A Basket of Gourds

New picture of the month for November.

Taken in Mesopotamia, OH in Amish country.

Two Psalms teach us a “new song”

I dug into two of the Psalms found in this week’s lesson, “Are Sin, Disease and Death Real?” and it brought a wonderful sense of the protecting and sustaining power of the divine Mind.  The Psalms are:

Ps 42:8 Yet the LORD will command his lovingkindness in the daytime, and in the night his song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life.

Ps 40:2,3 He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.  And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD.

Both Psalms refer to “his song” and “a new song.”  What is this song that we need to sing after receiving great examples of God’s loving care?

New picture for September

A jet skier zips across Lake Erie near Cleveland.

Literal v. Spiritual Understanding of Scripture

I remember watching a religious show on television which discussed Christian healing.  A woman recounted how she healed a problem with her arm by pouring oil on it over and over.  She did this because the Bible says, “Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church;and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.” (James 5:14)

This is an example of the literal application of Scripture.  While I believe she felt relief to her arm trouble it was based solely on her faith.  If oil anointing was truly a cure it would be in widespread use today.  Did the apostles of Christ really mean for Christian healers to use oil or is there a meaning beyond the literal use of the word?  Is there a difference between the literal and the spiritual understanding of the Scriptures?