Arise! Shine!

Spiritual resource to share: the nature of light

It is all about light this month! As we enter into the season of light, I wanted to dive into the very nature of light and see if its physical nature can open our thought to more about the spiritual nature of light.

A quick browse through some websites about the physical nature of light and a favorite article gives me this:

• Light can travel through a vaccuum.
• All light can be in touch with all other light instantaneously*.
• Light is energy.
• Our human eyes can only see a fraction of the full spectrum of light.
  

Contrast that with Jesus' remarkable cry "I am come a light into the world, that whoseover abideth in me should not abide in darkness."

Or with the version from The Message: "Jesus summed it all up when he cried out, "Whoever believes in me, believes not just in me but in the One who sent me. Whoever looks at me is looking, in fact, at the One who sent me. I am Light that has come into the world so that all who believe in me won't have to stay any longer in the dark."

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Bible sheds some light on this passage:

Our Lord publicly proclaimed, that every one who believed on him, as his true
disciple, did not believe on him only, but on the Father who sent him....By daily looking to Him, who came a Light into the world, we are more and more freed from the darkness of ignorance, error, sin, and misery....

Christ is the Light. And this Light shows us the way, it illumines, enlightens, is not heavy, chases away the darkness and reveals what is true. So let's mix this up and see what more we can learn about the spiritual nature of light.

Light can travel through a vaccuum. God's light and love are everywhere. There is no seeming vaccum.

S&H 266:6 Would existence without personal friends be to you a blank? Then the time will come when you will be solitary, left without sympathy; but this seeming vacuum is already filled with divine Love.

All light can be in touch with all other light instantaneously*.God's love is universal. One Mind governs all God's children. We can pray for others across the globe and they can still experience healing.

S&H 411:3 If Spirit or the power of divine Love bear witness to the truth, this is the ultimatum, the scientific way, and the healing is instantaneous.

S&H 559:1 The "still, small voice" of scientific thought reaches over continent and ocean to the globe's remotest bound.

Light is energy. The energy coming from light brings warmth, renewal and movement.

S&H 510:27 Light is a symbol of Mind, of Life, Truth, and Love, and not a vitalizing property of matter.

S&H 249:5 Let us feel the divine energy of Spirit, bringing us into newness of life and recognizing no mortal nor material power as able to destroy.

Our human eyes can only see a fraction of the full spectrum of light. We are constantly growing spirituallly. The more we understand of our spiritual nature, the less materialism we have to deal with.

I Cor 13:12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

*For more reading about light from an astro physicist's view (who is also a Christian Scientist) read on..... "Physicists today are finding some interesting properties of the light they study.... For example, at one level, all light particles seem to be in touch with all others; the quantum physics term for this phenomonom is called entanglement. ... Essentially, according to the equations, instantaneously means they are really already in touch with one another....So the underlying idea seems to be emerging that from light's perspective, it doesn't take time to go from point A to point B in the universe. If all "entangled " light "knows" that and fills the universe, then it is possible for all light to be in touch with all other light instantaneously." (from article "More Understanding, Less Matter" by Laurance Doyle, July 11, 2005 Christian Science Sentinel)

Who is a Christian Scientist?

Spiritual resource to share: our God-love

Yesterday was National Prayer Day. Did any of you catch that? I spent it in part with the prayer team at the local hospital. There were three of us who gathered together. Each of us is at home with three different disciplines: an evangelical Baptist, a Catholic, and me, the Christian Scientist. (Of course, we all call each other Brian, Halcy and Kim.)

I always (really, I always) feel such a tenderness when getting together with this group. We are all doing what we can to help alleviate suffering through our highest sense of prayer. We looked at The Lord's Prayer and broke it down to four main elements (adoration/affirmation, confession/contrition, thanksgiving, and supplication/petition) and together shared our free-form prayers in each of those areas. As we shared, I noticed that we each were strong in a different element -- adding another dimension to one another's prayer. I love this kind of stuff.

Mary Baker Eddy has said some amazing things about our work with people of other denominations. It has been something I have thought about often. I am copying it down in total here, so I hope you'll read it and comment afterwards.

It is from Pulpit and Press ( p. 21)

Our unity with churches of other denominations must rest on the spirit of Christ calling us together. It cannot come from any other source. Popularity, self-aggrandizement, aught that can darken in any degree our spirituality, must be set aside. Only what feeds and fills the sentiment with unworldliness, can give peace and good will towards men.

All Christian churches have one bond of unity, one nucleus or point of convergence, one prayer, — the Lord's Prayer. It is matter for rejoicing that we unite in love, and in this sacred petition with every praying assembly on earth, — "Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven."

If the lives of Christian Scientists attest their fidelity to Truth, I predict that in the twentieth century every Christian church in our land, and a few in far-off lands, will approximate the understanding of Christian Science sufficiently to heal the sick in his name. Christ will give to Christianity his new name, and Christendom will be classified as Christian Scientists.

When the doctrinal barriers between the churches are broken, and the bonds of peace are cemented by spiritual understanding and Love, there will be unity of spirit, and the healing power of Christ will prevail.

I am so happy to see - in a degree - doctrinal barriers be lifted and to learn of others who are practicing healing through prayer. I am happy to participate and grow here.

But the excerpt above has made me ask, who is a Christian Scientist?

In Science and Health, MBEddy refers "to those natural Christian Scientists, the ancient worthies, and to Christ Jesus, [to whom] God certainly revealed the spirit of Christian Science, if not the absolute letter." I certainly feel I have met a number of natural Christian Scientists who, in the discipline of their worship and dear love for God, humankind and all that is sacred, have inspired me to deepen my commitment to prayer and healing.

So now I have to ask you, who is a Christian Scientist?


(photos by Gabe Korinek)

To share your thoughts on this or to explore this idea further, please feel free to be in contact with me, add your own comments below, email this article to a friend, or add to the healing finds and sites on the web to the right.