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| photo credit: Aaron Springston |
ACIM Workbook Lesson #201 Central Theme: “I am not a body. I am free. For I am still as God created me.” Review: #181 "I trust my brothers, who are one with me."
"Searching For the Wrong-Eyed Jesus" is a documentary on life in the South of the United States. This film takes us to small towns where people turn to drugs and/or religion when they've given up all hope of finding happiness. I watched in fascination, realizing for the first time what people find in so-called "holy-roller" churches. In their feverish love of God, they find the pleasure they crave. Others turn to mood-elevating drugs for the same reason. One person in the movie says that everyone is "lonely for God" in these desolate towns. Another line which struck me was this: "He was just a regular ol' Southern lunatic. In his quest for union, he ended up being more separate than ever." There is such Truth to be found in their longing! I longed with them as they jumped up and down, speaking in tongues and dancing in odd jerky movements. There wasn't much difference in the drunken barroom scenes on Saturday night and the gyrations of the Sunday morning gatherings. They're all looking for the same thing: They want to fill the emptiness inside. They want excitement, fun, a way to pass time without feeling alone. I can't keep from thinking of how they would be set free with the knowledge of their true Being. The only way this can happen is if I realize it -- really realize it! --not just intellectually, but with my heart.
Mary Baker Eddy quote:
“The rich in spirit help the poor in one grand brotherhood, all having the same Principle, or Father; and blessed is that man who seeth his brother's need and supplieth it, seeking his own in another's good."
Science & Health Page 518:15-19
I've never lived in the South or gone to church there, but I have attended a Pentecostal church where we spoke in tongues, waved our hands, and where, at times, people would prophesy or speak a word that came to them from God. What I saw and what I found was a most sincere love of God. When you see tears streaming down a face of someone who is worshiping and praising god, it touches your heart too.
ReplyDeletePerhaps there are churches and places where these things are done for reasons other than the love of God, but this church sure wasn't one of them. I find myself still longing for that sense of loving communal worship. Let me tell you, God is in the midst of it!
I think, too, and this is just my conjecture, but when you are in such a state of exultation, you very well could be BEING your true being.
Just my thoughts.
Lovingly, C.
I like these thoughts, Cassandra -- very much. I was particularly impressed with the man saying everyone was "lonely for God". They were all hoping to find something outside themselves. It seems what you're relating has to do with finding within. I like that. Thank you!
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