A Great Bumper Sticker

I carry a Bible and I know how to use it!

And my ammunition is the 91st Psalm, the Beatitudes, the Ten Commandments, and The Lord’s Prayer.

What’s in your glove box?

Melissa Hayden is a Christian Science practitioner in Salem, OR. You can find more information and additional articles at this link.  If you like what you’re reading, click the “add me” button.

The guarantee of Christianity

You won’t find it in the various doctrines or creeds of the various sects of religious Christianity: those won’t really hold up against all that the world throws at them.  So, I’m not going there.  I’m talking about the Christianity of Christ Jesus himself.  The guarantee he gave is universal and impartial, though very personal.

Jesus was at odds theologically, with those who crucified him, but he still prayed, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.”  (Luke 23:34)  And his closest followers bickered amongst themselves who would be the greatest. (Mark 9:34)  Yet he tenderly reminded them, “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”  (John 13:34)  And he said of himself, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”  (John 10:10)  As The Way, Jesus made plain what his expectations were and how to meet them.  He delivered on every promise.

And he made this highest promise of all, “I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.”  (John 16:7)  He was reassuring those whom he would soon leave, that they would have all they needed, all the time.  He predicted that the Comforter or Holy Ghost “shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.”  (John 14:26)

Have you ever felt that comforting presence?  Have you ever reached out in prayer and been lifted and helped, healed even?  Have you ever needed a miracle – and got one?  Do you think that’s all coincidence?  No, it’s the guarantee of Christianity.  It’s what Jesus promised and God delivered.  And it’s now.

Let your Easter be filled with the guarantee of Christianity – let yourself be comforted.

Melissa Hayden is a Christian Science practitioner in Salem, OR. You can find more information and additional articles at this link.  If you like what you’re reading, click the “add me” button.

Was Jesus a scientist?

Okay, so he didn’t wear a white lab coat and use a microscope.  Oh, wait, I guess he did.  Well, not the lab coat, but he did use something like a microscope.  He examined – very closely – the thoughts of those around him!

It wasn’t really a microscope though; it was something even more powerful!  The Apostle Paul explains it this way in his letter to the Hebrews: “…the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”  (4:12)  The W0rd of God was what Jesus used to understand and heal those around him.  He used it consistently and repeatedly.

And like any good scientist, he taught others how to use God’s Word consistently and repeatedly.  And they taught others.  And on and on.  Jesus even predicted it.  He knew his results were consistent and repeatable.  He said “He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do.”  (John 14:12)

Although Jesus himself didn’t keep a scientific record of all that he did, there is a whole New Testament that lays out how consistent and repeatable – and scientific – his works were.  And the works of those who followed him.

And still follow him.

Was Jesus a scientist?  Read the gospels.  Read the book of Acts.  Read Paul’s and Peter’s and James’ and John’s letters.

You decide.  And go and do thou likewise.

Melissa Hayden is a Christian Science practitioner in Salem, OR. You can find more information and additional articles at this link.  If you like what you’re reading, click the “add me” button.

Pray it forward.

That’s a new take on an old theme.  We’ve all heard “pay” it forward, a wonderful way to take the good you’ve received and keep it moving on and out through deeds of kindness.  Pray it forward is simply building on that theme.  Add a special prayer to your actions to keep the good alive and well as it makes its way into the world.  Bless it with wings of healing that its good may grow and its worth blossom.  And know that your fellow doers are encouraged and benefited to keep this sweet, strong prayer going.

This is our gift to each other – regardless of who each of us is.  Does it matter?  To bless one another through prayer is the highest gift we can give and the dearest way to love our neighbors – both local and global – as ourselves.  And to know that hungry hearts are fed, and the poor in spirit lifted, gives our prayers special impetus where the need is greatest.

It doesn’t take much more to follow-up your helping gestures with a happy prayer.  Nor would it be unusual to hope that the good done to you was prayerfully forwarded, as well.

And when it feels as though there is nothing else to do or give, that is when our prayers are most needed.  Gentle arms of prayer-filled care can wipe away the hardest knocks and the deepest sorrow.

Keep it going, pray it forward.  It will only bless you.  And then, do it again.

Melissa Hayden is a Christian Science practitioner in Salem, OR. You can find more information and additional articles at this link.  If you like what you’re reading, click the “add me” button.