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Category Archives: religion
Never Outside the Reach of Love
“Love now is dawning over every nation…”
– Margaret Morrison, Christian Science Hymnal
I Can Choose
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“Trust.”
“Peals that should startle the slumbering thought from its erroneous dreams are partially unheeded; but the last trump has not sounded, or this would not be so. Marvels, calamities, and sin will much more abound as truth urges upon mortals its resisted claims; but the awful daring of sin destroys sin, and foreshadows the triumph of truth.”
– Mary Baker Eddy
Taking the dog for a walk,
the shooting star got my
attention when it flew across
the heavens on the evening
of November eighth. I stopped
in my tracks, looking skyward,
alert now, and the voice said,
“Trust. Everything is happening
as it needs to happen.
Don’t be afraid. Trust.”
And crap. I knew then. I knew
who’d won the election – why
else would I need to be reassured?
I went inside. And saw my fears
confirmed. And felt weirdly
stilled inside. Holding on
to that message: “Trust.”
The voice didn’t say what was to come
would be easy, or without struggle
or challenge. It didn’t provide
details of how, where, when or why.
It just said, “Don’t be afraid. Trust.”
And the earth rises now.
Thirsty for Truth. Joining in Love.
Crying for justice.
In the streets. From the rooftops.
Through the wires of computers
across the world.
“Everything is happening
as it needs to happen.
Trust,” said the voice of Love.
– Karen Molenaar Terrell
Standing with the Peacenik People
Every Friday at noon, for 30 years or more, a dedicated little band of peace people have stood on the corner outside the local courthouse holding signs of peace and justice. Today I decided joining them would be a fine way to spend my “Black Friday.” So I scribbled a “LOVE RULES” sign and headed out for the courthouse.
I actually got there before the rest of the group and for a few minutes I stood there on the corner alone, holding my “LOVE RULES” sign – I felt very brave and pleased with myself. I started waving at people as they stopped at the light, and giving the thumbs up. “Love rules! Hate drools!” I yelled, grinning. People gave the thumbs up back to me, and laughed. One man in a truck, stopped at the light, shook his head no. I nodded my head yes. He grimly shook his head no. Laughing, I nodded my head yes. He shook his head no. I nodded yes – totally cracking up now. I mean… how can anyone disagree with Love? Aren’t people funny? 🙂
I was soon joined by the regulars: Jim Johnson – a former teaching colleague of mine – and his wife, Marilyn; John “Peace Wizard” Bromet, a retired science and math professor; John, a former OB/GYN; Ginny, a woman I’d met when I’d been the guest speaker at the local Unitarian Universalist fellowship (her late husband had been mountaineering buddies with my dad); and Jerry Sommerseth, musician and human being extraordinaire – a man I hadn’t seen for years – and whom I was so excited to find again.
There was something really re-energizing about standing on that street corner with my peacenik friends. And there was something really inspiring and encouraging about the response we got from the people who drove by us. The vast majority of people responded positively to my “LOVE RULES” sign – gave me the thumbs up, waved, gave the peace sign, honked. “Peace on!” I yelled to a couple of young guys in a rental moving van – and they both grinned at me and nodded their heads and gave me the peace sign. When the light changed, they gave one final honk to us as they moved through the intersection. White people, ethnic minorities, old, young, people in trucks, people in sports cars, people driving econo-cars and hybrids – it was like a little microcosm of the United States – and they were all honking for peace!
Isn’t that AWESOME?!
“At all times and under all circumstances, overcome evil with good. Know thyself, and God will supply the wisdom and the occasion for a victory over evil. Clad in the panoply of Love, human hatred cannot reach you.”
– Mary Baker Eddy
The Just Right Messages
What I am finding so heartening right now is how people of all religions and non-religions and races and ethnic backgrounds and genders and sexual orientations are coming together to help each other through these challenging times.
This morning I found the message I exactly needed (and isn’t it amazing how we always seem to get the message we most need when we need it?) waiting for me from a dear Methodist friend: “I am rereading the gospel of Matthew in The Message for some new perspective on some familiar texts and I found a description of your life as Jesus is sending out the disciples. (Matthew 10:16-35) Isn’t that delightful? ‘There is great irony here: proclaiming so much love, experiencing so much hate! But don’t quit. Don’t cave in. It is all well worth it in the end. It is not success you are after in such times but survival. Be survivors! Before you’ve run out of options, the Son of Man will have arrived. . . . Don’t be bluffed into silence by the threats of bullies. There’s nothing they can do to your soul, your core being. Save your fear for God, who holds your entire life–body and soul–in his hands.'”
I love that! All of it. Don’t quit. Don’t give up. Don’t be afraid. Christ, Truth, will arrive – has always been with us, I believe – to show us the way out of the darkness. Don’t be scared into silence by the bullies. Stand up to them. They can’t touch or harm what’s essential about us – who we really are – the children of God.
And today when I got home – feeling discouraged and alone and surrounded by dark and cold – I clicked onto Facebook to find this message waiting for me from my dear friend, Patricia – a fellow Christian Scientist: “Let us smash this bowl of delusion and rejoice!!! with this clip attached of a little girl exuberantly smashing a bowl . It’s a teensy clip – only five seconds – but I found myself… well, I teared up, actually. Teared up with courage and hope. I really, really needed that clip of the little girl and her happy exuberance.
I believe that if we listen – if we’re open to them – Love is continually sending us the thoughts we need to move us from moment to moment.
“…the angels of His presence – the spiritual intuitions that tell us when ‘the night is far spent, the day is at hand’ – are our guardians in the gloom.”
– Mary Baker Eddy
“Angels are pure thoughts from God, winged with Truth and Love… My angels are exalted thoughts, appearing at the door of some sepulchre, in which human belief has buried its fondest earthly hopes. With white fingers they point upward to a new and glorified trust, to higher ideals of life and its joys. Angels are God’s representatives. These upward-soaring beings never lead towards self, sin, or materiality, but guide to the divine Principle of all good, whither every real individuality, image, or likeness of God, gathers. By giving earnest heed to these spiritual guides they tarry with us, and we entertain ‘angels unawares.'”
– Mary Baker Eddy
“These angels deliver us from the depths.”
– Mary Baker Eddy
You’ve Got This
My dear Humoristian hooligans –
Fill your hearts up with kindness and courage. Be alert. Be aware. Be vigilant. We are entering challenging times, but you have everything you need to face them. You have an armor of love, a shield of humor, and a community of fellow Humoristians who care as you do about the world. You are not alone out there. The world needs you – it needs your hearts and humor and kindness. Go out there and bring laughter to those living in a desert of gloom and doom. Bring hope to those desperate for a kind word. Find the beauty. Live in love. You’ve got this. Amen.
Karen
Work in Progress
There were a couple things that came across my Facebook page this morning that really inspired me, and helped me deal with our current situation in the US of A. The first one was a clip of an interview Jon Stewart had on CBS (“I don’t believe we’re a fundamentally different country today than we were two weeks ago… The same country that elected Donald Trump elected Barack Obama…. America is not natural – natural is tribal – we’re fighting against thousands of years of human behavior and history to create something… that’s what’s exceptional about America and that’s what’s… this ain’t easy. It’s an incredible thing.”); the second was a story about what Pres. Obama told his daughters after the election (“You don’t get into a fetal position about it. You don’t start worrying about apocalypse. You say, O.K., where are the places where I can push to keep it moving forward.”).
The United States of America is a work in progress, ain’t it? And I love that. We can only go forward. In Science and Health Mary Baker Eddy says: “In Christian Science there is never a retrograde step, never a return to positions outgrown.” I believe that’s true for my country, too.
Movement of Good
Spoiler alert: These are the final sentences in my book, Blessings: Adventures of a Madcap Christian Scientist. I wrote these words back in 2005, but I felt the need to share them on this morning in 2016:
There is a movement of good at work in our world, and we all have an incredible opportunity to be part of this movement. As Mary Baker Eddy wrote in Science and Health, “Know thyself, and God will supply the wisdom and the occasion for a victory over evil.” I thank God for every occasion we have to prove His goodness and love. I thank Him, too, for the sense of community we find when we gather with like-minded people to work for the cause of Love. That’s one investment of time that I’m willing to make.
You, dear reader, are now a part of my community, too. God bless you richly with infinite blessings!
Go out there and find the beauty, spread the love, and be part of the magic, dear friends!
Great Opportunity
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Adventures of the Madcap Christian Scientist 