I recently lectured in Madison, Wisconsin. Find below a one hour recording of the event. Thank you to First Church of Christ, Scientist in Madison for hosting this public event and for initiating my Fall lecture tour. In all, the lectures received a warm reception followed by vigorous QA sessions in DC (twice), MI, WI (twice), FL and VA. Happy Thanksgiving to you and all. Recording available online until February 19, 2017.
11/17/2016 Prayer that is dependableWhy does the tweet #prayfor have such staying power? This was recently explored in the Monitor’s View editorial “Why the tweet #prayfor has staying power” (CSMonitor.com, Oct. 4, 2016). As the headline for the piece noted: “After major tragedies, social media lights up with calls for prayer. One reason, based on a new survey: A majority of Americans rely on prayer in the hope for healing....” This points to the question of what prayer is, and whether it can truly lead us to help and healing. Americans and many others around the world, including me, have found that indeed it can... Read the rest of this post on csmonitor.com. 11/17/2016 Say goodbye to the bear video
Throwback video from 2013, found on Liberty University's Godtube - "Say goodbye to the bear"
Say goodbye to the bear from cslectures on GodTube. Sponsored by First Church of Christ, Scientist in Duxbury, MA. Recorded from my home in France. (I apologize for issues with the visual presentation, but the audio is quite clear throughout.) What are your questions and/or concerns about Christian Science and its practice of healing through prayer? This Saturday, October 22 at noon ET, I will give a short presentation on some of the basics of the healing practice of Christian Science _ its history, its Bibilical roots, its modern day practice. What happens after that, is up to you. You may have seen advertised , or even participated in, one of these webinars before. But what makes this one different is the questions that come in from participants. In other words, the webinar adapts to you and your needs. Won't you join us? And invite your friends. This event is sponsored by the members and friends at First Church of Christ, Scientist, Duxbury, MA, USA. 9/1/2016 A wife's healingI won’t come off well at the beginning of this story. But that’s OK. The lesson it illustrates is worthy of the disclosure of my bad form. For several months, I ruminated and criticized my husband over accumulated small stuff until the small stuff didn’t seem so small. My tendency to memorialize his mistakes blinded me from recognizing the progress my husband was making and kept me from supporting him as I should. This happened in thought, mostly, but also in conversation when I would talk about him to my girlfriends... To find out what I did about it, find a version of this blog post as it was published by The Christian Science Monitor on September 7, 2016.
7/28/2016 Disarming an enemyIs kindness an evasive response to animosity? Is love a weak reply to hatred? Are self-abnegation and courage exceptional when one is under threat? It’s pretty safe to say that Christ Jesus didn’t think so. He taught that kindness, love, setting aside one’s own interests in the interest of others, and courage, are natural ways for us to respond to evil. He said, “Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.” (Matthew 5:43-45. KJV) What I get from Jesus' analogy of the sunlight and rain is that, like a beam of light is capable of lighting any degree of darkness, and raindrops can cleanse, satiate, saturate, and nourish any type of plant, every single expression of God’s love, reflected in our thought (through blessings and prayers) and actions (like doing others good), meets any human need, including the need to defend against and to disarm evil. God, who is divine Love, provides each one of His children with His own love to experience and express. As the reflection or image of God, each of us has a limitless spring of kindness, courage, selflessness and love to draw on. God’s love expressed in us, in big and small ways, can turn an enemy from evil, guiding him in some degree to express his (or her) true spiritual selfhood. God’s love expressed through us can even disarm and render an enemy incapable of doing harm. I once discovered a not-yet-consummated plot to bring harm and upset to our very loving and happy family. Initially I was caught off guard. No one had recognized that hatred had been slowly, silently building up behind the scenes in the thought of a distant relation over many decades. I should note that at first I didn’t know this woman personally, but I married into a family that had a long ago history with her. So not knowing the back-story, I unwittingly invited her to stay with us during a time of need. Consequently, being the hostess and the one the most present, I made the discovery of the plot and became the main target of animosity. A typical human response might have been to ask her to leave. I certainly contemplated it. But in consideration of the family, I decided to keep her close. Pushing hatred off in the distance would not eliminate the danger. So, I decided to take the opportunity, while she was under my care, to pray for resolution. It required both courage and self-abnegation to put my family’s needs before my own, but each morning for three days I turned to God for guidance in how to proceed, and for the wisdom and courage to follow through. The first morning, my answer to prayer - “Be kind” - seemed counter-intuitive. But it was all I could hear when I prayed, “Be kind, just be kind.” So I trusted the answer to my prayer and thought of all the kindnesses I could express. I prepared her tea and sat with her while she drank it, even while she said the most awful things to me. I took great care in making her room up nicely, providing fresh linens and towels. I was as nice as I knew to be, remaining non-reactive to the stinging verbal abuse that continued throughout the day. Day two, I prayed again. And I got the same message. “Be kind.” But this time I wanted to go beyond mere human "do-gooding." My heart craved to feel the power of kindness as a spiritual attribute sourced in God. So I looked a bit deeper into what kindness involves. I found this in Mary Baker Eddy’s Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, where she wrote: “Christian Science commands man to master the propensities, — to hold hatred in abeyance with kindness, to conquer lust with chastity, revenge with charity, and to overcome deceit with honesty. Choke these errors in their early stages, if you would not cherish an army of conspirators against health, happiness, and success.” SH 405:5-11 Science and Health helped me to see that kindness was more than a stall-tactic to delay evil; when understood to come from God, Love, it is an expression of spiritual and loving power that suspends and renders evil inactive. Armed with this perspective, I approached the second day with joy and determination. Even though her conversation didn’t improve, perhaps even worsened, I felt that my expression of patience and good, through kind thoughts and acts, were Love-enforced and therefore were choking out evil’s capacity to hit its mark. As I grew stronger and more confident in my reflection of divine Love through self-abnegation and kindness, I became more convinced that evil could be completely disarmed. I awakened on day three with a sincere prayer to disarm evil. The message I received in prayer was different. “Love her.” Whoa. I felt unprepared for that. Love her? I didn’t even like her! At least I didn’t like what I had seen in her – the hateful resentment, the determination to do harm, the justification of her position, and the personal attacks on me as an innocent bystander trying my best to be kind. The Bible tells a story of David before he became a king. The present king, Saul, discovered David's whereabouts in a desert wilderness, and hunted him with a murderous intent. David found Saul’s camp, and he could have easily taken out Saul and his guards at night while they slept. But instead, David said he could not do harm to “God’s anointed.” So rather than killing Saul to save himself, he disarmed him, taking away his weapon and his water, and leaving Saul with neither the means to harm David nor the water that would allow Saul to continue his desert pursuit. Upon awakening, Saul recognized that David had been kind to him by disarming without harming him when he was most vulnerable and exposed. In the end, Saul admitted his error in hunting David, and blessed him. (See I Samuel:26) Interestingly, David recognized that Saul had more to learn, and that he would come after him to attempt to kill him on another day. (I Samuel 27:1) But Saul’s behavior didn’t determine David’s actions. David’s agenda was set by God, Love. David loved Saul. He never failed to recognize Saul as “God’s anointed” even while Saul behaved abominably. And through all future encounters with this enemy, David remained perfectly safe. (See I Samuel 21-31, II Samuel We could say that a spiritual sense of Saul as "God's anointed" helped David keep his cool and disarm his enemy. Well, my spiritual sense of our hate-filled houseguest helped me love her on that third day. I recognized that as God’s child she was a reflection of divine Love, and therefore loveable, no matter what she believed about our family or expressed. I spent the day, feeling divine Love, like light and rain, pouring forth with no judgment on all His creation. The fourth morning, I awakened and leapt out of bed to greet our guest and to prepare her breakfast. I was truly looking forward to seeing her, so strengthened was I by all this kindness and love. On the kitchen counter I found a short note which concluded, “Thank you for your kindness.” She had packed in the night and left before we awakened. She never did act on her destructive plan. In fact, we never saw her again. We had news of her from time to time for about a year, but never negative. And after a year or so, we never heard of her again. Perhaps not every enemy will become a friend. But enemies don’t set the agenda unless we allow them to. Christ Jesus taught and David illustrated that we can choose to love by letting divine Love reveal the human footsteps for disarming any enemy. Courage, strength, selflessness, love and spiritual understanding open the way and do the work. On May 28, 2016 a spiritual summit was held in South Lake Tahoe. I participated with two other experienced healers and speakers - Lois Carlson, CSB, and Tony Lobl, CS - as we discussed the what, the why, and the how of Christian Science as it relates to human progress - individual and worldwide. Some comments received: "You three came together as a fantastic team. Several have commented that the speaker order and subject matter sequence was absolutely SPOT ON! And that the timing was “just right”. "Though we did not ask for donations, there were spontaneous donations made this afternoon and a couple area church members indicated they would be making donations. Frankly, THAT has never happened before. "Many asked to be sure when our "NEXT Spiritual Summit would be held . . . you are having another, right”? Well, I’m sure we will. One man drove his family of 4 up from Henderson (Las Vegas). That’s an 8-hour drive. He talked with me afterward about how glad he was that they made the trip as the “harmonized” talks were just so right." This event was sponsored by First Church of Christ, Scientist, South Lake Tahoe, with financial support from other area Christian Science churches and individuals. Find the link to the Summit replay, which will be available online through September 27, 2016. First Church of Christ, Scientist, Belmont, MA, recorded my lecture Finding God, Finding Health; and the Belmont Media Center - a community organization - have kindly featured it on their website for the next three months. Enjoy! Messages surround us, but not all are honest, open, clear and positive in their intent. However, Alex Cook's messages conveyed in his “You are Loved” murals, make crystal clear the value of seeing ourselves and others in a positive light: as loved, beautiful, important, needed, capable and accomplished. Alex sees his artwork as supporting a positive inner conversation by promoting messages that help people challenge the negative voices that so often occupy thought. He writes, “The public conversation about worth, value, and well-being is often dark. We are surrounded by belittling messages of materialism, bullying, and violence. Instead, imagine the words 'You Are Loved,' - the letters, 12 feet tall, covering the side of a public school in your community... Imagine the young woman, struggling with fears about her appearance, drinking in a confident, colorful mural declaring 'You Are Beautiful' instead of the belittling message of sex-based advertising. Imagine a young man struggling to find work encountering an unequivocal public statement that 'You Are Needed.'" Alex’ murals appear in over 120 locations around the US and abroad. He collaborates with schools, worship groups, artists, businesses and organizations of all types to create murals in public and private spaces, conveying five messages:
More examples can be found on his site. For a beautiful testimonial of Alex’s personal journey, read his article “How art helped rescue me from the darkest traps” at goodmenproject.com. If you or someone you know would be interested in working with Alex on a mural, or if you would like to support this initiative in other ways, feel free to reach out to him directly at this contact address, or find and follow him on Facebook. Find a podcast recording of a recent interview in Belmont, MA. Recorded before the presentation of my lecture, "Finding God, Finding Health," in Belmont, this June, 2016. "Christian Science: What it is is and How it heals" (In-person version) Sponsored by First Church of Christ, Scientist, Mobile AL, this video will be online until July 17, 2016. "Christian Science: What it is and How it heals" (Webinar version)
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1/31/2016
A love letter for you
Here is a love letter to you from the apostle Paul, as found in 1 Corinthians 13 of the J.B. Phillips New Testament:
Christian love—the highest and best gift
13 1-3 If I speak with the eloquence of men and of angels, but have no love, I become no more than blaring brass or crashing cymbal. If I have the gift of foretelling the future and hold in my mind not only all human knowledge but the very secrets of God, and if I also have that absolute faith which can move mountains, but have no love, I amount to nothing at all. If I dispose of all that I possess, yes, even if I give my own body to be burned, but have no love, I achieve precisely nothing.
4 This love of which I speak is slow to lose patience—it looks for a way of being constructive. It is not possessive: it is neither anxious to impress nor does it cherish inflated ideas of its own importance.
5-6 Love has good manners and does not pursue selfish advantage. It is not touchy. It does not keep account of evil or gloat over the wickedness of other people. On the contrary, it is glad with all good men when truth prevails.
7-8a Love knows no limit to its endurance, no end to its trust, no fading of its hope; it can outlast anything. It is, in fact, the one thing that still stands when all else has fallen.
Christian love—the highest and best gift
13 1-3 If I speak with the eloquence of men and of angels, but have no love, I become no more than blaring brass or crashing cymbal. If I have the gift of foretelling the future and hold in my mind not only all human knowledge but the very secrets of God, and if I also have that absolute faith which can move mountains, but have no love, I amount to nothing at all. If I dispose of all that I possess, yes, even if I give my own body to be burned, but have no love, I achieve precisely nothing.
4 This love of which I speak is slow to lose patience—it looks for a way of being constructive. It is not possessive: it is neither anxious to impress nor does it cherish inflated ideas of its own importance.
5-6 Love has good manners and does not pursue selfish advantage. It is not touchy. It does not keep account of evil or gloat over the wickedness of other people. On the contrary, it is glad with all good men when truth prevails.
7-8a Love knows no limit to its endurance, no end to its trust, no fading of its hope; it can outlast anything. It is, in fact, the one thing that still stands when all else has fallen.
All gifts except love will be superseded one day
8b-10 For if there are prophecies they will be fulfilled and done with, if there are “tongues” the need for them will disappear, if there is knowledge it will be swallowed up in truth. For our knowledge is always incomplete and our prophecy is always incomplete, and when the complete comes, that is the end of the incomplete.
11 When I was a little child I talked and felt and thought like a little child. Now that I am a man my childish speech and feeling and thought have no further significance for me.
12 At present we are men looking at puzzling reflections in a mirror. The time will come when we shall see reality whole and face to face! At present all I know is a little fraction of the truth, but the time will come when I shall know it as fully as God now knows me!
13 In this life we have three great lasting qualities—faith, hope and love. But the greatest of them is love.
J.B. Phillips New Testament (PHILLIPS) The New Testament in Modern English by J.B Philips copyright © 1960, 1972 J. B. Phillips.
8b-10 For if there are prophecies they will be fulfilled and done with, if there are “tongues” the need for them will disappear, if there is knowledge it will be swallowed up in truth. For our knowledge is always incomplete and our prophecy is always incomplete, and when the complete comes, that is the end of the incomplete.
11 When I was a little child I talked and felt and thought like a little child. Now that I am a man my childish speech and feeling and thought have no further significance for me.
12 At present we are men looking at puzzling reflections in a mirror. The time will come when we shall see reality whole and face to face! At present all I know is a little fraction of the truth, but the time will come when I shall know it as fully as God now knows me!
13 In this life we have three great lasting qualities—faith, hope and love. But the greatest of them is love.
J.B. Phillips New Testament (PHILLIPS) The New Testament in Modern English by J.B Philips copyright © 1960, 1972 J. B. Phillips.
Sponsored by First Church of Christ Scientist, San Francisco, and available until 4/27/16.
Find me on YouTube
I have practiced Christian Science professionally in
some form since 1979.
But my journey with
Christian Science started
in a Sunday school
where as a young child
I was taught the Scriptures and some simple basics
of Jesus' method of
scientific Christian healing.
A significant experience
at the age of twelve
opened my eyes to
the great potential
of this practice.
After impaling my foot
on a nail,
I prayed the way I had learned
in Sunday school.
Within moments
the pain stopped
and healing began.
By the next morning the wound had disappeared completely.
Having experienced
the great potential
of Christian Science,
there would be no
turning back.