Evasion of Truth cripples integrity, and casts thee down from the pinnacle.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy p448:10)
Author Archive
The Importance of Truth 1 comment
COVID Safe 1 comment
The members of the Christian Science community in Canberra share their experiences and thoughts on Christian Science:
Just recently I spent a day at Summernats with my dad. Summernats is an annual car event held in Canberra. COVID was raging in Canberra at this time and people were quite fearful of anyone who even coughed. Still Exhibition Park where the event was held was crowded with over 2000 people attending that day. We had a wonderful time!
However, after I arrived home I started to feel unwell. I had many of the symptoms associated with COVID and my mum told me to isolate from the family and stay in my room. I obeyed and used this alone time to pray quietly about the situation. The idea that came to me was that this situation was similar to one of those 3D drawings you see sometimes – the ones where if you look at it one way you see one image and if you change focus and look at it from a different angle you see a completely different picture. I knew I had to choose which picture I was looking at.
At this point I messaged my Sunday School teacher for some extra help. She told me that it was fear that was contagious not COVID. I related this to a story she had told me in Sunday School about a man in a canoe who was lost in the fog. I likened the fear to the fog. At that point the fear seemed to surround me – just like the fog. In the story the man had only to stand up in the canoe and see above the fog and to see his safe course. I knew that all I needed to do was to stand above the mental fog and see the truth of the situation – the truth that I was spiritual and not subject to material laws of contagion. With these thoughts I felt safe and fell asleep.
In the morning when I woke I was perfectly well. The fever and the cough had completely gone and the runny nose was also gone in about an hour. I was very grateful for this proof of God’s care.
God – The Good Shepherd 2 comments
He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.
(The Bible – Isaiah 40: 11)
Living in God’s ‘Now’ Leave a comment
An article from the Christian Science Monitor by Laura Clayton
Recently a relative said she had been feeling concerned about the future. She had been thinking about a possible move, wondering where and when she and her husband might settle next. We talked about the idea of living in God’s “now” – staying grounded in gratitude for today’s many blessings, joyfully being where we are right at the present moment. After our discussion, she said she immediately felt better, lighter, and more peaceful.
Christ Jesus assured his followers, “Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself” (Matthew 6:34). The type of living in the present now that brings lasting peace and inspired solutions is not just some clever mental game. It’s a spiritual awakening based on the timeless spiritual fact of our unity with God, good.
In this article Laura goes on to explain the spiritual reasoning she used to find a perfect solution to a family member’s accommodation problem. She concludes: Each of us can wake up to the spiritual reality of today that helps bring a more harmonious tomorrow.
Click here to read the full article.
New Views of Humanity 1 comment
Take away wealth, fame, and social organizations, which weigh not one jot in the balance of God, and we get clearer views of Principle. Break up cliques, level wealth with honesty, let worth be judged according to wisdom, and we get better views of humanity.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy p239: 5)
Protected During Hailstorm 2 comments
The members of the Christian Science community in Canberra share their experiences and thoughts on Christian Science:
Two years ago on a Monday afternoon Canberra was struck by a hailstorm of such ferocity that thousands of cars were destroyed and buildings severely damaged. I was working on this day and had to deliver meeting documents to Government House in Canberra.
On my way out of the grounds of Government House the security guard at the gate let me know there was a big storm brewing and asked if I would be all right driving. I assured him I would be fine.
Before I got to the turn-off, the storm broke and hail came pelting down. My first thought was perhaps I should turn around but I decided to carry on. When I reached the road which leads onto the main road, I noticed both sides were packed with parked cars, even on the nature strip and there was no place for my car. I thought I might carry on slowly to the main road.
Suddenly there was a loud bang against the car door and I thought I might have run into another car. When I looked towards my mirror there was only an object which I did not recognise for a moment but then I realised it was the mirror holder without a mirror. A strong gust of wind must have blown it against the door which caused the bang.
I was becoming a little rattled, when a thought from the textbook of Christian Science, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy came to mind, page 469: “We bury the sense of infinitude, when we admit that, although God is infinite, evil has a place in this infinity, for evil can have no place where all space is filled with God”. I am God’s protected child, and I am surrounded by God within this perfect space where evil and inharmony cannot enter.
Another thought came to me from the Christian Science Hymnal, hymn 148, “In heavenly Love abiding, no change my heart shall fear; and safe is such confiding for nothing changes here. The storm may roar about me, my heart may low be laid; but God is round about me, and can I be dismayed?”
With these thoughts I headed onto the main road; there was no other traffic but lots of hail, tree branches and twigs. I drove slowly to my place of work thinking on these wonderful God thoughts which calmed me and brought a sense of peace. I reached work unharmed and with no further damage to my car. I thanked God for His protection and guidance.
I feel privileged to be a member of First Church of Christ, Scientist, Canberra, and for duties I have been able to perform such as Second Reader, board membership, ushering and Reading Room attendant.
“To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever.”
(The Bible – Jude 1: 25)
New Views of Goodness Leave a comment
Each successive stage of experience unfolds new views of divine goodness and love.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy p66)
Reality – Found in Matter or Mind? Leave a comment
Wednesday Testimony Meeting Readings
This recording is of readings on the topic: Reality – Found in Matter or Mind?
Metaphysics is above physics, and matter does not enter into metaphysical premises or conclusions. The categories of metaphysics rest on one basis, the divine Mind. Metaphysics resolves things into thoughts, and exchanges the objects of sense for the ideas of Soul. …
The testimony of the material senses is neither absolute nor divine. (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy p269)
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Every Wednesday at 6.15pm a Testimony Meeting is held at the Christian Science church in Canberra (corner of Macquarie and Bligh Streets, Barton). At these meetings short readings on a particular topic are followed by time for members of the congregation to share how they have been helped and healed through prayer.
Everyone is welcome.
The Closeness of God Leave a comment
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God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.
(The Bible – I John 4: 16)
Real Christmas – All About Love Leave a comment
Christmas is one of the most important events in human history. That’s a big statement to make. It’s a big statement because the real Christmas relates to Christians, Muslims, Eastern and Western religionists, believers and non-believers. The real Christmas message is relevant all year round, not just on one day. So, what’s so big and important and relevant about Christmas?
It’s all about the underlying message that Jesus’ birth ushered into the world. Yes, the details of the story are important. That whilst Joseph and Mary were travelling she gave birth to Jesus in a stable (which was actually a cave rather than a barn). His birth had been long prophesied – he was the one who would save the Jewish people from oppression. But it’s the underlying message that’s of the greatest importance, both then and today. It’s important because Jesus’ birth was the beginning of a life lived with such love and dominion that it transformed the experience of the people around him, and its legacy is still felt and celebrated over 2000 years later.
Jesus’ mission was to show us what makes life work right for us. Maybe that doesn’t sound like such a big statement but look at the effect he had on the people around him. He turned poverty into overflowing abundance; ill health into full health; bad sinful behaviour into good honest character. His life was entirely motivated by love – love for God and love for his fellow man.
Jesus was revealing a different dynamic aspect to life that was not obvious to the senses but one that could bring practical healing solutions to life’s problems. He understood the tangible power of spirituality.
What is spirituality? Simply, spirituality pertains to things of the spirit, or the non-physical. It’s all those qualities of thought that are good and true. It’s ideas that make life work right for us, like kindness, honesty, trustworthiness, intelligence, creativity, happiness.
Spiritual thinking cares for all, never harming man nor beast nor the environment. It’s living the Golden Rule, the Ten Commandments and the Beatitudes that Jesus, Moses and others have given us. These rules, when understood and lived, make our lives happy and successful. But here’s the big difference in Jesus’ message to us. If we think these are human qualities they are liable to human frailty and failure. Jesus showed us that these spiritual ideas and qualities have a divine source, not human. They’re sourced in God and so have divine authority and power.
The principle that Jesus continually turned to was divine, not material. He revealed to the world a non-physical power; a spiritual force for good, that could and did meet all human need. He revealed to us that the true governing harmonising power underpinning our experience was God, but he showed us an entirely different way of thinking about that term God. He showed that the true concept of God was Love, as the Bible states. He showed us the true power or Principle in our lives and in our world, that makes existence harmonious, well and peaceful, is Love, divine Love.
At Christmas, and all year round, don’t we all know, Christian, Muslim, Eastern, Western, believer and non-believer, that it is Love that makes the world go around. It’s Love that makes life worth living, it is Love and only Love that can bring ‘on earth peace, good will to men.’
This article was contributed by Beth Packer a member of the Christian Science Church in Wollongong. You can study these ideas in depth in the textbook of Christian Science, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy. You would be most welcome to attend our services (details are at the top of this page.)
Christian Science Canberra 