Did you see Louie Zamperini at the Christian Science Reading Room yesterday? Neither did I. Actually, I’m not sure Louie Zamperini, famous former Olympic runner, has ever visited a Christian Science Reading Room. But if he did, I think he’d like it. Why? Because the hero of best seller Hillenbrand’s Unbroken has been on a spiritual journey ever since his transformative experience with Billy Graham and a recommitment to God’s plan for him. Reading Rooms are places where one can continue a spiritual search for understanding and healing.
Zamperini, a former WW II POW in Japanese prison camps, suffered torture, humiliation and most likely post-traumatic stress disorder, but a Billy Graham conversion to Christ gave him restored health, a healed spirit and a new, joyous purpose. (See March 20 blog.) Zamperini must have loved his visit to the evangelist’s famous library in Charlotte, North Carolina, where Christian resources and an atmosphere of inspiration are found.
Christian Science Reading Rooms are outreach oases in every community where there is a Christian Science Church, and each is sponsored by the church for the public to come in to browse, study, purchase Biblical resources and ask questions about spiritually uplifting books such as Mary Baker Eddy’s Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. As well as welcoming spaces for prayer and reflection, Reading Rooms are lively places where one can hear a “Daily Lift,” participate in a live chat online about healing problems through prayer, and see the latest news and trends in the Pulitzer Prize winning newspaperThe Christian Science Monitor. Sometimes there are Bible Study groups or discussions on troubling issues of the day, all with healing and restoration as the goal. Records of healing abound.
We say our spirits are up or down, depending on circumstances. Some who’ve survived incredible challenges may have bowed spirits, even bloodied ones. What keeps them unbroken in the end?
The example of former Olympic runner Louie Zamperini shows us. Laura Hillenbrand writes of this man’s survival as a POW in Japanese camps during World War II. Her best seller Unbroken describes the horrors of his plane crash, days adrift on a raft, daily threats by sharks who flung themselves at him, starvation and dehydration, eventual “rescue” by the Japanese, and the nearly unbearable treatment by the guards and their psychopathic leader Watanabe, nicknamed “Bird.” Zamperini endured the sight of comrades dying and his own beatings. Yet, he remained unbroken.
Finally liberated by the Americans after his family had been told he was dead, Zamperini began a civilian life that quickly spiraled downward through alcoholism, poverty and despair. At last that unbroken spirit cracked and began to shatter. Then, at the insistence of his wife he attended a Billy Graham rally near his home in California, and one night, despite strong resistance, the evangelist from North Carolina reached him. Louie Zamperini was reborn. Hillenbrand writes:
“Louie felt profound peace. When he thought of his history, what resonated with him now was not all that he had suffered but the divine love that he believed had intervened to save him. He was not the worthless, broken, forsaken man that the Bird had striven to make of him. In a single, silent moment, his rage, his fear, his humiliation and helplessness had fallen away. That morning, he believed, he was a new creation.” (p.176)
Louie went on to forgive his captors, even Bird; to live a life declaring his faith, serving his new church, and helping at-risk boys learn to excel and thrive under his loving mentorship. With a marriage restored, a body healed, a heart put right with the world, and a God –given purpose to live out, Louie remained unbroken and whole.
Christian Scientists believe that the same divine Love Louie found is also Spirit, or God. This Spirit, which cannot be broken, is our very life. Through prayer, gratitude and humility we can see ourselves as worthy before this Spirit, our relationship with Him as always unbroken. Restoration and healing result from this spiritual, new view.
Miss Manners tells us to avoid politics at the table if we want to keep the harmony of a family get-together. If Uncle Herman is a Tea Party die-hard and Cousin Elspeth is an adamant Occupant it could be exhausting to keep these two apart at Thanksgiving.
So why not do the obvious: bring them together over gratitude. Each of us can be grateful for something, and as we hear the gratitude lists of others, we feel kin to them. We are one family again.
Each year Christian Science churches offer public Thanksgiving Day services throughout the United States. These services are in addition to the regular Wednesday testimony meetings, so important was the concept of gratitude to Mary Baker Eddy, founder of our religion. Those attending are invited to share their gratitude for blessings, guidance, healing and well-being. There is no collection because the church is grateful for those attending!
During each of these American services the Thanksgiving Day proclamation of the President of the United States is read, or sometimes the Governor’s. Whether we voted for him or not, we can all rally for one day behind a Bush or an Obama’s gratitude for God’s blessings. This year we’ll hear:
“Though our traditions have evolved, the spirit of grace and humility at the heart of Thanksgiving has persisted through every chapter of our story…Today, let us offer gratitude to our men and women in uniform for their many sacrifices, and keep in our thoughts the families who save an empty seat at the table for a loved one stationed in harm’s way. And as members of our American family make do with less, let us rededicate ourselves to our friends and fellow citizens in need of a helping hand…
“Now, therefore I, Barack Obama, President of the United States of America…encourage the people of the United States to come together…to give thanks for all we have received in the past year, to express appreciation to those whose lives enrich our own, and to share our bounty with others…”
Amen, says Uncle Herman. Say it brother, agrees Cousin Elspeth. Now pass me a drumstick, please.
Now we adjust to another “new normal:” a world without Osama bin Laden. How will we respond? Will the US and Pakistan continue to hurl counter accusations about slack security vs. violation of a country’s sovereignty? Will the “birthers” become “deathers” in refusing to accept the facts of the tyrant’s violent end? Will flash mobs of jubilation spark more violent reaction in the Middle East? In other words, will reason prevail over fear and group-think? An answer may be found in practicing the spiritual qualities we learn in the best teachings of our faiths.
One eloquent voice from Greenville, North Carolina spoke with wise restraint and simple decency. He wrote in Raleigh’s The News & Observer:
“Rarely is news so breaking that people halt everything just to follow it. Sunday’s [May 1] news regarding Osama Bin Laden was at such a level. I am sure my fellow countrymen felt a sense of relief.
“Being an American Muslim I felt two forms of relief. First, I was relieved that the man who was responsible for making the “Muslim” synonymous with “terrorist” within the American psyche was finally put to rest. Secondly, I was relieved because a major threat to my country has been diminished.
“Whether this development will put a damper on terrorist activity or inflame them even more is yet to be seen. At any rate, as a member of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community USA, I would like to reassure my fellow countrymen that they have nothing to fear from us. We take the advice of the Quran to obey those who are in authority among you seriously and have proved ourselves to be loyal American citizens since we first established ourselves in this county in the early 20th century.”
I like the way my countryman Mr. Ahmed appeals to a faith of reasonableness. As a Christian Scientist, I’ve always liked Mary Baker Eddy’s urging, “The time for thinkers has come.” (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Pref. vii) No extreme or violent emotion here, no settling for what everyone else thinks or does. Each must listen to Divine Mind,–the highest idea, the God-like idea, before acting. First, we must be thinkers.
The world aches along with the Japanese people. In the face of such unprecedented catastrophe, will there ever be enough aid, enough rescuers, and enough caregivers? Superhuman endurance will be required. Compassion is called for. Clearly, nurses are needed.
Florence Nightingale was a contemporary of Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of Christian Science. Both lived at the turn of the century and the two were mutual admirers. Eddy particularly noted the extraordinary endurance of Florence Nightingale, who was able to overcome extreme exposure and fatigue. Eddy saw this as the result of the power of Mind over the body’s limitations. (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 385) This description might also apply to Clara Barton, another extraordinary nurse who organized the American Red Cross during these same times, serving in the Civil War in the Carolinas and the South.
Mary Baker Eddy saw the need for love to be demonstrated, not merely declared or even felt. She founded the tradition of Christian Science nurses, who are carefully trained to support those who choose spiritual care in times of great physical challenge. Christian Science nurses are required to express order, cheerfulness and strong faith, among other spiritual qualities. (Science and Health, p.395). Today the world needs us all to be nurses: Good Samaritans to bring comfort and healing to those who need it. Our prayers can petition the Father-Mother to send legions of nurses to Japan as soon as possible.
Today’s news describes the extraordinary step taken by the United Nations General Assembly in kicking Libya out of its Human Rights Council. Led by the six neighboring countries of Botswana, Gabon, Jordan, Lebanon, Nigeria and Qatar, the measure reflects the views of African, Islamic and Arab peoples, demonstrating the widespread revulsion Libya’s leader Qaddafi has inspired. (Even his refusal to settle on one spelling of his own name Gadhafi, Khaddafi, seems to grate.) For more, see Howard La Franchi’s article in The Christian Science Monitor.
I was intrigued with the inclusion of little known Bostwana in this group. As the peaceful setting of McCall Smith’s best selling series The No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, Botswana is regularly described by the fictional characters as an ideal and idyllic place to live. In Botswana, cattle are contented, men and women live in kindly relation to one another, and a deep reverence for the founders and leaders of their country abides in every heart. That is very well known, as heroine/ private detective Precious Ramotswe would say.
She learned these values from her dear Daddy, Obed Ramotswe, and through obedience to this moral code, the many appealing characters seem to glimpse what Mary Baker Eddy defines as:
Heaven: Harmony; the reign of Spirit; government by Divine Principle; spirituality; bliss; the atmosphere of Soul. (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. p. 587)
If you like to see these qualities and values depicted in your reading, you have a future with this series. Try also Tears of the Giraffe, The Kalahari Typing School for Men, and my latest read, The Double Comfort Safari Club. You’ll embark on a wonderful reading safari of your own. And you’ll be more confidant that these values, not Qaddafi’s, will triumph in the end.
USA Today recently published an article outlining the increase in Army medical discharges due to mental health issues (Mental Illness Costing Military Soldiers by Gregg Zoroya published on July 25, 2010).
According to the article, 1,224 soldiers were medically discharged last year due to post-traumatic stress disorder. “These numbers really just validate the mental health communities’ concern about multiple deployments,” says Adrian Atizado, who specializes in health issues as assistant national legislative director for Disabled American Veterans. “Mind and body are both taking a beating.”
In this audio webcast from Spirituality.com, Janet Horton, a 28-year Army veteran and former military chaplain, talks about the spiritual ideas that have inspired and supported her through her years of service in the armed forces, including her experiences at the Pentagon on September 11, 2001. She shares healing experiences and answers questions about post-traumatic stress disorder, ways to pray for loved ones in combat as well as the victims of war, and how prayer in combat is possible and essential.
Welcome to the official site of the Christian Science Committee on Publication for North Carolina. I serve as a media spokesperson and legislative contact for Christian Science in the state and am responsible for conveying correct information about Christian Science, its practices, and its discoverer, Mary Baker Eddy.
Cynthia P. Barnett
Phone: 919-909-0169
Email: northcarolina@compub.org
Twitter: cynthiabarnettp
What is Christian Science
How do Christian Scientists make healthcare decisions?
USA Today recently published an article outlining the increase in Army medical discharges due to mental health issues (Mental Illness Costing Military Soldiers by Gregg Zoroya published on July 25, 2010).
