The members of the Christian Science community in Canberra share their experiences and thoughts on Christian Science:
Recently, a close relative phoned from a hotel room in London, very distressed that he hadn’t been allowed to board his flight home because he’d tested positive to COVID. He was told he wouldn’t be allowed to fly until he tested negative, so he was uncertain about how long this might take.
A few months ago he’d contracted COVID in Portugal and had a difficult time, with many delays and much bureaucratic red tape before getting cleared to fly home. I think this had remained with him and he felt as if he was going through the same nightmare again.
He told me he was feeling very alone and miserable and sobbed into the phone “I just want to go home”. I immediately thought “you are already at home”, you can’t be separated from your Father Mother God, divine Love.
We talked about these ideas and that week’s Bible Lesson on Reality that said anything inharmonious or discordant is not real – it is just an illusion or dream which we can wake up from. When we hung up the thought came to me to look at Hymn 144 (from the Christian Science Hymnal) which begins –
In atmosphere of Love divine,
We live, and move, and breathe;
Though mortal eyes may see it not,
‘Tis sense that would deceive.
.
Then a couple of pages later is Hymn 148 which says:
In heavenly Love abiding,
No change my heart shall fear;
And safe is such confiding,
For nothing changes here.
The storm may roar without me,
My heart may low be laid;
But God is round about me,
And can I be dismayed?
I sent him a text message suggesting he look at these hymns for comfort. It was Sunday morning in London and he was about to go to Church.
The next day (Monday) when I phoned, he was much calmer, and in a queue, to get a COVID test. He said he had been praying with ideas from that week’s lesson and felt confident it would be negative and had booked to fly home on the Wednesday evening. On Wednesday morning he phoned to say the test had returned negative and he was cleared to fly. He has since contacted me to let me know he is safely home. He gives full credit to Christian Science for this healing.
A few hours before that first phone call from London, I’d received an email from a friend who I’d recently had lunch with telling me he’d tested positive for COVID. I became really worried because I had child minding duties the next day and catch ups organised with friends over the next few days and had been feeling a bit off colour since flying back from Brisbane a week earlier. With all these thoughts and emotions swirling around I was struggling to pray and calm my fear. So, the phone call from my relative came at exactly the right time. I was quickly lifted out of feeling sorry and fearful for myself and into the realm where all is perfect and harmonious. I knew I was okay, but did a couple of COVID tests to calm the fears of those around me. Both returned negative.
I’m very grateful to Christian Science for these, and all the other healings I’ve had.
In this short podcast Andrea talks about how she found harmony and unity in her private and business life through understanding God as the divine Mind governing all.
The members of the Christian Science community in Canberra share their experiences and thoughts on Christian Science:
For quite some weeks I had been having trouble walking. I could move around but my walking ‘style’ was more akin to a ’duck waddle’. My hips were causing me pain and my style of locomotion and gait had altered to try and accommodate and ameliorate the pain. For someone who is quite comfortable undertaking various sports, going to the gym and doing manual labour this wasn’t a very good state of affairs.
As a Christian Scientist I had turned to our textbook, Science and Health With Key to the Scripturesby Mary Baker Eddy, and to the Bible for support. I continued my search for any passages within those books to assist my spiritual growth and understanding and application of Christian Science to healing my problem. After about a fortnight of such study and still having a ‘duck waddle’ walk I was no better.
One of the hymns (565) in the Christian Science Hymnal has the words:
Cleanse the lepers, heal the sick. Cast out demons. Raise the dead. Truth is revealed in every place, Throughout all time, throughout all space
In searching through the Bible, I was acutely aware of the healing works of Jesus Christ, and indeed hymn 565 glorifies such healings. Try as I might I still couldn’t shake my problem. As an adherent to Christian Science I have been able to overcome a number of physical problems by turning to our texts for comfort and support. I know this method of healing works – but this time it was proving difficult. I was still undertaking work; I still had to move around; I still had things to do – but it was becoming physically taxing. Some days seemed rather long.
I asked my wife to pray with me on this situation. Together we have had many quick healings of physical problems. After a very brief discussion with her I started to ‘waddle’ down the hallway. I had not travelled more than three metres when all pain and difficulty with my problem disappeared. Once again I was amazed at how supremely effective and immediate Christian healing can be. It is not magic; it is not mind control; it is not drugs; it is not hypnosis – it is Christian healing.
Having some understanding of Christian Science and Christian healing with previous problems, I know I shouldn’t really have been amazed but still my expectations of relief being so immediate were more than met. I still continue to be ever so grateful for the power of Christian healing and its application in my life.
Mary Baker Eddy in Science and Health (p.138) states:
Jesus established in the Christian era the precedent for all Christianity, theology, and healing. Christians are under as direct orders now, as they were then, to be Christlike, to possess the Christ-spirit, to follow the Christ-example, and to heal the sick as well as the sinning. It is easier for Christianity to cast out sickness than sin, for the sick are more willing to part with pain than are sinners to give up the sinful, so-called pleasure of the senses. The Christian can prove this to-day as readily as it was proved centuries ago.
I had read and reread this passage, but I had been busy with material physical work and should have been busy with God’s work. It was this realisation that came to me afterwards. I had spent time searching through the texts but had not been giving the spiritual work the due deference and application it should have been accorded.
Although coming to Christian Science later in life, I am so very grateful for having found it.
A Daily Lift by John Tyler, a Christian Science teacher and practitioner.
.
.
In this 3 minute podcast John talks about how learning to view himself as the reflection of God gave him a new view of himself that resulted in some very positive outcomes when he was sitting important exams.
This recording is of the readings on the topic: Fear Not – for I am with you.
.
Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.
For I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee.
The members of the Christian Science community in Canberra share their experiences and thoughts on Christian Science:
In our back yard in Canberra we have certain sections of the garden fenced off as a chicken run. One afternoon I was down in the bottom corner of the chicken’s area checking for eggs. On this day the chickens had been particularly industrious and had dug some quite deep holes and unearthed some old timbers that I had not known were there. As I stepped back from the hutch I felt a sharp pain in my left foot. I looked down to find that I had stepped on a piece of wood that had a very long, rusty nail sticking out of it. The nail had gone right through my plastic yard shoes and was now lodged deep in my foot. It had obviously been buried for some time and now the nail was not only rusty but muddy and yucky with chicken droppings. I pulled it out and went up to the house to wash it off.
As I walked back very fearful ideas started filling my thought. Not long before I had heard someone tell of symptoms of tetanus and I found myself worrying that I had never had a tetanus injection ever.
At first I thought: Why am I thinking these thoughts? I never think like this! I am not normally a fearful person. I’ve been a student of Christian Science all my life and it has taught me that what I think is very important. The quality of my thoughts determines my experience, so thinking fearfully was strange to me. Then it dawned on me – these were not really my thoughts! These thoughts came only as suggestions. I love that word suggestion; it means that I have the option of accepting or rejecting something. This was something that I would certainly reject. In that moment I felt no ownership of these thoughts. I knew that I didn’t have to analyse them, or wonder: Why did I think this? or delve into what fears might be lurking in my thinking for me to produce these thoughts. Because I felt no ownership of them I could simply discard them.
That was the end of the matter. I washed my foot but there was no pain and it immediately stopped bleeding. Later that day after my shower when I dried my foot, I couldn’t even find the place. There were never any repercussions from the incident.
The lesson I learned that day has stayed with me. Nowadays I am more alert to the implications of this word suggestion. God never suggests; only human reasoning suggests. God doesn’t give you options; He is just good and His word is final.
I am becoming more practised now at recognising suggestions and not owning all thoughts that come to me. I know I don’t need to analyse a suggestion; I don’t need to delve into it; I don’t need to feel guilty for thinking it. I just reject it with a very firm: That’s not my thought! When I say this, I know that it isn’t my thought because it isn’t of God. I know that God doesn’t give me fearful thoughts therefore fearful thoughts are not my thoughts. Learning this has so simplified my prayers. I use this line all the time now: That’s not my thought! And then I let it go. Only good, healthy, harmonious, progressive thoughts are mine because these stem directly from God’s goodness.
Stand porter at the door of thought. Admitting only such conclusions as you wish realized in bodily results, you will control yourself harmoniously. When the condition is present which you say induces disease, whether it be air, exercise, heredity, contagion, or accident, then perform your office as porter and shut out these unhealthy thoughts and fears. Exclude from mortal mind the offending errors; then the body cannot suffer from them.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy p392:24-32)
There is an urgent need for justice in our world, a justice that includes every individual. The needs of today are pushing us to search deeply for what true impartiality, fairness, and equality mean.
We can gain a deeper sense of justice by considering a more permanent basis for rights; by considering each one’s divine rights and the laws of God that operate to bless all with goodness. …continue reading
Where restitution is needed – no matter how small or large – divine Love’s law is at hand to bring healing and harmony.
In this article the author, José de Dios Mata, tells of his experience growing up in a dictatorship and how he came to rely on the higher law of Love which transformed his life, resolved unjust legal tangles and healed him physically. This article was originally published in the 28 March edition of the Christian Science Monitor. Click here to read or listen to the full article.
Christian Science Canberra 