The members of the Christian Science community in Canberra share their experiences and thoughts on Christian Science:
One of my roles in the years just before I retired was to organise the annual regional conference for the large state government department I worked for. These events were attended by over 300 participants and included one main keynote speaker and approximately 48 breakout sessions. Planning took many months. In order to secure an exceptional keynote speaker, it was necessary to book at least twelve months in advance.
This particular year I managed to secure a booking with someone I knew to be not only at the forefront of his specialist area, but an excellent and engaging speaker. He was pleased to be asked and at the initial interview we discussed a timeline for when he would give me details of his talk and materials for hand outs etc. During the year we touched base a couple of times and all seemed to be going to plan. However, when we were about a month out from the event he still hadn’t given me the material I was expecting and wasn’t answering my calls or emails.
Eventually I managed to make contact with his support staff. They said that he had been in hospital with a very severe case of pneumonia and even after a couple of months he was not well enough to be back at work. I said I would make contact again in a week or so to see how he was progressing. This time I managed to talk to the speaker himself. He said that although he was still very ill and weak he felt sure he would improve enough to be able to do the talk. We touched base several times over the next couple of weeks but his health was not improving. He seemed keen not to let me down and said that he would bring his wife to support him and possibly do the talk sitting down. He thought then he might possibly manage. This was still the situation, the day before the conference and it was extremely tempting to be very worried. I did not want this dear man to jeopardise his health but I also knew that the opening address was a very important part of the conference.
I have been raised in Christian Science and I’ve learnt over many years that there are spiritual laws that can be relied upon when challenges arise. So I prayed to see things from a spiritual, rather than a human perspective. I knew that this conference was a right idea. Among other things it was an opportunity for participants and presenters to share ideas that worked and to collectively rise to higher levels of performance. I knew that all right ideas are God’s because I have come to know God as infinite Mind and the source of all good. I have also come to know God as Love and that Love is not just a feeling but a divine law. This law ensured the safety of all; this law held everyone in their right place and maintained harmony. I thought on these and similar ideas until I felt a sense of calm – a strong sense that all was well. The night before the conference I slept peacefully expectant of good unfolding.
The following evening was the meet and greet and the conference opening dinner. When I arrived the hall was already abuzz with excited participants. Quickly I noticed that there was quite a gathering of people over near the bar. In the centre of this someone was holding the floor and entertaining a small crowd. As I moved closer I realised that was my keynote speaker. He greeted me with a huge grin. ‘You wouldn’t believe what happened’, he said. ‘You know how I’ve been so sick for the last few months. Well last night, it was like a switch flicked and instantly I was completely well. I haven’t felt this well in years. Look at me now!’ His excitement and enthusiasm spilled over into the group and he continued to entertain them. Needless to say his talk was a great success, as was the rest of the conference.
Every day I am grateful for what I am learning in Christian Science. It teaches me to be calm in the face of challenges; it teaches me to turn away from the human scenario and to acknowledge the spiritual truths; it teaches me that there are spiritual laws that apply to all life and if understood and trusted these laws will adjust any discordant situation.
The members of the Christian Science community in Canberra share their experiences and thoughts on Christian Science:
I’m grateful to Mrs Eddy for the Christian Science Journal and Christian Science Sentinel. I subscribe to these periodicals and treasure them for the way people share their thoughts, prayers, healings and experiences about many issues.
An article in a recent Sentinel reminded me that we’re not praying to change or improve God’s already perfect and harmonious creation. We’re praying to acknowledge, understand and claim this fact now and forever. Another article showed me how the writer uses the Lord’s Prayer to do this when praying about the concept of home in what seems to be a time of chronic homelessness all over the world.
He finds that this healing prayer establishes God’s kingdom as ever present. It establishes us as one universal family in our perfect Father-Mother’s harmonious kingdom where God provides for us exactly what we need.
A testimony in another recent Sentinel helped me in thinking about feelings and memories I sometimes have about the actions and behaviour of people in the past.
The writer had become irritated and impatient by the actions of a friend. When praying it occurred to her that this friend might be struggling in some way and need tenderness and support. Frustration was replaced with humility as she repented for her lack of compassion and her heart was filled with sweet love for her friend.
The writer refers to a gentle message that she found especially encouraging – from the third verse of hymn 278 in the Christian Science Hymnal.
Healed is thy hardness, His love hath dissolved it,
Full is the promise, the blessing how kind;
So shall His tenderness teach thee compassion,
So all the merciful, mercy shall find.
I realised that this is how I should be thinking and praying, rather than mulling over what I think are past hurts and injustices.
The members of the Christian Science community in Canberra share their experiences and thoughts on Christian Science:
I am truly grateful for the teachings of Christian Science and how it throws light on the holy scriptures as we find them in our Bible.
Before being introduced to Christian Science I had some education in the Bible, having attended a protestant Sunday School. I was also aware of old testament Bible stories through reading from a precious old book given to my dear mother in the days when she was young. That book which I loved to read was presented to her by the Salvation Army where her mother was a Salvation Army officer, and a very saintly woman.
Also, I greatly enjoyed reading and because of the age and remoteness of our living there were no public libraries available or lending libraries in the schools. I don’t remember knowing anything much about the New Testament and the works of Jesus or his purpose of being sent to earth.
When I was in my late teens, I witnessed a beautiful healing when my mother sought help in Christian Science. With the prayerful help of a Christian Science practitioner who prayed for her she was able to rise from the depths of despair into the clear pure light and lift up her voice in praise to God.
Gradually Christian Science literature began to appear in our house, and out of curiosity and the desire to help my mother, as well as find out what was going on, I started to read it. What I found was that I loved the logic of it, as step by step the articles unfolded the Christian Science way of interpreting the Bible.
This logic of the teachings still impresses me and reassures me that all things are possible to God and to glorify Him in my heart. Over the intervening years I myself have had many proofs of the power of God’s goodness. Combined with the logic and the growing understanding of God’s love for His precious children, I have been healed permanently of headaches, protected when driving, quick and harmonious child birth, safety during bushfires raging up to our home to mention but a few instances.
The words from the Doxology (Christian Science Hymnal – hymn 1) come to my thought and I will share those words:
Be thou, O God, exalted high, and as Thy glory fills the sky, so let it be on earth displayed, Til Thou art here and now obeyed.
This recording is of readings on the topic: Looking to Spirit for Cause and Effect
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During twenty years prior to my discovery I had been trying to trace all physical effects to a mental cause; and in the latter part of 1866 I gained the scientific certainty that all causation was Mind, and every effect a mental phenomenon.
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.
This recording is of readings on the topic: Spiritual Healing
(Apology: Nature in the form of a wild white sulphur-crested cockatoo has made his presence felt a little raucously on this audio.)
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Become conscious for a single moment that Life and intelligence are purely spiritual, – neither in nor of matter, – and the body will then utter no complaints. If suffering from a belief in sickness, you will find yourself suddenly well. (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy p14)
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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. If you are in Canberra on any Wednesday, please join us.
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.
Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy
This book is the textbook of Christian Science. It explains God intelligently, not as anthropomorphic, but as Mind and as Love. By aligning our thought with this divine Mind, peace and wellbeing are experienced. Mary Baker Eddy explains:
Not muscles, nerves, nor bones, but mortal mind makes the whole body “sick, and the whole heart faint;” whereas divine Mind heals.
When this is understood, we shall never affirm concerning the body what we do not wish to have manifested. We shall not call the body weak, if we would have it strong; for the belief in feebleness must obtain in the human mind before it can be made manifest on the body, and the destruction of the belief will be the removal of its effects. (p219: 11-20)
You embrace your body in your thought, and you should delineate upon it thoughts of health, not of sickness. You should banish all thoughts of disease and sin and of other beliefs included in matter. (p208: 29-1)
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. (p392: 24-30)
Click here to purchase this book or to read it free on-line. It is also available for purchase or loan at the Christian Science Reading Room and bookshop located on the corner of Macquarie and Bligh Streets, Barton, ACT.
The Christian Science Church – a part of the Canberra community. Members share testimonies and talk about their lives as Christian Scientists.
This article, Free from Anxiety, is by Jen who is a member of the Christian Science Church in Canberra. She describes how a change of thinking freed her from constant anxiety and gave her a sense of peace and harmony.
I love being a Christian Scientist, and diving deep into health, spirituality and identity, but it can be hard challenging ideas that are accepted as fact by the wider community. Spiritual healing is seen as impractical and ineffective, and it is rare that I tell people that I rely on prayer when I am ill or injured. This is because it is assumed that I pray to a God who would create me capable of being in pain and then sometimes decides to award me a miracle and heal me.
For me, God is a creative, spiritual force that is completely good. As Christian Scientists, we strive to look past sin, suffering and disease, and understand ourselves as primarily spiritual- as the representation of a higher creative power. In asserting our spiritual identities, and understanding a higher creation, we unburden ourselves of thoughts that limit us to be inherently flawed and suffering. As Mary Baker Eddy puts it, ‘Christian Science is the law of Truth, that heals the sick on the basis of the One Mind, Or God’ (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, page 482). Instead of accepting that there is something ‘wrong’ with me, I turn my mind to spiritual truths, namely that I am primarily spiritual and free from ideas of pain or suffering.
I was healed from anxiety this year, and have felt a lightness and freedom. I had accepted a very limited view of myself – I focused on the negatives in my life, and tried to physically control the environment around me to feel safe and secure in myself. This started with my tendency to hide parts of myself that I feared other people would reject, and did everything I could to meet the expectations of those around me in school, during my gap year and later at university. This obsession with control intensified when I lived in Indonesia, where I was constantly harassed by men in the streets and was actually assaulted at one point during my time there. I learned to prepare for the worst case scenario, and was uptight and fearful. This affected my personal life – I was scared that people would find out things about me that they might disapprove of, and I was very distrustful of new people, especially men.
I had a healing when I realised that the opposite of anxiety is to expect good. This did not mean putting my head in the sand and pretending that nothing was wrong, but rather turning away from a limited understanding of myself and the world and focusing on spiritual facts. A God that is all good could not create me fearful and vulnerable, and has not assigned me a future of fear and negativity in order to ‘test’ me. Slowly, I concentrated on correcting fearful thoughts with an expectation of good, and gauging whether ideas coming to me were affirming my identity as a spiritual being or sending me into a negative spiral. The strength I gained by trusting God has led me to be more open with friends and family, to forgive the men in Indonesia who seemed to threaten my safety, and to be relaxed in accepting opportunities that have opened up a whole new world for me. I am so grateful for my background in Christian Science, and have used it as a practical tool in gaining peace and harmony in my everyday life.
To read more testimonies of healing shared by members of the Christian Science Church in Canberra click on the archive headings on the left for May and June 2016.
The four-hourly doses of morphine were such a welcome relief to the intense pain I was experiencing following major surgery. What could possibly make me give them up?
I found there was something that could persuade me to do so. And that’s why, I want to share my experience with sufferers of chronic pain.
In Australia, one in five people live with chronic pain, including adolescents and children. This prevalence rises to one in three people over the age of 65. Chronic pain is linked to depression and suicide and is Australia’s third most costly health condition.
To manage it, a range of treatments such physio and physical therapy, medical acupuncture, thinking strategies, lifestyle changes, nutrition and traditional prescription opioids, are employed.
Despite this, pain is often long-lasting and continues for years with no foreseeable end.
However, I’ve joined a groundswell of people that believe it’s time to do more than simply manage pain. We are convinced it can be reduced, and even healed.
According to a 2011 report, “one reason pain is so hard to treat is that it isn’t just physical.” Our thinking can actually have an impact on the amount of pain we feel.
The power of our expectations is illustrated in a series of trials into the relationship between pain and the placebo effect. Hundreds of patients treating irritable bowel syndrome, migraine and back pain experienced similar or better results from placebos than from strong pain killers.
While it’s agreed that placebos are not a universal panacea, placebo research leads us to think about how much influence thought actually has on our health.
Reasoning from a more spiritual perspective, author Mary Baker Eddy, reached a similar conclusion, explaining that pain is always a mental image or state.
But can pain really be relieved just by thinking differently?
Yes, but in my experience I have found that it needs more than just positive thinking to free us from pain.
So, back to my stay in hospital. In my late-teens I was “on fire” with enthusiasm about a couple of unique books which I had recently revisited. They answered so many of the questions I had about why we are here and whether what our senses perceive is all there is to existence.
The Bible, so comforting to so many people, didn’t seem all that relevant to me until I started reading Science and Health, which brings out its spiritual meaning and explains how and why not only Jesus, but also his early disciples and many of the Old Testament prophets, were able to heal all kinds of physical needs.
I learned that there was a spiritual science in place based on a divine consciousness of being.
My studies had shown the importance of addressing the spiritual need as an aid to recovery, a standpoint now supported by medical research.
I started reading the thought-changing book again right there in hospital, and called a Christian Science practitioner to pray with me by helping me to understand more consistently my real, spiritual nature.
I can still remember the feeling of love and wholeness that engulfed me soon after. No more drugs were needed, and worrying digestive difficulties painlessly dissipated that day.
On this basis, many have been healed of acute and chronic pain, and demonstrated that such pain need not last forever. Peace and health are a present possibility for those willing to dig deeper into the understanding of their spiritual identity.
This article was contributed by Kay Stroud, a life-long Christian Scientist, who is a freelance writer focussing on the undeniable connection between our thinking and our experience including our health. She writes for metropolitan and regional news media throughout Australia and beyond, and is a regular contributor to Australia’s national forum, Online Opinion, and the APN regional network in Northern NSW and Queensland.
Jon is a full-time Christian Science healer and an international speaker. In this lecture he shares his understanding of this reliable method of spiritual healing.
In Step Out of Your Story and into Healing Jon discusses the necessity of letting go of a sense of our own personal history – our sense of ourselves as flawed mortals – to find our true spiritual identities and in doing this healing is realised. His explanations are clear and logical and his presentation dynamic and engaging. Click here to listen.
The Christian Science Church – a part of the Canberra community. Members share testimonies and talk about their lives as Christian Scientists. 
The four-hourly doses of morphine were such a welcome relief to the intense pain I was experiencing following major surgery. What could possibly make me give them up?
Step Out of Your Story and into Healing 
Christian Science Canberra 