OLD FRIENDS
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READERS REPRESENTING THE PASTOR
March 3-9, 2025?????????????
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RECURRING CITATIONS
In our weekly Christian Science Bible lesson sermons, we often see various texts make repeat appearances.? These include texts from the Holy Bible and from ”Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures” by Mary Baker Eddy, which comprise the Christian Science Pastor.
In this article, I’d like to visit with several such texts from this week’s Bible Leson, titled, “Man,” and share with you how I like to read them, and explain why.
{NOTE: Words in all CAPS are to be emphasized; words within [square brackets] are to be subdued; a minus sign within parentheses (-) implies a negative tone of voice; a plus sign within parentheses (+) implies a positive tone of voice; exclamation marks before and after words or phrases imply an enthusiastic, high energy delivery.}
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JAMES 1:17
“EVERY GOOD [gift] and [every] PERFECT [gift] is from ABOVE, and COMETH DOWN from the FATHER of LIGHTS, with whom is NO VARIABLENESS, ! neither SHADOW [of turning]!”
Because “variableness” and “turning” both imply “change,” I like to downplay the word, “turning,”? because it is the second mention of the concept.? That allows me to emphasize the word, “shadow,” which, to me, in this context, declares that God is so consistent and unchangeable that there is not even a shadow (illusion or hint) of change.
Bible commentaries address some astronomical implications of the words, “shadow” and “turning,” but I prefer to consider the more-metaphysical, symbolic implications.
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JOB 33:4
“The SPIRIT of GOD hath MADE [me], AND [the breath of the Almighty hath] GIVEN [me] LIFE.”
“Spirit” and “breath” mean the same thing, so “breath” can be subdued.? Also, “God” and “the Almighty” mean the same thing, so they should also be subdued.
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S&H 332:6
“As the APOSTLE EXPRESSED it in WORDS which he QUOTED with APPROBATION from a CLASSIC POET….”
I like to deliver the words, “approbation” and “classic poet,” with strength because it suggests endorsement from a highly respected and published authority.
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ROMANS 8:16
“The SPIRIT ITSELF beareth WITNESS with OUR SPIRIT, that WE ARE the CHILDREN of GOD.”
In this verse, the first “Spirit” begins with a capital “S;” the second begins with a lower-case “s.”? Therefore, they are different entities.? Upper-case “Spirit” represents God.? To me, lower-case “spirit,” as in “our spirit,” represents our spiritual intuition, our spiritual sense, or our spiritual understanding.? Both terms are positive, but we worship the first one and appreciate the second one.? So, I want to elevate upper-case Spirit with a strong projection, louder volume, and a clearly reverential tone of voice.
We must be especially careful NOT to emphasize “OUR,” and subdue “spirit.”? That would telegraph to the listener that the second “spirit” is an old idea, synonymous with upper-case Spirit.? But “our spiritual sense” is not “God.”
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S&H 396:30
“It breaks the dream of disease to understand that sickness is formed by the human mind, not by matter nor by the divine Mind.”
Note that there is a lower-case “mind” and an upper-case “Mind.”? Though the words are spelled and pronounced identically, they are two hugely different entities.? Lower-case “mind” is more akin to “brain;” whereas upper-case “Mind” represents “God.”?
So, we can’t simply emphasize “human” and “divine,” and subdue lower-case “mind” and upper-case “Mind.”? A correct reading would be as follows:
“It BREAKS the (-)DREAM of (-)DISEASE to UNDERSTAND that (-)SICKNESS is FORMED by the (-)HUMAN (-)MIND, NOT by (-)MATTER NOR by the (+)DIVINE (+)MIND.”
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S&H 494:10
“DIVINE LOVE ALWAYS HAS [met] and ALWAYS WILL [meet] EVERY HUMAN NEED.”
I like to emphasize “has” and “will” because they represent two different time periods—past and future.? I like to subdue “met” and “meet” because they are closely related.? An option would be to emphasize “HAS MET” and “WILL MEET.”? But my preference is to highlight “has” and “will” to bring out the ever-presence of Love.
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FRESH, DETAILED VIEW
When coming across such “old friends,” we need to be careful to not just merrily read them the way we’ve always heard them read and the way we’ve always read them.? We need to examine them closely, give each one very careful thought, and then, read them in ways that make them perfectly clear to our listeners—or to ourselves when we’re reading aloud to ourselves.
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Happy Reading,
Don Feldheim
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