ASSISTANT MINISTERS' COLUMNS
Rev. Karen Rice

MINISTER'S COLUMN

I was asked the other day in a class what the true meaning of Jesus' death and resurrection. Since in Religious Science, we know that sin is simply a mistake and the Law's response is not judgement but a natural consequence of our thought, we can not rely on the concept that Jesus died for our sins. There must be deeper meanings for his life, death and continued life.

It is not a big leap in thought to realize that Jesus by appearing to Mary Magdalene and the other women on Easter morning and later to the disciples proved that life is eternal and that the individual personality continues beyond physical death. This rings true to those of us who have lost a loved one and yet continue to feel their presence and to sense a communion with them. We ask ourselves, is this real? I have not only had these experiences myself, but often have
people talk with me about similar experiences. My belief is that yes, this is real and in no way supernatural.

I have come to believe that there is another spiritual truth that was proven by the resurrection. That is a proof of God's enduring love for creation, which includes each one of us. This idea of a continuous loving presence ( no matter what our actions and judgements) that surrounds us, protects us, and willingly brings forth good into our lives has been called Grace.

Jesus personified this Grace as he fully embodied the Christ presence during his life and his death. In the last words that he spoke from the cross he showed his full mental acceptance and thereby natural physical action of the spiritual principles that transform life. We will be considering these ideas in the weeks of March 9, 16 and 23.

Many of us might believe that Jesus' forgiveness of those who harmed him was just for that time, I believe that it also tells us God's love is so real and so present, that the Divine can hold nothing against us either. Jesus simply became the individual expression of that loving presence.

Interestingly, Bishop John Shelby Spong in his book titled Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism, shows us that it is in the person of Paul, who never met Jesus during Jesus' lifetime and who was filled with bitter self-loathing, finally came to realize that the mystical Christ loved him. That this love was so unconditional that it even included his acts of persecution against the followers of Jesus, his self hatred, and the source of his judgements against himself. It was this love that allowed him to begin to love himself and to realize that nothing can separate us from the Love of God, for "within him we live and move and have our being."

If this is true for Paul, it is true for us. We all live in Grace, right here and right now.

From my heart to yours,

Rev. Kris

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