Thanksgiving
November 25, 1999
Since 1986 we have met Thanksgiving evening to read the Lesson from the Christian Science Quarterly and exchange testimonies of gratitude. Our meeting unfolded a bit differently this year; we read the Lesson but tended more to discussion and on-the-spot work in Science
First we looked at the concept of gratitude. It's an important element in living Christian Science and activating its healing energies. We wanted to go deeper.
Flimsy protests to the contrary, some of us found ourselves often being grateful to a "big person" image of God. In the light of Science, this felt placatory, implying a personal, dualistic deity — sometimes good, often bad — needing soothing and appeals to its vanity. Of course, this deathly view of God needs breaking up with the facts of Science.
At a healthier level, "gratitude" can be likened to "miracle" in Christian Science. Both represent the wonder experienced by mortal mind as it catches a glimpse of God's universe. But in absolute Science neither gratitude nor miracle has a role, when God is just being man and his environment without contradiction. "Is man's spiritual sonship a personal gift to man, or is it the reality of his being, in divine Science?" (Miscellaneous Writings, by Mary Baker Eddy, p. 181:3-4).
Jesus seems to speak of gratitude conventionally: as a matter of keeping in touch with the customs of his followers, certainly not in relation to God. See for instance John 11: 41, 42 or Mark 8: 6 and 14: 23. The interesting parable at Luke 17: 7-10 may give a clue as to the non-necessity for gratitude at the divine reflection level of functioning. In today's terms one might ask, "Is 2 plus 2 grateful for being 4?"
In Luke 10: 20, Jesus tells his disciples to rejoice, "because your names are written in heaven." Mary Baker Eddy points the same way — see for instance, Science and Health, pp. 214:18-25 and 94:17-23. We might paraphrase another of her statements by asking, "Are we nearer to living the facts of being because of this gratitude?"
Hymn number 3 in the Christian Science Hymnal extols the benefits of a grateful heart. One member felt it lovingly coaxes us into an expanded view of the universe.— an almost Zen meditative state wherein we slow down and pay attention to God's glories at hand.
One member likes to plumb the psychological import of our topics before taking them to Science. This time he explained Melanie Klein's work on envy and gratitude. Mrs. Klein felt severely troubled minds could not experience true gratitude because they were still consumed in a struggle with childhood envy of the big people who supplied them with food and love. These very people whose images they need to internalize and identify with in order to mature are the ones they reject and hold apart because of their envy and rage. Kleinians have done much good in this area, helping people become whole and able to experience independence and feel gratitude, but the problem can never be worked through fully on the human belief level. From the Christian Science perspective, we can and must identify with and live the Being of our divine Parent, not regarding this Being as a supplier of good but rather as the Being of all Being that is I or Us.
The healing potential of the gratitude recommended by Hymn number 211, verse 3 and Matthew 5: 10-12, was commented on in terms of dropping an old concept of God and man for a better one.
We worked on a couple of problems.
1) One member had been severely criticized by a friend for his penchant for pontificating. Initially our member reared back to launch a tirade, but thought of Mrs. Eddy's statements about listening patiently to a friend's rebuke and "hecatombs of gushing theories" (see Science and Health, pp.8: 30-32 and 367: 3-9). He listened quietly — yes, his friend too was overflowing with error, but he was learning something about himself from someone he knew loves him and he could gain additionally from silent prayer to work the problem through. We all learned from this share. As long term visitors to our meeting and site know, we sometimes have sessions worthy of Jerry Springer.
2) Another member was feeling terribly overworked, underappreciated and unsupported in his new job. As he described the situation, he remembered some dire moments when the truths of Christian Science brought healings. Furthermore, he realized that his boss was taking several remedial steps to provide support. We sat in amazement that what originally seemed such a problem had so much good already going on. There are still difficulties: the long hours, the feeling of not doing enough and the huge learning curve. Members had some good thoughts. One pointed out that some people based on childhood motifs will never feel like they're doing enough. This could first be taken to the member's therapist to get its full measure and then be handled in Science. As for the learning curve, one Mind which we all reflect knows it all now and this truth will cut the time needed. A member also described techniques used by Tony Robbins to reduce problems and amplify solutions.
As we drew to a close two members gave brief testimonies:
1) One has recently let go of gambling and is finding more serenity. She actually enjoys the simple pleasures of life even though she still feels much loneliness, which is being addressed through Christian Science and Gamblers Anonymous.
2) Another who contends with compulsive overeating is grateful for abstinence and a growing awareness that his hunger is not really about food but represents a spiritual quest. The hunger or spiritual quest he experiences as a mortal is in reality the fulfillment he includes as divine idea.
For our topic next week, a member who felt we sometimes seem as intellectual as a program on PBS, recommended "making our requests known", an extraction from the Golden Text of the Thanksgiving Lesson (Phil 4: 6). Finally, we agreed on a briefer word for this idea, Supplication, which brought rapture to ex-Catholics in the room and sent the rest of us scurrying for dictionaries.