IN THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE BIBLE LESSON June 2, 2008 Issue

THE FRUITS OF GOD'S HANDIWORK

JANET CLEMENTS

THE BIBLE LESSON THIS WEEK, titled "God the Only Cause and Creator," speaks of the glorious fruits of God's handiwork. Beginning with the Golden Text and the Responsive Reading, this Lesson praises the supremacy of God's goodness made evident in nature, in all people, and indeed in all of Creation!

An early citation from Science and Health, "Nature and revelation inform us that like produces like" (p. 276, Section I, citation 2), reminded me of the tall, beautiful apricot tree that grew near the back fence of our yard when I was growing up. Its branches blossomed in the spring, and in mid-June I could pick its delicious fruit. I never doubted that the fruit from that tree would be apricots. I wouldn't expect apples or cherries or peaches—just apricots. Similarly, this week's Lesson makes the point that the fruit of God's work is undeniably Godlike.

This premise is confirmed in citation 1 by the Glossary explanation in Science and Health of Creator, which reads in part, "God, who made all that was made and could not create an atom or an element the opposite of Himself" (p. 583). Then, moving to the latter part of citation 2, we read, "Divine Science does not gather grapes from thorns nor figs from thistles" (p. 276). I ask myself, How could God's creation express the opposite of His perfection any more than the apricot tree could produce tomatoes? Where would the oppsite come from, if God is the only Cause and Creator? And isn't it natural, then, to see that God is causing the whole of creation to express—in infinite, individual ways—His boundless good qualities?