IN THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE BIBLE LESSON June 1, 2009 Issue

THE ONLY I AM

HELEN MATHIS

To read this column online, go to the spirituality.com homepage.

This Week's Christian Science Bible Lesson, "God the Only Cause and Creator," clearly establishes God as the great and only I am. That fact is continually confirmed throughout. At the beginning, the Golden Text states, "I the Lord, the first, and with the last; I am he" (Isa. 41:4). And Science and Health concludes the sixth section by stating: "There is but one primal cause. Therefore there can be no effect from any other cause, and there can be no reality in aught which does not proceed from this great and only cause" (p. 207, citation 30).

It's interesting to me that in the first half of this Lesson (including the Golden Text and Responsive Reading) the Bible verses have God speaking in the first person 30 times—most often through the voice of the prophet Isaiah. Each verse includes the "I am" (or "I will") manner of speaking. For example, "Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness" (Isa. 41:10, cit. 9).