September 2, 2015
http://www.christianscienceneworleans.org/ArchiveWedReadings2015.html
A few weeks ago I was listening to A. Lincoln, a thoughtful book detailing the moral and spiritual evolution of Abraham Lincoln’s stand on slavery. (Thanks to Christian Scientist Madelon Maupin for suggesting this book in one of her Bible talks.)
Those in our Time for Thinkers Book Club know that this biography inspired me to do some research on the great impression Lincoln made on Mary Baker Eddy, and in time, the Lincoln family became great admirers of Christian Science. For example, did you know that the wife of Robert Lincoln, the only surviving child of Abraham Lincoln, became a Christian Scientist, as did her granddaughter? Did you know that their home in Vermont was bequeathed to The Mother Church in 1975 when the Lincoln family tree had no more living descendants? (Links to some of the research on the Lincoln – Eddy connection done by the Mary Baker Eddy Library are on the readings page. If you are in the Time for Thinkers Book Club, you already know how intriguing this was to me!)
Lincoln’s famous “house divided” speech about how the “government cannot endure permanently half-slave and half-free” is rooted in the gospel story of Jesus casting out devils by the Spirit of God and not by Satan. There are many Christian Science testimonies also based on this story (as well as the story of Peter’s conversion of Cornelius — the Gentile Pentecost) for healings of grief, employment, church/community relations, and discrimination.
Comment from September 3, 2015
Here is One Mind. The blog below (which appeared in my email this morning) was the same topic as last night’s readings, and the writer even made the Abe Lincoln connection!
http://www.christianunityministries.org/2015/09/03/gospel-centered-worldview-all-lives-matter/
I love it when this happens!
CMoore-Reflections 