But then I awoke in the early hours of the next morning with the question on my mind, Won’t you give a cup of water in Christ’s name? I instantly knew that I should go to the service and be a spiritual presence there. The next morning, I called Lora Beth back and accepted her invitation.

At the service, I led the congregation in singing a few songs and then Lora Beth asked me if I would like to say a few words about Phyllis. In my old church I was a chaplain, and regularly made calls to members of the congregation to pray with them. Phyllis was one of those on my call list and I had regularly prayed with her for a year or so. She had had cancer and during the time we were praying together, we regularly prayed against fear and the frequent pain she was experiencing from her chemotherapy and radiation treatments, and I often spoke to her of God’s love and her natural, spiritual perfection as His beloved child.

When I rose to speak at the service, I shared some of the ideas I had learned from reading and studying Christian Science—that God never gave her disease; that God only had good for her and that she was God’s perfect child, forever in His care. Her family was sitting down in the front row of the church. They were all “good Baptists” and as I shared that God never gave disease to Phyllis, but held her eternally in His Love and care, I could see in their faces the impact this beautiful Truth was having upon them; and as I have often seen since, the acknowledgement of God’s Love has a wonderful healing effect upon all people of whatever faith or religious practice.

At the reception after the service, several people came up to me and asked me to pray for them. Rather than vaguely say that I would, I asked each one, Would you like to pray right now? We held hands and bowed our heads together. I reassured each one of God’s love for them, and his promise of healing and salvation, and I spoke the Truths I’ve learned through Christian Science; and especially, I shared Mrs. Eddy’s inspired presentation of the 23rd Psalm.

That night as I gave thanks to God for my day, I was so grateful that I had been able to share a cup of water in Christ’s name; and the very next day, God gave me this wonderful song which I love to sing each time I give this testimony.

A dear Christian Science practitioner has dubbed this, “The Practitioner’s song”.

 

Here are the lyrics:

Can you find a word of kindness you can speak?
Can you find the inner strength to help the weak?
And forgiveness you can offer for their shame?
Can you give a cup of water in Christ’s name?

Can you offer them a smile as you pass by?
And encouragement to help someone to try?
Is there patience you can find within today?
Can you give a cup of water in Christ’s name?

Can you look and see the light of God that shines in every face?
Can you find the holy ground in any place?
Can you see the hand of God that’s fashioning the potter’s clay?
Can you give a cup of water in Christ’s name?

Can you find the wisdom not to speak in hurt?
Can you see beyond what circumstances were?
And when all have run is courage there to stay?
Can you give a cup of water in Christ’s name?

Can you keep your thought on God when troubles come?
Having faith for others when they’re finding none?
And see Love divine is guiding on their way?
Can you give a cup of water in Christ’s name?

Can you add some understanding to their faith?
In the midst of all confusion can you pray?
Can you see that God’s perfection’s there always?
Can you give a cup of water in Christ’s name?

'Choices' by kozumel

     A brochure I picked up recently, entitled: Health by Choice, Not by Chance, confirmed what I already know to be true – there isn’t only way path to health.   And, people are searching and exploring many avenues to find approaches that are consistently effective.

     The brochure advertised the latest research on foods that can help prevent cancer and heart disease, reverse diabetes, lower cholesterol, slow the aging clock, and increase your energy while losing weight.  It also informed me I could purchase books about foods that have healing power, plants that have medicinal value, and an encyclopedia of health & education for the family, which included natural treatments.  “Whew, if it were only that easy!”

     In this age of one-size-fits-all health care, the public is often led to believe that there is only one way to be healthy.  It includes regularly scheduled doctor visits & exams, drugs to prevent disease and/or mitigate pain and exploratory and corrective surgery to identify and address functional or organic problems.

     But the information in this brochure reminded me that increasingly many people are seeking – and finding – other paths to health. Sometimes this is complimentary with the medical approach and sometimes it is in lieu of. It seems to me that people are simply seeking better control over their health as a crucial aspect of their whole life. They quite literally want to have health by choice not by chance. And, making healthier choices about various aspects of their lives – food, exercise, natural remedies – does have health benefits.

     One approach that the brochure did not offer – but is recognized in numerous studies as a top choice – is prayer.  And, it’s an approach I’ve found very effective.  Prayer – communing with, and trusting in, God – leads me to better control over my thinking and to better choices about every aspect of my life.  I find practical guidance in passages from The Bible such as this one: “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes … It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones.” (Prov 3:5-8)  And, I expect the results it promises – health.

     It’s great to know there isn’t only one path and that each of us has the opportunity to be healthy – by choice.

On March 26-28, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments regarding the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). The Court scheduled six hours of arguments—more than any case since 1966—and is expected to issue its decision in June.

On Tuesday, Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan indicated that in her view, Christian Scientists might have a basis to challenge the individual mandate (which requires nearly all Americans to purchase health insurance or pay a penalty):

“…of course, the theory behind, not just the government’s case, but the theory behind this law is that people are in this market right now, and they are in this market because people do get sick, and because when people get sick, we provide them with care without making them pay. And it…would be different, you know, if you were up here saying, I represent a class of Christian Scientists. Then you might be able to say, look, you know, why are they bothering me. But absent that, you’re in this market. You’re an economic actor.”

Justice Kagan’s comments give a boost to the Federal Office’s multiple efforts to resolve the inequity facing Christian Scientists under the health care reform law. Along with requesting that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) include coverage of Christian Science practitioner and nursing services in the benefits that will be offered by health insurance companies under the new law, we continue to seek a Congressional solution that would allow anyone with a “sincerely held religious belief” against purchasing the required health insurance to be exempted from that mandate.  Learn more….

I recently discovered several studies from Neal Krause, University of Michigan, which I found to be very interesting.  So, you may find that I am going to blog about several of them in the coming months.  The purpose of this particular study,  (http://generosityresearch.nd.edu/assets/13605/gratitude_toward_god.pdf_) was to see if feeling grateful to God reduces the deleterious effects of stress on health in late life.  One result of Mr. Krause’s research determined that the effects of stress on health are reduced for older people who feel more grateful to God.  While I am sure neither age nor gender has anything to do with it, I have to say that I agree that gratitude to God does indeed affect one’s health.

When I first started attending the Christian Science church, I heard the word ‘gratitude’ used all the time, especially at Wednesday evening testimony meetings.  For me, that word was new.  I was used to saying I was thankful for my blessings, but that word ‘gratitude’ was a new expression of being thankful.  Gratitude seemed to be a deeper feeling than just being thankful.  And, many people referred to being grateful to God.  Wow!  Not just grateful for things but grateful to God.  Now, I am not saying that I am not grateful for my many blessings because I truly am.   Last week was my birthday.  Many friends and family gave me gifts.  I was really grateful for all the gifts and I am enjoying them so much.  However, most of all, I am grateful for the giver of the gift and the love and hugs I get from them year-round.  That is giving priority to the giver and not the gift.  This is what we do when we give gratitude to God for all.  In thinking about this now, after reading Mr. Krause’s study, I would like to elaborate about gratitude in a spiritual way…..

The Bible says “in every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you,” (I Thess 5:18).  And, in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy, it says: “Are we really grateful for the good already received? Then we shall avail ourselves of the blessings we have, and thus be fitted to receive more.  Gratitude is much more than a verbal expression of thanks. Action expresses more gratitude than speech.”  Mary Baker Eddy goes on to talk about gratitude as told in a Bible story:  “Of the ten lepers whom Jesus healed, but one returned to give God thanks—that is to acknowledge the divine Principle which had healed him.”  (S&H, pg 93)  When I acknowledge God as the healer of the stresses on my health, then I am able to see the effects of my gratitude on my overall health.  This condition of being grateful to God is my certainty of good health.  One Wednesday, I had been feeling ill all day with a stomach problem.  I decided to go to the Christian Science Wednesday evening testimony meeting, knowing I would hear something to help me in my prayers for my stomach that day.  As I sat and listened to the members of the congregation stand and give gratitude and praise to God for healings, my heart was so filled with gratitude for all God had done, that I suddenly realized my stomach was no longer uncomfortable and I knew I had been healed in that meeting of Christian thanksgiving!  My healing was a direct result of my gratitude to God!

 Neal Krause goes on to say “that research revealed that gratitude is among the most beneficial character strengths” (Park, Peterson, and Seligman 2004).  Based on my own experiences, I agree with that statement, too.  Health is a fact of spiritual being and is improved by many spiritual character strengths, one of them being gratitude.  I have experienced the effect of gratitude on the stresses on my health.  Prayers of gratitude are indeed effective in overcoming stresses of all kinds.   I believe my health is definitely better because of being grateful to God.  I thought I would close this blog with a favorite hymn of mine, from the Christian Science Hymnal:

 Hymn 3

 Ethel Wasgatt Dennis

 EPSOM

  Arnold’s Complete Psalter, 1756

 A grateful heart a garden is,

Where there is always room

For every lovely, Godlike grace

To come to perfect bloom.

A grateful heart a fortress is,

A staunch and rugged tower,

Where God’s omnipotence, revealed,

Girds man with mighty power.

A grateful heart a temple is,

A shrine so pure and white,

Where angels of His presence keep

Calm watch by day or night.

Grant then, dear Father-Mother, God,

Whatever else befall,

This largess of a grateful heart

   That loves and blesses all.

Photo by Wootang01

GUEST POST BY MARK LAWSON

     In prayer, we follow the Master’s instruction (Matt. 6:33) to “seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness,” because “these things” (health, harmony, supply, peace, joy) then will be “added” to our human experience. This is consistent with God’s instruction (Isaiah 45:11): “Ask me of things to come concerning my sons, and concerning the work of my hands command ye me.” 

     What God knows about us is what we need to know, and this is what we strive to “seek … first.” It makes no difference what others may think about us, or what we may seem to think of ourselves. Humans may condemn us (as they did the woman “taken” in adultery, John 8:3-11), or we may condemn ourselves (as did the “prodigal son”, Luke 15:11-32). Therefore, the “listening” aspect of prayer may require “resisting,” or refusing to listen to negative reports coming from a human body, mind, business, or relationship.

     What God knows about us is expressed in the first chapter of the Bible, where God made man in His image and likeness, and “it was very good.” (Genesis 1:26, 31).This is the “truth” of our perfection (Matt 5: 48) that Jesus wanted us to “know” (John 8:32), and that he said would make us free. We are to commune with “our Father” (Matt 6:9), listen to His message, and live consistently with our prayer (1 Thess 5:17).

     Quoting St. John (1 John 4:16), Mary Baker Eddy writes in her primary work, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, in the chapter on Prayer: “God is Love. Can we ask Him to be more? God is intelligence. Can we inform the infinite Mind of anything He does not already comprehend? … Shall we ask the divine Principle of all goodness to do His own work? His work is done, and we have only to avail ourselves of God’s rule in order to receive His blessing, which enables us to work out our own salvation.” Earlier she writes: “Prayer cannot change the Science of being, but it tends to bring us into harmony with it.”

     Jesus demonstrated the “Science of being” throughout his ministry. He appealed to spiritual law for power over so-called material law, evidenced by sin, poverty, hunger, disease, and death. Through prayer, we may seek and realize the good that God has planned for us, “good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over.” (Luke 6:38).

 Mr. Lawson is First Reader of Christian Science Society, Bristol, Tennessee and he may be contacted at mlawson@elliottlawson.com. A web site devoted to the teachings of Christian Science is http://www.spirituality.com/, and the official web site of The First Church of Christ, Scientist is www.tfccs.com.

photo by wasabicube

A few days ago I did some grocery shopping.  I went to the check-out line of my favorite clerk and, as always, asked her how she was doing.   She responded with “Well, I have seen better days.  But, I have also seen worse.”  I smiled and made some more small talk but after I left the store, I really started thinking about her reply to me.  It occurred to me that in my public practice of Christian Science, I had already been praying about just this kind of thought.

That whole thought about being happy one day, sad another–sick one day, well the next–joyous one day, depressed another day–up one day, down another just doesn’t make any sense to me.  I read in the Bible how opposites cannot dwell together.  A fountain does not send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter.  And, a fruit tree can’t produce both figs and olives.  Opposites can’t come from the same source.  Sickness and health are contrary to each other.  They can’t dwell together.  Bad days can’t dwell with good days.  Man’s body is not a battleground for good and evil!

God’s goodness is available for all mankind.  If that goodness is present – and I know it is, then there is no room for its opposite.  So, if you are feeling like your tree is growing both olives and figs, maybe it’s time to shake your tree.  Get rid of the feelings of negativity and depression.  Replace them with the uplifting thoughts that come from knowing that God loves you!

Lauren and Denise talk about how they use Christian Science in their lives.

Meet Tony. He used to have sinusitis and was prescribed antibiotics to address the symptoms. But he wasn’t completely healed of the condition until he learned about Christian Science.

One of the most telling passages in the Christian Science Bible Lesson for the week October 16, 2011 on the topic of Doctrine of Atonement is this citation which tells us that Jesus Bore Our Infirmities.

Certainly our practitioners, as well as all of us who pray for others do just that, don’t we? We meet each situation and each person as Jesus did, seeing them in Science as the perfect man, and their circumstances as the kingdom of God “intact and universal”. This is bearing one another’s infirmities…

When I listen to reporters, lawmakers, tv reports, etc., it is evident that the world believes that medical care is the only worthwhile healthcare.   While it is true that some people do achieve good results with medicine, it is not the only reliable and reasonable way to be healthy.   Christian Science has something to share and give to humanity.  Christian Science is an effective way to manage one’s health and many people do rely on spiritual means to stay healthy.  It is time to change the way the world thinks about health and health care….and that is no small change!

Below, I have posted the link to the blog by Russ Gerber, Manager, Christian Science Committees on Publication, for the Christian Science church.

Health and Health Care in an Angies’s List World  -  Guest Post by Russ Gerber

 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/russ-gerber/peer-to-peer-health-care_b_991352.html