Patience, patience, patience . . . .

[rv.ros...@gmail.com]

Written January 27, 2004


Friends,

"Throughout the infinite cycles of eternal existence. . . ." never
once is anything throughout the totality of all being ever "repeated."
The sublimely unfathomable and infinite originality of Mind precludes
even the possibility of anything ever being 'repeated,' for, should
such a 'repetition' occur, even once, the unfathomable and infinite
originality and creativity of Mind would, necessarily, have to first
experience the utter depletion and total exhaustion
of Itself! Ergo: No repetitions in Being/being!

Mrs. Eddy clearly "reorganized" a church "under her jurisdiction" so
we haven't that challenging task to address, do we? Under guidance
only the divine could confer Mrs. Eddy "put off" one church entirely.
After a time frame approximating three years, she acquiesced to the
incessant cries, demands and pressures of her Boston followers that
she "put on" another church which she loving obliged to do, "in order
that it [the church] complete its church history." Some of us are slow
learners!

Oh, how right on you are, M J R, when writing, "It's the "put off and
then back on" aspect that's troubling me," for indeed, it should
trouble any real Scientist who grasps the universal principle of
"no repetition!"

Rad's observation: "But I do take that last point as kind of my gauge.
I picture a pure moral intelligence in which people almost know what
right church action is intuitively because all are keyed into one
Mind, and healing is as natural as washing dishes."

How grateful I am to M J R for mentioning, "I've got other fish to
fry. . ." This allows me to draw upon a Scriptural narrative that
seems so vitally relevant to this instant exchange about the 'kind' or
'nature' of what is yet to appear here upon earth to provide Christian
Science the very finest and most universally appealing "distinct
denominational and social organizations and societies
[which] . . . . at present [are] necessary for the individual, and for
our Cause[.]". . . . What is the most appropriate form or
manifestation for these "denominational and social organizations and
societies"?

You and I agree that certain aspects of the present church
organization render it unfit "for our Cause"; but what is the most
appropriate human organizational structure for right now? To use a
little new agey language, what might be a blueprint for a good
Christian Science support system?"

M J R, the questions you have just raised above are priceless and
never could they be more timely! Why? Well, to quote the familiar, for
never has it been truer, "Though the cause of evil prosper, Yet 'tis
Truth alone is strong; Though her portion be the scaffold, And upon
the throne be wrong, Yet that scaffold sways the future, And behind
the dim unknown Standeth God within
the shadow Keeping watch above His own." From out a heart of pure
desire poured forth the vital questions posed above!

Back to the fish! Come with me, if you will, to another place and time
when another group of human beings very much like ourselves found
themselves in a situation much the same as we appear to be in today!
We're in a sinking church and they were in a boat that was being
threatened to be sunk by the wind and waves of a raging storm.

Although the guys in the boat regarded themselves as being fishermen,
just as we regard ourselves as being students of Christian Science,
does anyone truly doubt that we as well as they are not equally
possessed of such unseemly traits of character M J R articulated when
writing:

"My own perspective is that humans will continue to manifest certain
qualities, some of which are not helpful to a better church
organization; [or ship] but humans being what they are, certain of
those unhelpful qualities, such as thirst for power and prestige, and
such as the propensity to rule and control,
are precisely what can all too easily attract people to the human
organization [and into the ship] and will help perpetuate what's not
good in church [or in the ship]. And I should not overlook the other
side of the coin, that many are quite prone to being led, [many a
sea-faring traveler desires nothing more than to
be delivered safely to where they contracted, upon boarding the ship,
to be taken] when they need to be thinking and acting upon their own
best sense of right, that they may be spared being led in wrong
directions. The rulers need those that are willing and eager to be
ruled." [literary license mine].

Before 'diving' into the foaming, tempest tossed sea, indulge me to
linger long enough to bring, once again, a most penetrating statement
given to us by our Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, as it seems so imminently
relevant to answering the questions cited above, especially is this
the case when collaborated by a ferocious and challenging situation
that once confronted our Lord, Christ Jesus.

Because of the precise procedure as exemplified by our Master in his
challenging experience was our Leader enabled to write the following
in regard to the challenges of organization, especially during a time
when the gates of hell are attempting to shut the church down and deny
mankind the possibility of any future ingress or egress! She writes:

"Material organization is requisite in the beginning; but when it has
done its work, the purely Christly method of teaching and preaching
must be adopted. On the same principle, you continue the mental
argument in the practice of Christian healing until you can cure
without it instantaneously, and through Spirit alone." Misc. 358:30.

In the above, wise is he who distinguishes between "material
organization" and "the purely Christly method." Particular emphasis is
also needed on the word: "adopted," as contrasted to other similar
words such as, "accepted," "implemented," or "attained." Mr. Webster
tells us that the word, "adopt" means: "to take to one's self and
treat as one's own by choice or approval."

This brings us to the story of a remarkable "adoption" Christ Jesus
demonstrated after having constrained his disciples to get into a
ship, and to go before him unto the other side, while he dispersed the
multitude of more than five thousand whom he had just fed and
addressed. With the multitude departed unto their homes, Jesus went up
into a mountain to pray, and when the evening had come, he was there
"alone with his own being and the reality of things."

However, the ship carrying Jesus' disciples was but mid-way in the
journey across the sea to Gennesaret, and the ship was tossed with
waves, as the wind was contrary, and a raging storm had overtaken the
otherwise placid sea. The disciples knew of but one way to react to
the threatening situation, and that was to rely on the material
organization in which they were all contained, for upon the design of
its collective beams and timbers did the disciples believe that they
could place their trust and confidence. They had
not yet "adopted" the "purely Christly method" of navigating through
life and its myriad of challenges both successfully and undaunted by
any "earth-born taint" of darkness, doubt or fear!

During the fourth watch of night, when the winds and waves were near
ripping the ship to shreds, an "adoption" took place that saved the
ship and all of its passengers. Walking upon the tempest tossed sea,
Christ Jesus, who knew aught but the "purely Christly method"
"adopted" both the ship as well as all of its passengers, and upon
entering within the ship's structure, the waves subsided, and the
voyage resumed unto its normal and uneventful destination.

How well it is that all of Mrs. Eddy's remnant remember that after she
had been carried by the wings of a great eagle to be nourished for
1, 260 days, the dragon became 'wroth' with the woman, and went to
make war, not with her, or her man-child that had already been caught
up to God and to His Throne, but rather, the warfare was designed to
be instigated and carried out against the "remnant of the woman's
seed."

Everyone who identifies as being a Christian Scientist needs be aware
that it's time to batten down the hatches and bale like hell! Now is
not the time to commit mutiny or jump ship! All are needed to deliver
this great and mighty vessel that is transporting the "latter-day Ark
of the Covenant," to a safe and secure harbor rather than ditch the
aged form for fear that it is being staffed by
an unsavory and inexperienced band of officers bereft of any
sea-faring knowledge, understanding or experience! –– or attempt to
provide a make-shift substitution in the hope that it will do for us
what the century old and disobediently neglected vessel has and will
not!

God's living, saving white Christ didn't appear to his threatened
disciples in a submarine! And neither must we be so threatened or
intimidated by the collective misdeeds of those who have commandeered
what is left of the material church organization and are preparing to
sink it after first stripping it of all of every penny of its rapidly
dwindling assets! Fess us, Ginny, don't you feel guilty cashing your
inordinately inflated and excessive pay check?

Remember, to follow our Leader as she instructed us to do, we will
each be delivered to a place she described as, "And o'er earth's
troubled, angry sea, I see Christ walk, and come to me, and tenderly,
Divinely talk."

As unquestioningly as the Christ completely "adopted" both the ship
and all of its disciples therein, it is now time that this
demonstration be repeated, [remember! no repetitions!] not
collectively as it had been for the ship-load of
disciples, but rather, individually, by each and every aspirant in
Christian Science. Precisely what do I mean by asserting that? I mean
this! Its time, right now, to "adopt" and to make our own the divinely
ordained and anointed Leader God foreordained to appear in this Age
and to deliver the Science of God and to establish and enground it
upon the rock, Upon Life's shore,
'Gainst which the winds and waves can shock, Oh, never-more!"

The earth will help the "woman" by opening its mouth and swallowing,
not only the flood, but the dragon that is spewing it forth, into the
bottomless pit, to never again be seen or heard!

Two last thoughts:

1. We never solve a problem on the level of the problem!

2. "My Kingdom is not of this world."

Every problem ever known, if traced to its genesis, is found to be a
fictitious earth originated myth.

The solution to every one of earth's plethora of fictitious myths, if
traced to its genesis, leads directly into the "Holy of Holies" at the
heart of heaven!

Ergo: There's no problem as enduring as is its solution!

Wager's address in the University Library carries a shrill warning
that exposes both animal magnetism's "intent" and its "strategy." Its
"intent" is its 'what' and its "strategy" is its 'how.' Its ultimate
objective is to substitute something lesser at the expense of missing
entirely, or losing completely, that which is sublimely greater!

Let's be very sober and patient as we maneuver through these
latter-days and not be so caught up in our human ways and means of
endeavoring to provide Christian Science with an entirely new wardrobe
adapted to the New Agey times in which we live, for should we be so
preoccupied in undertaking the creation of that which "we think" will
be more appealing to the public at large, it's as sure a fact as a
fact can be that we'll miss entirely God's living, loving,
healing and redeeming Christ as it walks upon "earth's angry sea," to
a ship full of fearful and intimidated passengers who are all to eager
to dispose of the old in exchange for something new!

We must not be induced to miss the fulfilling of our divine Destiny!
We're destined to meet and greet the Christ of God, and as in days of
yore, the storm will pass and God's Body, the Church, will again
proclaim the glorious and redeeming message of Divine Science to a
world much more eager than it is right now to hear God's healing and
redeeming message and to seek safety and abundant life in the Ark that
God has delivered to humanity!

In Unity of Good,

Dave Nolan