Loved Gordon's post on Feb 3rd! I had a similar experience with our CSOrg and having a table out in the student union of a college campus many years ago. It was one of those landmark experiences for me and the lesson I learned, well, I am still reaping the benefits of that lesson!
I remember being the only person who had the time to man the table, and I hurried around to get the table set up. Then, I thought, how do I pray? I actually wasn't looking forward to having to spend a lot of time praying and rehearsing what I would say in different scenarios.
But the thought came for me to drop all the worries and concerns and JUST LOVE. I could do that. This made me chuckle. That's it! I would simply love every single person who came by.
What was so freeing about this is I threw away ANY agenda! I outlined NO outcomes and I thoroughly enjoyed just people watching and loving them - seeing them as God sees them.
One person hurried past and I loved them for their diligence and desire to be prompt. Another couple passed by happily talking to each other and I loved them for the love and joy they had in one another. It went on and on. Another person looked over at me and I just smiled. They smiled back. And that was enough.
Soon people starting to stop. I just loved them. I appreciated their questions, I saw their intelligence, their curiosity, their spirituality and their hunger to learn more. I asked them questions about their spiritual journey and they asked me about mine. I started having more conversations with people. I shared what I was learning and they shared what they were learning.
It was a delightful day! When I left, I had given away all the copies of Science and Health I had.
Afterwards, I had time to think about that day. I wasn't out to convert. I was operating with the Truth that all God's children HAVE the Truth. I was there to witness that Truth. I was there to witness God's goodness, love and activity and just yield to God's leading. Joy is a big part of God's MO. Knowing that the Christ is already with each person on that campus removed any anxiety about talking to another about Christian Science.
Great story Kim! I wish I was in your CSO in my college days! Even though I maybe didn't think to try this wonderful method of yours when I was in CSO, it's not too late for me to apply it anytime, anywhere.
ReplyDeleteI think this point of preparing our thought and maintaining the discipline to love everyone we meet has enormous potential if we all tried to do it a little more every day. Imagine the level of Jesus' love for people he healed before he knew anything about them as a person. He knew people better then they knew themselves in terms of their spiritual identity. Maybe at the workshop we can come up with a few tricks for how to stay more disciplined at this throughout our daily walk and conversation.
Thanks Cory -
ReplyDeleteI think that is the attraction and the challenge - to see and know others to the degree that Jesus loved them.
Have you read Christian Healer? That biography of Mary Baker Eddy describes in such vivid detail how she loved others.
Love like that heals. Who wouldn't want to practice that kind of love??
Kim - I love your advice: "JUST LOVE!" So simple, yet so true. (Makes me think of Mis 469:5-7.) And as I've been reading Christian Healer myself, I've been seeing just how much MBE selflessly loved everyone, no matter what, and how she was always willing to meet people where they were at.
ReplyDeleteI have been reading Christian Healer and am getting a lot out of it!
ReplyDeleteAs I sat in church tonight I was thinking along the same lines as Gordon's and your comments. Being better at loving people seems like a direct product of improving how well we "talk with others about C.S.". In this sense I want to rewrite the title of this workshop to "talking with others about our highest sense of right". My point is that if we truly care about any person we have the opportunity to communicate with, there should be no pressure to portray C.S. in a certain way. Instead we should only feel joy and excitement to engage in a 2-way communication that shows your interest in their perspective and willingness to give them your best sense of what's true in that conversation. We don't need to literally talk about C.S. to convey the powerful message behind it. So maybe one tip is to save giving credit to the source of your good thoughts until you can see that your audience is in approval.
So to come full circle, maybe one way to love others is to be thoughtful about what type of interaction that person seems like they would appreciate or benefit most from you. This is what MBE seemed to be so good at....knowing just what type of love-delivery that person needed. I bet God must have told her that on the fly! ....which means she knew how to listen!
Another approach from Rick Stewart of Germany, "Take a tip from Paul: When you talk to people unfamiliar with God or your beliefs, use terms and concepts that are familiar to them. Communication is not what you say, but what the other person hears."
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