The members of the Christian Science community in Canberra share their experiences and thoughts on Christian Science:
Wake up. Bound out of bed. Feet on the ground. Up and running. Seize the day!
Some advocate such a start to the day. Others are advocates for an “Oh no! Not another day” approach and pull the covers up and almost refuse to face the day.
To begin my day, I start with a more reflective approach. It is not a reaction to the day. It is a contemplative period beginning with a daily prayer. I begin my day with the Daily Prayer from the Manualof the Mother Church:
“Thy kingdom come;” let the reign of divine Truth, Life and Love be established in me, and rule out of me all sin; and may Thy word enrich the affections of all mankind, and govern them! (Manual of the Mother Church p41, Mary Baker Eddy)
This apparently simple prayer holds so much. But why start the day with such an invocation?
From my experience, beginning with such an approach has a calming effect on my entire day. It allows me to be less reactive to events that occur during the day. There is a certain degree of ‘stillness’ within me, and this allows me to call this prayer to mind so much more easily throughout the day. It reminds me of who I am and what I am capable of. This prayer allows me to feel more at ease with the world and engenders a degree of ‘spirituality’ within me.
Those days when I do not start the day with the Daily Prayer, I tend to encounter ‘problems’ – disharmony, reactions to situations, greater disagreement – thoughts tend to ‘race’, and it is much more difficult to rein in my thoughts. I still refer to the Daily Prayer on such days, but getting back to such a more considered, reasoned and thoughtful mindset can be time consuming.
In Christian Science there are seven synonyms for God: Life, Love, Mind, Principle, Soul, Spirit and Truth. If I start the day with such a thought – let God (Truth, Life, Love) be established in me – how can I not have anything but a great day? This prayer goes further and asks that God’s reign rules out of me all sin. All sin, not just some, but ALL sin. This is to start the day! What a positive way to greet the day: clear my thoughts; start the day seeking and finding all good within myself. Building on this, the prayer then looks at God’s word to “enrich the affections of all mankind”. Already at the beginning of the day, I go beyond looking at and thinking about myself and adjust my thoughts to include all mankind.
This is not a prayer without substance. This is an applied prayer, with application for all my interactions and thoughts throughout the day. Without the application of this prayer my day can be somewhat ‘pear-shaped’; by applying this prayer even before getting out of bed my day is so much better.
There is immense wisdom in the old proverb, “He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty.” …
We should remember that the world is wide; that there are a thousand million different human wills, opinions, ambitions, tastes, and loves; that each person has a different history, constitution, culture, character, from all the rest; that human life is the work, the play, the ceaseless action and reaction upon each other of these different atoms. Then, we should go forth into life with the smallest expectations, but with the largest patience; with a keen relish for and appreciation of everything beautiful, great, and good, but with a temper so genial that the friction of the world shall not wear upon our sensibilities; with an equanimity so settled that no passing breath nor accidental disturbance shall agitate or ruffle it; with a charity broad enough to cover the whole world’s evil, and sweet enough to neutralize what is bitter in it, — determined not to be offended when no wrong is meant, nor even when it is, unless the offense be against God.
These words are taken from an article titled, Taking Offense, by Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science. They were published in her book, Miscellaneous Writings 1883-18896 pp223-224.
Students from the Christian Science Sunday School in Canberra share ways they have resolved physical problems through prayer:
Lessons on the Netball Court
I play netball for a local team. During a recent game I was playing down at the defense end. At one point in the game I caught the ball. The opposition player was also running for the ball and she didn’t stop in time. She fell hard into my knee which twisted inwards. It really hurt. However, I kept going because I knew if I went off, we wouldn’t have a replacement for me. I was in quite a bit of pain so I held to the truth, that I had learned in Sunday School, that I was spiritual and therefore couldn’t be hurt. I relaxed when I held to this idea. Quickly the pain left and I played the rest of the game without any problems. This shows how instant God’s love is.
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Stomach Ache Gone
Last weekend I had to play in a soccer game. Part way through the game I got a really bad stomach ache. In Sunday School I’ve learned to watch my thinking, so I thought to myself that there is no such thing as pain because God is by my side forever and always and He made me perfect. So, I just kept playing. The pain went away straight away and I played really well.
After the soccer game I went to my friend’s house and then the pain started again. I thought of reasons why I might have a pain but I knew God didn’t make pain so there was no reason for it. I sat quietly and prayed again. That was the end of the pain.
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Praying for My Baby Sister
I am only 3 years old, so my mum and aunty are helping me to write my story.
I have been Skyping into Sunday School for a few weeks now. My teacher has been teaching me that God is Love and that God always keeps us safe. She is also teaching me some fun songs like the Circle of Love. My favourite game is the one where we say, ‘No’ to bad thoughts and ‘Yes’ to good thoughts. I use this at home now when I am tempted to be naughty.
The other day I was in the car with my little sister and my mum. My sister started to cry really loudly. She had a sore tummy and she wanted Mummy, but Mummy was driving so I leaned over and held her hand. I told her that she was safe because God loved her. My Sunday School teacher taught me that God loves everyone and keeps them safe. Straight away she stopped crying and was happy.
Now I use what my teacher is teaching me whenever my sister is crying. Sometimes I skip around her singing the Circle of Love song and sometimes I hold her hand and sing the Meghan song that my teacher taught me. It goes like this:
Hello Meghan, Hello Meghan
Who are you? Who are you?
You are God’s reflection
Showing His perfection.
God loves you, God loves you.
When I do these things she always stops crying. This is how I know that God loves us. I love learning about God in Sunday School.
This is a letter from a remote member of our Canberra church community. All services and testimony meetings are available via phone for those who cannot attend in person. Sunday School classes are also available via Skype for all age groups.
I’d like to say a heartfelt thank you to the Christian Science church in Canberra for their Sunday School. I grew up with Christian Science, attending Sunday School for most of my childhood. It taught me the power and omnipotence of God. Sunday School taught me the basics: how to pray; how to be brave; how to be grateful. It also taught me the reliability of God’s love, where no matter the situation we are always protected, we are always loved and we are always cared for. I have had countless healings from these fundamental truths and I want my children to be bought up with healing, and with God being a normal part of life.
We live in a small town in Tasmania where there is no Christian Science Church or Sunday School. When my eldest daughter was three I started praying about this as I wanted her to go to Sunday School but wasn’t sure if I should teach her or if there were other options. I spoke to my aunt, who is a member of the Christian Science Church in Canberra, about this, and she came up with the perfect solution … Skype Sunday School.
The teacher on the pre-school class is the blessing we sought. She is a confident, loving teacher who pitches stories at the girls (my 2yro is also now a weekly attendee) in an age appropriate, enthusiastic way. She mixes Bible stories and songs that maintain their attention all the way from Tasmania! I have never had a Sunday morning where either of them has not willingly ‘gone to Sunday School’. We Skype from their bedroom, which they tidy up every Sunday morning so their teacher will be proud of them. The girls’ favourite song from Sunday School has always been The Silly Man and the Wise Man song. They sing it so often at daycare that the other children can now sing it too.
The girls’ teacher has been teaching the girls how to pray: have no fear, God loves me, be grateful for all your blessings, (and their favourite part) jump for joy! And she’s been demonstrating this through wonderful Bible stories and analogies. The constant reinforcement of God’s love is cutting through some of the fairly scary messages they are bombarded with from the news and other children. Colds and general childcare diseases rarely touch our household (or the daycare for that matter) and when occasionally the ideas present, they are met with prayer and chant of, ‘Error, error go away’. And it does. This was beautifully highlighted last year with the bush fires that were raging around NSW. My mum, dad and sister live near Nowra and had a very large blaze running straight at them. My sister had ash falling on her house and Mum and Dad who live at the top of a beautiful but heavily forested mountain were packing up ready to evacuate. I spoke to the girls and asked them to pray for Nanna and Grampy. Neither of the girls was scared (and they both know what fire is like as their Dad is on a forestry brigade), both took the job of praying very seriously and the older girl told me in unequivocal terms, ‘There’s no spot where God is not’. We kept in contact with Nanna and Auntie K for most of the evening, but within 30 mins of us all starting to pray the fire quietened down and the danger passed. The girls don’t think of this as anything miraculous or wonderful it was just what they expected. This is what the world needs … prayer to be normal, prayers to be answered and to be unimpressed by challenges whatever form they take.
I cannot thank Canberra church enough for the effort they put into my girls. It is standing them on firm ground and teaching them lessons that will influence and guide them for the rest of their lives. As parents our job is to give the world useful, compassionate little people that will bless the space around them. One of the best ways to do this is to send our children to Sunday School. Thank you for the logistical support and for the smiles every Sunday. Thank you for teaching them the good stuff and putting up with the wriggles. The girls love going to Sunday School.
A Daily Lift by Susan Tish, a Christian Science healer.
In this 3 minute talk Susan talks about how the challenges in our life are often the means by which we grow spiritually and develop more wisdom and strength and often a higher more loving view of the world and mankind.
A new 3 minute inspirational talk is shared each day Monday-Friday. To listen to more click on the Daily Lift tab in the menu above.
Christian Science Canberra 