05/25/2026
Happy Memorial Day Family. May this post find you well and peaceful. Shout out to the three women, who in October of 1864 began the tradition of placing wreaths on the graves of fallen Union soldiers in Boalsberg, PA. Also shout out to the Black freemen and White abolitionist allies who on May 1,1865 gathered in Charlston, SC to honor in full ceremony, with a parade and a dedication for the 257 fallen Union soldiers that were buried there in a mass grave. These key observances are the seeds of what we know today as .
We continue with the May 2026 theme of Divine Doubt. This week’s reading and practice offering is from Rev. Lydia Joy Lazar-Ayers:
READING:
Thurman, Howard. Disciplines of the Spirit. Friends United Press, 1963, 97.
“The moving finger of God in human history points ever in the same direction. There must be community. Always, in the collective conscience and in the private will, this intent appears and reappears like some fleeting ghost. It is a fact that [humankind] fails again and again, but the sense of not being mistaken in the fundamental intention never deserts the final purpose, or the judgment that is passed on all social behavior.
When the hunger in a [person’s] heart merges with what seems to be the fundamental intent of life, communion with God the Creator of Life is not only possible but urgent. The hunger of the heart, which is a part of the givenness of God, becomes one with the givenness of God as expressed in the world of nature and in human history.”
“The moving finger of God in human history points ever in the same direction. There must be community. Always, in the collective conscience and in the private will, this intent appears and reappears like some fleeting ghost.” This quote from the reading serves to remind us that, in all the Divine’s infinite wisdom, humanity is always and forever bound together in community. Our joys, our hopes, our fears, our doubts, all our inner and outer experiences are shared together both by will-driven communication and in the collective unconscious. Therefore, our doubts are never only our own, and never need to be experienced in private. A doubt can be many things, but in Science of Mind they offer an opportunity to explore and deepen.
Doubts can be the opening to wonder. We cannot rely on the certainty in what has been known before, but instead continue seeking God and Divine for our own eyes to see together as we strive to a world that works for everyone.
CONCLUSION:
Rather than isolating or assuming something is “wrong” when doubt arises, sharing our collective doubts in community is a pathway to building a more just and thoughtful world. All things that have been created by humanity began by seeing a need, and a doubt is just that–a need that one is not certain how it can be fulfilled. Even more existential doubts–such as doubting the existence of God or the truth of a teaching–can offer an in-road to deeper knowledge, expansion, and truth. We must be brave and vulnerable together in our doubt, and see it as an opportunity for curiosity and wonder.
EXPLORE AND REFLECT:
Spend some time meditating on the doubts that you may have for yourself, your community, and CSL as a whole. Journal on these doubts, and what curiosities they bring up. Do you notice areas for growth? A need that isn’t being addressed? A fear you haven’t voiced?
WHAT IS MINE TO DO THIS WEEK:
As you journal and reflect, consider what is yours to do. Are there doubts that need to be voiced? Holes you’re noticing in your community?
Find one thing to tangibly do this week that addresses a communal doubt.
https://www.facebook.com/reel/1424015372147160
To pray us through this week: Rickie Byars Use Me - https://youtu.be/CXLCKBuP128?si=TQUY-IFuRzAYX2JR
And so it is.
