Just a quickie to let you know that I had my first day in Sunday School this past week. WOW! Since coming into CS, I've been on the platform singing on Sundays and had no idea how much work it was to teach SS!!!!!!!
Since class, I've been cherishing the idea of teaching in the SS, and have also been praying for it - both in my church and all over the world. When I had class, the SS in my church was 1 student a week, if that. These days, the norm is usually 9 - 11 students, and during the summer when people move back into town, there are 2 more regulars.
My class is the teens - 1-7th grader, 2 -8th graders, an 11th grader, and a senior. I'd love to see the class split w/ the younger students having their own class - there is a definite gap in concentration and experience!
Anyway, talking about teaching SS in class instruction was so very helpful. THANK YOU!!!!
I had originally planned to spend time on the Bible and had chosen my Bible story for the week fm the lesson. When the time came, the students were really quite interested in the Bible, seemed to not know it at all, and wanted to hear about Elisha. So, I actually gave them a little lesson on Elijah first and the passing of the mantel to Elisha. We went around the table and read fm the Bible, which they seemed to enjoy very much. There is a reading-challenged 8th grade boy who stepped right up and read his portion. He was misbehaving before the reading part came up, and once he read, he settled right down.
The entire hour was WORK like I don't think I've ever done before. CONSTANT replacing of what was before my eyes w/out a moment's break!!!! I must admit that for a moment I longed for the ease of my singing contribution. But, I do see that I am ready for this challenge and that it is right for me to be right where I am at this moment.
My practice of CS has changed (for the better!) and I'm rejoicing all the rugged way! Who knew that SS was so challenging! I am not dismayed, and am looking forward to the ensuing weeks.
I gave the class homework to be due in 2 weeks (I've got a concert this Sun and won't be in church) and the class seemed to be excited about the assignment - rewrite the 10 commandments in your own words - make it relevant to your lives today. They also liked the fact that I would keep in touch w/ them via e-mail during the week. [I found a great sub for my class for all of my upcoming out-of-town concert dates through June! He's a high school teacher who doesn't want to be tied down every week but is willing to sub].
So, this is my report. I'm sort of laughing at what a whimp I am.... being challenged by high school kids! But I'm happy to take on the challenge and am rising! Who knew that high schoolers were so very different fm college kids!
NEXT....
A student from West Chester University who is taking a comparative religion course asked to interview someone fm the CS church. That person was me. We had a delightful 90 mins together before t-giving, and she wrote me last evening w/ a list of unanswered questions. One question was, what did we believe about evolution. I immediately remembered your article Only One Intelligence, and I sent her a snippett from it. Thank you!!! I read this article before ever meeting you. Your articles have always spoken to me and seem to come to my aid when I need them! The Christ in them speaking to the Christ in me!
OK - that's it for now. As always, thank you for everything you are and everything you do. See - who knew that an article you wrote in 2006 would be touching a WC college student in the year 2009, or that your class teaching in 2006 would be touching a group of teenagers in WC, PA in the year 2009 and 10........
xo
Lorie
Thursday, 10 December 2009
Sunday, 6 December 2009
Southern Pines lecture preparation
"The Christ is active and attractive in Southern Pines!" This quote from Elise Moore is our motto for this year's lecture!
In our report at the November 12 membership meeting, we asked you all to think and pray daily for our community and our lecture, "Curing the Incurable," which is our annual gift to the community. Elise refers to this as "metaphysical marketing" - reaching out to our community leaders, merchants, clergy, doctors, nurses, teachers, radio hosts, and neighbors right NOW in our prayers and daily activities! In this way we support the attraction to the Christ that is innate in every heart and prepare these hearts to be receptive to our invitation to the lecture - and to our church services, as well. During our March 8 Lecture Preparatory Meeting, Elise will emphasize that “everyone is already spiritually minded. Holding the right idea of others in our thought and seeing them as spiritually minded makes communication so much easier.”
In her letter to the members that was handed out to everyone at the November meeting, Elise suggests that we read John 4:1-42 and look at this story as the first lecture preparatory meeting! What happened when the Samaritan woman discovered the Christ? How did she feel? How did her actions express her response to the Christ?
We need also to think about what our lecture title means to us and others. In researching the word “incurable” with the computer study program Bound Volumes, Joan Barriage has found 21 articles, testimonies, and editorials from 1898-present, as well as 8 testimonies in the Fruitage chapter of Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy. In addition, the theme of the July 14, 2008, Sentinel is “Curing the Incurable.” These are all available to you in our Reading Room.
At this time of gift-giving, we are so blessed to have the greatest gift of all - Christian Science and its practical application, as demonstrated by Jesus and discovered by Mary Baker Eddy. However, we need to know that we are not a select few who know this truth - God speaks to every heart in a way that it can understand!
Rejoice in the gift we have to give! Pray that God will provide daily opportunities for us to share the good news of the presence of the Christ!
Lovingly,
The Lecture Committee
In our report at the November 12 membership meeting, we asked you all to think and pray daily for our community and our lecture, "Curing the Incurable," which is our annual gift to the community. Elise refers to this as "metaphysical marketing" - reaching out to our community leaders, merchants, clergy, doctors, nurses, teachers, radio hosts, and neighbors right NOW in our prayers and daily activities! In this way we support the attraction to the Christ that is innate in every heart and prepare these hearts to be receptive to our invitation to the lecture - and to our church services, as well. During our March 8 Lecture Preparatory Meeting, Elise will emphasize that “everyone is already spiritually minded. Holding the right idea of others in our thought and seeing them as spiritually minded makes communication so much easier.”
In her letter to the members that was handed out to everyone at the November meeting, Elise suggests that we read John 4:1-42 and look at this story as the first lecture preparatory meeting! What happened when the Samaritan woman discovered the Christ? How did she feel? How did her actions express her response to the Christ?
We need also to think about what our lecture title means to us and others. In researching the word “incurable” with the computer study program Bound Volumes, Joan Barriage has found 21 articles, testimonies, and editorials from 1898-present, as well as 8 testimonies in the Fruitage chapter of Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy. In addition, the theme of the July 14, 2008, Sentinel is “Curing the Incurable.” These are all available to you in our Reading Room.
At this time of gift-giving, we are so blessed to have the greatest gift of all - Christian Science and its practical application, as demonstrated by Jesus and discovered by Mary Baker Eddy. However, we need to know that we are not a select few who know this truth - God speaks to every heart in a way that it can understand!
Rejoice in the gift we have to give! Pray that God will provide daily opportunities for us to share the good news of the presence of the Christ!
Lovingly,
The Lecture Committee
Saturday, 5 December 2009
Instant answer to logjam
WOW, you must know what you're talking about It was maybe 10 or 15 minutes after I received your email and I got a call to help. We can rent a system and someone else is handling the details!
Thanks for the affirmation!
Love, Bec
Thanks for the affirmation!
Love, Bec
Worries about office politics healed
All aspects of the situation I described to you this morning were dispelled today. No one is leaving and we are all a stronger team. My work today was to listen and watch for Mind's unfoldment of right ideas and activity. There was open discussion of issues we were all working on and we even laughed a lot. And it was determined that the work I was doing with the schools is important and not to be abandoned. It was like we were all loosed to embrace and follow unfolding ideas.
I didn't really realize what happened until I thought about writing this note. It's all about dropping the false sense and embracing the good right at hand every moment like Elisha and his servant.
Thank you so much for your help!
Love,
Sandy
I didn't really realize what happened until I thought about writing this note. It's all about dropping the false sense and embracing the good right at hand every moment like Elisha and his servant.
Thank you so much for your help!
Love,
Sandy
Sunday, 29 November 2009
Kalamazoo feedback helpful to member
Thank you for your loving and meaningful message. I am still giving thanks and noting fruitage from your dear lecture.
I just received word from out lecture committee about the guest to the Kalamazoo lecture,that you wrote about, who is Roman Catholic and refused to attend your two PA lectures but came to the Kzoo lecture. This put me on my mental knees.
You may already know, but First Church of Christ, Scientist, Kalamazoo is only a few short blocks from a Roman Catholic church which has the largest Catholic congregation in Kalamazoo. Also, I have been dating a man who was stringently raised catholic, schooling and all. The handling of any belief of resistance to Christian Science due to Roman Catholicism has been an earnest prayer for the two years we have been at our current location. I, too, was raised catholic and dropped that system of beliefs when I came into Science at age 20. Your sharing of this healing is a breath of fresh air for me.
I thank God daily for your quiet and powerful healing work.
-S
I just received word from out lecture committee about the guest to the Kalamazoo lecture,that you wrote about, who is Roman Catholic and refused to attend your two PA lectures but came to the Kzoo lecture. This put me on my mental knees.
You may already know, but First Church of Christ, Scientist, Kalamazoo is only a few short blocks from a Roman Catholic church which has the largest Catholic congregation in Kalamazoo. Also, I have been dating a man who was stringently raised catholic, schooling and all. The handling of any belief of resistance to Christian Science due to Roman Catholicism has been an earnest prayer for the two years we have been at our current location. I, too, was raised catholic and dropped that system of beliefs when I came into Science at age 20. Your sharing of this healing is a breath of fresh air for me.
I thank God daily for your quiet and powerful healing work.
-S
Wednesday, 25 November 2009
Blessings of honesty
This morning as I laid next to my dear, sweet, wonderful, and peacefully-sleeping Matthew, I took a few moments to think about all I was grateful for. Although we're working it out each day (some days more than others ) he grows more and more precious to me. Sometimes I'm almost afraid to acknowledge how happy I am. I just had no idea that marriage (hard work!) could be so blissful!!! Really!
Anyway, as soon as I started expressing gratitude for all of the wonderful qualities of Matt and this marriage, and all the comforts of the wonderful home and life we're building together, it struck me that what I am most grateful for is honesty - Truth! And that led me to think about where this relationship was last year at this time, even 8 months ago. Although we were 'heady' over one another, the relationship was sort of perched on this precarious and not-so-solid treetop. We were going nowhere, but wanting so badly to move ahead. We did not see how to do this under the watchful eye of the 'the public' and kept going deeper and deeper into seclusion in an effort to figure things out in private. We also desperately wanted to live morally and were finding that more and more difficult as well.
That's when I called you. I felt ridiculous and stupid, but I poured out my story to you and you told me that I had to be moral and honest and that I had to be willing to have my actions exposed to the light of day. I had no idea how to do that, nor did I even want to have the world looking on while I figured things out. Matt pretty much felt the same way too. I had no thoughts that we would ever come to any conclusions about our relationship, let alone be married.
As we both pondered what it meant to be truthful and honest, the idea came very strongly (first to him) that we needed to be married! What an utterly ridiculous thought! How could it ever work? As we continued to cherish our desire for morality and honesty, this idea of marriage kept coming to us. And then even a ring - a ring that I didn't want and was not looking for- plopped right down in Matt's lap. And the ring was 1/7 th of its original marked price!!! And then a friend told us about a legal marriage ceremony (self-uniting) which would be easy and convenient. As we continued to marvel, yet remain unconvinced at the same time, the way was being paved to do what we really wanted to do - live honestly.
Fast forward.... now that we are married, we really do see that the problem wasn't the age difference and all of the family problems or gossip and scandal surrounding a relationship such as ours in the small community of a college where we both were visible. It was the fact that we were trying to hide and therefore deny honesty and truth its rightful place in our lives.
I will be ever-so-grateful for your stand for morality, for truth and for honesty, and for your courage to stand up to me and point out that I was indeed not being moral. I truly had no idea - I was hypnotized by the thoughts ever recurring to me about how things really were!!! Truth, honesty, morality. Matt and I often have discussions about these things now. We recognized that they are what saved us, and we so often are able to see that what appears to be a certain problem to the world is really not that problem at all, but a veil which is trying to hide truth - Truth itself.
So dear Elise, my gratitude this morning -not a long list of things - consisted of lots of thoughts about Truth, and the courage and love of those who stand for it, namely YOU!!!!!!
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.
BIG HUGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Lorie
Anyway, as soon as I started expressing gratitude for all of the wonderful qualities of Matt and this marriage, and all the comforts of the wonderful home and life we're building together, it struck me that what I am most grateful for is honesty - Truth! And that led me to think about where this relationship was last year at this time, even 8 months ago. Although we were 'heady' over one another, the relationship was sort of perched on this precarious and not-so-solid treetop. We were going nowhere, but wanting so badly to move ahead. We did not see how to do this under the watchful eye of the 'the public' and kept going deeper and deeper into seclusion in an effort to figure things out in private. We also desperately wanted to live morally and were finding that more and more difficult as well.
That's when I called you. I felt ridiculous and stupid, but I poured out my story to you and you told me that I had to be moral and honest and that I had to be willing to have my actions exposed to the light of day. I had no idea how to do that, nor did I even want to have the world looking on while I figured things out. Matt pretty much felt the same way too. I had no thoughts that we would ever come to any conclusions about our relationship, let alone be married.
As we both pondered what it meant to be truthful and honest, the idea came very strongly (first to him) that we needed to be married! What an utterly ridiculous thought! How could it ever work? As we continued to cherish our desire for morality and honesty, this idea of marriage kept coming to us. And then even a ring - a ring that I didn't want and was not looking for- plopped right down in Matt's lap. And the ring was 1/7 th of its original marked price!!! And then a friend told us about a legal marriage ceremony (self-uniting) which would be easy and convenient. As we continued to marvel, yet remain unconvinced at the same time, the way was being paved to do what we really wanted to do - live honestly.
Fast forward.... now that we are married, we really do see that the problem wasn't the age difference and all of the family problems or gossip and scandal surrounding a relationship such as ours in the small community of a college where we both were visible. It was the fact that we were trying to hide and therefore deny honesty and truth its rightful place in our lives.
I will be ever-so-grateful for your stand for morality, for truth and for honesty, and for your courage to stand up to me and point out that I was indeed not being moral. I truly had no idea - I was hypnotized by the thoughts ever recurring to me about how things really were!!! Truth, honesty, morality. Matt and I often have discussions about these things now. We recognized that they are what saved us, and we so often are able to see that what appears to be a certain problem to the world is really not that problem at all, but a veil which is trying to hide truth - Truth itself.
So dear Elise, my gratitude this morning -not a long list of things - consisted of lots of thoughts about Truth, and the courage and love of those who stand for it, namely YOU!!!!!!
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.
BIG HUGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Lorie
Tuesday, 24 November 2009
Kalamazoo feedback
Dear Mrs. Moore,
Deepest, heartfelt thanks again not only for your great gift of yesterday's lecture on The Healing Power of The Bible, but for all the prayerful work you poured into it for our church and our community. And, I believe you touched a spiritual cord with my daughter, who found her way to see you at the end. That is a first for her. I am so grateful for her receptivity to the ideas you presented.
May God's blessings abound to you and your family, as you have blessed us with this
great harvest-home.
Lovingly,
Sandy
Deepest, heartfelt thanks again not only for your great gift of yesterday's lecture on The Healing Power of The Bible, but for all the prayerful work you poured into it for our church and our community. And, I believe you touched a spiritual cord with my daughter, who found her way to see you at the end. That is a first for her. I am so grateful for her receptivity to the ideas you presented.
May God's blessings abound to you and your family, as you have blessed us with this
great harvest-home.
Lovingly,
Sandy
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