"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.

Embrace the grieving or heal the grief?

Today I saw a notice for a Blue Christmas Worship Service at the Lake Palestine UMC in Chandler, TX. Similar services are being offered in a variety of Churches during this Advent season. They are offered as a way for congregations to comfort and embrace members who have experienced loss and are grieving in this time of joy and celebration

But it was another Blue Christmas Service notice that really caught my eye. It is to be held at the very Plymouth Congregational Church I remember for its fantastic brass ensemble that made every Allelulia pop during the Easter Service I attended many years ago. On the way to that service, I probably drove past another Church that at that time was located just 4 short blocks away. But it wasn't until some years later that I drove to that other Church for a Wednesday Testimony meeting. The First Church of Christ,Scientist in Des Moines, IA was part of my earliest introduction to Christian Science.

It was there that I began realize that while two neighboring Churches may have equally imposing structures in beautiful settings, their views of grief might not be the same. The Blue Christmas service idea, familiar from my childhood, affirms the necessity of grief as a natural emotional and rational response to loss. Grief, a raw emotion, is believed to require much binding up, deeply felt pain and sense of abandonment, personal will to continue and ample time for mourning before one no longer feels its rawness.

A very different view is held by members of the Church of Christ, Scientist, founded by Mary Baker Eddy. They view grief in a totally different light, one that not only expects but almost demands that grief be healed and healed now -- like the issue of blood, withered hand and other diverse diseases healed by Christ Jesus. They know that years, months or days of sacrifice to an idol called grief is unjust and not a law of God! They know God is Love and could never make such a cruel law.

Yes, the Christian Science view may appear startling at first with its uncompromising rejection of pain and sorrow related to loss. Yes, it says "NO" to unlawful idol demands. Yes, it says with authority, "Get thee behind me, Satan!" Yes, it says, "Awake! There is no death. There is no loss."

Who drew this line of demarcation for mankind to see? Christ Jesus drew that line with a sword and his Apostles and disciples wrote Testaments and letters about his authority.

Who traced that same line centuries later? Mary Baker Eddy traced it with a pen, "the pen of an angel". She wrote Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, the singular textbook for today's students of the teachings and healing method of Christ Jesus. 

Students of Christian Science demonstrate the 1st Commandment by taking an un-selfed, radical stand for the one and only, omnipotent God. Christian Scientists understand that God, good, is the only power, creator and preserver. They understand that He created nothing that could challenge His absolute power. Therefore, loss or a lack of good is an impossibility. This Truth, when known, sets captives free from grief, ready to return to the business of proving that our Father-Mother God is infinite good. Truth calls every heart to join with the Shunammite woman and sing: "It is well."

As if to confirm Truth's call, the Texas UMC Church program shows that Psalm 27:1-5 will be read and an "It is well" hymn will be sung. Here are two version of the selected grief-rejecting hymn:

IT IS WELL WITH MY SOUL

MAHALIA JACKSON (pure gospel audio version)

AND

AMY GRANT (Amy tell the hymn's back story)

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Advent means coming

     Take a break and click to listen


  Daily Lift: 12/9: Advent

             with Ron Ballard from
              Ashland, Oregon, US

Comment #61

Advent, when “every man that hath this hope in [Christ] purifieth himself, even as he is pure.”

Advent, when faith, “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen,” impels our journey to “where, in cradled obscurity, lay the Bethlehem babe,”

Advent, when “The footsteps of thought, rising above material standpoints, are slow, and portend a long night to the traveller; but the angels of His presence …tell us ‘the night is far spent, the day is at hand’”

Advent, when the angels stoke the fire of our anticipation and expectancy of wholeness such that “when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.”

NOTES:

P1:  “And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.”  I John 3:3.
P2:  Hebrews 11:1 

       Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy (vii:6).
P3:  Science and Health (174:9).

P4:  I John 3:2

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