Our readings helped us get clear the basis in Science for sharing God's Love. It's the oneness and allness of God, or Love, reflected by man and the universe. While love and hate, sin, sickness and death seem to move mortals — it's all illusion. What's really up is the preexistent perfection of being animating God's individualized reflection, man.

Keeping that in mind, we were free to range widely (and a bit wildly) over the news landscape. Here's what came up.

1) Rick Santorum graced the news media with his views on homosexuality: equating it to polygamy, incest, and "man-on-dog". Jay Leno reminded us that Mr. Santorum said he had no problem with homosexuality, but just did not understand homosexual acts. "Maybe he's doing it wrong."

Senator Santorum may be on to something, however. Americans do not have an unlimited right to privacy. We can't murder or manufacture illegal drugs in the privacy of our homes.

The Texas sodomy case which occasioned Mr. Santorum's comments was argued before the Supreme Court not only on right to privacy grounds but also on the basis of our rights to equal protection before the law. Legal experts, including our own in-house one, feel this latter basis, if sustained, could prove far more devastating to anti-Gay legislation around the country — undermining, if not sweeping it away then and there.

We were able to place the emergence of homosexuality in popular thought and action within the context of God's wholeness as male-female reflected by us all. As Margaret Laird puts it, sex's "reason for being [is] the male-female divinity of each individual I." (Christian Science Re-Explored, p. 223) And to put it mildly, it can be a great way to share God's love.

2) The SARS crisis seems to have been contained by rapid international cooperation. The oneness of Mind symbolized in globalization can, if not kept spiritual, result in counterfeits, i.e., diseases and their cures. Contagion is a form of sharing — a point made bluntly by the supposed origins of the latest disease in the proximity of humans and animals in Southern China. The sword of Science, however, is fierce and gleaming: our oneness is not established in matter and its malfunctions but in God — the one I that we all share.

3) The world economy is said to be weak. Those Asian areas which were predicted to pull us all out of the slump are paralyzed by SARS. Meanwhile, Japan, Europe and Latin America hobble along and the US is overdue for a sharp reduction in consumer demand.

To evaluate this in Science we started with the strong interdependencies and cause-effect links — i.e., sharing. Rather than seeing it as sharing economic strengths and weaknesses, we sought to bring the idea of sharing God's love into the mix. The One that constitutes the source, condition and action of the whole system is all-good and can smooth the ups and downs of fear and greed into a wholesome unfoldment of divine purpose.

Members then described examples from the week of sharing God's love.

1) At his gym, one member found the handle of a machine he was going to use had not been placed in its cradle but allowed to flop haphazardly. He thought, "How inconsiderate." Immediately he realized he would not know it was inconsiderate if he himself were not in some cases also quite inconsiderate. This is standard psychology and of course good Christianity. "And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?" (Matthew 7:3)

Later he took one 5-lb weight and one 3-lb weight to do some rotator cuff warm-ups. The weights came from racks at opposite ends of the gym. When he finished he quickly put both weights back where he had gotten the 5-lb weight. As he walked away something went off in his thought and said, "How inconsiderate." Yes, there it was. He picked up the 3-lb weight and schlepped it back to its proper rack. This impersonal act of sharing God's love gave him a sudden jolt of joy!

2) Another member dropped by one of New York's most famous acting schools to audit a couple of classes. As he did so he was invited up and given instruction in swordplay. Later in an acting class he got to talk to the teacher and students afterwards and got a book from one of them called Betrayal Of God: Christianity's Corporate Sabotage Of Jesus And His Spirit, by John Cord. It has lots in it about the extremes of the clerical assault on LGBT folk and some themes that approach Science in their clarity.

3) A member who's been coming to our meetings for several months said he's beginning to feel less fear and anxiety. This week he got his first copy of Science and Health. Since he's a great student of scientific thought and both reads and writes science fiction we're all looking forward to how Mrs. Eddy's insights and visions will impact his own outlook.

4) Another member had some problems with the rent statement and payment on his apartment. He called the building manager and left a message. There was no return call, so he felt he should pray for everyone concerned — the owners, managers, accountant and himself. Still no return call. Finally he prayed in infinite mode: "Everyone in the universe is supported and supplied by God." The phone rang and the problems were quickly resolved.

5) Another member is taking some drugs prescribed by a doctor. He wants to be free of them but the problems that seem to have required the drugs in the first place still show up on medical tests. Members rolled the problem around a bit. We've certainly had many people at our meetings over the years who are taking drugs, but we did recall one who was taking an AIDS cocktail and was able to get off a really debilitating part of the regimen after talking to a Christian Science teacher in depth about his spiritual identity. One member felt perhaps the goal of getting off drugs could be subsumed in the understanding that health and well-being are spiritual, whether we're taking or not taking drugs.

6) Another member found himself in a conversation with a creative person whose theatrical and dance ideas are striking but "all over the place." What's lacking is a business plan and funds to carry out projects. There was little advice our member could offer in the arts area, nor did he feel it was appropriate to introduce Christian Science as useful in the circumstances. What he could and did do was look for — and find — the divine core of this energetic man and support the emergence of this to take over all aspects of his creativity — including fruition.

Over the next two weeks we'll take up the topic Body. Notes on our meetings on this topic will go up on or about May 17th.