METAPHYSICAL MEETING, January 18, 2010
Contents
| - Topic | |
| - Call to the meeting | |
| - Readings | |
| - Member contribution A | |
| - Member contribution B | |
| - Member contribution C | |
| - Member contribution D | |
| - Member contribution E | |
| - Member contribution F |
Topic
Stationary power, stillness and strength. (Rev. 93:14)
Call to the meeting
All are invited to come to the next metaphysical meeting on Monday, January 18, 2010 at 7:30 in the Reading Room to share ideas on this phrase from Ret 93:14: STATIONARY POWER, STILLNESS AND STRENGTH as applied to ourselves and to our church.
The full citation is as follows: “The best spiritual type of Christly method for uplifting human thought and imparting divine Truth, is stationary power, stillness, and strength; and when this spiritual ideal is made our own, it becomes the model for human action.” Ret 93:14
What does this mean to us? To the unfoldment of our Church? How do we make spiritual ideals our own? And apply them as our model for human action?
For example, let’s consider ideas and related readings and hymns below. We look forward to a lively discussion.
Readings
Hymn # 354 - 'Tis God the Spirit leads
The true sense of strength as in “I will love thee O Lord my strength” [ Ps 18:1]
“Hold perpetually this thought, --that it is the spiritual idea, the Holy Ghost and Christ, which enables you to demonstrate, with scientific certainty, the rule of healing, based on its divine Principle, Love, underlying, overlying, and encompassing all true being.” S&H 496:15-19
Hymn # 119 - Holy Spirit, source of gladness
Stillness as in “Be still and KNOW…” [Ps 46:10]
39 And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.
40 And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?
41 And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him? Mark 4:39-41
Hymn # 37 - City of God, how broad and far
Stationary power as in standing still and seeing the divine unfoldment manifest.
And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will shew to you to-day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to-day, ye shall see them again no more for ever. Ex14:3
15 And he said, Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou king Jehoshaphat, Thus saith the Lord unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God's.
16 To-morrow go ye down against them: behold, they come up by the cliff of Ziz; and ye shall find them at the end of the brook, before the wilderness of Jeruel.
17 Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the Lord with you, O Judah and Jerusalem : fear not, nor be dismayed; to-morrow go out against them: for the Lord will be with you.
20 ¶ And they rose early in the morning, and went forth into the wilderness of Tekoa: and as they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem; Believe in the Lord your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper.
21 And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers unto the Lord, and that should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and to say, Praise the Lord; for his mercy endureth for ever.
22 ¶ And when they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambushments against the children of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir, which were come against Judah; and they were smitten. II Chron 20:15-17;20-22
“Mind demonstrates omnipresence and omnipotence, but Mind revolves on a spiritual axis , and its power is displayed and its presence felt in eternal stillness and immovable Love.” Ret, p. 88-89.
“Universal Love is the divine way in Christian Science.’ S&H 266:18
Member contribution A
It seems to me that a Christian Science church service helps to uplift human thought and impart divine Truth. It also seems to me that part of our branch church’s mission is to do the same.
In response to the question of how do we make spiritual ideals our own and apply them as our model for human action, I would respond that we need to follow A Rule for Motives and Acts found in the Church Manual on page 40 and Alertness to Duty on page 42.
Member contribution B
Strength
I was mightily surprised when I found that Webster’s first definition of “strength” is “moral courage,” not “physical force or vigor,” the second definition. To me, “moral courage” is doing right, even when world opinion or even our own personal preferences have other ideas. Our church and its members employ moral courage every day. We heal, curing incurable diseases, so-called everyday sickness, moral issues, social issues. No inharmonious situation is beyond the reach of Christian Science treatment. We stay “abreast of the times” (Man. 44:21), maybe even leading “the times.” The new direction of The Christian Science Monitor is certainly an example of leading “the times.” This spiritual strength will give us the moral courage to venture into untested waters and succeed. We obey our Leader and our Master. We don’t get pulled into activities or healing methods that are counterproductive. Our first hymn (354) tells us that we do the work through God’s strength and power to glorify Him, and Mrs. Eddy promises that we can do it with “scientific certainty” (496:17).
Stillness
One of the best statements of “stillness” is in Mrs. Eddy’s exegesis of the second day of creation: “The calm and exalted thought or spiritual apprehension is at peace.” She goes on to give the result of that “stillness”: “Thus the dawn of ideas goes on, forming each successive stage of progress” (506:11). So, to be assured of spiritual progress personally or in our church, we must have the absolute assurance that God is the only power. This is being peaceful.
It’s interesting that the second day of creation is the day that the firmament is created. In some ways, we can consider our church as being representative of the firmament, “Spiritual understanding; the scientific line of demarcation between Truth and error, between Spirit and so-called matter” (586:15). One of the purposes our church can fulfill is to bring spiritual understanding to our community with our Manual-based activities: services, Sunday school, reading room, lectures. Through these activities, we can help draw the line between Truth and error and raise the consciousness of the entire community. This week, for example, instead of being impressed by this series of storms, we can raise thought to the understanding that everybody is safe, that nobody is vulnerable, that we can “hold” this so-called crime of arson and its aftermath “in check” (97:1-2).
In the readings, both Moses and Jehoshephat were told to “stand still and see the salvation of the Lord” (Ex 14:13 and II Chron 20:17). This stillness doesn’t imply a lack of action. For Jehoshephat and his army, he was told not only to stand still and see salvation, but also to fear not, be not dismayed, go out, believe, praise, and sing. This is a nice representation of “salvation,” as defined in the textbook: “Life, Truth, and Love understood and demonstrated as supreme over all; sin, sickness, and death destroyed” (593:20). Standing still results in healing; we’re standing for Truth. With respect to our church’s direction, we can banish our own fear as we go out into the community, praising and singing to the Lord. It can only bless.
Stationary power
Another surprising definition! “Stationary” means “unchanging in condition; stable.” God’s power is certainly unchanging. So, too, is our church. We reflect the stationary power of God. “The structure of Truth and Love” is unchanging throughout eternity. The physical manifestation may change, and has throughout the ages, but spiritual structure and its benefit to mankind is stable. This truth gives us the assurance that we can go forward without impacting our station and role in the community or in our hearts. “Church” fully expresses the stationary or unchanging power of God, benefitting each of us and every person in the community. It is doing that now and it will continue to, wherever and in whatever form our new location is.
Member contribution C
As I've been thinking about “stationary power, stillness and strength” as it relates to the work of church, I've been including our most recent focus: does our highest concept of church reside in a particular location? How do we express the willingness to be still while human footsteps are going forward? How do we know which path is the correct one?
Years ago, my Christian Science teacher reminded us that “patient waiting is active knowing.” So — we stand on the spiritual fact that our power, which comes from our Father-Mother God, is stationary, unwavering, rightly placed, focused, firm; our stillness allows us to be better listeners; our strength is equal to our task and stands us in good stead throughout any task we are given. We know this on a continuing basis, never allowing our thought to drift, enfolding family, neighbors, friends, colleagues in this divine message of Love's provision for all Her children. And all are blessed by this stand.
Member contribution D
“Stationary power, stillness and strength.” These terms stand out in a couple of significant ways. Firstly, the “stationary” aspect implies a firm foundation, unchallengeable Truth, the total reliability of Love, the inexhaustible energy of Soul, the undying and undiminishable certainty of the Christ.
This leads to a second point, that church, being “whatever . . . proceeds from divine Principle ” (S&H 583:12), is the activity of the Christ. The Christ is God’s law in action in human lives. It’s what flows naturally from Principle. It’s more than a divine impetus that carries us along if we listen correctly, though it certainly is that; rather, in the spiritual realm it is the activity of Life, Soul, and Love, which is fully manifesting itself, which never dies, and which is for ever the outflow of the divine [God’s] inspiration.
It must be still because the Christ-idea flows continuously, uninterrupted and uninterruptible.
It must have power because the divine idea manifests God’s omnipotence, which can never be opposed, which conveys certainty to divine Mind’s creation.
It must have strength because it overturns and destroys everything unlike it’s own progressive spiritual idea.
The Christ, God’s law in action in human lives, is the kernel of our church. It’s what makes it Christian, serving the needs of all humanity. Principle and Truth are the basis of all reality, which is spiritual, and this makes the Christ direction scientific.
Understanding this, we can expect erroneous conceptions to fall away, because there are no such concepts. We can expect disinterested humanity to awaken to the joy and warmth of the Christ presence, because man is naturally the expression of the divine. We can expect a right place for our church because omniscient Principle cannot fail to be expressed.
The spiritual power may be stationary in that it is immovable, already fully established as “the divine, the spiritual, and the eternal” (My 160:6), but this underpins and facilitates spiritual activity in its most profound, inevitable, spiritual manner.
Member contribution E
The verse from Isa. 28:10, ” For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept;
Line upon line, line upon line;” comes to mind. As we trust in God’s Love, understand His works, and see them demonstrated in our lives and daily activities, we place more
And more trust and Love in God’s hands. This foundation stands fast and is sure, proven!
As we work out our own demonstration spiritually and uncover the Truth that unfolds the Christ to us, we take larger and more sturdy steps in giving all to God. A beautiful healing brought my father into the study of Christian Science while he was at University. He was an academia and loved ideas. Little did he know he would have an occasion to put these ideas into practice so soon. He was new in his studies and understanding of God as All. His relationship to God was just unfolding. He had his hands full with a growing family at home and his studies for his Doctorate at University. Those that had reached out to him to share Christian Science had assured him of Mrs. Eddy’s discovery as proven and solid in its foundation. He held to God’s healing law with all he had. I don’t know what his thoughts were but I know held to only one authority, the spiritual laws of Principle. A loving practitioner assured him that all was well and the healing came.
That is the gift he gave his family as he marched us over from the Methodist Church to the Christian Science Church. It was in the Sunday School that we all learned these unchanging laws of divine Principle, the lessons of Jesus healing Love for all mankind. Through the years the law of God’s goodness was demonstrated time and again with healings from accidents, supply, childhood diseases, relationships. But what does this have to do with tonight’s topic of stationary power, stillness and strength? I believe the one aspect of church that we all relate to be the healing factor of uplifting the human consciousness by imparting the divine Truth. We trust in this foundation and have proof of God’s law. The best spiritual type of Christly method is when we make this spiritual idea our own, and then it becomes the model for human action. Our action of loving one another, healing one another, helping one another is what I think Mrs. Eddy had in mind with “uplifting human thought and departing divine truth”.
I’m so grateful for the incredible love of those individuals who reach out and share their spiritual understanding of the Bible and Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures to the seekers of this world, (one being my dad) because of the healing of my younger brother and because this gift is continually blessing mankind. We as a church have this opportunity to bless as we go out into our community and help our fellow man. We all have proof from our many healings, that is.
Member contribution F
In contemplating the chosen text, I was reminded of the point at which, in times past, I have become still and held to the truth steadfastly with my whole heart. This moment has come perhaps after much mental wrestling, but nonetheless, the result has been a change of thought and healing. Since we are not, in actuality, ever in an adversarial posture with our Father-Mother, could we not enter this communion sooner rather than later? I postulate that there is a moment in every adverse circumstance when we have the opportunity to decide whether God is omnipresent or He is not. At these times, we can cease reacting to a dream sequence and wake up to harmony. One of the most vivid examples of this in the Bible is when the children of Israel are at the shore of the Red Sea. Moses replied to the despairing throng, “Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will shew to you to-day.”
What is the reason we should expect to see our vision of church realized and to be found housed in a beautiful manifestation of Truth and Love? Why do we deserve this? It is a fait accompli if we but go forward with expectancy and conviction in God’s providence for us and mankind. “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.” (Jer. 29:11)
In Psalms 46 we read, “Be still and know that I am God.” Is it really as simple as that? We have divine authority to calmly but resolutely plead, to protest, to expect, to insist, to demand, and to know that nothing can resist the unfoldment of good. “Fear not little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” Mrs. Eddy, in Miscellaneous Writings, reminds us of this childlike simplicity:
“Truth is, and ever has been, simple; and because of its utter simplicity, we in our pride and selfishness have been looking right over it. We have been keeping our eyes turned toward the sky, scanning the heavens with a far-off gaze in search of light, expecting to see the truth blaze forth like some great comet, or in some extraordinary manner; and when, instead of coming in great pomp and splendor, it appears in the simpleness of demonstration, we are staggered at it, and refuse to accept it; our intellectual pride is shocked, and we are sure that there has been some mistake. Human nature is ever the same. The Jews were looking for something transcendently wonderful, and the absence of it made the Christ, Truth, to them a stumbling-block. It was foolishness to the Greeks, who excelled in the worldly wisdom of that day; but in all ages of the world it has ever been the power of God to them that believe, not blindly, but because of an enlightened understanding.” (Mis. 469: 5)
That childlike simplicity is evident here among us, a sign of our rebirth. We have each chosen to exemplify the simplicity of Jesus teachings as the very substance of our lives and this humble desire will bring us into the green pastures of an ever-increasing spiritual purpose and home.
Hymn 17
Be firm, ye sentinels of Truth,
God's day of rest is near;
All scowling shapes of darkness flee;
The morning star shines clear.
Your constant challenge, Who goes there?
As idle words must cease.
How can the prince of this world now
Delay the Prince of Peace?
With healing in his wings he comes,
God's messenger of love,
'Tis yours to sound the trumpet call,
His Science yours to prove.