Tradition broken - Healing found

The readings from this last Wednesday’s testimony meeting at the branch church of Christ, Scientist that I attend remind me of a healing I had a few years ago that give a small example of how traditions can creep in and become a constraint, and how healing can be found when releasing them.


This happened almost ten years ago, and about this time of year (January). I was on a commuter train heading for a volunteer activity and was reading the Christian Science Bible Lesson. The topic was Sacrament. Suddenly, there was a sharp pain in my lower back. I jumped a bit and looked behind me. No, nothing sticking out of the seat cushion that poked me. But my back was no extremely uncomfortable. I shifted around in my seat for the rest of the train ride, trying to find comfortable positions, but didn’t find any. I kept pursuing my read of the Bible Lesson, just knowing that there would be something in it that would help relieve this discomfort.

But my back was still painful when I got downtown and remained so for the rest of the day and into the next couple of days. In addition, I developed some flu-like symptoms. I soldiered on with activities that needed to happen, praying as I went and asking God what I needed to learn that would bring relief.

A couple of evenings later, I was lying on our couch and picked up the Bible Lesson to read again. I really reached out to God to show me something that I needed to learn. The lesson that week contained a number of encounters between Jesus and the Pharisees and other religious leaders, all where he reprimanded them for their hardness of heart in holding for various traditions – mostly created over the years by the religious ruling bodies and not truly found in the writings of Moses – over the spirit of the Law and heart of worshipping God.

And that’s when it struck me – I’d been setting up my own little traditions in regards to my spiritual study. And, by these traditions, I’d actually been limiting my study and opportunity to grow and practice what I was or could be learning about God and my relationship with Him. One key example was the study of the Bible Lesson.

Now, I should mention that, because of my husband’s job (he is on-call 24/7), there’s not much opportunity for routine in our days. We never know when he’ll be leaving or returning home – day of the week or time of day. So things happen as they happen, and I’ve learned over the years to be very flexible. Had to or I’d go nuts! J But somehow, in all of this “flexible” lifestyle, I’d gotten into a mindset that if I was going to studying the Bible Lesson, it had to be in the morning. And if it didn’t happen in the morning, most likely it didn’t happen all day, and sometimes this would happen for many days of the week. (Feeling unwell was an exception to this self-imposed “rule” – that’s why I was studying the Bible Lesson in the evening this day.)

And so there’d been many days lately where I hadn’t gotten at this aspect of my spiritual study, and I find it a pretty important tool in my spiritual study and growth. Well, I fully realized what I’d been doing and that there is not really any rule about when and how to study the Bible Lesson. Why had I gotten this narrow-minded about this activity? I don’t know, but I knew I could change it right then and there. And I did. I fully immersed myself in the study of the Lesson that evening, grateful for the time – whether evening or morning – to spend thinking about God, to learn more about His Word, and to gain a deeper glimpse of my relationship with divine Love.

By the next morning, all back pain and flu symptoms were totally gone. And I enjoyed studying the Bible Lesson at whatever was the right time of day for that day ever since. No more restrictions to my study – or to my back! A small thing to get in the way, but a good lesson learned. I try to stay on the outlook for other non-rules that might try to creep in and bind me to routine and tradition and so hamper growth Spirit-ward.

As Mary Baker Eddy wrote in Science and Health:

"God expresses in man the infinite idea forever developing itself, broadening and rising higher and higher from a boundless basis." (258:13-15)

Lifting those burdens and finding release

I was remembering a healing I had recently when I was praying this morning. It was one of those resolutions that sort of snuck in. Not sure why it was coming to thought today, except that I probably had not fully expressed gratitude and appreciation for it - which is important to do, I've found, for those good things that happen in life.

So here's what happened: A few week's ago, I was going to a meeting one evening. I had my purse - which in the winter seems to get bigger and heavier with stuff - and a canvas bag with folders for the meeting, a couple of books, etc., so kind of heavy. I remember shifting these both to my left hand as I walked along toward the buidling. As I looked at these bags in my hand, I thought, "Hmmm, maybe I shouldn't carry these two heavy things in one hand." Okay - yes - here's what started it, and I didn't think any further about this at the time, but went on into the building for the meeting.

As you may have guessed, not long into the meeting, my shoulder began to ache a bit, to start feeling stiff, somewhat inflexible. By the next morning, I could barely move the shoulder and arm except with quite alot of pain and discomfort. "Argh," I thought, "what did I do??" I remembered the two heavy bags and that niggling little thought I had when walking in for the meeting. And I knew I had to pray about this situation.

Which I did. I wasn't totatlly clear on what I needed to learn from this experience. Seemed like a few things to clarify in my thought! But I knew that whatever it was that I needed to learn about God, myself, and our relationship, it would heal this problem.

One thing stood out as obvious - that thought about how heavy the bags were and, at least unexpressed directly, that carrying them together like that could cause harm, it couldn't have been from God. He made me and all things to express Him. He is infinite Spirit, so I and all real creation express Him spiritually, and there is no weight to Spirit or spiritual things. So how could God tell me to be careful of how heavy something is and that it could harm me? He couldn't, and didn't, so I should have dismissed that suggestion right away. I didn't, but it wasn't too late! I could dismiss and reverse it right then. And I did.

But relief wasn't coming immediately. Okay, what else do I need to learn, Father?

Then I remembered a little situation I was facing. I was supposed to be helping organize an event for a group. It wasn't going in the direction I felt it should, or that seemed like the original intent. And I wasn't really being included in the process like I thought I should (Yeah, yeah. Boo hoo! Poor me, huh?? :). "Ah," I thought, "there's another type of burden I've been carrying around! Putting weight on me, making myself responsible for something." It got really clear as I considered this idea, that I wasn't responsible for this event, didn't really even have to have a hand in it - and I got really okay with this. I could let it go because it wasn't up to me - as always it was up to God. And I knew that the others who were working on this idea were good people, had good intententions, were striving to listen to God for the best way to bless all with this activity. So it all was in the best hands - God's.

I just felt so free and grateful for this insight! A real release of falsely-claimed responsibilities. And just more joyful.

I'm not sure if my shoulder followed in its release right away - might have been the next day. But it happened naturally and quickly, I know that. After about two days of stiffness and intense discomfort it was all gone. I barely remembered this all happened until a few days later, and then this morning. And I'm happy to feel that rush of gratitude for some deeper insights into God's presence and power that will surely continue to help along this path Spirit-ward.

I'm thinking this passage from Science and Health reflects some of what I was consdering in my prayers for this difficulty:

"The body seems to be self-acting, only because mortal mind is ignorant of itself, of its own actions, and of their results, — ignorant that the predisposing, remote, and exciting cause of all bad effects is a law of so-called mortal mind, not of matter. Mind is the master of the corporeal senses, and can conquer sickness, sin, and death. Exercise this God-given authority. Take possession of your body, and govern its feeling and action. Rise in the strength of Spirit to resist all that is unlike good. God has made man capable of this, and nothing can vitiate the ability and power divinely bestowed on man.

"Be firm in your understanding that the divine Mind governs, and that in Science man reflects God's government. Have no fear that matter can ache, swell, and be inflamed as the result of a law of any kind, when it is self-evident that matter can have no pain nor inflammation. Your body would suffer no more from tension or wounds than the trunk of a tree which you gash or the electric wire which you stretch, were it not for mortal mind." (393:4-24)

Moving up toward compassion

Putting readings together for Wednesday testimony meetings at the church I attend has been a very interesting experience - which I figured it would be! I tend to think about a particular idea and go into researching possible Bible and Science and Health passages for it thinking there will be some particular focus, theme, thread, or what have you. So often, by the time it is all done, it is sooo different from what I expected it would be like. And that's certainly the key hear - what "I" expected. While I'm gathering passages, I try to keep asking, "Okay, Father, what do you want in here? What ideas do you want shared?" And so, hopefully!, what comes out is much less me-centered and much more God-centered messages.

By the time I've read and reworked and reordered and prayed, I have been kind of amazed at the result. Even when I am sitting there on a Wednesday evening with meeting attendees, I have been surprised at the threads and themes that start to stand out. Things I hadn't seen before, and usually I've read these passages together a couple of times!

So it was in last week's set of readings on brotherly love. As I read the collection to the group Wednesday night and have thought about them since, "brotherly love" seems to so barely scrape the surface of what was in there - and there was so much after all, at least that I am seeing. But one thing that has really popped out at me and I have been praying about more these last few days is the concept of compassion. This word and similar words seemed to keep coming up in both the Bible and Science and Health passages selected. And how often it is used in the New Testament in describing Jesus' actions. You know some of them, "he was moved with compassion ..." and then there is some result, some action. He responded by teaching, feeding, healing. Always some action came from that compassion. Here are some examples, with their related story: Matt 14:14, Matt 15:32, Matt 20:34, Mark 1:41, Mark 6:34, Luke 7:13. There are more.

I'd never really thought deeply about this word until last summer when I was talking with a friend who was in quite a bit of pain from a debility in arm motion and wanted some help to find relief. As we talked a bit, she mentioned some issues she was facing in relation to her mother who was also in a lot of pain from some illness. My friend was feeling frustrated as her mother was so uncomfortable and wasn't really doing anything to find relief or healing. This was causing some flare ups when they were together. My friend said that she really was trying to be sympathetic with her mother; she does love her after all. She just wanted her to really dedicate herself to a form of treatment and stick to it and find help and healing. Who wouldn't want that for their mother, or anyone!

That word "sympathy" really stuck out to me when we talked (she used it a few times). And I thought about some of those examples from the Bible showing Jesus "compassion" with others. I wanted to know more, know if there really was a or what the difference is between sympathy and compassion. And so, being a perpetual student, I went to the dictionary. Merriam-Webster online defines "sympathy" as in part: "inclination to think or feel alike : emotional or intellectual accord" and it defines "compassion" as: "sympathetic consciousness of others' distress together with a desire to alleviate it." Ah! I thought - there's the key, "desire to alleviate it." Not just sinking down into the same sad thought as another, feeling their pain, simply "sympathy," but acknowledging someone's need and wanting to lift the person or situation up. And Jesus did that over and over (and so did his disciples). [Interesting to me, too, that "patient" is part of the root word for compassion. That's probably a whole other thought to wander with!] And that's really what my friend wanted to do for her mother - not feel her pain, but lift her out of it.

I think this passage from Science and Health relates to this idea and describes how we can all express this type of helping and healing compassion:

365:7-24
"The benign thought of Jesus, finding utterance in such words as "Take no thought for your life," would heal the sick, and so enable them to rise above the supposed necessity for physical thought-taking and doctoring; but if the unselfish affections be lacking, and common sense and common humanity are disregarded, what mental quality remains, with which to evoke healing from the outstretched arm of righteousness?

"If the Scientist reaches his patient through divine Love, the healing work will be accomplished at one visit, and the disease will vanish into its native nothingness like dew before the morning sunshine. If the Scientist has enough Christly affection to win his own pardon, and such commendation as the Magdalen gained from Jesus, then he is Christian enough to practise scientifically and deal with his patients compassionately; and the result will correspond with the spiritual intent. "

So, it seemed to me that we need to do more than just feel for others, we need to want to alleviate the situation, to raise the thought of that person to a higher, better understanding of divine Love that does help and heal. We are much better helpers ourselves if we can do that than just feeling sorry for someone. That's where I want to go, for sure! After I shared this distinction with my friend and we'd talked some about just showering her mother with Love - loving thoughts, loving deeds, no reaction to her mother's pain but compassion for her, my friend was able feel peace in her relation with her mother in the next days as she strove to live this idea, and, a few days later, she had relief from the debility and pain she was experiencing.

I was glad for the reminder of this better understanding of Jesus' actions and the importance of compassion those Wednesday readings brought me. And I know there is so much more to this idea - to learn and live! And I'm sure there will be more on this concept later - so many other aspects buzzing around in my thought these last days. :)

The Third Commandment -- nothing to sneeze at

Every year in my early childhood, at summer's end as school started, I got hit with hay fever. It made me miserable. About nine years ago, I woke up one September morning with all the symptoms I had learned to hate.

I went out to run some errands. As I drove along, I silently asked God for help. What did I need to do to stop these annual attacks?

The answer came in the form of a Bible verse that at first seemed unrelated: the Third Commandment, the one that says, "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain" (Exodus 20:7).

At first I thought, "Okay, what does that mean about this situation?" I'd always thought about it as meaning "don't swear." But I don't swear or use profanity (well, at least I try not to). But again this commandment came into my thought. "All right, I guess I'd better think about this some more." So I did.

Two words then stood out to me as significant: "name" and "vain." I have heard that in many societies (including the Old Testament Hebrew one), a person's name signifies who the person is. And you would only change your name when you've had a distinct change in your character or position in life.

So, I reasoned, maybe "name" meant much more than a word or a label. Maybe it also indicated identity -- God's identity in this case. And mine too, as I believe I am one of God's creations, and, therefore have only qualities that are divine characteristics.

How could I be taking that name, identity, in "vain?" Taking something in vain could be thought of as misusing something, disrespecting it, or otherwise not acknowledging its true worth.

This commandment began to mean more to me than just not using God's name in a bad or insulting manner. It also meant not thinking of divine creation in a wrong way -- as sick or allergic or prone to attacks. I realized I had a choice: to think of myself as a susceptible and miserable physical thing, or as a healthy, peaceful spiritual being. The first choice would dishonor the perfect creator and creation, something I didn't want to do. So, I chose the second option.

I spent the rest of the day identifying myself as a non-allergic, healthy child of God. This allowed a stream of uplifting ideas to flow into my thought. The next morning, all of the symptoms were gone. And, when they have tried to return in the years since, they've been gone within a day.

• Check out this paragraph in Science and Health, too, and helped me with this healing. It really speaks to this idea! Page 175:9:
  
  "What an abuse of natural beauty to say that a rose, the smile of God, can produce suffering! The joy of its presence, its beauty and fragrance, should uplift the thought, and dissuade any sense of fear or fever. It is profane to fancy that the perfume of clover and the breath of new-mown hay can cause glandular inflammation, sneezing, and nasal pangs."