IN THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE BIBLE LESSON February 2, 2009 Issue

A WALK WITH SPIRIT

VIRGINIA STOPFEL

SPIRIT CAN BE A CHALLENGING concept. But it comes alive as the subject of this week's Christian Science Bible Lesson.

The Lesson begins with Nicodemus, a teacher in Israel, puzzling over this concept in a conversation with Jesus (see Responsive Reading, John 3:1-8). Jesus' "miracles" had aroused Nicodemus' curiosity, and he came to Jesus in secret to find out how he did them, "for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him."

Clearly, Nicodemus worshipped God and was convinced that God was responsible for Jesus' ability to do such healing work. But he wanted to know how Jesus could expect him to view himself and his world not as a material event caused by and dependent on matter, but as the direct outcome of spiritual power. Then Jesus explained how he healed people and helped them to see, to experience, the kingdom of God. Jesus called it being "born again"—getting a fresh start, a new view, by recognizing Spirit's activity in the human sphere, which is clarified by this passage from Science and Health: "When we realize that Life is Spirit, never in nor of matter, this understanding will expand into self-completeness, finding all in God, good, and needing no other consciousness" (p. 264, Section I, citation 5).