonymous taunts and vitriolic mocking designed to hurt and belittle a target for his or her adolescent awkwardness, sexual orientation, or ethnicity.

“There have been bullies as long as there has been adolescence, but the Internet tools of videos, anonymous postings, and profane attacks have taken this ancient cruelty to a new level.  It is an appropriate subject for parents, schools, communities, and grandparents to take up with the youngsters on the giving and receiving end” (p. 255).   It is also an appropriate subject for this blog.

Another young man has committed suicide after being cyber-bullied.  Fourteen-year-old Kenneth Weishuhn, Jr., of Iowa, killed himself last Saturday night as a result of death threats on his cell phone and being bullied by a Facebook hate group.  Another Facebook group has set up a memorial space for this young man and one post commented, “Unfortunately, the culture most of us have been raised in has been the mindset that you get ‘picked on’ in school and that’s just part of growing up.”  This does not have to be.

As a medium that addresses issues with the deepest of Christian motives, I am taking this opportunity to remind readers of some of the greatest words ever uttered, “Love one another”.  What happened to the God of love Jesus taught?  Why is it so easy to judge others?  In one of the most important discourses ever written on civility, decency and citizenship, Jesus stated, “Don’t condemn others, and God won’t condemn you.  God will be as hard on you as you are on others!  He will treat you exactly as you treat them.  You can see the speck in your friend’s eye, but you don’t notice the log in your own eye” (Matthew 7: 1-3, Contemporary English Version of the Bible).

Jesus did not teach a live of one-up-man-ship.   It is cowardice that hides behind a camera or computer and projects images – both written and visual – of others.  Jesus’ teachings are as revolutionary now as they were then.  They teach respect and courtesy for others, lessons more important than ever for all of us – no matter our religion or even our fervor for agnosticism or atheism. This is basic human decency.

We do not all look alike, act alike, or think alike.  It is time to recognize that fact and respect our differences, as well as our similarities.  I had a boss many years ago who would often say, especially after a customer was difficult, “Well, we are all God’s children”, and we are!

My freshman year of high school was not an easy time for me.  The school was out of control – I saw violence in the halls, drug deals in dark corners, and the smoking area outside wreaked of pot.  There were no closed halls – everyone roamed where they wanted, when they wanted.  It was chaos.  One particular gang rambled throughout the school finding someone weaker than themselves.  They would follow them, get them alone and beat them up.  One day I was their victim.  After they left, I found my friend, Bruce, who sat with me and just listened to me vent – he was a true friend.

That night amidst tears, embarrassment and complete lack of self-esteem, I turned to my Bible for some comfort.  What I found instead was shocking.  These words of Jesus confronted me, “You have heard people say, ‘Love your neighbors and hate your enemies.’  But I tell you to love your enemies and pray for anyone who mistreats you” (Matthew 5: 43, 44).  I couldn’t believe that was my answer – after all, I was the victim!

I threw the book across the room and turned off the light.  But those words continued to haunt me until I realized that really was the answer for me.  I needed to pray for this group. Anger, disillusionment and a lack of respect by others was what they were feeling also.  I resolved to overcome my fear with love.  It wasn’t easy.  But one day they cornered me again.  This time as one of them punched me in the stomach, I actually felt no pain, just an overwhelming sense of love.  The gang member looked at me puzzled, and then said, “Let’s get out of here!” and they took off.  That was the end of the attacks on me.

I continued to pray for the school throughout the summer.  The following school year everything had changed.  There was a new administrator, the halls were clean, there were rules, and they were enforced.  Halls were closed during  class times, and the gang was no where to be found.

THINGS DO GET BETTER.  Prayer is effective.  I am praying every day for our schools, universities and young people growing up in an internet age.  Our schools, churches, and communities need to be places of respect and love for all.  Let’s stop the bullying!

From The Official Blog of Thomas Mitchinson, Illinois Committee on Publication – See  link below:

Stop the bullying! | Christian Science in Illinois

Daily Bread

04/23/2012

 From the March 2, 1992 issue of the Christian Science Sentinel

Does your situation appear insoluble? Nothing is too hard for God. Or for you, with Love’s help. Maybe you’ve tried hard to change things but can’t. God can show you what to do next. There is always a way. Pray. Listen. It will come to you.

If you feel the need to talk to someone who will listen, care, and not condemn you, a Christian Science practitioner might be a good choice.

I can see now that all the praying and working—months of both, in my case—paid off. Every prayer, every treatment by a Christian Science practitioner, accomplished something. I’ve grown tremendously since then. And that spiritual growth was all so sure. It had to happen. It was mine right from the beginning, just so long as I kept on working and refused to give in to despair.

From the Sioux City Journal:

OUR OPINION: We must stop bullying. It starts here. And it starts now.

By the Journal editorial board | Posted: Sunday, April 22, 2012 8:00 am

Siouxland lost a young life to a senseless, shameful tragedy last week. By all accounts, Kenneth Weishuhn was a kind-hearted, fun-loving teenage boy, always looking to make others smile. But when the South O’Brien High School 14-year-old told friends he was gay, the harassment and bullying began. It didn’t let up until he took his own life.

Sadly, Kenneth’s story is far from unique. Boys and girls across Iowa and beyond are targeted every day. In this case sexual orientation appears to have played a role, but we have learned a bully needs no reason to strike. No sense can be made of these actions.

Now our community and region must face this stark reality: We are all to blame. We have not done enough. Not nearly enough.

This is not a failure of one group of kids, one school, one town, one county or one geographic area. Rather, it exposes a fundamental flaw in our society, one that has deep-seated roots. Until now, it has been too difficult, inconvenient — maybe even painful — to address. But we can’t keep looking away.

In Kenneth’s case, the warnings were everywhere. We saw it happen in other communities, now it has hit home. Undoubtedly, it wasn’t the first life lost to bullying here, but we can strive to make it the last.

To read more click on the link below:

OUR OPINION: We must stop bullying. It starts here. And it starts now.

Forgiveness and healing

By Tom Taffel

From the Christian Science Sentinel - April 18, 2012

Forgiveness promotes healing, and healing supports forgiveness; they are two different sides of the same coin. Unforgiving thoughts foster fear, hatred, and, on a grand scale, war and death. But an overly simplistic approach to forgiveness, such as, “Oh, never mind. Just forgive and forget!” only soothes personal resentment and sometimes postpones permanent healing. I’m continually learning that the key to true forgiveness is understanding more about God’s unconditional love. Love cannot develop and grow when there is an absence of forgiveness.  

True forgiveness always starts with healing our own thoughts, rather than the thoughts of others, because grievances are often based upon our perception of what we think others are thinking about us or doing to us. A mild annoyance can sometimes feel the same as a huge wrong, because both build walls around our hearts.  

Whether we are thinking thoughts of forgiveness or thoughts of resentment, anger, and hatred, thoughts are powerful and can be felt by others. “Good thoughts,” Mary Baker Eddy wrote, “are an impervious armor; clad therewith you are completely shielded from the attacks of error of every sort. And not only yourselves are safe, but all whom your thoughts rest upon are thereby benefited” (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, page 210). 

My understanding of true forgiveness was put to the ultimate test when, after many years of dedicated service to an organization, I was suddenly terminated, leaving me no recourse. My choices were: fight back, angrily defending my honor and integrity, or trust God’s unfailing law of adjustment. 

To learn more click on the link below:

WEB ORIGINAL Forgiveness and healing

This truth stands at the threshold of your thoughts a guest so new and strange that we know it must knock loudly and long before you open unto it – and yet once [past] the iron portals of belief which close against it, where truth sups with understanding, and ever thereafter will you say of it: We have entertained angels unawares.

Mary Baker Eddy

(Mary Baker Eddy – Christian Healer, page 129)

Prayer: the long and the short of it

A Christian Science perspective: Whether our prayers are long or short, the key is heartfelt sincerity and trust.

By Robert R. MacKusick / April  2012

Why is prayer always good, whether long or short, petition or affirmation? Even a short “No” to the negative and intimidating thoughts knocking at our door is powerful. Is it just the right words that make prayer effective? Or is it the heart, the motive – the sincere desire to turn to God, divine Love?

Since prayers can be effective even without words, it has to be the sincere, heartfelt desire that makes prayer always good. It’s our desire to love God, to please God and honor Him. In the chapter titled “Prayer” in the Christian Science textbook, Mary Baker Eddy wrote: “Audible prayer can never do the works of spiritual understanding, which regenerates; but silent prayer, watchfulness, and devout obedience enable us to follow Jesus’ example” (“Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” p. 4).

Whether our prayers are long, short, audible, or silent, or whether they involve patient listening, immediate trust, or instant denial of a bad situation, the key is heartfelt sincerity and trust in God’s presence, goodness, and lovingkindness to bless.

To read the article in its entirety click on the link below:

Prayer: the long and the short of it