I live in rural America. Really rural.

A quick glance through the local newspaper told me it was “Movie and Cinnamon Bun night at Kellogg School” last night. So, off we went to Kellogg School in the nearest Hamlet of Treadwell.

About ten other neighbors came to the event. None of us had to pay a dime. Okay, the cinnamon buns didn’t appear, but there were cookies and popcorn and water. Also free. Pretty hard to complain. We watched “Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” a 2017 flick about the evil First Order on a mission to destroy every last vestige of the Resistance. But Rey found Luke Skywalker and a remnant of the Resistance survived to destroy the meany Supreme Leader Snoke.

The movie was long, but I sure could relate to many of the concepts in everyday life.

Luke Skywalker was protecting the sacred texts of Jedi in a tree cave, until Yoda appeared to strike the tree in flames. So much for sacred texts, but the point is clear, words are nothing, no power. It’s the spirit of love and the fighting power to resist evil that is needed.

Skywalker quit sitting around waiting to die, and helped the Resistance defeat Leader Snoke’s ambition.

Rey stopped putting her hope in mortals and fought on the side of good. In other words, she got her priorities straight.

As for my life, it deals with Christian Science and a history with the church members who practice Christian Science. I remember holding tight the sacred books on Christian Science and basically waiting for the church to die, until I realized I was resisting the hope in sharing the spirit of Christian Science.

Christian Science or divine Science or whatever you call it, isn’t a church, book, or mortal person. It’s the law of God interpreting harmony. Yes, the practice of Christian Science can bring physical healing, but this is NOT it’s primary reason in the form of church. And, to act and talk like healing is the crux and pith of Christian Science is self-defeating. I believe the minds obsessed with using Christian Science to heal physical bodies is a reason the church is dying.

When I stopped talking as if healing physical bodies is the primary focus of Christian Science, hope returned. Not a blind hope that God would save the church. But a hope in infinite possibilities. I also started fighting. I started resisting evil and self-righteousness and the plain-old arrogance of sitting around blaming everyone else for my failures. I stopped making false promises that prayer can heal. I stopped acting as though Christian Science is successful because it is not. Christian Science is better described as a force. It isn’t a failure or success. Human beings are what we call successes and failures and to act as if Christian Science is successfully healing people today is real close to a lie, that shouldn’t be voiced or fought for.

It is respectful to acknowledge the failures in today’s Christian Science practice. It is respectful to think and talk humbly. It is respectful to fight for hope in light and life.

Christian Science helps me learn about life spiritually. There is a balance and when I put my weight on the side on honesty, things work out better. I want to resist evil, not good.

From 21st Century Science and Health;

Resist the temptation to believe in mortality as intelligent or as having sensation and power.

Advance in the strength of Spirit to resist all that is unlike good. God has made you capable of this and nothing can stop the ability and power divinely bestowed on your spirituality.

Resist evil—error of every kind—and it will cease to exist.

Resisting evil, you overcome it and prove its nothingness. Not human clichés, but divine beatitudes reflect the spiritual light and might which heal the sick.