The news and a Christian Science perspective

[Susieee]

Hello everyone,

Boy, if you ever need something more to pray about, all you have to do is listen to or read the news. Anyone have some ideas about how to be aware of what's going on in the world without loosing an uplifted, spiritual and healing perspective? And, vice versa, how to maintain a spiritual perspective without that turning into a general ignorance of the issues in the world that need to be addressed head on?

Love and thanks, Susie

[Kate]

Hi!

Yes, you could keep doing what inspires you throughout the day and when you hear the news apply concepts you are already using in your life. Listening to God too.

Having a balance is important! I think don't worry about it, enjoy life and listen to news and apply healing thoughts when u discover them or hear them from God. U will probably find answers in all sorts of ways.

xxx

[Merry1]

I know what you mean about the news. Because the reports almost always focus on the sensational (and usually this means the sensationally bad!), it is hard for me to listen to or read ordinary news stories on a daily basis and still maintain that strong awareness of God’s presence and power that I am always seeking to cultivate. As a result, I just don’t watch or read the local news very often (I do read The Christian Science Monitor, though). Yet I also want to be prepared to offer my local community a healing perspective when it seems to need one. The way I’ve decided to handle it is like this: I begin my day with consecrated prayer and communion with God, and I always try to recognize that my work for the day is God-directed. That means that if there is something happening in my community that I need to be aware of so I can address it in my thought, then I can trust that God will reveal it to me.

When I’ve done this kind of preparatory work, I have found myself learning of local events in unexpected ways. I almost never watch the TV news, for instance, but I often turn on the TV just briefly in the morning to check the weather before I get dressed. One day there was one of those borders running along the bottom of the screen during the morning weather report with a flash flood warning for a nearby county. The report stated that local residents along a part of the river where a levee had broken were in imminent danger and should evacuate immediately. It suddenly occurred to me that many people would not be watching TV at that hour of the morning and might not know about the warning, but then, just as quickly, I found myself responding to the perceived threat with a strong denial. I realized that all the truths I had just been declaring for myself in my morning prayerful work were true for everyone in the path of that flood as well, that not one person could be in harm’s way because all of God’s ideas were “cared for, watched over, beloved, and protected” (I think that’s from hymn 278, BTW). After continuing to work along these lines until I felt at peace about it, I went on with my day and, to be quite honest, I forgot about it. Later that evening, however, I turned on the television, again for another reason, and I happened across a news report of a family (a mother and her three small children) who had been inside their house when the flood had swept it away. All four of them had been miraculously rescued, however, even the baby who had been swept out of her mother’s arms by the raging floodwaters and was not found until several hours after the event. And, as it turned out, no other lives had been lost during the flood either.

What I found so precious about my small involvement in this event was that both the awareness of the problem AND the evidence of its resolution were revealed to me even though I had not been seeking this awareness in either case. And this has happened to me at other times as well. On two separate occasions, for example, I became aware that a child had been kidnapped and in each case I pra*** to understand that God, the father of us all, was guiding and directing (as well as loving and protecting) everyone involved, including the perpetrators of the crime. In both cases, within 24 hours I learned that those children had been recovered (and in one case an additional missing child was also found!). While I'm not trying to take credit for these happy outcomes, I am so grateful to have had these opportunities to witness God's care and dominion at work in my community, and that's what always seems to happen when I limit my exposure to the news media to only those stories God brings to my attention.

So, that's what I do. I don’t know if it's an approach that's right for everyone, but it sure works for me. :)

[Kate]

merril is that u from aussie?? if so hi! I went to your easter camp a few yrs ago, Im english.

[Merry1]

No, but she sounds interesting. What's Easter Camp?

[livinglightly]

Thank you Merry!! That is beautiful :)

shelly

[Kate]

Ok.

Sometimes people interested Christian Science organise holiday camps which give young people from different locations a chance to socialise, do some activities and learn more about Christian Science.

There is an Easter Camp in Australia: www.spirituality.net.au/eastercamp/2008/
The UK: www.eastercamp.org.uk

There are other camps too that take place at other times:

USA / Canada
DiscoveryBound Chapters in many cities nationwide www.discoverybound.org
Adventure Unlimited Ranches, Buena Vista, Colorado www.adventureunlimited.org
Cedars CampS Lebanon, Missouri http://www.cedarscamps.org/cedarswww.cedarscamps.org
Crystal Lakes Camps, Hughesville, Pennsylvania www.crystallakecamps.org
Camp Kohahna / Leelanau, Maple City, Michigan www.campkohlee.org
Newfound / Owatonna, Harrison, Maine www.Newfound-Owatonna.com
Camp Bow-Isle Bowen Island, British Colombia www.Camp.ChristianScience.bc.ca
Active Single Christian Scientists of America www.ascsa.us

Europe
Focus Camp, Europe http://www.focus2005.org/www.focus2005.org
Arc-en-Ciel, Switzerland http://www.arc-en-ciel-camp.ch/www.arc-en-ciel-camp.ch

[Benoit]

Awesome way of starating the day and being useful top your community Merry, thanks for sharing this, it gives me idea.