The Christian Science Association
Of the Pupils of Sarah G. Hyatt, CSB
759 Brown Drive
Charleston, SC 29412
(843) 795-4203
e-mail:sghyattcsb2000@comcast.net
January 31, 2021
Dear Fellow Healers,
This past year had presented us with a more than ample supply of challenges that need our prayerful attention. Our individual and collective prayers for ourselves, our churches, our communities, our governments, and the world are exactly what are needed for the peace, harmony, and health of all to be realized. Mrs. Eddy put it this way in Miscellaneous Writings: 110:4:
Beloved children, the world has need of you, — and
more as children than as men and women: it needs your
6 innocence, unselfishness, faithful affection, uncontami-
nated lives. You need also to watch, and pray that you
preserve these virtues unstained, and lose them not through
9 contact with the world. What grander ambition is there
than to maintain in yourselves what Jesus loved, and to
know that your example, more than words, makes morals
12 for mankind!
The reference to “maintain in (ourselves) what Jesus loved” brings to thought the need to be childlike in our expectancy of good, in a willingness to love unconditionally, and in an unselfishness that purifies our motives and actions. This willingness allows God, Mind, to work in us, to express the divine nature and to witness its expression as the reality of the identity of all others.
So much of the news today is focused on division, demonizing those who disagree with our viewpoint and insisting that unity is a naïve dream. However, the understanding of God as the Holy One, the All-in-all which Jesus demonstrated and Mrs. Eddy shared clearly in her discovery and proof of Christian Science is the gift we’ve been given to share with the world by being a clear transparency for Truth.
ASSIGNMENT
One of the most challenging of the teachings of Jesus and of Christian Science is the necessity to love our enemies. Mrs. Eddy has a short article in Miscellaneous Writings 8:8-13:12 entitled, “Love Your Enemies.” In this short article, she outlines the need as well as the basis for loving our enemies.
During the course of our work this year, you may find it helpful to refer to this article often, research this concept in the Bible and in Mrs. Eddy’s writings and make notes for our sharing on Association Day. The point of the research though is to inspire and uplift our own thought so that we find the “peace of God which passeth all understanding” (Phil. 4:7) and can share that peace with others in a way that heals.
As a support to this research and active practice of loving our enemies, I would like for us to take this opportunity to review the basis for our practice of this Science of Christianity – the chapter “Recapitulation” in Science and Health. Normally when I teach a new class each year, you are invited to review your class notes each day of the new class. Since I was unable to teach my class this year due to travel restrictions for students, it would seem a good time for us to do a thorough review together.
There are 24 questions in the chapter, and there are about 24 weeks in the period we have to complete the assignment. I would like for you to take one question each week and work your way through the chapter and your notes. I will send out an email on Sunday of each week reminding you of the question and answer we’ll be reviewing. We will have the opportunity to take 2 weeks each on a couple of the longer questions and answers. By February 7th, please notify me that you’ve received this assignment and are going forward with the work.
Our meeting for this year is scheduled for Saturday, September 25th. We don’t yet have a contract on the Greater Issues Room, but we will be first in line for that date when The Citadel begins accepting reservations.
ASSIGNMENT – 2/1-2/7
Our first question, “What is God?,” will be our assignment for February 1-7. As you study the question and review your notes, you may find that the shorter questions and answers require time and attention to deepen your understanding of the spiritual facts on which we base our practice. Your desire to do that, cherished and turned over to your divine Parent, will result in new insights and healing. Make sure you keep in mind the overarching theme of this year’s work, loving your enemies, and let your study of each question and answer show how that spiritual demand is both practical and healing. There will be forums on our webpage, www.sarahhyattcsb.com for sharing your inspirations and comments.
What a precious opportunity we’re being given to work together to uplift humanity and watch the leaven of the Christ at work in 3 measures of meal: science, theology and medicine! The blessings will multiply and return to you, “pressed down …and running over” (Luke 6:38).
Joyfully,
Sarah
Sarah G. Hyatt, CSB
PS: Just a reminder that there is now a DONATE button on the login page of our website if you’d like to pay your dues or make a donation. You don’t even have to login to access it. A special thanks to those who have already used this feature, especially since we didn’t meet in person last year.
I find exploring the synonyms for God does reveal the question What is God? Using this week’s lesson on Soul helps me to explore the attributes of Soul. Some thoughts include the heaven of Soul: atmosphere of Soul, harmony, bliss etc. This means perfection is real and now here for man- the reflection of God. Our atmosphere is always pure and clear. We can’t breathe anything in unlike good, God.
Also Mrs. Eddy writes in the Unity of Good p. 28-30 on Soul. “..Science declares God to be the Soul of all being, the only Mind or intelligence in the universe.” In Psalms 42:11 David is looking away from the senses to the spiritual sense of Soul as governing our body. The might and power are of God: omnipotence , omniscience, and omnipresence. Only allow God to speak to us and deny error of any shape or form as its nothing.
Psalms 77:1, 5, 6, 11–14; Job 23:5, 10 he, 12 I have, 13 he
12 I will meditate also of all thy work, and talk of thy doings.
10. . . he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.
- “God is love” (I John 4:16)
- In Christian Science synonyms for God include "Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, Love".
- God is the universe, spirit, and soul.
It is helpful to think of a loving, gracious, forgiving God that corrects the individual to improve the group.
Familiar words and phrases referring to God include the seven synonyms, omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent. God is All in all. Mary Baker Eddy speaks of God and Christian Science as Unchanging Principle, unchanging wisdom and love. It is comforting to know of God in those terms. God never changes.
This is a submission from Connie Strickland:
Last week's Lesson on Soul was a particularly helpful one to me. That is perhaps the one
synonym of God I have found to be the least understood, personally and collectively. The word
"nebulous" might be a good description of my understanding of Soul. From that Lesson the
word "Being" came to the forefront of my thought---that Soul was indeed the all-inclusive Being
of God, and we, as God's children find our identity in God's be-ing. As I was thinking about how
to help my Sunday School classes understand Soul, I described Soul as being the thread which
tied all the other synonyms together. One example would be the harmony of Soul is a direct
outcome to the harmony of Spirit, Life, Principle, Mind, Truth, and Love. For my 4-year-old's
class I even ran yarn around the other words for God and laced that yarn back and forth to Soul
which was in the center of a hexagon, the sides of which represented the six other names for
God, connecting them all in a web of one-ness.
Already I had been thinking of this week's study assignment, "Are these terms synonymous?"
which frankly I had considered as a "no-brainer." But as I considered the richness of thought
which came from the arranging Soul in the center and the other names for God around it and
filling in words which tied Soul to the rest, I told myself that I should arrange the synonyms so
that each one of them was in the center and connect to the outside six with words that show the
fullness of their meaning. It's far easier to draw this than to describe it. So now I have six
hexagonal figures clarifying the synonymous-ness of the seven names for God, and I've left room
to describe the expression of those names in a different color. And I'm not through yet!
The "no- brainer" turned out to be quite an experience "whereto God [led] me."
In this latest question posed to us by Mrs. Eddy, she interchanges both God and Principle in the same sentence. This is no surprise to us as we are accustomed to Principle as one (most often the first quoted) synonyms for God. I am definitely a monotheist. I wanted to have a better understanding of Mrs Eddy's use of the word Principle so I went to the concordance and was a little surprised that this word appears 295 times in Science & Health. We would normally go to the Glossary to see if there is a definition for a word and when I did - I saw the note referring me back to pg 465 in the chapter of recapitulation!
'The varied manifestations of Christian Science indicate Mind, never matter, and have one Principle' (S&H, 466#4)
I do not remember reading this passage and having it refer to the 'varied manifestations of Christian Science' and began thinking about the implications and meaning of this passage. There are many people, circumstances and ways we see Christian Science manifested around us if we choose to look through the lens of Divine creation and reflection.
I know Principle as the cause, source or origin-the 'operative cause' of man and my being. If I and all of God's creation reflect Him, then there must be many, varied expressions of God and his divine science. I then began to think more about reflection and found this: reflection- 'thought thrown back on itself, the expression of thought, attentive consideration, contemplation. We choose our mental/spiritual foundation in thought- we ( us or our reflection) are NOT a material occurence or physical event. We choose our mental / spiritual foundation in thought - what will we choose to construct?
I found the following from Miscellaneous Writings, 329:1
'Human hope and faith should join in nature's grand harmony, and, if in minor key, make music in the heart and man, more friendly, should call his race as gently to the springtide of Christ's dear love. St. Paul wrote; 'Rejoice in the Lord Always,' and why not, since man's possibilities are infinite, bliss is eternal and the consciousness thereof is here and now' .
shalt have no other gods before me." This me is Spirit.
Therefore the command means this: Thou shalt Two chief
6 have no intelligence, no life, no substance, no commands
truth, no love, but that which is spiritual. The second
is like unto it, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself."
9 Answer. — There is no life, truth, intelligence, nor sub-
stance in matter. All is infinite Mind and its infinite
manifestation, for God is All-in-all. Spirit is immortal
12 Truth; matter is mortal error. Spirit is the real and
eternal; matter is the unreal and temporal. Spirit is
God, and man is His image and likeness. Therefore
15 man is not material; he is spiritual.
In this week's Bible Lesson as well as our weekly assignment, I have been addressing dualism as normal or substantial coming from a matter brain that is expressed as human personality. Particularly relevant in this is decision making. Facing down the fear of the many human factors in making a decision as well as any fear of consequences makes this week's assignment, as well as the foundation built by the other questions extremely important. I was thinking this morning about All-in-all in the Scientific Statement of Being. All is another name for God. So I thought about Principle-in-all, Mind-in-all, Soul-in-all, Spirit-in-all, Life-in-all, Truth-in-all and Love-in-all. I love this ordering of the synonyms because it ends with Love, which in my thought should be the expressive component to others and the unfoldment or adjustment in our own thinking. Dualism is a lie that has strength in the world view, but no foundation when looked at through a spiritual lens. All is coherent and connected in just the right way so there is no division. Coming at conflict from this perspective, animal magnetism is shut down completely because it cannot create sides, different perspectives based on past experiences or current trends. We can express differently without divisiveness. And in this way, we can know that whatever our enemy might seem to be (person, disease, our own consciousness) that we are not separated from the Allness of God. Going through the synonyms to affirm the Allness in each dimension has helped me face down many forms of error trying to take hold and make me believe that there is division from God and to tempt me to go fix something out there. I don't even need to fix anything in my own thought per se. I only need to be reminded of the Allness of God and the adjustment takes place naturally. This takes discipline to affirm and stay with the correct picture, but I am grateful that I am aware of what the correct picture should look like.
thought and action on the side of right, and to be thus
9 lifted up.
Man should be found not claiming equality with, but
growing into, that altitude of Mind which was in Christ
12 Jesus. He should comprehend, in divine Science, a
recognition of what the apostle meant when he said:
"The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that
15 we are the children of God: and if children, then heirs;
heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ."
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