IN THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE BIBLE LESSON December 15, 2008 Issue

NATIVITY STORIES THAT FREE AND SAVE

CHRISTA KREUTZ

IS THE UNIVERSE, INCLUDING MAN, EVOLVED BY ATOMIC FORCE December 15-21, 2008

THIS WEEK'S Christian Science Bible Lesson pairs the Christmas story with a discussion of spiritual creation, asking the question, "Is the Universe, Including Man, Evolved by Atomic Force?" The Lesson illustrates how God's eternal gift—Christ's full dawning in human consciousness, made manifest in Jesus' birth—can free us today from belief in material evolution and the troubles that come with that belief.

The Responsive Reading from the Gospel of Luke has Christ Jesus explaining his purpose, his fulfillment of God's promise through the words of Isaiah 61: "He hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord." This last phrase, "to preach the acceptable year of the Lord" can also be translated "to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor" (New Revised Standard Version). In Isaiah's context, this phrase refers to the jubilee year when debts were forgiven, land was allowed to rest, and most important, slaves were released.