The Reverend Cinthia Jean Saul was the guest pastor at a church where I play organ. Her sermon was on hospitality — as in, providing food and shelter for those in need. I was delighted by her instructions to be a “participant observer”. Her advice was to put ourselves in a situation, at least once a week, in which we can meet someone we otherwise would not. In this way, we can become familiar with lifestyles of groups of people who are not in our regular circle of friends. When we put ourselves in certain situations time and again, we begin to understand others’ viewpoints. One thing I have done for almost three decades is make regular visits to public laundromats. I have met scores of people I wouldn’t have had the chance to sit down and visit with otherwise. In these times of extreme division and self-imposed tribalism, this would be a good exercise for all of us to practice in some form or another. May we look for and find our commonality in these coming days. We all need each other so very badly…
“To the world, generosity means ‘giving away’ in the sense of ‘giving up.’ To the teachers of God, it means giving away in order to keep. This has been emphasized throughout the text and the workbook, but it is perhaps more alien to the thinking of the world than many other ideas in our curriculum. Its greater strangeness lies merely in the obviousness of its reversal of the world’s thinking. In the clearest way possible, and at the simplest of levels, the word means the exact opposite to the teachers of God and to the world.” A Course in Miracles M-4.VII.1:4-8
“In the spirit of Christ’s charity, — as one who ‘hopeth all things, endureth all things,’ and is joyful to bear consolation to the sorrowing and healing to the sick, — she commits these pages to honest seekers for Truth.” Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page xii:23
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