What Would Jesus Do At Christmas?

 

Photo courtesy of Blake Lasater

I was in one of our local food markets. The check-out person asked me if I had all my Christmas shopping done. I told him I didn’t do Christmas shopping. He and a couple of people standing around just gaped at me. It was as though I’d confessed to something horrid. Later in the day, my favorite pastor, Blake Lasater, posted the following on Facebook. My gratitude for this man is immeasurable. Namaste …

Day 19 of Advent:

May the mountains bring prosperity to the people,

    the hills the fruit of righteousness.

May he defend the afflicted among the people

    and save the children of the needy;

    may he crush the oppressor...

                          --Psalm 72

“It is convenient how we, the powerful and privileged, pick and choose the scriptures we like and ignore all the rest. It is such the irony because the Bible was written for the poor and oppressed. 

The prophecies of the Messiah and coming King speak of the lowly being lifted up and the rich sent away empty. In this season of Advent as we anticipate the birth of the Messiah we should be asking what sort of Kingdom is coming, and what sort of Christian nation we are becoming.

It is heartbreaking to work in food pantries. It brings you face to face with the poor and oppressed. You see at once the ravages of an unjust economic system and oppressive culture. People who go hungry for days, waiting for someone to notice their pain. People who are plunged into poverty because they had a medical bill that no other civilized nation would tolerate. People who lose their job because their car broke-down and they had no other way to work. People who are living in their cars, in a tent, or if lucky, a few warm nights in a hotel, thanks to a generous soul. Rents are skyrocketing, and entry level housing is now portable Derksen buildings. 

I'll be honest, it is getting harder and harder to believe in this current capitalist system that is crushing so many. I watch as multi billion dollar companies receive corporate welfare -- tax breaks, subsidies, and the like -- while the poor are condemned as freeloaders.  I watch a government under both parties give tax cuts to the rich. I watch as Americans fret over billionaires being asked to pay more in taxes, but not a thought given to the kids who can only find a meal at school.  I see businesses not paying a living wage, forcing their employees to rely on food handouts to stave off hunger. I listen as colleges and universities brag about their food pantries that feed students and faculty, as if this is something to brag about? Coaches making obscene amounts of money, tuition skyrocketing, and they think it acceptable their students and staff must rely on food pantries?!?

I listen in disgust as self-righteous preachers and Christians crow about how we are a ‘Christian Nation’. Show me how we are when so many are hungry, sick, and living on the streets. Make me understand. [Jesus] preached that the mighty would be toppled and the rich would be sent away empty. We live in a nation where inequality is reaching proportions never seen before in history. I see churches focused solely on their buildings and their worshiptainment, never giving a thought to the people outside huddling in the cold, their stomachs empty.  

Yes, it is Christmas, we are full of joy at the thought of Christ, but that first Christmas was a radical, revolutionary idea that God was coming into the world to topple the powers and principalities that were crushing the poor.  Christ will never be found in our shopping malls and mega-church; Christ will not be found around the fireplace of large mansions. Christ will be found in the tent cities, near the families living in cars, huddling in the cold with the homeless, standing in line at soup kitchens with the hungry.  

Wealth is not a sign of God's blessings, but perhaps nothing more than a calling to do something to help others.  We enjoy power and privilege, and when we look at the brokenness of the world and wonder why, we shouldn't blame God. We should blame those with the resources who could do something about it.

It is hard to imagine the great wealth so many have accumulated. A million seconds is just a mere 11 days; a billion seconds is 30 years. Such is the wealth so many are accumulating in this nation and world. These people shouldn't be praised; they should be shamed.  

It is probably the devil's greatest feat turning the birth of Christ -- a  baby born to impoverished refugees and laid in a feeding trough -- into an orgy of consumerism that enriches corporate elites.  

Christ's birth was good news to the poor. It could be so again if we would refuse to tolerate the injustice and cruelty of an economic system that rewards the rich and punishes the poor.”

FEED MY SHEEP — A Poem by Mary Baker Eddy

“Shepherd, show me how to go

O’er the hillside steep,

How to gather, how to sow, —

How to feed Thy sheep;

I will listen for Thy voice,

Lest my footsteps stray;

I will follow and rejoice

All the rugged way.

Thou wilt bind the stubborn will,

Wound the callous breast,

Make self-righteousness be still,

Break earth’s stupid rest.

Strangers on a barren shore,

Lab’ring long and lone,

We would enter by the door,

And Thou know’st Thine own;

So, when day grows dark and cold,

Tear or triumph harms,

Lead Thy lambkins to the fold,

Take them in Thine arms.

Feed the hungry, heal the heart,

Till the morning’s beam;

White as wool, ere they depart,

Shepherd, wash them clean.”

“You will awaken to your own call, for the Call to awake is within you. If I live in you, you are awake. Yet you must see the works I do through you, or you will not perceive that I have done them unto you. Do not set limits on what you believe I can do through you, or you will not accept what I can do for you. Yet it is done already, and unless you give all that you have received you will not know that your redeemer liveth, and that you have awakened with him. Redemption is recognized only by sharing it.” 

A Course in Miracles T-11.VI.9:1-6

Truth Corrects Illusions

Sunlight turning winter into fall

Photo courtesy of Blake Lasater

I've been pondering lies and truth. There is only one way to tell the truth, but there are scores of ways to lie. Perhaps you're not admitting certain events occurred the way they did, spinning webs of words to keep from admitting something you want to hide -- or think needs to be hidden for a multitude of reasons. Then there's the lie involved in turning your head and ignoring something, or maybe you're blatantly denying what you know to be truth. We could name many other forms of lying, but to take an oath to tell the truth -- well, there's only one way to do that. For years, people have told me lies are necessary, and I haven't believed it. Long ago, a friend's husband was dying of colon cancer. They never talked about it, never acknowledged it was happening, and pretended everything was okay and he would be out of the hospital soon. So there are lies which happen because of fear. But the truth is still sitting there waiting to be heard and seen. Nothing can change truth, but many things change lies. I can't imagine lying until it seems like truth. I pity those who have done so.  

“What can correct illusions but the truth? And what are errors but illusions that remain unrecognized for what they are? Where truth has entered errors disappear. They merely vanish, leaving not a trace by which to be remembered. They are gone because, without belief, they have no life. And so they disappear to nothingness, returning whence they came. From dust to dust they come and go, for only truth remains.” 

A Course in Miracles W-107.1:1-7

“Reasoning from cause to effect in the Science of Mind, we begin with Mind, which must be understood through the idea which expresses it and cannot be learned from its opposite, matter. Thus we arrive at Truth, or intelligence, which evolves its own unerring idea and never can be coordinate with human illusions.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 467:29-3

What Leads You?

Crescent Hotel - Eureka Springs. AR

“It is hard to steer a church in an age when no one is listening to the messages and call of the gospel.” This statement was made by a pastor I greatly respect. It has prompted me to think about what causes the majority of my friends to listen to their inner knowing, divine guidance, intuition — whatever they choose A call this cosmic consciousness of which we are all part. I know many fine people who are deeply religious, but that, in and of itself, is not enough to cause them to be compassionate. I watch as awakened, aware, conscious people handle difficulties in this world, and I learn what it takes to live from the heart, from an open mind, with Love reflected moment-to-moment. My conclusion is that we need not be led by sermons and gospel writings in order to live as the reflection, the image and likeness of divine Oneness. We have an ever-present ability to tap into expanding thought, and for this I am grateful.

“Our baptism is a purification from all error. Our church is built on the divine Principle, Love. We can unite with this church only as we are new-born of Spirit, as we reach the Life which is Truth and the Truth which is Life by bringing forth the fruits of Love, — casting out error and healing the sick. Our Eucharist is spiritual communion with the one God. Our bread ‘which cometh down from heaven,’ is Truth. Our cup is the cross. Our wine the inspiration of Love, the draught our Master drank and commended to his followers.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 35

“A major tenet in the ego’s insane religion is that sin is not error but truth, and it is innocence that would deceive. Purity is seen as arrogance, and the acceptance of the self as sinful is perceived as holiness. And it is this doctrine that replaces the reality of the Son of God as his Father created him, and willed that he be forever. Is this humility? Or is it, rather, an attempt to wrest creation away from truth, and keep it separate?”

A Course in Miracles T-19.II.4:1-5

Holding a Peaceful Space

I often mention the function of holding the peace, or holding the space of love, or something along those lines. I've been asked what that means and why I think it's necessary to do anything of the sort. I've been asking myself this question while people dear to me are having some tough decisions to make and are facing uncertainty in the midst of change. I have the deep feeling that it is my "job" to stake out a neutral space and hold it as an oasis of peace. Sometimes that space is invaded by fear or anger, but that doesn't mean it has been spoiled. The recognition that reflecting Love is our native state, and that other emotions are human diversions, is the way I reclaim this neutral, loving attitude, and hold it steady for any who wish to join in the peace. While I agree with those who tell me there is a spiritual solution to every problem, I am learning there never was a problem to begin with, and that this basic understanding is the solution. 

"You have no idea of the tremendous release and deep peace that comes from meeting yourself and your brothers totally without judgment. When you recognize what you are and what your brothers are, you will realize that judging them in any way is without meaning. In fact, their meaning is lost to you precisely because you are judging them. All uncertainty comes from the belief that you are under the coercion of judgment. You do not need judgment to organize your life, and you certainly do not need it to organize yourself. In the presence of knowledge all judgment is automatically suspended, and this is the process that enables recognition to replace perception." 

A Course in Miracles T.3.VI.3

“Stick to the truth of being in contradistinction to the error that life, substance, or intelligence can be in matter. Plead with an honest conviction of truth and a clear perception of the unchanging, unerring, and certain effect of divine Science.”

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 418:5-9

Many Questions - One Answer

Photo Credit: Aaron Springston

 For Years my Heart Inquired of Me - by Hafez

Translated by Dick Davis

“For years my heart inquired of me

                   Where Jamshid's sacred cup might be,

And what was in its own possession

                   It asked from strangers, constantly;

Begging the pearl that's slipped its shell

                   From lost souls wandering by the sea.

Last night I took my troubles to

                   The Magian sage whose keen eyes see

A hundred answers in the wine

                   Whose cup he, laughing, showed to me.

I questioned him, "When was this cup

                   That shows the world's reality

Handed to you?" He said, "The day

                   Heaven's vault of lapis lazuli

Was raised, and marvelous things took place

                   By Intellect's divine decree,

And Moses' miracles were made

                   And Sameri's apostasy."

He added then, "That friend they hanged   

                   High on the looming gallows tree—

His sin was that he spoke of things

                   Which should be pondered secretly,

The page of truth his heart enclosed

                   Was annotated publicly.

But if the Holy Ghost once more

                   Should lend his aid to us we'd see

Others perform what Jesus did—

                   Since in his heartsick anguish he

Was unaware that God was there

                   And called His name out ceaselessly."

I asked him next, "And beauties' curls

                   That tumble down so sinuously,

What is their meaning? Whence do they come?"

                   "Hafez," the sage replied to me,

"It's your distracted, lovelorn heart

                   That asks these questions constantly."

“When apparently near the confines of mortal existence, standing already within the shadow of the death-valley, I learned these truths in divine Science: that all real being is in God, the divine Mind, and that Life, Truth, and Love are all-powerful and ever-present; that the opposite of Truth, — called error, sin, sickness, disease, death, — is the false testimony of false material sense, of mind in matter; that this false sense evolves, in belief, a subjective state of mortal mind which this same so-called mind names matter, thereby shutting out the true sense of Spirit.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 108:19-29

“All your difficulties stem from the fact that you do not recognize yourself, your brother or God. To recognize means to ‘know again,’ implying that you knew before. You can see in many ways because perception involves interpretation, and this means that it is not whole or consistent. The miracle, being a way of perceiving, is not knowledge. It is the right answer to a question, but you do not question when you know. Questioning illusions is the first step in undoing them. The miracle, or the right answer, corrects them. Since perceptions change, their dependence on time is obvious. How you perceive at any given time determines what you do, and actions must occur in time. Knowledge is timeless, because certainty is not questionable. You know when you have ceased to ask questions.” 

A Course in Miracles T-3.III.2:1-11

Righteous Government

Mary Baker Eddy stated, when asked about her politics, that she really had none -- other than to "pray for a righteous government, love her neighbor as herself, and God above all else." I often look to her words on government to guide my thoughts during these surreal times. One of the sentences which helps me in times of confusion is this one: “Neither material finesse, standpoint, nor perspective guides the infinite Mind and spiritual vision that should, does, guide His children” (“Miscellaneous Writings 1883-1896,” p. 373). If left to the thoughts created by my ego-driven mind, I am tempted to jump up on my high horse and declare some governmental actions to be insane, at best. Perhaps I'll feel overwhelmed by too much misinformation and fall back on past ways of thinking about situations, not realizing each moment is different from the last. At these times, it helps me to know that infinite Mind (a synonym for what we usually call God) contains all the knowledge there is, and Truth (another synonym) can never be hidden, and Love (also, God) controls everything with Its all encompassing comfort and guidance. Rather than repeating in thought the things which are so upsetting, I hold to the Truth of our creation. We are the image and likeness of Truth, Love, Mind; reflecting those divine attributes leads me in purer pathways of thought and action than listening to error's hypnotizing repetitions. And I am grateful...

Mary Baker Eddy describes Jesus' prayers as “deep and conscientious protests of Truth, – of man’s likeness to God and of man’s unity with Truth and Love.” 

 Science & Health, Page 12

“Perception is the result of learning. In fact, perception is learning, because cause and effect are never separated. The teachers of God have trust in the world, because they have learned it is not governed by the laws the world made up. It is governed by a power that is in them but not of them. It is this power that keeps all things safe. It is through this power that the teachers of God look on a forgiven world.” 

A Course in Miracles M-4.I.1:2-7

Seeing Thoughts

Photo from the Jane Goodall Institute

I’ve been looking at people, both in the news and in day-to-day life, and they all look exactly like their thoughts. The self-serving politicians look dull and bloated. The fake religious leaders seem plastic and polished. The sad people who feel victimized have a terrible vulnerability showing, frayed around the edges and a bit shaky in demeanor. I could go on and on. But the main point is that you can’t hide your thoughts. What we see is what is there. Now, I don’t mean tall, short, big, small, or any designation concerning what we think of as beauty. I mean what is either glowing or festering within the individuals. While I’m certain there are some exceptions to this rule, I haven’t noticed any since I began to pay attention. While it’s a bit frightening, it is also a wonderful tool when choosing who to represent you in public office!

“Seeing is no less a quality of physical sense than feeling. Then why is it more difficult to see a thought than to feel one? Education alone determines the difference. In reality there is none.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 86

“Today our purpose is to free the world from all the idle thoughts we ever held about it, and about all living things we see upon it. They cannot be there. No more can we. For we are in the home our Father set for us, along with them. And we who are as He created us would loose the world this day from every one of our illusions, that we may be free.” 

A Course in Miracles W-132.14:1-5

Tesla and Eddy

Salt Flats

Photo by Aaron Springston

The late 1800s and early 1900s were a hotbed of innovation and enlightened thought. In thinking about Nikola Tesla and Mary Baker Eddy, I am led to wonder about our choices during that time, and how different our lives would be today had we chosen the path which benefited humanity rather than individual monetary gain. Tesla was finding ways to supply the world with electricity and all the benefits which would ensue from it. If we had chosen his way of powering vehicles rather than Ford’s oil-based motor, we would not have the environmental problems we are facing today. Mary Baker Eddy had discovered the key to rising above debilitating physical ailments. Her science of The Christ was not religion, but a way of thinking which had been hinted at through the centuries, but always quashed by old men who wanted to lord over the masses, ruling them through servitude in its various forms. Then medical science began to progress and everyone thought it would be far simpler to let doctors cure them than to take personal responsibility for themselves, in the way a man called Jesus tried to show them. And to think each and every one of these choices have been made because someone wanted to make money.

"Ontology receives less attention than physiology. Why? Because mortal mind must waken to spiritual life before it cares to solve the problem of being, hence the author's experience; but when that awakening comes, existence will be on a new standpoint." 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 556

“The aim of prayer is to release the present from its chains of past illusions; to let it be a freely chosen remedy from every choice that stood for a mistake. What prayer can offer now so far exceeds all that you asked before that it is pitiful to be content with less.” 

A Course in Miracles S-1.IV.3:5-6

A Higher Peace

 

When something like a head cold or other dis-ease threatens, it's tempting to wonder if we've slipped into something from which we need to be rescued. But let's not fall into that trap! With physical maladies, as with emotional or other seeming discord or inharmony, it's not our job to figure out where we went wrong; it's our job to understand how we are right! We sometimes hear it said that metaphysical treatment is "denying error and declaring Truth". There is no set way to go about this process. When we glean a bit of spiritual Truth, we often think we can repeat this over and over, as a sort of mantra, and this will heal us. And sometimes we can talk ourselves out of symptoms -- but usually this is a temporary fix. We can tell ourselves that disease is an illusion and that it's no part of us, but until we know the reason why, it's nothing more than further illusion. When we find ourselves beginning to understand that disease cannot be in matter because there is no matter for disease to manifest in, then -- and only then -- are we coming close to understanding this Truth of which we speak. It may seem impossible to make this shift in thought, but I love the baby steps leading to it!

“Wrong-mindedness listens to the ego and makes illusions; perceiving sin and justifying anger, and seeing guilt, disease and death as real. Both this world and the real world are illusions because right-mindedness merely overlooks, or forgives, what never happened. Therefore it is not the One-mindedness of the Christ Mind, Whose Will is one with God’s.” 

A Course in Miracles C-1.6:1-3

"This scientific sense of being, forsaking matter for Spirit, by no means suggests man's absorption into Deity and the loss of his identity, but confers upon man enlarged individuality, a wider sphere of thought and action, a more expansive love, a higher and more permanent peace." 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 265:10-15

Affection and Purpose of the Heart

 

St. Elizabeth Catholic Church

Eureka Springs, AR

Have you ever needed to fire an employee, or end a relationship with a significant other, or stop spending so much time with a friend for your own mental health? If so, I hope you had the courage and kindness to be honest about it. In looking back at such situations when they have occurred within my orbit, people often turn the tables on the one they want out of the way. On the other hand, I can think of a few situations where someone has simply told the truth, even in part, in order to end an unwanted relationship. I've recently watched a situation where there were valid reasons to end the employment of a part-time musician, yet no one would do it. Rather, they made things so uncomfortable for the person that he resigned. It was torturous for many of us, with rumors and half-truths floating about. I've watched men and women want out of their marriage, but rather than hurting their spouse's feelings, they make them so miserable that they leave, rather than the one who originally wanted out fessing up to it. I've written many dailies centered around truth-telling. It seems like an easy thing to do. Apparently it is not!

"We should examine ourselves and learn what is the affection and purpose of the heart, for in this way only can we learn what we honestly are." Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 8:28-30

“Forgiveness, truth’s reflection, tells me how to offer miracles, and thus escape the prison house in which I think I live. Your holy Son is pointed out to me, first in my brother; then in me. Your Voice instructs me patiently to hear Your Word, and give as I receive. And as I look upon Your Son today, I hear Your Voice instructing me to find the way to You, as You appointed that the way shall be: Behold his sinlessness, and be you healed.” 

A Course in Miracles W-357.1:1-5

A Child of Love

Someone who is familiar with A Course in Miracles tells me she doesn't think these teachings should be presented to children. She thinks they wouldn't have a reason to live if they thought this way. I see it as just the opposite! It seems to me many young people (and older!) have no sense of self. I have noticed, with my own boys, that knowing about their Self precludes them from worrying about the labels which may be put on them by others. Self knowledge fosters self confidence. There is much talk about bullying and labels which are used to taunt young people by their peers. Being a witness to what others do, but not becoming a part of it, is demonstrating the freedom which is our heritage as a child of Love. Not taking things personally is part of this freedom, but there's more than that. You must know what IS, not just what is not. It isn't easy, facing rudeness with kindness. But it is possible! 

"Human sense may well marvel at discord, while, to a diviner sense, harmony is the real and discord the unreal. We may well be astonished at sin, sickness, death. We may well be perplexed at human fear; and still more astounded at hatred, which lifts its hydra head, showing its horns in the many inventions of evil. But why should we stand aghast at nothingness?” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 563:1-7

“God is but Love, and therefore so am I. This Self alone knows Love. This Self alone is perfectly consistent in Its Thoughts; knows Its Creator, understands Itself, is perfect in Its knowledge and Its Love, and never changes from Its constant state of union with Its Father and Itself.” 

A Course in Miracles - W-rV.in.4:3-5

Who We Are

Art by: Catrin Walz-Stein

Catching Up To Who We Are - by Clarissa Pinkola Estes

“We do not become healers.

We came as healers. 

We are.

Some of us are still catching up to what we are.

We do not become storytellers.

We came as carriers of the stories that we and our ancestors actually lived. 

We are.

Some of us are still catching up to what we are.

We do not become artists. We came as artists. 

We are.

Some of us are still catching up to what we are.

We do not become writers.. dancers.. musicians.. helpers.. peacemakers. 

We came as such. 

We are.

Some of us are still catching up to what we are.

We do not learn to love in this sense. We came as Love.

We are Love.

Some of us are still catching up 

to who we truly are.”

~ Clarissa Pinkola Estes

“My angels are exalted thoughts, appearing at the door of some sepulchre, in which human belief has buried its fondest earthly hopes. With white fingers they point upward to a new and glorified trust, to higher ideals of life and its joys. Angels are God’s representatives. These upward-soaring beings never lead towards self, sin, or materiality, but guide to the divine Principle of all good, whither every real individuality, image, or likeness of God, gathers. By giving earnest heed to these spiritual guides they tarry with us, and we entertain 

‘angels unawares.’”

 Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page 299:7-17

“Today in gratitude we lift our hearts above despair, and raise our thankful eyes, no longer looking downward to the dust. We sing the song of thankfulness today, in honor of the Self that God has willed to be our true Identity in Him. Today we smile on everyone we see, and walk with lightened footsteps as we go to do what is appointed us to do.” 

A Course in Miracles W-123.4:1-3

Making Illusions …

 

Every moment of our lives have been spent getting us to the point at which we are now. I know some folks who want to hold onto their past, and others who wish they could change their past, then there are those who have grown through experiences and continue this expansion of thought. I am wondering why some of us seem to feed on turmoil and drama, creating it to keep ourselves upset -- or perhaps amused. Hum, it would never occur to me to be entertained by anger and other base elements of human behavior, but it seems many folks want to be in the middle of heated battle or else they are -- they are what? Bored, I think. Maybe it's something else. I know a young woman who is trying to create difficulty for herself and another family member. Perhaps what I'm witnessing is low self esteem, which she hopes to boost through righteous indignation. Or maybe I'm misinterpreting the whole situation. Since I don’t want to create a competing drama, I'll just watch and see what transpires, knowing only good can come of this. Namasté ...

"Wrong-mindedness listens to the ego and makes illusions; perceiving sin and justifying anger, and seeing guilt, disease and death as real. Both this world and the real world are illusions because right-mindedness merely overlooks, or forgives, what never happened. Therefore it is not the One-mindedness of the Christ Mind, Whose Will is one with God’s.” 

A Course in Miracles - C-1.6:1-3

“The time for thinkers has come. Truth, independent of doctrines and time-honored systems, knocks at the portal of humanity. Contentment with the past and the cold conventionality of materialism are crumbling away.” 

Mary Baker Eddy - Science & Health Page vii:13-17