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A Sermon on Sermonizing

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I had a kind of epiphany last week.

I was musing about why it is that we sometimes feel the need to step in and “take over” for someone else who has been given responsibilities and duties that we think are important. What makes us think that we can do better than the other individual? Why can’t we trust them to do the job they’ve been given?

It occurred to me that by not trusting others to do their job, we aren’t trusting God, either.

If I think that I, as an individual, need to push someone else out of the way and do his job, then I am limiting God, the power of Good; personalizing the concept of competence; and taking on a false sense of responsibility.  If I think the world is dependent on me to keep it going, then it’s possible that – just maybe – I have a kind of an inflated sense of my own place in it. 🙂

There was a day last week when I got this close l—l to sermonizing on someone. It was obvious to me that this other person needed the enlightenment of my great wisdom. But as I drew breath to launch into my pontification, a voice said, “Wait. Trust. Respect.”  And in that moment I realized all at once that we ALL have access to Truth and Love – that no one is somehow shut off from it – and that no one else needs me “to set him straight.”

And how freeing that was for me!

Okay, I have to include this little clip from My Fair Lady. I just hafta…  🙂

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3mC4485Ue0

“No doubt but ye are the people, and wisdom shall die with you. But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you… What ye know, the same do I know also: I am not inferior unto you.  Surely I would speak to the Almighty, and I desire to reason with God.” – Job 12 and Job 13

“Do you people realize what you have here?!”

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Like pretty much every other group of people, I guess – Christian Scientists, too, have their “Albert Einstein Stories” – stories that indicate Einstein felt WE were on the right path. I know. The further we get from the actual life and times of Einstein, the more we seem to turn to him as the ultimate authority on… well, pretty much everything, and the farther we seem to get from knowing what he actually thought and believed about stuff.

Ahem. I’m pretty sure OUR stories are true, though. 🙂

Anyway. One of “our” stories says that Einstein once said to a group of Christian Scientists at the end of a Christian Science service, “You people don’t realize what you have here.”  And, whether or not this story is actually true, I can totally imagine Einstein saying it.  And I can totally imagine the circumstances that would lead him to say it.

I had occasion to hear a visitor to a Christian Science Organization meeting once say something really similar. I haven’t often shared this particular story because it’s embarrassing.  In so MANY ways.  And I inwardly cringe every time I think about it. But I think now might be a good time to re-tell it.

Years ago – back when I was a student at a state university – the young woman who was scheduled to conduct our next Christian Science students’ meeting called to ask me if I could do it instead. I was delighted to do so. If I don’t mind saying so, I have a real knack for putting together readings that present a message in a harmonious way. And I’ve always been really good at oral reading, too – I seem to have a natural gift for knowing when to go up with my voice, and knowing when to go down, knowing when to pause, and knowing when to not, and knowing, instinctively, how to bring meaning to the text I’m reading.  But I’d never before had the opportunity to conduct an “org” meeting, and none of my fellow CS students knew I was good at this kind of thing. This would be my opportunity to use some of my gifts, and I was excited about it.

It so happens that our organization had, just the night before, held our annual Christian Science lecture.  It had been a wonderful, funny, inspiring talk given by a man named Harvey Wood – who was most excellent at connecting with college students and sharing Christian Science in a natural way – without aggression, pushiness, or self-consciousness. That night Harvey had been a real hit with the visitors to our lecture, and many of them had left the lecture wanting to learn more about this way of life.

At our organization meeting – the one I was prepared to conduct – we found ourselves with a lot of visitors. Weirdly (but not really) the young woman who had asked me to read for her, suddenly showed up, sat down next to me, and said she could lead the meeting after all. And this is where I made my mistake. Not willing to make a scene, I handed over the books.  Now I had marked the books for myself – I knew where all the arrows went, knew what my little codes meant, knew how to read these passages with meaning and the emphasis I needed. The young woman who took the books from me was soon completely lost. She kept shaking her head, and asking me for direction – making it look like I had somehow failed in my attempt to put together coherent readings for this meeting, and totally distracting from the message I’d wanted to convey that night. (Lesson learned. Today if someone tried to pull something like that on me, I would simply say, “No. That’s alright. I’m prepared to read tonight. But thank you for offering.”)

Finally, after a little power struggle and a lot of tangling and tugging of egos, the readings were done. Now it was time for people to talk about their experiences with Christian Science, and ask questions. One of our visitors looked at us – an expression of bewilderment and shock on his face – and asked, “Do you people realize what you have here?!”

It was embarrassingly obvious he didn’t think we did.

Lately, I’ve found myself thinking a lot about that incident.  Once again I’m seeing a tangling and tugging of egos, people letting themselves get distracted from the real purpose of “church,” and bickering and quibbling over things that have nothing to do with that purpose.

Mary Baker Eddy defines “Church” as “The structure of Truth and Love; whatever rests upon and proceeds from divine Principle.” She writes that the “Church is that institution, which affords proof of its utility and is found elevating the race, rousing the dormant understanding from material beliefs to the apprehension of spiritual ideas and the demonstration of divine Science, thereby casting our devils, or error, and healing the sick.”

If something isn’t proceeding from Love, isn’t leading towards Love, isn’t “elevating the race, and rousing the dormant understanding” and isn’t bringing healing to God’s creation – what’s the use of it? Why are we spending time with it? We all – and I’m not just talking about self-proclaimed “Christian Scientists” here – have so much to do right now that’s important and vital to the world – we have healing to do, and love to express – and, in my opinion, anything less than that just isn’t worthy of our time, or worthy of us, as God’s children.

“The vital part, the heart and soul of Christian Science, is Love.” – from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy.

Depression and Rebirth in the Wilderness

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Dear friend –

I know you’re going through a rough patch right now. But I’m here to tell you – you WILL get through this. You are experiencing your rebirth. It might not be without pain, but, trust me, when you come out on the other side – and you WILL come out on the other side – you will realize that it was all worth it – all of it.  At some point you’ll begin to recognize that the pain doesn’t last forever.  Just as in childbirth, the pain will come in waves – accept it, sit in it, don’t try to fight it, learn what you need to learn from it . And  just as in childbirth, the pain will recede – but it won’t leave you where it found you – it’ll push you closer to your own rebirth.

You will come to  realize that right where there is uglines, unfairness, and injustice – in that exact same place and time – there is incredible beauty and good and kindness.

You’ll realize that even when you’re depressed, you can be happy.

And you’ll realize that there is a purpose for you . So long as you can love, the world needs you – the world needs your kindness and compassion and wonderful, wonderful heart! The world would be a a far lesser place without you in it – believe that!

You are not a failure. You are not a loser. You are not worthless.  In the words of Max Ehrmann, you are a child of the universe and you have a right to be here.

You are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. – Max Ehrmann

WILDERNESS. Loneliness; doubt; darkness. Spontaneity of thought and idea; the vestibule in which a material sense of things disappears, and spiritual sense unfolds the great facts of being. – Mary Baker Eddy

***

“It won’t do you a particle of good to enter upon a career of self-condemnation. Remorse never got anybody into heaven. A sense of regret and all that sort of thing is not the process. The process is reform; it is change; it is correction…” – Edward A. Kimball

“Evil is never disposed of as thought it were something. It cannot be given up as though it were something… Try to realize that through Christian Science, you are constantly gaining that which will do everything for you, and that you will succeed according to the gaining process.” – Edward A. Kimball

“Above all, do not resent temptation; do not be perplexed because it seems to thicken round you more and more, and ceases neither for effort nor agony nor prayer. That is your practice. That is the practice which God appoints you, and it is having its work in making you patient, and humble, and generous, and uinselfish, and kind, and courteous… Therefore keep in the midst of life. Do not isolate yourself. Be among men and among things, and among troubles, and difficulties, and obstacles… character grows in the stream of the world’s life. That chiefly is where men are to learn love.” – Henry Drummond

“Sometimes you have to lose your mind to come to your senses.” – Dan Millman

“Life will give you whatever experience is most helpful for the evolution of your consciousness. How do you know this is the experience you need? Because this is the experience you are having at the moment.” – Eckhart Tolle

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It occurred to me yesterday, as I contemplated our own Christmas lights, that Christmas Vacation never actually shows Grizwald removing the Christmas lights from his house… I don’t think this was an oversight on the movie director’s part…

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I remember once thinking that if I could just get through that obligation, and this appointment, and that scheduled meeting, I’d finally be able to get on with life. And it came to me, in a flash, that all of it – the obligations, appointments – and yes, the shopping, wrapping, baking, and cleaning – ARE life. I know. Duh, right? But it took me awhile to realize that I needed to be enjoying the messy stuff of life, too. Every single moment is precious…

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Is it alright to be happy when there’s so much suffering and grief in the world? Should we feel guilty about experiencing joy right now? Nope, I don’t think we should feel guilty about our joy. I say, let’s all share in the burden of the grief, and let’s share our joy, too… send it out and lift the darkness where we can…

Karen Molenaar Terrell's avatarScenes from Bellingham Bay

Is it alright to be happy when there’s so much suffering and grief in the world? Should we feel guilty about experiencing joy right now? Nope, I don’t think we should feel guilty about our joy. I say, let’s all share in the burden of the grief, and let’s share our joy, too… send it out and lift the darkness where we can…

The time to be happy is now. The place to be happy is here. – Robert Ingersoll

I believe we’re on earth to delight each other, make each other laugh, and to infuse one another with His joy. Why not? What’ve we got better to do? – Burt Rosenberg, Maryland

Stop complaining about the management of the universe. Look around for a place to sow a few seeds of happiness. – Henry Van Dyke

Happiness is spiritual, born of Truth and Love. It is unselfish…

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What will happen on December 21st?

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“The inaudible voice of Truth is, to the human mind, ‘as when a lion roareth.’  It is heard in the desert and in dark places of fear.”  – from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy

Five years ago, on a discussion forum, I learned for the first time about the belief that the world will end on December 21st.  Someone asked “What will happen in 2012?”

I gave the question some thought, and then answered, “Seriously then? I think mankind is at a crossroads here. We can choose which direction we want to head – towards an Apocalypse (which I swear some people actually seem to be praying for) or away from one. My dad was talking with some friends, once – great, cynical old farts – and one of them said something like, ‘The meek will inherit the earth – sure – because nobody else will want it by the time everybody else is done with it.’ I thought that was funny, and really, really sad, too.  I think we’re at a place in our history where mankind has to learn some lessons, and learn them really fast. The first thing we have to learn is to be kind to our environment. But we need to learn to be kind to each other, too – no matter what beliefs or non-beliefs we each have. We’ve got to give up that whole ‘eye for an eye’ mentality – learn forgiveness, and generosity. I have hope for us. I think there’s a movement of good in the world. I believe Good (Love, Truth) will win in the end.”

I think the world manifests what’s going on in the collective “thought” of mankind. I believe a lack of appreciation for God’s beautiful creation – choosing an accumulation of material “Things” (money and personal possessions) over the expressions of Spirit (the beauty of a clean and healthy environment) is causing mankind some problems.And  I believe if  mankind is full of fear – if people come to expect doom in our future – then doom might be what they see manifested.

A friend of mine was telling me about this book – The Hundredth Monkey – that talks about how this group of monkeys started doing something different in their community and – without ever going to another monkey community – other monkeys in other communities started doing the same thing. It was like the idea, or the thought, was contagious – even without any physical connection between these animals. Anyway, I think thoughts can be contagious – and I think good thoughts can be contagious, too – and if mankind comes to expect good, good will happen.

I believe that if we really want to help our world, we need to stop living in fear. Stop being afraid of each other. Stop being afraid of what the future holds for us.  We need to fill our mental atmosphere with love, joy, and hope – with heaven.  In the book of Luke in the Bible, we read: “And when he (Jesus) was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.” And in II Corinthians, Paul says: “…behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”

I don’t think the world has to end, or we have to die, to experience heaven and salvation.  Jesus said the kingdom of God is within us – in our thoughts. If our thoughts are full of hope, joy, and love we’re in heaven right now. Likewise, if our thoughts are full of hate, fear, and anger we’re experiencing hell right here, and right now. In Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy has this to say about “Heaven”: “Heaven is not a locality, but a divine state of Mind…” and she defines “Heaven” as “Harmony; the reign of Spirit; government by divine Principle’; spirituality; bliss; the atmosphere of Soul.”

What does our future hold? Good. Our future holds Good.   Nothing can destroy Love or Truth – God – we will always have Good in our future. Count on it. 🙂

Buck up, my friends! It is our duty – maybe the greatest thing we can do for our world – to  stop being afraid. We need to be alert, yes. We need to be aware and we need to be wise.  And we  really need to stop being afraid.

Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.  – Isaiah 41: 9-11

“Christian scientific practice begins with Christ’s keynote of harmony, ‘Be not afraid!'” – from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy

Rhonda Lee Rocks! – Bigoted busybody bullying bossy britches brazenly brandishing their bigotry, begone!

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Message I just posted on KTBS’s website (which now seems to have disappeared from the page): Rhonda Lee is absolutely beautiful! And her response to the viewer criticizing her length of hair was measured, thoughtful, and well-reasoned. Even HE apparently agreed with her response. Why KTBS should fire this beautiful, intelligent woman is a mystery to me. Unless… of course, now that I see those four white faces in the picture above – three of them with blond hair – I think I have an inkling… bigotry is not a pretty thing. – Karen Molenaar Terrell, a middle-aged white lady from Washington State.

If you haven’t heard about the firing of Rhonda Lee, here’s the link to the story: http://shine.yahoo.com/work-money/meteorologist-rhonda-lee-she-fired-defending-her-hair-200400289.html

And if you’d like a link to the KTBS website, here it is: https://www.facebook.com/KTBS3

I hate bigotry. I mean – I REALLY hate bigotry. Bigoted busybody bossy britches bullies who brazenly brandish their bigotry really toast my cookies. What happened to Rhonda Lee is a prime example of bigotry. But we see it everywhere, don’t we? Any time you see individuals of a particular group being stereotpyped and lumped together and seen as some kind of monolithic entity, you’re seeing bigotry.Whenever I read  sentences about groups of people that start –  “All atheists think…” or “All Christians believe…” or “All Muslims feel…”  or “All gay men want…” –  I can bet that I’m about to read an example of bigotry.  If we want to  understand each other, I do not think it is helpful to lump individuals under one big umbrella and assume we know what all these individuals think, believe, feel, or want. If you want to know what an individual thinks about something – ask him.

I have never felt the need for everybody else to believe exactly the same way I believe about things.  Whatever beliefs others want to hold about life – so long as those beliefs don’t cause harm to others – I’m fine with that. As my dear Aunt Junie used to say: Whatever makes your socks go up and down. I think we’re all drawn to the path in life that makes the most sense to us, as individuals – some of us will be atheists, some of us will be Buddhist, and others of us will be Christian Scientists – and, so long as we’re not tromping on someone else’s rights in our own life journey – it’s all good.

But bigotry DOES harm others, and DOES lead to tromping on the rights of others. When bigots prevent others from their basic human rights – from getting (or keeping) a job, from the freedom of owning a home in the neighborhood of one’s choice, from voting, or marrying, or getting a drink of water from a water fountain – this we cannot support. This is not right, or good, or in any way helpful to the advancement of mankind. This kind of thing must end. We – all of us – as the children of Love – deserve better from ourselves and each other.

***

“The weapons of bigotry, ignorance, envy, fall before an honest heart.” – from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy

“And withal they learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house; and not only idle, but tattlers also and busybodies, speaking things which they ought not.” – I Timothy 5

“Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.” – Exodus 20: 16

“Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.  He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love…There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. ” – I John 4

“Peace, be still…”

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“And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake: And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice…” – I Kings 19

“And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.” – Mark 4

***

Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, hurricanes, tornadoes, floods – I’ve sometimes heard people attribute these destructive events to God – using them as examples of “God’s wrath” towards his children.  And when I hear people doing this it becomes apparent that they and I do not share the same concept of “God.”

The God I worship is the God defined as “Love” in I John 4. There is no wrath in my God. There is no anger, envy, or rage. The God I worship loves Her creation, and recognizes Her creation as good and lovable.

The God I worship is all-good – another name for Truth, Life, Mind, Principle, Soul, Spirit, Love.  Just as light doesn’t create darkness, Truth doesn’t create error. Life doesn’t  create death. Mind doesn’t create ignorance. Principle doesn’t create chaos. Soul doesn’t create ugliness and disharmony. Spirit isn’t responsible for matter.  Love is not to blame for hate. And God doesn’t cause hurricanes, earthquakes, floods, or fires.

And as darkness disappears when the light touches it, so error disappears when Truth is revealed. Ignorance is destroyed by the intelligence and understanding of Mind. Hate  is destroyed by Love. And evil is destroyed by the presence and power of  Good – by the “still, small voice” of God.

I know that God is guiding, guarding, and caring for her Creation – that each and every one of her children is safe, enveloped in Love’s protective power, never separated for a moment from the power and presence of Good.

Everlasting arms of Love

Are beneath, around, above;

God it is who bears us on, 

HIs the arm we lean upon.

From earth’s fears and vain alarms

Safe in His encircling arms,

He will keep us all the way,

God, our refuge, strength, and stay.

— John R. MacDuff

 

“The World Outside” – Akkima, Theresa, and the Man in the Fairy Wings

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“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

***

As a young child, a loved one suffered heart damage as a result of rheumatic fever. Apparently she was supposed to have lived a quiet and sheltered life. She did not. She climbed Mount Rainier twice, got married, birthed and raised three children, traveled, sang, gardened, hiked, taught, and led a very full and active life.Last week, eighty years after the rheumatic fever,  this loved one finally underwent open heart surgery to repair her heart.

The surgery was performed at a hospital two hours to the south of where I live. When I was booking a room in a hotel near there – The Inn at Gig Harbor – I mentioned that I was going to be there to be close to a dear family member while she underwent open heart surgery. The woman making the reservation for me got quiet for a moment. When she spoke again it was to tell me that she would be giving me a discount on my room, and she said that there was a suite, that was “just sitting there” and not being used that had a jacuzzi in it, and she was going to put me in that room because she figured I’d need a jacuzzi. I was speechless for a moment – overcome by her kindness and generosity.

When, a couple of days later, I drove down to the hotel to check in, I was very excited to meet Theresa Ready – the woman who had taken such good care of me in reserving my room. Her daughter was at the desk, and she told me she’d get her mom for me. Theresa came out of the back room to meet me, and she had tears in her eyes as she  smiled at me. “No one ever asks to see me,” she said, “I’m just an accountant.”  That cracked me up. This woman who was “just an accountant” was, it was obvious to me, a woman of great love and compassion, and I felt really privileged to meet her.  We hugged, and she wished me all the best for my loved one, and said she’d pray for her.

I had to leave for the hospital at 4:30 the next morning, and, knowing I would miss breakfast, the hotel packed up a box full of muffins, scones, yogurt, and juice to get me through the morning.

I wore my sparkly green fairy wings into the hospital – I knew my loved one would get a kick out of that – she and I share the same sense of humor about stuff – and, sure enough, she started laughing as soon as she saw me. Other family members were there, too, and we encircled our dear one with love and the confidence that all would be well.

The next eight hours passed in kind of a blurr.  Probably anyone who’s been in the hospital for any length of time understands what I mean by that.  It’s a kind of surreal atmosphere – long stretches of wandering, chatting, reading, and – in these modern times – connecting to the hospital’s free WiFi to communicate with the outside world – punctuated by quick, intense moments when an update comes through. Time disappears.

It was a sunny day, and there were several times when I needed to escape from the confines of the hospital and get some fresh air and sunshine, and see what was going on in the world outside.  On one of my escapes, I walked several blocks into the sun, passed a school, and to a community garden. There were a couple of women in the garden – one of them planting seeds, and the other taking pictures of her – and I asked them if it would be okay if I opened up the gate and came inside. They looked at me and smiled and welcomed me in.  And this is when I met Akkima, the photographer. Akkima is a student at the University of Washington, Tacoma Campus, majoring in Media. Her assignment that day was to photograph her friend, the gardener. I told Akkima that I’m married to a photojournalist, and that I, too, have recently gotten interested in photography, and we shared our mutual enjoyment of capturing images and talked about that for awhile.  And, of course, we had to take pictures of each other.

I was reluctant to move from the hospital’s lobby – there was a fountain and windows to the outside and sunshine – but eventually those of us who hadn’t yet moved into the hospital’s surgical waiting room joined our other family members there and settled in to await news. There was another family, in the space next to us, also awaiting news about their loved one. I was impressed by how well-behaved the little children were while they waited. Frankly, they seemed to be doing better than me. I’m not very good at sitting and waiting in somber silence. This is not to say I don’t appreciate quiet and stillness – because I do, for sure – but not when there’s interesting people around me – I have a yearning to find out about them and make a connection with them – and this family waiting next to us was interesting.  I brought my glittery green fairy wings up to the little girl and asked her if she’d like to put them on for awhile – she shyly shook her head no – she wanted no part of the fairy wings.  However, the young man standing next to her agreed to put on the fairy wings for me.  I’m not sure how old he was – my guess would be early twenties – and let’s just say that he was not built the way a generic fairy is built – and he and I and his entire family started cracking up when he allowed me to put those wings on him.

I’m happy to say that not long after he donned the fairy wings for me, the young man and his family heard good news about their grandmother’s operation. It had gone well, and things were looking good.

Eventually, we learned that the surgery for our loved one was finished, and that, although she wasn’t out of the woods, yet, things were looking good for her.

My family and I went up to her room after the operation – when she was still unconscious and sedated.  I started singing some of her favorite hymns from The Christian Science Hymnal to her. “Oh dreamer, leave thy dreams for joyful waking…” I sang (to the tune of “Oh, Danny Boy”) and then, joking, I asked her, “Wasn’t that beautiful?” and – much to the surprise of all – she nodded her head twice!!! I think this is when I knew everything was going to be alright. “And for my next number…” I said, and I’m pretty sure she was trying to laugh. She was back!!!