Quest for a Crèche

...

On Call 24/7

Have a crucial Q? 

Don't know what to do?

Don't know which way to go?

Here is a universal, practical and effective A:

Find a quiet spot, open the Pastor and read. Ideas will come to your thought and jump-start knowing your right first or next step.  
Thank, trust and step out.

As you read, Angels. God's thoughts passing to man..., will come to your side. You won't have to make an appointment or call ahead. Love has already prepared everything for you.

Sound simple? Well, it is. What may seem hard is finding someone to walk with you through the valley.  But that is not a problem, this Pastor is open around the clock, even on Christmas Day. 

The never-out-for-lunch-or-dinner-or-anything Pastor.

If you are in a hotel room, you may find "50 shades of gray" at hand, but gray is not the color for clarity. It will blend in with the mist that you may already may see. You need more definition, more contrast like black ink or pixels on white paper or background that spell out right ideas that will help you understand what is true about God's love for you, right there, right now.

            Here is are two helpful linked screenshots to illustrate: 

 

 

             
             Isaiah 30:21                  
  screenshot:  http://goo.gl/BjgL3

  Science and Health   
screenshot:  http://goo.gl/P6cgT

The commercial side of December seems to trigger stress and to grow worries clouding thought. But the spiritual gifts Christmas brings are just your size, style and color. They include Peace, Joy, Light, Carols, Love and more.

The true heart and meaning of Christmas is not to be missed. 

A visit with the Pastor will light your way to Christ, Truth, the Bethlehem Babe.

Wishing you the full measure of Christ's Christmas promise,

+Carolyn St.Charles

_____________
Post Link:  
Author:  +Carolyn St.Charles
Bible versions and study resources:  http://biblesuite.com/  and  http://biblegateway.com 
Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy online:  http://goo.gl/P6cgT
Hashtags:
#Pastor #Christmas #QandA  #Answers #Bible  #ScienceAndHealth  #MaryBakerEddy  #Angels  #direction

....

"Great is the reward of self-sacrifice."

...according to thy word

Readings from

Isaiah,  Matthew  and Luke in the King James Version of the BIBLE

and Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy

(Citations follow)

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me [Isaiah]; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek(B1)

Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.  ...the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. ...in my wrath I smote thee, but in my favour have I had mercy on thee. ...and thou shalt know that I the Lord am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob. The sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee: but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory. ...I the Lord will hasten it in his time.(B2)

...all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David until the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations; and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are fourteen generations. Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise:(B3)

...a certain priest named Zacharias, ...went into the temple of the Lord.

The CROSS and CROWN

...

Below is a presentation of one of Mary Baker Eddy's thoughts 

about the trials one encounters while searching for Truth.

It is simple and short and true.

It may remind you of a time when you eagerly embarked....

Popout

Recent headlines indicate that people around the world are looking for the stability Truth offers and are embarking on a search for it. They are encountering stormy seas where what they trusted is proven unreliable. They are finding that wanting something like freedom is not enough, it must be claimed and possessed. 

While in the midst of such hard and even violent battles with error, God's unfailing care may seem hard to remember and believe. Recalling what has been proven to be true and victorious in previous times may feel impossible. But rejecting panic and calling on the tiniest shard of Truth will turn the tide.

Know the Truth and Truth will set you free. (1)

Truth known is Truth called upon. It sets free like someone waking you up from a dream of flooding waters. You find you are dry. There is no need to dry the floors, there was no flood. There were no waters though they appeared so very real and frightening while dreaming. They didn't go away, they were never there.

Truth brings to light the ever presence of Love and Its eternal care for Its child. Love is trustworthy because It cannot contradict Itself. It operates by Its uninterrupted eternal law that saw all It had created as not only "good," but "very good."(2)    Love does not rethink.

Seeking Truth is safe. Your crown awaits.

Warmly,

+Carolyn St.Charles

_____________
Notes:

 (1) John 8:32 

 (2)  Genesis 1:31 

Presentation:  http://goo.gl/4V9cr

Post link:  http://goo.gl/EQ5o8

Author: +Carolyn St.Charles

Hashtags:

:#ScienceandHealth #Truth  #healing #MaryBakerEddy #crossandcrown #trials #error  #storms  #Love #synonym #reality #error #flood #storm

<><><><><> 

Thanksgiving 2012

Wishing you 

a 

Satisfied and Happy Thanksgiving Life.

The photo background of the Psalm 26 quote:

"Sunset in the Moonlight" 

 It seemed to express the sense of calm our world desires.  There is one moon that we all share reflecting the light of our one sun. 

+Carolyn St.Charles

________
#Thanksgiving2012  #Psalm26

...

Rockwell or Black Friday?

After all the news and discord about stores opening a day early to get Black Friday shopping jump started, I was musing about the state of celebrating Thanksgiving. Admittedly it was from a material perspective but with a tradition push-back. Thought you might find interesting so here is my post from G+ on the topic.

Rockwell Thanksgiving passé?   Et tu, Black Friday?

With all the focus and concern on eliminating stress and obesity, how does having Thanksgiving Dinner with family on Black Thriday help? Isn't that at least as stressful as playing Bingo using a card having no Free Space?

Will #BlackThriday trend? Or will #Thanksgiving keep its traditional edge. Airports indicate that Thanksgiving has a staunch following - large numbers of people are willing to subject themselves to expensive indignities and discomfort in order to get "home" to family and loved ones. Highways are less clear indicators unless retail parking lot car counts offset traffic numbers.

What would be the effect on retail of being Thankful on a day in September? Or even once each month on the 2nd Thursday of the month? Turkey might be less often the entrée of choice along with other menu modifications.

I cherish the Free Space in life called Thanksgiving Day and its harvest gifts that have been simply or elaborately prepared to share in intimate gathering of family, friends, and loved ones. I want that for everyone wherever they find themselves, whatever their circumstances. Hangout gatherings online to share gratitude and meal fit perfectly. It is the unadulterated Spirit of Thankfulness of our annual Free Space that is its central attribute.

For the nostalgic hearts, a family outing IRL or virtual-visit to the Norman Rockwell Museum -- http://goo.gl/EYgOK

Happy Thanks Giving to each of you. Thank you for including me in your G+ world. May any losses you may have suffered be restored in ways that truly satisfy your heart.

You are loved!

+CarolynSt.Charles

TY!TY!TY!TY!TY

BTW, Black Thriday is my creative coinage so I claimed after searching for it with no results to indicate a prior usage. But it is, in fact, this year's gift from big boxes. And from reports, hosting us at their "BYO$ Party" has required much special training and preparation. Wonder what Sam would say???

_________

Some links:

This Post: http://goo.gl/s9nMs
G+ post:   http://goo.gl/EWvtr 

Author:     +Carolyn St.Charles 

Some Hashtags:

#Thanksgiving   #BlackThriday  #BlackFriday  #NormanRockwell   #family   #lovedones   #friends   #Turkey   #dinner   #sharing  #caring   #Bingo   #FreeSpace   #BYOMoneyParty   #stress 

Job and Mortal Man declared INNOCENT!

.

After the Storm -- a Rainbow

see below for citation table
The Bible:  JOB 

CEV  (1) - (12)  KJV  (13)

(1)

Many years ago, a man named Job lived in the land of Uz. He was a truly good person, who respected God and refused to do evil. ...He was the richest person in the East.
(2)

One day, ...the Lord asked, “What do you think of my servant Job? No one on earth is like him —he is a truly good person, who respects me and refuses to do evil.”

...Satan remarked. ...Try taking away everything he owns, and he will curse you to your face.”

(3)

Job’s sons and daughters were having a feast... when someone rushed up to Job and said, a gang of Sabeans attacked and stole the oxen and donkeys! Your other servants were killed, ...a second one came running up and saying, “God sent down a fire that killed your sheep and your servants. ...a third one raced up and said, “Three gangs of Chaldeans attacked and stole your camels! All of your other servants were killed ...when a fourth one dashed up and said, “Your children were having a feast... when suddenly a windstorm from the desert blew the house down, crushing all of your children.

When Job heard this, he tore his clothes and shaved his head because of his great sorrow. He knelt on the ground, then worshiped God  In spite of everything, Job did not sin or accuse God of doing wrong.

In a word, columns.

 Why are you grateful for church?

In a word, columns. The spiritual idea of Church has often been expressed by using classical architectural designs that usually include columns. Columns express many qualities. They are beautiful, solid, mathematical structural elements. They are silent sentinels that inspire thoughts of simplicity, strength, beauty, trustworthiness and more in all who pass through and by. Church columns, to me, represent the congregation. To explain why, I wrote the following folk tale.

The boy who wanted to leave his village

Grey Hairs, the village elder, was quietly listening to a boy who wanted to leave his village because it was an unhappy place and made him unhappy. As he listened, he picked up a slender stick from the ground. When the boy fell silent, he asked the boy if he could break it. The boy laughed and snapped it in two.

The elder then picked up a number of slender sticks, took a strip of bark from a tree limb, wrapped the bundle with the bark strip and tied it. He handed the bundle to the boy and asked him if he could break the bundle. Laughing, the boy took the bundle and tried to snap it but could not. A frown formed on his brow as he applied more strength but still could not snap the bundle.

Grey Hairs then began to take away sticks from the bundle one by one. Each time he removed a stick, he retied the bark strip and asked the boy if he could break the bundle. After taking away several sticks the boy snapped the bundle. The elder asked the boy what he had learned.

After thinking for a few minutes, the boy looked into the eyes of Grey Hairs and said, "If I leave my village because it is an unhappy place, my village will be less strong. If more boys feel like me and leave, our village will be snapped by adversity and become as dust in the wind. Our families will be carried away like the dust, too. Grey Hairs, I love my family, but how can I stay in this unhappy village? I want to live in a happy place.”

Grey Hairs put his head close to the boy's ear and whispered, “Then change it, my boy. Change comes from within! If you want a happy village, share your joy. Joy is like leaven, share your joy until the whole village is leavened.”

In the next moment, the boy heard his mother call for him. He quickly told Grey Hairs goodbye and started walking to his house. As he walked, he thought about how when he would skip down the road and whistle like a bird, some of the villagers would smile at him. They didn't join in but they smiled. Then he remembered how each day, more of them would be in their yards when he skipped by. Next he remembered the day that one of them waved at him and how the day after, there was a treat waiting on the fence for him. They all seemed happy to see him and he felt happy  thinking of them.

“How could the village be an unhappy place if the villagers that he knew were happy?” he wondered.

When he was about half way to his house, he thought about the bundle of sticks. Suddenly the image bundle of sticks seemed to change into a bundle of villagers, a village that could not be snapped. A strong bundle of happy villagers. And with everyone standing tall they looked a little bit like the beautiful column his dad drew in the dust one afternoon.

The boy grinned as he walk in the door of his house. He had just realized that he didn't want to leave his village. In fact his village felt totally happy. 

"Mom," he said, "Grey Hairs taught me something about our village. It made me realize that I don't want to leave. In fact, I can't leave. I have work to do. I must share my joy and let it leaven the whole village. It would be foolish of me to leave our happy village."

The boy's mother sighed with relief and hugged him tight and gave him a fresh baked cake that only angels should make. But that is another tale for another day.

Back to Question #77, isn't it quite possible that the column drawn in the dust was like one of the columns at your Church and represents your happy congregation standing together and standing tall?   

+ Carolyn St.Charles

><  :  ><  :  ><

______

Church Alive Question #77:  http://goo.gl/9uQNW

Image: http://openclipart.org/detail/86149/column-by-cybergedeon

B's 5th, Johnathan, you and Soul

Sometimes joy is simply complete. Young children are pure joy to watch as they explore and interact with life, with music, with colors, with weather, with anything and everything. Joy in observation is often complete in and of itself.

I found such joy in watching child is named Johnathan who, at 3, is well on his way to becoming a Symphony Conductor. On his mom's YouTube channel, there are a variety of videos starring Johnathan as Conductor and as Violinist. In the sidebar there are suggested videos of other children performing. The expression of Soul in all these videos is as exciting as it is amazing. 

Just think about it. Soul knows and bestows all that it has on each of us. Soul's infinite resources remain infinite after the many generations of man have received of its magnanimity. There is no end to Soul's provision for every one of us.

Enjoy the 4th movement of Beethoven's 5th Symphony performed by the Berliner Philharmoniker co-conducted by Herbert von Karajan and Johnathan. Let Soul speak imperatively to you of your heart's desire. Soul placed it there for you to discover and find delight in it. You are the beloved of Soul and abundantly blessed.

Johnathan and Herbert conducting

Like Johnathan, we are free to express Soul with abandon. What will you freely express of Soul today? It is absolutely safe to trust and reflect Life.

    Soul has infinite resources with which to bless mankind, and happiness would be more readily attained and would be more secure in our keeping, if sought in Soul. Higher enjoyments alone can satisfy the cravings of immortal man. We cannot circumscribe happiness within the limits of personal sense. The senses confer no real enjoyment.  ~Mary Baker Eddy (1)

Would love to know what Soul told you and what you did about it.... 

+Carolyn St.Charles

_________
(1)  60:29 Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy
LINKS:
YouTube Channel: esenuk 
Link: http://goo.gl/2KT3u
Poster: +Carolyn St.Charles

...

Two Healing Statements

The Scientific Statement of Being

and it's corollary from I John

Commit both to memory and they will fly to your thought when you most need them. They have been proven to meet diverse human needs.

...

BEAUTY begets GRATITUDE

This is a re-post from +BEAUTY begets GRATITUDE

:|:

BEAUTY begets GRATITUDE

Each one of us experiences beauty individually. We share our experience uniquely. Some of us share in silence, some use logic, some emotion, some order, some words, some science, some art, some construct, some spirituality, some work, some friendship, some duty, some music, some constancy, some dance and so on in an endless list. The common thread is a too-full sense of gratitude that overflows to bless all around us. It's that feeling of happiness that demands us to smile at everyone and everything. It claims all is beautiful.

Have you ever seen an Atheist and a Theist or any other dissimilar pair, enraptured by beauty and willing to interrupt their bliss to use that shared beauty as a weapon to attack one another for their differing viewpoints? In that moment they are united. They are at peace. They are embraced by beauty that is more dear in that moment than personhood.

Happiness Revealed

The power of beauty to stir gratitude in every heart

Beauty bars complaint. Beauty inspires gratitude. Gratitude is unbridled. Gratitude blesses impersonally as the rain.

The power of beauty to stir gratitude in every heart, without exception, became clear to me as I watched two Ted Talks by Louie Schwartzberg. His time lapse photography thrills all, regardless of what persons believe or know. It draws everyone together under one umbrella, free of angst.

MUSIC and MEMORY *

"Music is the rhythm of head and heart"

This video excerpt, featuring Henry from ALIVE INSIDE, offers a beautiful, inspiring example of the healing, normalizing power of MUSIC!

Alive Inside investigates these questions and the power music has to awaken deeply locked memories. The film follows Dan Cohen, a social worker, who decides on a whim to bring iPods to a nursing home.  To his and the staff’s surprise many residents suffering from memory loss seem to “awaken” when they are able to listen to music from their past. ... more

It reminds me of the ongoing discussion about keeping/dropping music classes and activities in our schools. Maybe this report of Henry, one of riper years, will help make the case for continuing to have music available to those of greener years.

The following thoughts were shared regarding ALIVE INSIDE:

[Music is] the quickening art  ~Kant (quoted by Dr. Sacks)

Music imprints itself on the brain deeper than any other human experience. It speaks to us in a different language and arouses every emotion. It connects us all, it is a force that ignites our souls...Telling a story of hope and beauty, [ALIVE INSIDE] follows Dan as he discovers the power music has to “awaken” minds most others consider dormant and deteriorating.  ~ximotionmedia.com

[Music] gives me feeling of love .. I feel a band of love, of dreams.  ...The Lord came to me - made me a holy man - I'm a holy man so He gave me these sounds...  ~Henry

[Music] restored [Henry] to himself ...[he] reacquired his identity ...[Music helps] animate, organize and bring a sense of identity back to people... ~Dr. Oliver Sacks

No project I have ever worked on has changed me as much as this story. It is my hope that this film awakens people's hearts and helps make it possible to bring music to those in nursing homes, people who don't even know how deeply they need music's gifts.  ~Michael Rossato-Bennet, filmmaker 

The reason this video captured my interest is because of my experience of music and study of music's spiritual nature. Just as a dormant mind is not Henry, discord is not music. Health and music operate according to applied laws of Science and science. Laws of science and of Science must be obeyed consistently and applied radically in order for the expected outcome of music or Health to be realized.

To conclude, here is the opening quotation in context:

...discords of corporeal sense must yield to the harmony of spiritual sense, even as the science of music corrects false tones and gives sweet concord to sound...
Music is the rhythm of head and heart. Mortal mind is the harp of many strings, discoursing either discord or harmony according as the hand, which sweeps over it, is human or divine.  ~Mary Baker Eddy

__________

* "Music and Memory" is a re-post from  +the SCIENCE of HEALTH
__________

LINKS:

Post is from G+:    +the SCIENCE ofHEALTH

Link to G+ Post:     Music and Memory

YouTube channel:   MusicandMemory1

Twitter:   @AliveInsideFilm

Project:    http://www.musicandmemory.org/

NOTE:  ALIVE INSIDE is a production of Ximotion Media, dedicated to expanding the well-being of us all.
...