METAPHYSICAL MEETING, August 20, 2012
Contents
| - Topic | |
| - Call to the meeting | |
| - Readings | |
| - Participant contribution A | |
| - Participant contribution B | |
| - Participant contribution C | |
| - Participant contributions D |
Topic
Commandments Four and Five
Call to the meeting
Our topic is the Fourth and Fifth Commandments.
The Fourth Commandment deals with the Sabbath, keeping it holy. A related article appears in this month’s on-line edition of The Christian Science Journal, — it’s not in the print edition. You can access it at this web address: http://shar.es/vE4Be It’s called “Commandment to heal,” by Victoria Jay.
It explains how “Sabbath Day” refers to the seventh day of creation in Genesis, and that to “keep it holy” is “to keep the completeness and absolute perfection of God’s creation always uppermost in thought.” How do we do this, and what can we expect from it? How specifically can that approach apply to the vitality of our branch church, all that it is, what it does, and where it’s headed?
The Fifth Commandment has a very different thrust, respect for our parents. While moral laws ensure the welfare of society, the fulfillment of moral responsibility assists us in advancing spiritually to demonstrate eternal life. There is also a complementary responsibility of parents to children (see Ephesians 6:4.)
How can we demonstrate the Fifth Commandment in our families and in our broader daily lives? Does this relate also to the progress of our church? How can we do that?
You are all welcome to participate in our meeting on the 20th, either in person or by teleconference, or by simply sending us an idea or two that you would like to share.
“I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil” — Christ Jesus (Matthew 5:17)
Readings
Ex 20: 1, 3, 8-12
Ps 107:23,24,29,30,32,33,36-38,41,42 (to :)
S&H 519:22-15
S&H 232:3,16-19,27-1
S&H 521:12
Hymn 112: “High to heaven let song be soaring”
Hymn 175: “Lo, He sent His Word and healed them”
Participant contribution A
1) The fourth commandment
The word “Sabbath” is from the same Hebrew root as the word “rest” used in Genesis 2:2,3 to describe God’s activity on the seventh day: He “rested on the seventh day from all his work” and “blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it”. The idea of God ceasing to act is unrealistic. After the metaphorical seven days of creation, God didn’t stop creating, creation didn’t stagnate. Creation is infinite activity, it continues to appear, and God is eternally creating it with no gap or cessation. God has always been creating and will always be creating. And, by reflection, man reflects this eternal creative activity of God.
Christ Jesus saw through the formalism of Jewish Sabbath prohibitions. He said, “The sabbath was made for man; and not man for the sabbath: Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath” (Mark 2:27,28). What is this Sabbath that was made for man and is, per the commandment, to be kept holy? Let’s start by removing the element of time. Every moment is holy. In every moment, our sole task is to glorify God by demonstrating man’s likeness to Him. It is a continuous activity. Being at rest in this activity means being at peace, being assured of God’s continuing presence in our lives and our church. It raises us to the condition expressed by Mrs. Eddy: “The calm and exalted thought or spiritual apprehension is at peace,” followed by activity, “Thus the dawn of ideas goes on, forming each successive stage of progress” (506:11). Being at rest with God, being in the Sabbath, is definitely a dynamic activity.
How does this relate to our church and our efforts to remain a vital force bringing Christian healing to our community, while also being wise about our circumstances? Well, if creation is infinite activity, then “church” is eternally active. We “afford proof of our utility” eternally. No material law or city code or economics can stop the activity of “church.” Being part of God’s continuing creative activity, “church” and all it represents is continuous. It cannot be stopped. Whether we know where we’re headed or not, we daily affirm these truths about our church. As we strive to be continually in the Sabbath and bring the Sabbath blessings to our community, our direction will be revealed and we will not fail.
2) The fifth commandment
When Moses relayed it to the Hebrew people, he was addressing the adults and instructing them to care for their aged parents, and by so doing, they would deserve to inherit their parents’ land. One could add to this that by caring for your parents you’re setting an example for your children to care for you, and therefore you will enjoy a longer life. Paul at least made it reciprocal — not only must children respect their parents, but parents must respect their children (Eph. 6:1-4, Col. 3:20,21). Even with this historical view, we’re still stuck in the relative, and need to raise it to the absolute.
While most interpreters consider this commandment to be the first commandment on the second tablet, that is, it belongs to the commandments about our relationship with others, it has a more spiritual meaning. It can be paired with the Third and Fourth Commandments in honoring God, who is our true Father-Mother. As we honor our Father-Mother, we will “inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matt. 25:34) and demonstrate eternal life.
In thinking about this commandment in a relative manner, I think about those who founded our branch church and left us this legacy. We honor them by continuing the healing work that they started in La Cañada. In the same way, we honor those who will come after us by leaving our branch on a firm foundation. Although relative in its approach, it is valid – we must give gratitude for the foundation our predecessors prepared for us. Likewise, we are entrusted with the solemn duty to continue to present Christian Science to our community and we rejoice in doing so.
The more absolute approach would be to look to God as our Father-Mother, the provider of all our needs. We affirm that we really do “richly inherit all good” (Hymn 135, v. 3) only from Him. Our Father-Mother is continually supplying every need of our branch church and of its members. He is providing every need of our community. The statement on the wall of our church, “Divine Love always has met and always will meet every human need” (494:10-11), isn’t just theory. It is in operation right now, actively showing us the way so that our days will be long in the land (the consciousness) that God is continually giving us.
Participant contribution B
Click here to download scanned document (PDF file, 2 pages.)
Participant contribution C
These two commandments deal with such different topics. One covers the Sabbath, the other the manner of dealing with one’s parents. While it’s natural to deal with them separately, it’s also important to realize they are both subsidiary to the First Commandment, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” The First commandment embraces the Allness and Oneness of God. Everything we are and everything we do have a spiritual reality that is the substance and Life that is God, which we reflect. And that reflection is permanent, wholesome, profitable, productive, satisfying, creative, joyous, kind, considerate, strong, balanced, perpetual, and so on.
We can look at the fourth and fifth commandments in that light, seeing our Sabbath duty as adhering exclusively to divine law, and our parental duty in realizing the love that is inherent between God and his spiritual idea, ever at hand to nurture our human situation.
1) The fourth commandment
The seventh day of creation, the Sabbath, is so symbolic of the completeness and absolute perfection of God’s creation. And that being the truth, we can rely upon it and demonstrate it.
Our church, for example, may be faced with elements of uncertainty for the future. But God knows nothing about uncertainty. His creation of ideas is the complete “structure of Truth and Love” (S&H 583:12,) and that means nothing could even potentially be lacking or inopportune. As we understand this completeness, we hear the Christ in our consciousness revealing what needs to be done.
No part of our church or of our own lives is separate from the completeness that is God and his idea. But what about the evidence of insufficient resources, disinterest on behalf of the community, limited opportunity, restrictive city regulations? Well, we walk in Spirit, and the ordinances of divine Love caring for it’s creation are omnipotent, occupying the whole ground. The all-encompassing regime of divine power leaves no opportunity unfulfilled, and no impossible environment. All is Mind and Mind’s established, populated, and productive ideas.
2) The fifth commandment
It’s been said that the first four commandments relate to our duty to God, and the remaining six to our obligations to our fellow-men. Be that as it may, with the admitted importance of moral law, all ten commandments have a wider significance related to our natural obedience to divine Principle, which guides us moment by moment to the realization of God’s Allness, manifest in our daily affairs.
The fifth commandment makes demands on us all. In recognizing our obligations to family relationships, we see that nothing can stand in the way of the law of Spirit, the harmony of Soul, the inevitable good of divine Principle. The Glossary in Science and Health defines Father as “eternal Life” (586: 9) and Mother as “Life, Truth and Love” (592: 16.) Those are the building blocks of church and all that it stands for, both in the absolute of divine law, and its usefulness as an organization. We know that our organization of church can only reflect the harmony of God’s relationship with His ideas, and that His ideas work together and with each other in ways that enhance the significance and usefulness of church in our community.
“We have nothing to fear when Love is at the helm of thought, but everything to enjoy on earth and in heaven” (Mis 113:25.)
Participant contributions D
Here are random statements from multiple contributors jotted down by one of the attendee:
The Sabbath is a joyous day.
A good article about the Commandments is in the recently published Anthology of Classic Articles III, page 81, Ten Good Lawyers, by Rebecca Odegaard.
The Fifth Commandment teaches self-discipline.
We never outgrow our need to know others as God knows them, knowing no material identity at all.
Hymn 237 in the Christian Science Hymnal relates well to our church:
O may we be still and seek HIm,
Seek with consecration whole,
Listening thus to hear the message,
Far from sense and hid in Soul.
In the book Mary Baker Eddy: Christian Healer, page 225, we read of Mrs. eddy's advice to Annie Robertson: “To know there is but one God, one Cause, one effect, one Mind, heals instantly. Have but One God, and your reflection of Him does the healing.”
A foundation for all churches is to set aside time for communion with God. Taking time to praise God is the Sabbath.
The respect implied in the Fifth Commandment includes the thought of listening. Unless we quiet our thought, we won't hear what God has to say.