Our church was looking for some Sunday school teachers. I knew I was off the hook on this one. After all I had not taught Sunday school in over twenty years. I also had no children of my own and very little contact with any. However has time went by I found myself volunteering for this service and was happily accepted for the committee. The Bible says, “I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.”(Isa.6:8)
Now that I was willing to be called to this service I thought what do I do next? I cannot relate to children. As I began to pray about this important duty the thought came you are not doing this God is doing it. I remember when I was in school a Christian Science practitioner told me, “The same Mind that makes the questions makes the answers.” By this I have learned that Mind is God and Mind already knows what those children need. If I am listening to God He will give me the questions to ask the children and He also will give me the answers to the questions they will ask.
The discoverer and founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy in her infinite wisdom gave us instruction on teaching the children on page 62 and 63 of her Church Manual. Part of this instruction is as follows, “The Sabbath School children shall be taught the Scriptures, and they shall be instructed according to their understanding or ability to grasp the simpler meanings of the divine Principle that they are taught.” She also tells us to teach things such as the Lord’s Prayer, Sermon on the Mount and the Ten Commandments. This was a big help to me. I was also given some guidelines on what to teach my age group from our Sunday school guidelines from a seminar on Sunday school teaching by an experienced teacher.
As I have prayed about this class it has come to me that there is not me and them it is only God and His idea. These children are the sons and daughters of God and they are receptive to His voice and so am I. We are all learning together. I am not the wise professor bringing knowledge to my ignorant students. God knows nothing of an age group. There is no generation gap to God. We are all his children and are receptive to His voice. Didn’t Jesus say, “Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein?”(Mark 10:15).
I started with two children whom did not always come on a regular basis. I have to admit that when they did not come I was often relieved. However I have learned that that was the wrong attitude to take. Our Sunday school is a Manual provision provided by Mrs. Eddy. I realized that she has said in Science and Health that there are, “Millions of unprejudiced minds — simple seekers for Truth,” (570:14, 15) I was not asking for a million students but there are the receptive thoughts out there. God would not call me to teach Sunday school and then give me no students to teach, that certainly is not God. God is love and wants to bring His love to His children.
A few months ago, I met women in another capacity I was serving the Christian Science Church in. In our conversation she told me she had three grandchildren living with her and soon a fourth moved in with her. I told her that two of the children would be in my class if she took them to our church. Soon she took them to our Sunday school and they were embraced by our members. One of them was very new in Christian Science but as been soaking in the teachings of it. She recently came home from a Christian Science camp which our church helped finance.
More recently I had a new visitor in my class who had gone to a school that studied the Koran. She was a little shy at first and brought her puppy with her. However the other children’s love made her feel very welcomed to the class. She was a big addition the class and participated in our lively class discussion.
I am so grateful for what I have been learning in Sunday school and am still learning. Yes, as I teacher we are learning probably as much or more than the students. We are learning to listen and to follow in the way that the Christ truth points out. We are as a sheep in His pasture. Christ Jesus told us, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.”(John 10:27, 28) What a reward for teaching Sunday school and being one of its students.
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Fight Fire with Prayer
Recently on the news, there have been many reports of fires in various parts of the country. Many people have lost their homes; valuable property has been destroyed as well as lives lost. Can prayer be an ally in our fight against fires? I believe it can.
A few years ago, I witnessed how prayer can eliminate fire. I was working at a new job that was right near a hillside. We started having many brush fires which was a concern to us all. The fire department was called on a regular basis. Many of us started to pray about this situation.
In my prayer, I was led to look up Mary Baker Eddy’s glossary definition of fire in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures which states that fire is “Fear; remorse; lust; hatred; destruction; affliction purifying and elevating man.”(586:13,14)
I knew that the place the fire needed to be burned out was not out there, but in my own thought. So I took each word in this definition of fire and applied it to my present life.
First was fear. What was I afraid of? So far I was very unhappy in my new job. I was afraid that I was stuck in this job and had no other options for work. This I saw was a lie. I was about my Father’s business and His work was always rewarding, fruitful, and harmonious. God was directing my career and placed me where I can bless and be blessed the most. There are never limits to the wonderful opportunities in His employment.
What about remorse? I had worked for a company for over 12 years where I had been very happy. But recently the company was dissolved and taken over by my present employer. I kept rehearsing over and over in my thinking that the company should not have closed. I kept wondering why my old company closed instead of the one I was presently working for. This line of reasoning was getting me nowhere. How can God be at one company and absent from another? God is everywhere. I could never for one moment be separated from Him. He fills all space with His love. I needed to feel this love right where I was.
How was lust part of this picture? In my thought, I felt my manager had a lust for power. She seemed to intimidate all of us. We were like putty in her hands. Many of my friends were either being fired or quitting their jobs. The more I thought about what she was doing, the more I saw myself hating her and my job. I remember calling a Christian Science practitioner and reciting all my problems to her. She pointed out this statement in Science and Health, “Nothing is real and eternal, — nothing is Spirit, — but God and His idea. Evil has no reality. It is neither person, place, nor thing, but is simply a belief, an illusion of material sense.”(71:1-4)
I began to realize that I could not see an evil person because if I did then God must be evil. I knew that had to be a lie. The Bible says of God, “Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity:” (Hab. 1:13(to 1st :) God is love and would never create an evil person or cause anything that is unlike His perfect nature. I knew that in reality all that was going was God’s goodness and nothing else. If I was accepting anything else then I believed that evil was real and it could cause destruction in my experience. I was here only to bring my understanding of God. This understanding included only perfect God and perfect man any other thought would be destructive and unproductive.
How was this experience purifying and elevating me? I was lifting my thought to a higher idea of God and man. I realized that my manager was not the problem it was my mistaken thought about her and my company. Every day I worked to control my thinking. I knew that harmony was the truth and inharmony was the lie. God was in charge of this company and not persons. I was working for God and so was everyone else.
I made a point to see all the good qualities that my manager expressed such as order, beauty, and thoroughness in her work. I began having a better working relationship with her and harmony on the job. The manager soon resigned and was replaced by someone whom everyone was able to work with more harmoniously. Soon the brush fires stopped. Their have been no more fires since.
My work experience at the company became satisfying. Within a few years, I was able to leave the company on a pleasant note
We can heal fires in our thought and our thoughts will heal the fires taking place in our environment. We can do this right now. We can stand up to the belief that anything in our lives or anything in our world can be out of control. God good is in control of our life and He is in control of our world. Let’s begin to accept this divine fact and thank God for His loving administration of all things.
A few years ago, I witnessed how prayer can eliminate fire. I was working at a new job that was right near a hillside. We started having many brush fires which was a concern to us all. The fire department was called on a regular basis. Many of us started to pray about this situation.
In my prayer, I was led to look up Mary Baker Eddy’s glossary definition of fire in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures which states that fire is “Fear; remorse; lust; hatred; destruction; affliction purifying and elevating man.”(586:13,14)
I knew that the place the fire needed to be burned out was not out there, but in my own thought. So I took each word in this definition of fire and applied it to my present life.
First was fear. What was I afraid of? So far I was very unhappy in my new job. I was afraid that I was stuck in this job and had no other options for work. This I saw was a lie. I was about my Father’s business and His work was always rewarding, fruitful, and harmonious. God was directing my career and placed me where I can bless and be blessed the most. There are never limits to the wonderful opportunities in His employment.
What about remorse? I had worked for a company for over 12 years where I had been very happy. But recently the company was dissolved and taken over by my present employer. I kept rehearsing over and over in my thinking that the company should not have closed. I kept wondering why my old company closed instead of the one I was presently working for. This line of reasoning was getting me nowhere. How can God be at one company and absent from another? God is everywhere. I could never for one moment be separated from Him. He fills all space with His love. I needed to feel this love right where I was.
How was lust part of this picture? In my thought, I felt my manager had a lust for power. She seemed to intimidate all of us. We were like putty in her hands. Many of my friends were either being fired or quitting their jobs. The more I thought about what she was doing, the more I saw myself hating her and my job. I remember calling a Christian Science practitioner and reciting all my problems to her. She pointed out this statement in Science and Health, “Nothing is real and eternal, — nothing is Spirit, — but God and His idea. Evil has no reality. It is neither person, place, nor thing, but is simply a belief, an illusion of material sense.”(71:1-4)
I began to realize that I could not see an evil person because if I did then God must be evil. I knew that had to be a lie. The Bible says of God, “Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity:” (Hab. 1:13(to 1st :) God is love and would never create an evil person or cause anything that is unlike His perfect nature. I knew that in reality all that was going was God’s goodness and nothing else. If I was accepting anything else then I believed that evil was real and it could cause destruction in my experience. I was here only to bring my understanding of God. This understanding included only perfect God and perfect man any other thought would be destructive and unproductive.
How was this experience purifying and elevating me? I was lifting my thought to a higher idea of God and man. I realized that my manager was not the problem it was my mistaken thought about her and my company. Every day I worked to control my thinking. I knew that harmony was the truth and inharmony was the lie. God was in charge of this company and not persons. I was working for God and so was everyone else.
I made a point to see all the good qualities that my manager expressed such as order, beauty, and thoroughness in her work. I began having a better working relationship with her and harmony on the job. The manager soon resigned and was replaced by someone whom everyone was able to work with more harmoniously. Soon the brush fires stopped. Their have been no more fires since.
My work experience at the company became satisfying. Within a few years, I was able to leave the company on a pleasant note
We can heal fires in our thought and our thoughts will heal the fires taking place in our environment. We can do this right now. We can stand up to the belief that anything in our lives or anything in our world can be out of control. God good is in control of our life and He is in control of our world. Let’s begin to accept this divine fact and thank God for His loving administration of all things.
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