Did you go to Church yesterday?

I’ve had fun in recent months thinking of church as a metaphysical place to occupy rather than a building one walks into.

Common usage teaches that church is a building or common sanctuary where people gather and pray together. And after attending a service, many go home thinking, “I went to church today.”

But is this true? I’ve been questioning.

Spiritually considered, church is not a physical location, but a state of Mind.

Church is about expressing love to one’s neighbor, gaining a spiritual education, learning about God, and growing spiritually. Church, at its finest, is a spiritual experience, more than a geographical place.

There is church, and then there is Church!

After I enter my local branch church and sit down in a pew, I ask myself, “Am I in Church?” Meaning that just because my body is sitting in a pew, doesn’t mean I’m in Church yet. It’s where my thinking is that matters more than where a body is plunked, I remind myself.

Is my thinking in Church—in the Church of Love? I ask. And then I pray to eliminate any un-churchlike attitude or perspective that would keep me from truly being in Church.

Negative emotions, criticism, suspicion, fear, anger and their kin are all the opposite of Church. They are enemies to church progress and destructive to its human manifestation.

I love this questioning of “Am I really in Church?” because it lifts my demonstration of church to a much higher level.

In spiritual Church, no one causes me trouble. Experiencing harmony is all up to me. Success is a function of how much I am willing to love and forgive.

Fellow church members, even ones we find hard to get along with, do not bother us when our thinking is in Church—in a place of Love.

There are no disagreeable church members in Love. Everyone is an angel, a brother and sister living under the parental supervision of the one Father-Mother God.

In Church, I never have to worry about a fellow church member, what they're doing, what they think, or whether they agree with me. In Church, the one Mind takes care of these issues.

In Church, God manages the crowd, not me. And that realization can take a huge load of false responsibility off of one’s mental shoulders.

The health and prosperity of Church is up to God, not up to any human.

We don’t have to wrangle, argue, wrestle or compete in Church. In Church, the one Mind is in control, not personal opinion or human will.

Church is a gift from God, a place to occupy metaphysically.

And this doesn’t mean I don’t need a local congregation to worship with. I do. The divine ideal has to be practiced humanly to prove faith and understanding, lest spiritual truth remains vague and theoretical, and becomes a fraud.

“Love thy neighbor as thyself,” requires practical outward proof.

But it sure makes working with a local congregation easier when one remembers that the ideal of Church is a spiritual place in Mind to occupy regardless of what is happening around us humanly.

Holding to the spiritual ideal lifts and improves the human experience of it and keeps us happy and healthy in the meantime.

So, did you go to Church yesterday? Only you can answer the question…

Rejoicing in instant forgiveness

Have you ever made a major blunder that affected a large number of people, and then struggled with guilt about your mistake afterward?

Last Sunday, I made a big error while playing organ for my local branch church.

While the Reader read a verse to the second hymn, I didn’t pay attention to what he was saying while I was making sound selections on the keyboard. I had my hymnal open to number 58, and was ready to begin as soon as he finished.

When he repeated “Number 85” at the end of the verse, I launched into number 58.

After my introduction, I started playing the first verse and sang right along, happy and satisfied that all was well.

But all was not well.

After about a verse, I notice many people leafing through the pages of their hymnal, like they were lost. And my wife, who I could see from where I sat, was finding hearty humor in something, but I didn’t know what. I was also wondering why few worshippers were singing…but some people were singing. So, I was confused!

With a short prayer of “God, what do I need to know?” I quickly glanced at my post-it with the hymn numbers written down (I cannot see the hymn number rack from where I sit), and suddenly realized my error.

A bit petrified, I reacted by lifting my hands off the keyboard. The music stopped. A few voices lingered (they had figured out that I was playing 58 and were singing the words from memory). I voiced out loud to the congregation of 60 or so congregants, “Oh, I’m sorry!” I flipped my pages to hymn 85, gave them a short intro, and played the right song.

People smiled, and laughed, jumped in with me, and all was well. It was no big deal.

After the church service was finished, many of us had a good hearty laugh over the mix-up. It was quite funny, really.

But later, I rejoiced in realizing that not a single complaint was lodged by anyone about my mess-up. There were no critical frowns, no harsh judgments, and no demeaning remarks. Everyone quickly forgave my mistake, let it go, and proceeded with life. And that’s the way it should always be.

But it hasn’t always been that way! I’ve known times in the past when I’ve made a mistake, not necessarily in church, and someone held it against me for a long time. This ought not to be, but unfortunately has happened at times.

Jesus taught us to forgive and have mercy.

I suppose one reason I felt instant forgiveness from my congregation is because I’m inclined to forgive quickly myself. I don’t believe in holding grudges. They are deadly to health and peace of mind. And why harbor an ill-will that only penalizes self? That’s not cool or wise… But also, the congregation was obviously full of love to breeze right on through the glitch without making anything of it.

“Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy,” Jesus taught.

I felt a huge amount of mercy last Sunday. And I’m not taking it for granted. It was the grace of God at work in that membership, and I am grateful to have been a part of it.

Creative idea for Sunday school

I love this innovative idea that came in from a teacher in a Christian Science Sunday school.

She wrote,

“Since the Church Manual specifies only "Hymn," in the order of the services without reference to what hymns we have to use, we decided to write our own music.

We had been learning about safety, which helped us pick a theme for the words.

My pupil and I wrote the first three verses together, and she wrote the last two.

We chose the tune of “London Bridge is Falling Down,” which our superintendent had the piano music for to play from. And on Sunday, the entire Sunday school sang the piece as our closing hymn.

It went so well! Because of the repetitive nature of the score the little kids who couldn’t read were able to sing along, and we had a grand time.

Here are the words:

"God is always protecting us, protecting us, protecting us. God is always protecting us, morning & night.

God is our shepherd, shepherd, shepherd. God is our shepherd, we love God.

We are happy & grateful, happy & grateful, happy & grateful. We are happy & grateful, all the time.

Nothing can hurt us, hurt us, hurt us. Nothing can hurt us, especially not error.

God is our strong rock, our strong rock, our strong rock. God is our strong rock - you're always safe."


Nice work! I can hear the music in my ear…

The Refiner's Fire

"He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver." Malachi

This verse puzzled some women in a Bible study and they wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of God.

One of the women offered to find out the process of refining silver and get back to the group at their next Bible Study.

That week, the woman called a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at work. She didn't mention anything about the reason for her interest beyond her curiosity about the process of refining silver.

As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities.

The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot; then she thought again about the verse that says: "He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver."

She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time.

The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed.

The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, 'How do you know when the silver is fully refined?'

He smiled at her and answered, "Oh, that's easy--when I see my image in it."

Here again!

I’m here! I know, I know, it’s been a long time since I posted a blog. Not a typical lapse for me…sorry about that.

I have been deeply involved the last two weeks preparing for my yearly Association meeting with my students.

Had a super meeting yesterday with lots of healing activity, and now have breathing space to catch up on a few delayed projects. So here I am once again blogging away…

For those of you not familiar with Association meetings, they are a continuing education program for those dedicated to becoming effective Christian Science healers.

The Board of Education of The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, MA, holds what is called a Normal Class, once every three years. In this class, a small group of experienced and qualified Christian Science practitioners are educated to become Christian Science teachers. These teachers, in turn, return to their fields, and once a year, teach a two week primary class to people who want to be Christian Science healers.

I am one of these teachers, along with approximately 200 other instructors located in various countries and regions around the world.

If you’ve ever wondered what CSB means behind the name of a Christian Science practitioner, it means they graduated from a Normal Class and qualified to become a Christian Science teacher. Where the “B” comes from in CSB, I’m not sure. Maybe it means a graduate of the Christian Science Board of Education, but that’s only speculation on my part. I’m not certain.

But anyway…after a student graduates from primary class, they are eligible to attend yearly Association meetings held by their teacher.

And that’s what happened here yesterday. My students, along with guests from other Associations whose teacher has passed on, met for a day to enlarge our understanding of God, increase our effectiveness as Christian Science healers, and stay alert to influences of error that would sideline our progress Spiritward.

It was a terrific day. The collective power and inspiration one feels when participating in an event like this is unequaled in any other setting. It truly is a very special time that I look forward to each year.

So, let’s see…what fun items can I blog now…

Wash the past away

IN STONE

TWO FRIENDS WERE WALKING

THROUGH THE DESERT.

DURING SOME POINT OF THE

JOURNEY, THEY HAD AN

ARGUMENT; AND ONE FRIEND

SLAPPED THE OTHER ONE

IN THE FACE.

THE ONE WHO GOT SLAPPED

WAS HURT, BUT WITHOUT

SAYING ANYTHING,

WROTE IN THE SAND,

“TODAY MY BEST FRIEND

SLAPPED ME IN THE FACE."

THEY KEPT ON WALKING,

UNTIL THEY FOUND AN OASIS,

WHERE THEY DECIDED

TO TAKE A

BATH.

THE ONE WHO HAD BEEN

SLAPPED GOT STUCK IN THE

MIRE AND STARTED DROWNING,

BUT THE FRIEND SAVED HIM.

AFTER HE RECOVERED FROM

THE NEAR DROWNING,

HE WROTE ON A STONE:

“TODAY MY BEST FRIEND SAVED MY LIFE.”

THE FRIEND WHO HAD SLAPPED

AND SAVED HIS BEST FRIEND

ASKED HIM, “AFTER I HURT YOU,

YOU WROTE IN THE SAND AND NOW,

YOU WRITE ON A STONE, WHY?"

THE FRIEND REPLIED

“WHEN

SOMEONE HURTS US

WE SHOULD WRITE IT DOWN

IN SAND, WHERE WINDS OF

FORGIVENESS CAN ERASE IT AWAY.

“BUT, WHEN SOMEONE DOES

SOMETHING GOOD FOR US,

WE MUST ENGRAVE IT IN STONE

WHERE NO WIND CAN EVER ERASE IT.”

Carrots, eggs, and coffee

A young woman went to her mother and complained that life was hard for her. She was tired of fighting and struggling. When one problem was solved, a new one appeared. She was ready to give up and quit trying.

Her mother took her to the kitchen where she filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire. Soon the pots came to boil.

In the first pot she placed carrots. In the second she placed eggs. And in the last pan she put ground coffee beans.

She let them sit and boil without saying a word. In about twenty minutes she turned off the burners.

She spooned the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. She pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl. Then she ladled the coffee out and placed it in a cup.

Turning to her daughter she asked, “Tell me what you see.”

"Carrots, eggs, and coffee," she replied.

Her mother brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She noted that they were soft.

The mother then asked the daughter to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard boiled egg.

Finally, the mother asked the daughter to sip the coffee. The daughter smiled as she tasted its rich aroma.

The daughter then asked, “What does it mean?”

Her mother explained that each of these objects had faced the same adversity—boiling water. And each reacted differently.

The carrot went in strong, confident and firm. However, after being subjected to the boiling water, it wilted and weakened.

The egg had been well composed but delicate. Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior, but after sitting through the boiling water, its insides solidified.
The ground coffee beans reacted differently, however. After they were in the boiling water, they changed the water.

”Which are you?” she asked her daughter. “When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?”

Think of this: Which am I?

Am I the carrot that is strong, but with adversity I wilt, and lose confidence and strength?

Am I the egg that starts with a malleable heart, but hardens with the heat? Did I have a fluid spirit, but after a death, a breakup, a financial hardship or some other trial, do I become hardened and feel dejected? Does my shell look the same, but on the inside I am bitter?

Or am I like the coffee bean that changes its environment by being in it? When the water gets hot, the bean releases its fragrance and flavor.

How do you handle adversity?

Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?

Weight loss

Struggling with excess weight? Wondering how to lose it permanently?

I was intrigued by this short video clip on the Today show where Gwen Shamblin was interviewed about her "Weigh down" method of losing weight.

I'm not advocating her system, but I found several of her ideas thought-provoking. Most notably her conviction that focusing on food selection makes the whole problem of permanently losing weight worse. She claims that the need is to stop focusing on food, and focus on loving God more. By loving God more, and feeling God's love, the dietary issues will moderate, and the body will return to its normal state, she argues.

She has strong testimony to back up her claims.

Quote of the day

Have you ever felt embroiled by tension and conflict from office politics, workplace conditions, or strife in the home?

Here's a catchy quote that puts mental environments we feel into a different perspective.

"You're not in the situation. The situation is in you."

The ablity to master a discordant state of thought is within us all, and is exercised through our understanding of divine Mind's omnipotence.

No evil heredity

I was listening to a Christian Science lecture given by Ginny Leudeman, and she made the most ear-catching summary of how to think about DNA.

She was relaying how her dad was an alcoholic, and when she grew up she had to pray assiduously to break away from the belief that she had to suffer from problems her dad suffered from, including undesirable characteristics passed on to her through DNA.

When she discovered Christian Science, she began to see that bad habits are not passed on from mortals to their ancestors, except in belief. Through understanding God to be the Father-Mother creator, we can exempt ourselves from harmful hereditary beliefs and realize that DNA is shorthand for Does Not Apply!

Kind of catchy, I thought. I certainly won’t forget it.

God makes us who we are, not mortal ancestors, genes or chromosomes.

Obey the law or pay a price

The above sign is frequently posted throughout the streets of New York City. You wouldn’t know a regulation exists by the amount of horn-honking you hear from drivers trying to squeeze through every little opening they can in traffic. But I assume, from reading these signs, that a law exists in that town to help keep peace on the streets. Noise pollution from impatient drivers does not add to the city’s attractiveness!

During one walk, Kathy and I were waiting at a street corner for the lights to change. In front of us were two police cars, parked one behind the other on the side of the lane. The furthest back police car pulled out to pass the other and move on down the road. As soon as he pulled the nose of his car out into the main stream of traffic, a big SUV coming from behind honked at him.

We were surprised! I don't think I'd ever honk at a police car!! But this guy did.

Surprised at the brazenness, I looked at the impatient driver. He was a businessman dressed in a dark suit with white shirt and talking on his cell phone. He had that look of “don’t get in my way!”

The traffic situation was inconvenient to halt, so the police car, after reacting with a jam-on-the-brake stop, cruised over to the side, let the SUV pass, and then pursued him with lights flashing. The horn-honker was going to pay…

I figured the horn-honker was so absorbed in his telephone conversation, that he didn’t look at the car he honked at. He probably honked out of habit, disregarding the spirit and intent of the horn-honking law altogether.

And the lesson I witnessed was being reminded of how law-breaking often works. Violators may get by for a while breaking the law when no enforcers are around to watch, but eventually, their criminal actions are going to get them into trouble, perhaps when they least expect it. Their brazenness blinds them and causes them to do stupid things.

Moral and spiritual violations in life are no different. Some people may go undetected lying once here, twice somewhere else, or cutting ethical corners they should not and get by for a period. But eventually, the moral illegality will catch up to them and there will be a price to pay.

It’s best we rectify our actions ASAP, and keep ourselves out of trouble to begin with! It's a lot less costly.


It’s always safe to live a moral, pure and clean life. No expensive penalties to fear then!

More to see than apparent

While touring the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC, my wife and I came across the most fascinating work by American artist Stephen Hannock.

The mural is huge, eight to ten feet wide, and around 6 feet high.

The wonderment part of viewing the piece is, that as you walk closer to the canvas, at an unforeseen point, what you see in the picture is instantly transformed. You suddenly notice that lines and details in the painting are not plants and landscapes, but words that form stories. These phrases give historical facts and describe events that evidently happened in the location the painting depicts.

“Wow!” we exclaimed when we first noticed. A world within a world revealed itself before our gaze that was not apparent from a distance.


It’s impossible to tell in the picture I’ve inserted here, but if you look closely, you’ll see rows of crops in the fields, and light brown lines across the horizon in the forests.

These rows and lines are sentences. The mural is filled with thousands of words that tell stories. Some sentences are very long. Some are a few words. But the verbiage is everywhere you look.

What an eye-popper when you first notice!

I thought about the larger spiritual lessons to learn.

People are this way.

When first meeting a stranger, you might sum them up in general terms about what your eye takes in. You might draw broad characterizations about their personality from how they look. But when you get to know the person better, you begin to see “the writing in the lines.” You discover marvelous qualities, talents and attributes in that individual that were not initially apparent.

And the same rule applies for getting to know each other spiritually.

To the mortal eye, friends and neighbors appear as landscapes of mortality—material bodies with physical features. But when you search them spiritually, and strive to see them close up the way God made them to begin with, you begin to take in the spiritual detail God inscribed into their being.

Instead of seeing hair color, body proportions, height and weight, you see the nature of God expressed through the kindness, wisdom, strength or character they embody. You see the words of God written into the tablet of their being...“Precious child of God, beloved and cared for, valued and worthy...”

The old cliché “see the handwriting on the wall,” has taken on new meaning for me!

The handwriting is always before us, and if we look close enough, we’ll see it.
We did in the above piece of art! And we’re all the artwork of God.

Times Square

Have you ever been to Times Square at night? In the last few years, that is?

After Kathy and I took in “A Chorus Line” on Broadway, we walked back to our hotel which took us through the Times Square area at 11 o’clock at night.

Coming from rural Washington State, experiencing this part of NYC is like being transported to another universe! I’m telling you, I’ve never seen anything like it.

High rise buildings lining the street for a mile or more leading up to Times Square are plastered with flashing, pulsating, blinking, bright electronic billboards advertising messages, playing videos, and selling countless wares and services to titillate the senses.

Talk about sensory overload!

I’m not talking about 2 or 3 electronic displays here and there, but about every available inch of space for one to two hundred feet straight up and in all directions flashing every possible color, picture or graphic display Madison Avenue could think of to grab attention and push a message on unsuspecting wayfarers.

The sidewalks were jammed with hordes of people walking in all directions. Stores were open and packed with customers. The atmosphere was like a carnival. It was hyper. And the pace was just starting to pick up. In the minds of most, the night had just begun.

As Kathy and I weaved our way through the masses of bodies, I thought about the choices we make in life and the effect they have on our well being.

To the physical senses, the glitz, brightness, and lighting schemes on that street, the immense crowds, and the noise from it all could be mesmerizing. It was so materially intense and the messages and advertising so extremely aggressive it was easy to lose yourself and get mentally absorbed into what was being thrown at you from all directions.

You don’t have to be in Times Square to have a similar experience. The aggression of mortal mind comes in many different forms. For instance, a suggestion of disease can be as assaulting. A picture of conflict, an empty bank account, or feeling of failure, can feel as overwhelming.

But we have a choice, I agreed, while thinking this all through and computing the massive assault on my senses from around me. We don’t have to become a victim of mortal mind suggestions.

And that’s what I saw in Times Square. Suggestions!! All those flashing billboards and video displays were suggestions. I could accept the suggestions and get sucked into where they wanted to take me, or I could reject them and walk on without paying them any heed.

I practiced turning the physical senses off and on to prove the point.

I would stop looking up at the signs, quit listening to the entire ruckus around me and tune into Truth. I would search for Love, and as soon as I felt totally at peace with God, I would look up again at the signs and take in the sensual sights.

As the physical senses filled up with all the noise and clamor, I’d instantly stop it all by tuning it out again and go back into my secret place with divine Love. I did this a few times and it felt terrific!

I felt control rather than being controlled. It was a simple exercise to demonstrate my dominion over the aggressiveness of mortal mind and prove a bit more to myself that I am never helpless.

No matter how convincing mortal mind tries to be with its aggressive suggestions, they are not convincing to the spiritually minded perspective.

In my right spiritual state of mind, I could walk down that noisy, loud, blaring street oblivious to all the material commotion and totally aware of God’s omnipresent Love. It was a choice I could make and follow through with.

It’s a choice we can all make no matter what form “Times Square” may be taking in our life at the moment.