July 14, 2014
Mission Accomplished
Yesterday I attended Christian Science and the
entire service was structured around pre-scheduled readings. There were nine of
us present, but absolutely no introductions or visiting. The regular members
didn’t even speak to one another or ask, “How was your week?” The two ladies presiding over the service
were called Reader One and Reader Two. I can only describe their voices as
poetic monotone — the volume, pacing and rhythm remained constant. I was taken
aback because there was absolutely no personality in the presentation. At the
conclusion of the service I mentioned to Reader One that there seemed to be
lack of any identity in the service and ever as a leader her name was never
given. She was thrilled. Paraphrasing she said, “Oh, that’s good to hear. That
means we’ve accomplished our purpose. We want to be impersonal! We don’t want
anyone to hear or see our personalities, we want them to hear only the message.”
For me, it was the impersonal message that spoke volumes.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Gail;
-----Reality tends to straighten out our thinking. If we haven’t been performing our jobs right, we hear from the boss, or get acquainted with folks at the unemployment office. Don’t scrub your counters well and get sick. Who cares about oil levels? Overhaul the engine. The things reality straightens for us are like knife pricks to the ribs: very localized, pointed, and dangerous. If we owned reality, maybe we could bend it, or at least dull the knife some.
-----We do bend and dull our own realities. We Christians are driven crazy by the idea of subjective realities, although everybody has one. In the physical world, things are what they are. We think we know the physical world we live in, yet we only have an impression of it formed from what we’ve learned and experienced. People mistakenly call that perception a reality, and then somewhat assuage the mistake, somewhat admitting the concept’s impossibility by calling it “subjective”. All the same, we mistake our perception for non-buffed reality. When the real reality stands up and sticks us, some of us bend our perceptions a little here, or dull them a little there to stop the annoying sensation. We might respond enough to reality’s rules to stay afloat, then adjust our perceptions enough to get comfortable, drifting on towards further danger.
-----Spiritual reality is altogether different. It doesn’t poke at the ribs, being not a physical thing, like a place of employment to be fired from or an engine to seize up. It pokes at the mind and heart, subtly and spread out over time and concepts. If you desire your truth, you may never recognize its prodding. If you desire God‘s truth, you will. Maybe not quickly, but eventually. He promises.
-----Our bodies are like little reality spreaders. Our hearts and minds are like machinery, and our spiritual perceptions are like the settings, and cams, and programs which control what the machinery produces that the body spreads. Jesus said it better, “You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles? So, every sound tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears evil fruit. A sound tree cannot bear evil fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.” (Mat 7:16-18) The more our mental machinery runs on His spiritual reality, the more the things we do look like the things of His life, not ours. And one of the most fundamental things of His life is participation in one other. The common word for it is fellowship. The concept is a personal care and involvement in each other’s plights and ideas and feelings, and futures. His Word is code for producing this fruit if your choice so inclines your machinery.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
Post a Comment