METAPHYSICAL MEETING, April 15, 2013
Contents
| - Topic | |
| - Call to the meeting | |
| - Readings | |
| - Participant contribution A | |
| - Participant contribution B | |
| - Participant contribution C | |
| - Participant contribution D |
Topic
The role of Christ in church
Call to the meeting
Our next metaphysical meeting will beon Monday, April 15th at 7:30 p.m. in the reading room. You may attend in person, via teleconferencing, or via skype. We hope you will join us in one form or another. You all are always welcome. The topic chosen for this meeting is: “The Role of Christ in Church.”
It isn’t necessary to have done a great deal of research or read all of the suggested citations. They are just that - suggestions for your study. These meetings are just a part of our daily prayers for our church and meant to provide a way of sharing new insights and revelations. You are welcome to just come or call in to listen. Participation can take many forms and everyone’s participation is appreciated.
Bible: Colossians 2: 1 - 10; 3: 1 - 4, 11-17, 23,24.
Science and Health: 28: 9; 27: 28 - 29; 136: 1
Miscellaneous Writings: 145: 3 (the)
“Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. Remember that the Lord will give you an inheritance as your reward, and that the Master you are serving is Christ.” Col: 3: 23, 24 (New Living Translation)
Readings
The Bible (NRSV):
Acts 7: 48 the
Acts 9: 31-35
I Corinthians 1: 1-3, 10
The writings of Mary Baker Eddy:
Man. 17: 8
Man. 19:1-6
S&H 145:31
S&H 473:10-15, 26-29
Mis. 252:17-25, 31 it is the pearl priceless
Participant contribution A
To understand the role of Christ in church, I decided I’d better find out what the Christ does. In the Platform of Christian Science, planks 9, 10, and 11 tell us what the Christ does:
1. Voices good
2. Speaks to the human consciousness.
3. Dispels the illusion of the senses
4. Heals the sick
5. Casts out evils
6. Destroys sin, disease, and death
7. Reveals the divine Principle, Love
8. Leads into all truth
9. Illustrates the coincidence, or spiritual agreement, between God and man in His image.
I thought I’d take each of these nine points and consider how the Christ relates to our branch church and its forward momentum.
1 and 2. The Christ voices good. The Christ speaks to the human consciousness.
Combining 1 & 2 seems like a good idea. If the Christ is voicing good, something has to hear it. That something is the human consciousness. So, the human consciousness hears the good that the Christ voices. In the case of our church, what are we hearing? We are progressive, eternal, whole, full of the ideas of God, complete, ever-expanding (a reflection of God’s ever-expanding creation), harmonious, unified, abundant. We are hearng that whatever the answer is for our physical plant, we cannot be put out of business. Whatever the human opinions are, we are harmonious and one with God. Our church reflects the infinite resources of God, whether it be realized in enough members and finances to fulfill our mission, Sunday school students to fill the room, Reading Room visitors to utilize and appreciate our offering, purchasers of Science and Health, congregants to fill the seats. The Christ is voicing abundance.
We must acknowledge that the Christ isn’t voicing this good only to us, but also to everybody who thinks about our church or who is in need of healing. This would include just about everybody. They, the people who haven’t yet found us, hear this Christ message and are lead to follow it. The people who will be involved in the solution to our physical plant hear the good that the Christ is voicing to them and act on it.
The Christ message is loud and can’t be avoided!
3. The Christ dispels the illusions of the senses.
What are the illusions of the senses regarding our church? Lots of seats in the church auditorium, not many congregants. Lots of room in the Sunday school, not many students. Lots of desire to move forward, not enough members to carry it out. An underutilized Reading Room. An invisible church and Reading Room despite our location. Ambivalence or even antagonism toward Christian Science. A deteriorating physical plant. To much time has gone by in working out a solution for our physical plant.
I am reminded of the trial scene in Science and Health. The prisoner is sentenced to death. The account continues:
Ah! but Christ, Truth, the spirit of Life and the friend of Mortal Man, can open wide those prison doors and set the captive free. Swift on the wings of divine Love, there comes a despatch: “Delay the execution; the prisioner is not guilty” (433:31-3).
Our branch church is not guilty of committing the so-called “crimes” of the mortal senses. The Christ is speaking to each of us, declaring that we are eternal, full of Life, fulfilling our mission so that all may be blessed by Christian Science being represented in this community. These illusions that seem to be, simply aren’t.
4, 5, and 6. The Christ heals evil, sin, disease, and death.
Of course, we all know that the Christ heals. One of the ways our church shows this role to the world is through Christian Science lectures we provide to the community. Another is through our own individual demonstrations of Truth, which we need to talk about so that our friends know about them. The fact that the Christ does the healing takes the pressure off us, so to speak. Listening for the Christ-message, we will hear exactly what we need to hear to realize healing for every discordant condition or situation, for ourselves or for our church. This healing mission of the Christ is available to all. We take it to the community through our interactions with the community. Every interaction has the opportunity to bless those with whom we meet, because the Christ is participating.
7 and 8. Reveals the divine Principle, Love, and leads into all truth.
Church is “The structure of Truth and Love; whatever rests upon and proceeds from divine Principle” (583:12). It seems to me, then, that the Christ is revealing church. It is revealing church in the human consciousness. As this consciousness understands more and more of the true Church, it is led into all truth. The result could be considered the second paragraph in the definition of Church, in which the “dormant understanding” is roused “from the apprehension of spiritual ideas and the demonstration of divine Science.”
9. Illustrates the coincidence, or spiritual agreement, between God and man in His image.
The glorious result of the role of the Christ in our branch church is the demonstration of the agreement between God and man.
Participant contribution B
The Christ is a leaven in our church, in our lives. While looks may be dormant, the Christ is ever active, bringing things to fruition. It makes us aware of the truth we need to hear.
Participant contribution C
The Christ is ever perfect and ever complete. The Christ is always bringing us inspiration and healing.
Participant contribution D
“Christ: The divine manifestation of God, which comes to the flesh to destroy incarnate error.” (S&H 583:10-11)
Because man is the “idea, the image of God”, the Christ speaks to all mankind, whether or not they are church members, whether or not they are Christians, whether wehther or not they are Christian Scientists. The divine manifestation of good permeates all consciousness. It also permeates church, since we can regard church as any manifestation of divine Principle in human affairs, and any organization that serves to imporve mankind through a higher understanding of God.
Thus Christian Science does not have sole ownership on the Christ. But it does present a spiritual understanding of the Scriptures that makes its teaching practical in every respect of human existence. That’s what makes it unique. The Christ is central to this because it represents the active working of God’s Love in human consciousness. The more we can be alert to this, the more effective we can be in utilizing the Christ’s healing and saving power.
Being alert to the Christ is especially vital in church because the Christ stands for right direction, right action, right decisions, right associations, right activities, right government. Let’s be increasingly alert to the Christ inspiration providing fresh inspiration for everything we do, both in weekly events and more occasional activities. The Christ directs us, preserves us, maintains its representation in our organization and in the community.
We are naturally in tune with the Christ. It indicates all that we need to do as we progress.
We read in Science and Health, “Mortality is finally swallowed up in immortality” (476:17). Moment-by-moment watching that we are listening to the Christ will improve our church experience, and take us beyond any approach that may be defeatest of deadening. And a community of ideas will respond to this this awakening.