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Look for the open door

A Christian Science perspective.

  • By the editors of the Christian Science Sentinel

“When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us.” These words of Helen Keller are a good message for the beginning of the new year. Keller, whose many accomplishments, despite her blindness, are renowned, knew how to go forward even when there appeared to be no doors at all – open or closed.

Such individuals can inspire us in these times of uncertainty, particularly in the face of the world’s troubled finances, fear of terrorism, and instability. Keller’s words also apply in more personal matters, such as the need for a job, the passing of a loved one, challenges with one’s health – or some other adverse condition.

These situations may cast the shadow of a closed door on the present and on expectations for the future. Jesus’ accomplishments and his disciples’ response to them help to erase that shadow.

Following Jesus’ crucifixion, the frightened disciples may have felt they were facing a closed door. Before the events of that first Good Friday, their future with the Master may have looked bright. Then, suddenly, it all seemed to be gone. That was because they were focusing on the closed door.

Meanwhile, Jesus was focused on permanently breaking out of that closed door – the tomb of mortality. His resurrection, his understanding of God opened the door to a higher understanding of life, one in which each day can be a new start.

Christian Science provides this deeper understanding of life through its presentation of the divine laws that supported Jesus’ teaching and healing. In the textbook of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy points toward the spiritual steps that enable each of us to gain the blessings of Jesus’ ministry: “Spiritual development germinates not from seed sown in the soil of material hopes, but when these decay, Love propagates anew the higher joys of Spirit, which have no taint of earth. Each successive stage of experience unfolds new views of divine goodness and love” (“Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” p. 66).

No matter what tomb of sadness, sickness, or sin an individual may be in, every day the message of Jesus’ resurrection holds true for all who are willing to open their hearts even a little to this hope.

As the book of Revelation declares, “Behold, I make all things new” (21:5). These are the words of Christ, the spiritual idea of God that empowered Jesus’ ministry. Moment by moment, hour by hour, day by day, Christ is revealing God’s love for each of us, no matter where we are or who we are. All humanity can turn from the closed door to the open one, and find Christ’s blessing there to greet and fulfill everyone.

From an editorial in the Christian Science Sentinel.

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Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

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