Sunday School – Nurturing Qualities that Make the World a Better Place
All are welcome in our Christian Science Sunday School in Canberra which is located on the corner of Macquarie and Bligh Streets in Barton and operates from 10.00-11.00 am every Sunday.
If you are wondering what the benefits of Sunday School are in this secular world read on and hear how this ex-Sunday School student found support and direction in her troubled life through regular attendance at Sunday School.
“When I was a teenager, my mother passed on and my father remarried. Adjusting to this was very difficult for me, and I descended into depression. The problem was not diagnosed, as it rarely was in those days, but I struggled with a great sadness that led to reckless behavior.
Living in a large cosmopolitan city, I found many opportunities to put myself in harm’s way. Nights often found me wandering alone, and it was easy to get lost in the city and meet people who would take advantage of a lonely girl. … More often than I care to recall, I put myself in dangerous situations, basically asking, waiting, for something to happen.
Only recently have I realized, with deep gratitude, how remarkable it is that I never met with violence during those wilderness years or fell victim to any unsavory behavior. Neither was I lured into the common pitfalls of drinking, smoking, or doing drugs. I credit Christian Science for this protection, because during this period I was attending a Christian Science Sunday School.
I loved the concept of God as both Father and Mother, from whom I could never be separated.
Looking back on my first experience of the Sunday School some years earlier, I remember seeing the words in golden letters high on the wall, “God is Love.” These words were simple and immediate, and I could grasp them. Thus, began a growing understanding of God as divine Love and of my own identity as a spiritual idea of Love. The God I was learning about was not wrathful or punishing, but tender and caring.”
With the support of the teachings, and the teachers, at the Christian Science Sunday School the depression left, her reckless behaviour ceased and her grades improved.
The full text of this article by Katherine Ellis, titled Sunday School Saved Me, was first published in the Christian Science Sentinel of 24 April 2017. It is now available here: click here
….there’s more to us than that outer crust of surface appearances. We each have a spiritual nature. And there’s more to that spiritual nature than simply an interest in spiritual-type things….Spirituality is actually the fundamental nature of our being.
Beautiful, solid spirituality is palpably within us and all around us; and we can see it when we start looking for it. It’s never enough to be satisfied with what the world says we are. In the realm of divine Mind, we continually shine forth with the glory of God. Our identity as Mind’s spiritual idea is nothing less than glorious, immeasurably cherished by God.
Even a little knowledge of one’s spiritual identity can be helpful in very practical ways. For instance, after a friend of mine woke up feverish in the night, the first thing she did was to begin thinking deeply about her spirituality.
That might sound like a curious thing to do, but experience had shown her that being more conscious of her true nature as God’s child, or spiritual expression, always raises her thoughts into awareness of God’s presence and of what God is doing for her. God, limitless Love itself, is always loving and caring for each of us. And as my friend prayed the following morning, the fever completely left her. And she saw that her true self is not based in materiality and limitation but in God, Spirit….
As we understand this more and more, it becomes clear that our God-given spiritual being is such a gift. Throughout the day, as we move from task to task, it is actually possible to remain in vibrant awareness of it.
This article by Mark Swinney was published in The Christian Science Monitor, for the full version read it here
What we perceive with our physical senses doesn’t always accurately convey what is actually true. Contributor Deborah Huebsch explores in this Daily Lift how an understanding of what is real can leave us unaffected by those things that just seem to be. It’s a simple but potent prayer: “Father, show me Your reality.”
Click here to listen to this short inspirational program
The first time I saw artist René Magritte’s self-portrait “Perspicacity,” I was completely captivated by it. He portrays himself sitting at his easel, studying an egg, yet painting a graceful, fully grown bird in flight. What a powerful depiction of imagination and creativity!
Over the years, I’ve come to realize how Magritte’s painting actually presents even more than that. To me, it illustrates what’s possible when we turn our perception away from mere surface appearances toward more discerning views.
In one dictionary “perspicacity” is defined as “acuteness of discernment or understanding.” I like to think of it as uncommon sense – the ability to rise above the conventional and customary view that would look at an egg and then, well, paint just a replica of the egg.
The teachings of Christian Science encourage the spiritual seeker to consider a sense of reality that is different from – deeper than – what the physical senses present. Mary Baker Eddy, who discovered this Science, describes throughout her primary work, “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” how a spiritual perspective has a practical impact. For example, she says: “A knowledge of the Science of being develops the latent abilities and possibilities of man. It extends the atmosphere of thought, giving mortals access to broader and higher realms. It raises the thinker into his native air of insight and perspicacity” (p. 128).
I’ve often seen how understanding God can and does meet our needs by inspiring thought to appreciate and apply the extraordinary spiritual concepts that God is constantly communicating to us, such as the idea that as divine Love itself, God is the source and sustainer of harmony for all of us.
Think of the possibilities for our world as we each become more conscious of our own and others’ “native air of insight and perspicacity”!
In the Bible, the Apostle Paul says, “Be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Romans 12:2). The Message by Eugene Peterson interprets the passage this way: “Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.”
I decided to be alert from that moment on to every thought I entertained about my fellow countrymen. I made sure that I was always aware of each as the loved child of God, who is Love.
How freeing it was for me to know that in God’s kingdom there are neither victims nor aggressors—neither victims nor enforcers of a false system of government—and that every man, woman, and child is a citizen of the world…
I turned in prayer to the Bible for the answer and read in Ephesians, “Now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light” (5:8). This was my answer. This was God’s creation, these were God’s children, and I loved what I was learning…. God’s creation reflects the fullness of Soul’s colorful creation in its myriad individual ways.
I felt great peace come over me. With joyous expectancy, I drove into the township the next day, and all I could see were children of light. Light seemed to be wherever I went, as I met only love, kindness, beauty, and thoughtfulness. The meeting with the students included no barriers at all. There was no restriction between us because of color, no restriction because of age, no restriction caused by any belief of inferiority or superiority, no restriction because of the different tribes and cultures present. Only citizens of the world were present, and we were claiming and expressing our divine right, the “liberty of the children of God.”
Read or listen toherehow Yvonne Prinsloo changed her experience after growing up under apartheid, to one that was all-inclusive and race was not a factor in her articleDissolve racism: Live as ‘children of light’ published in The Christian Science Sentinel
I used to do a lot of weight lifting. When I lifted with my coach, Joe, he would always say, “Squeeze the muscle at the top.” What Joe meant was, in order to get the most out of the work, pause and squeeze harder than ever before at the peak of the lift. The lesson I learned from this was to resist just going through the motions or counting repetitions without getting the full benefit of whatever I’m doing.
I’ve applied his coaching to the way I pray. When I pray, I like to ask God what He knows about me or about the situation I’m dealing with. Once I hear God’s response, I “squeeze” the insights God has given. Meaning, I deliberately value the spiritual facts that have come through prayer.
I let my heart be moved—I keep praying until I really feel God’s tender guidance, or sense just how known and special I am to Him.
Once my heart moves, I know the healing is happening. And then I see the changes in my life……..
When I sit down to pray, I really show up. I’m vigilant to not just warm the bench. I check in with myself and ask what new ideas I’ve heard or what familiar ideas I’ve applied in a fresh way.
It can be easy to go through life on autopilot. It’s easy to coast—whether in school, at the gym, or in our spiritual growth. But when I look at my spiritual role models, Christ Jesus and Mary Baker Eddy—the Discoverer of Christian Science and author of a book called Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures that helps me to understand Jesus’ teachings—it’s clear that neither spent even a day coasting. They were fully engaged with their prayers, fully committed to a life of living and loving God. The results were life-changing for the people they encountered and for the world.
Loving the spiritual facts we perceive and gleaning everything we can from these ideas is a great way to get the most out of our prayers.
Click here to read the entire article which includes a good example of healing when the author, Piper Foster Wilder, got hurt during training
….there’s more to us than that outer crust of surface appearances. We each have a spiritual nature. And there’s more to that spiritual nature than simply an interest in spiritual-type things….Spirituality is actually the fundamental nature of our being.
What we perceive with our physical senses doesn’t always accurately convey what is actually true. Contributor Deborah Huebsch explores in this Daily Lift how an understanding of what is real can leave us unaffected by those things that just seem to be. It’s a simple but potent prayer: “Father, show me Your reality.”
