We Owe It to the World
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Category Archives: religion
Making the World a Better Place
About once a week I walk into town to buy a hummus roasted veggie sandwich and to see my friend, Frank, who works at the sandwich place. Frank is gay. We’ve never talked about his gayness or my not-gayness or anyone’s whatever-ness in conversation – I mean – it’s not like people usually approach a new friend, shake hands, and introduce themselves by their labels – “Hi, I’m Karen and I’m a progressive bleeding heart liberal heterosexual female Christian Scientist of mostly European ancestry (although there might be some Basque Reptile alien in there, too) – and how about you? What are your labels?” – but, yeah, Frank is gay.
This week when Frank asked me how I was, I gave the usual, “I’m good. And how about you?” And he gave the usual, “I’m good.” But this time something made me stop and really look at Frank. And I asked, “Frank, how are you really?” Frank said it had been a rough week.
He said he’d been in a bar earlier in the week, and he’d heard people at the next table over saying – in deliberately loud voices so Frank could hear – “Yeah. Those people in Florida deserved it.” Frank had tried to remain civil to them – he and the bar-tender had had their own conversation – loud enough to be heard – about the terribleness of the tragedy. And the people at the next table spewed out some more hatred. And Frank wondered about them: Hadn’t they ever been targeted for being different in some way? Didn’t they know what that felt like?
I started tearing up. “Frank, where does that hate come from? I don’t understand it.” Frank shook his head sadly, and said he thought it came from ignorance – from people being afraid of what they don’t know. He said he leaves those people in the hands of the Lord – and he didn’t mean that in a vengeful way – but in a “God will help them” way.
I told Frank that I was with him. I told him that he wasn’t alone. And he thanked me and gave me a hug.
Later on I was thinking about what Frank had said – his wondering if those people had ever been targeted for being different – and it made me remember a time, years ago, when I’d been watching a local “town meeting” on television and I’d heard someone say that “All Christian Scientists should be lined up against a wall and shot.” It had been strange and disturbing to hear someone who didn’t know me wish me dead. It stuck with me. I learned something from that.
Anyone could become a target – hatred is a form of insanity, really, and it doesn’t have to make sense – maybe tomorrow it will be stubby people, or extra tall people, or people with green eyes, or left-handed people, who will become the targets.
I think when we take the time to get to know each other – to try to understand each other without judgment or condemnation – to listen to each other – when we take the time to get rid of our own ignorance – we are doing a lot to make the world a better place. It’s been said so many times, but I think it’s true: Love really IS the answer.
Peace
Earlier this week – at the end of a long, dark day – I looked out the window and saw this – a blessing, a promise, a symbol of diversity, a symbol of peace and hope. I really needed this right then…
The Best Prayer of All
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Love Rules!
My thoughts have been turning a lot lately to one of my favorite hymns in The Christian Science Hymnal – “Love” – with words by Mary Baker Eddy…
Love
Brood o’er us with Thy sheltering wing
‘Neath which our spirits blend
Like brother birds, that soar and sing,
And on the same branch bend.
The arrow that doth wound the dove,
Darts not from those who watch and love.
If thou the bending reed would break
By thought or word unkind,
Pray that His spirit you partake,
Who loved and healed mankind:
Seek holy thoughts and heavenly strain,
That make men one in love remain.
Learn, too, that wisdom’s rod is given
For faith to kiss, and know;
That greetings glorious from high heaven,
Whence joys supernal flow,
Come from that Love, divinely near,
Which chastens pride and earthborn fear.
Through God, who gave that word of might
Which swelled creation’s lay:
“Let there be light, and there was light.”
What chased the clouds away?
‘Twas love whose finger traced aloud
a bow of promise on the cloud.
Thou to whose power our hope we give,
Free us from human strife.
Fed by thy love divine we live,
For Love alone is life;
And life most sweet, as heart to heart
Speaks kindly when we meet and part.
– Mary Baker Eddy
Love rules!
Time for Thinkers
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Universal Love…
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I want a leader who…
I’ve been giving a lot of thought lately to the kind of person I’d like to see running for President of the U.S. of A. Here’re my thoughts, thus far:
- I do not care what gender this person is, or what religion or non-religion this person practices. I don’t care about this person’s ethnicity, or what generation this person is from, and I don’t care if this person ends sentences and phrases with dangling prepositions.
- I want a leader who can inspire the people of my nation to be kinder, braver, more honest, more selfless, less hateful, and less bigoted.
- I want a leader who values education, and has made an effort to keep learning and seek wisdom.
- I want a leader who is humbled by power, and knows when to use it – and when not to use it.
- I want a leader who understands that a President is an employee of the people – elected by the people to serve, not be served.
- I want a leader with a vision for the future that includes peace and prosperity for all.
- I want a leader who can give us hope.
- I want a leader who cares about others.
- I want a leader who believes that good can win.
- I want a leader who believes that love is power.
Anybody got anything they’d like to add?
“What would your ten commandments be?”
I was scanning through the Amazon Religion Discussion Forum the other day and came upon this question: “If you could rewrite the Ten Commandments, what would yours be?” I love questions like that – questions that ask us to think in a deeper way about concepts that we often just accept without question.
So I thought about the question – and then, using the original Ten Commandments as a sort of framework, I came up with these:
1) Thou shalt have no other gods but Love.
2) Thou shalt share your wealth: Thou shalt not make unto thee any tax-free institutions or corporate loopholes to acquire money or power; Thou shalt not bow down to money or corporations; Thou shalt bring fairness and equality to the disenfranchised, the down-trodden, the underpaid, unemployed, and homeless.
3) Thou shalt respect the power of Love and Truth, and use that power to bring peace to your planet.
4) Remember to set aside time every day to appreciate all the good around you, and to use your talents – whatever they may be – to share the beauty you see in the world.
5) Honor all those who have nurtured and cultivated the best in you, and nurture and cultivate the good in others, also.
6) Love without discrimination, prejudice, or condition.
7) Keep your integrity
8) Be grateful for all that you have.
9) Look for the good in others.
10) Care for your environment and your fellow creatures.
I’d love to hear what any of my readers might come up with for this question. Care to share? 🙂
To help you get started, here are the original Ten Commandments (from Exodus 20):
1) Thou shalt have no other gods
2) Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven images or likenesses… Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them
3) Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain
4) Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy
5) Honour thy father and thy mother
6) Thou shalt not kill
7) Thou shalt not commit adultery
8) Thou shalt not steal
9) Thou shalt not bear false witness
10) Thou shalt not covet
Establishing My Day
“DAY. The irradiance of Life; light, the spiritual idea of Truth and Love. ‘And the evening and the morning were the first day.’ The objects of time and sense disappear in the illumination of spiritual understanding, and Mind measures time according to the good that is unfolded. This unfolding is God’s day, and ‘there shall be no night there.'”
– Mary Baker Eddy
Now – as I’m rubbing the sleep from my eyes – now is the moment when i choose what kind of day I’m going to have.
Let’s see… I think I’ll choose a day full of friendly smiles. And there will be laughter, for sure. I’m going to find something good in everyone I encounter today. I’m going to accept all the joy and love that Love presents to me – there will be no snubbing of good. I’m going to treat others fairly, and I’m going to expect to be treated fairly by others. I’m going to expect wonder and magic.
Today is a gift and I’m not going to wait to open it up and see what waits for me inside… 🙂
I walk with Love along the way,
And O, it is a holy day;
No more I suffer cruel fear,
I feel God’s presence with me here;
The joy that none can take away
Is mine; I walk with Love today.
Who walks with Love along the way,
Shall talk with Love and Love obey;
God’s healing truth is free to all,
Our Father answers every call;
’Tis He dispels the clouds of gray
That all may walk with Love today.
Come, walk with Love along the way,
Let childlike trust be yours today;
Uplift your thought, with courage go,
Give of your heart’s rich overflow,
And peace shall crown your joy-filled day.
Come, walk with Love along the way.
– Minny M.H. Ayers
Adventures of the Madcap Christian Scientist 