This recording is of the readings on the topic:The Lord Was Not in the Fire.
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Fear not, I am with thee, O be not dismayed, For I am thy God, I will still give thee aid; I’ll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand, Upheld by My gracious, omnipotent hand;
When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie, My grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply; The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design Thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine.
2023 has now slid into 2024. Before long we will be planning for 2025. Sometimes it seems that the years slip by more and more quickly and as every year goes by, we add another unit to our age. For each stage in life there seem to be expectations for health, behaviour and appearance. Don’t we talk about the terrible twos or stroppy teenagers? How often do you hear people of advanced years say, when talking about their health: ‘What can you expect at my age?’
How much of this do we have to accept as inevitable? Do we have to accept the subtle, and not so subtle, standards that society places upon us? Do the years under our belt really define who we are and how we function, how attractive we are?
I was looking at an old black and white photo of my mum the other day. I guess she would have been in her early twenties, so the photo was taken over seventy years ago. As a young woman my mum was very lovely. She had a special grace about her that made you want to look longer.
I began to think, if she was around today looking like that you would still have to say she was beautiful, but she wouldn’t fit today’s standards of beauty. Her skin was whiter, her body fleshier, her hair contrived into curls and she wore a pretty frock. Standards of beauty change. This set me to thinking about what beauty really is. In each era fashion seems to give us strict dictates as to what the ideal look is – how tanned our skin should be, how lean our body, even the shape of our eyebrows. Not many of us fit that ideal model. So does this mean that we are not beautiful? If we do fit those standards, are we only beautiful for a short while? Does age diminish true beauty? Our society is currently quite preoccupied with youthfulness but true youthfulness is not defined by our age but by the youthful qualities we express.
My mother knew the impact that thought has on experience. To the end she was a strong, healthy, active woman. The qualities people saw in her – intelligence, calmness and strength in the face of trouble, joy at the little things, devotion to family and friends, innocence, resilience, energy – these qualities shone out of her right to the last. They were the qualities that people mentioned when they commented on how lovely my mother was.
Mary Baker Eddy, one of the first women to investigate thoroughly the connection between consciousness and experience, writes in her book, Science and Healthwith Key to the Scriptures (p208): You embrace your body in your thought, and you should delineate upon it thoughts of health, not of sickness. Perhaps if we put as much thought and effort into developing beautiful qualities of Mind as we do our outward appearance our beauty and health would be less ephemeral and blossom with the passing years.
This recording is of the readings on the topic:Thou Dost Give Me Peace
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The inspiration for these readings came from Violet Hay who wrote the words of hymn 136 in the Christian Science Hymnal (verse 2).
Though storm or discord cross my path Thy power is still my stay, Though human will and woe would check My upward-soaring way; All unafraid I wait, the while Thy angels bring release, For still Thy presence is with me, And Thou dost give me peace.
A member of the Canberra Christian Science community writes …
Sometimes friends ask me why I am a Christian Scientist. I tell them it’s because it brings me both joy and comfort. With it I feel more able to cope with the challenges life inevitably presents me with. I feel as though it helps me to make better informed decisions, to recognise the qualities that make life ‘work right’, and it teaches me that there are spiritual laws that if followed bring harmony, healing and a sense of security to my life.
The Bible tells me that God is Love (I John 4:8). It also tells me that man (meaning all of us) is the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1: 26, 27). It is reassuring to know that my true nature is Love which is expressed in a myriad of shades – in gentleness, kindness, forgiveness, selflessness, unselfishness, affection, empathy, generosity, loyalty, courtesy and many more. I know from the Bible also that God’s love is unconditional. It is not influenced by race, or religion, or gender. The rule of Love then is that we also must love without bias. This is in fact the Golden Rule: to love another as oneself. Is this not the kind of thinking that would make the world a better place? Is this not what the world needs more of? Love is not just a feeling, it is in fact a law. When we follow this law of Love then we bring harmony into our lives.
Through Christian Science I have also come to know God as Truth and infinite Mind. I have learned to take each of these descriptors and to live them – to be honest because I am the reflection of Truth; to be thoughtful and act intelligently because I am the reflection of Mind. When these spiritual qualities become my core values then this spiritual discernment enables me to make better decisions when choosing friends and a life partner, or employment, and even the politicians I vote for. These are just some of the reasons I love being a student of Christian Science.
Someone said to me once that gratitude was like having windows in a room. When I questioned this, he explained that if you are in a room with no windows you are not aware of the beauty of the scenery beyond the walls, but if you have windows you can experience the pleasure of the view. He said gratitude is the quality of thought that makes you aware of the good that already surrounds you. There is always good. Taking time to appreciate it and say, ‘Thank you’ enriches our lives.
Research suggests thatbeing grateful and expressing gratitude towards others can improve our happiness and quality of life. Gratitude enhances empathy, improves physical health, mental wellbeing, quality of sleep, self-esteem and, also has the capacity to reduce stress. Identifying what you’re grateful for, especially during challenging times, can help foster resilience and improve our wellbeing (Stronger Together – Expressing Gratitude, Tanya O’Shea, Managing Director, IMPACT Community Services).
Gratitude is a quality of Love. Love is that quality that makes the world work right. When we make time for giving gratitude for the large and small things in our lives, then we are doing our part in making the world a better place while enhancing our own lives. That simple act of saying, ‘Thank you’ and counting our blessings enriches.
Are we really grateful for the good already received? Then we shall avail ourselves of the blessings we have, and thus be fitted to receive more. Gratitude is much more than a verbal expression of thanks. Action expresses more gratitude than speech.
If you are in Canberra, please join us in giving thanks for the good in our lives and the blessings received at our Thanksgiving Service at 6.15 on Thursdsay 23 November – corner of Macquarie & Bligh Streets, Barton.
A member of the Christian Science community in Canberra was recently interviewed for a Sentinel Watch podcast titled Prayer: What’s It All About? From this was taken a Daily Lift titled We Can Know What We Need to Know. Listen to both these podcasts here.
A member of the Christian Science community in Canberra had this article and testimony published in the Christian Science Sentinel.
One day as Jesus was passing by a man who was blind from his birth, his disciples asked him whether the man was born blind because of his own sin or because of his parents’ sin. Jesus answered: “Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him” (John 9:3). Then Jesus healed the man of his blindness.
What this Bible passage means to me is that we are not punished for past errors. Even in situations where we initially allowed errors of thinking to go unchallenged, we can still correct our thought—and when we do, we can expect to be free of any bad effects. This rule is in fact the third tenet of Christian Science: “We acknowledge God’s forgiveness of sin in the destruction of sin and the spiritual understanding that casts out evil as unreal. But the belief in sin is punished so long as the belief lasts” (Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health, p. 497).
An experience that we had in our family some years ago demonstrates this truth in an immediate, certain, and undeniable way. Continue reading …
A member of the Christian Science community in Canberra was recently interviewed for a Sentinel Watch podcast titled Listening to God. From this was taken a Daily Lift titled I Am Not a Dreamer. Listen to both these podcasts here.
Listening to God:
How do you listen to God? And what can you expect to hear when you do? This week’s guest shares ideas from her own journey of learning how to listen—and the healings that have resulted.
A member of the Canberra Christian Science community had this article, Immortality Glimpsed in Dog’s Healing, published in the October 22 issue of the Christian Science Journal. Click here to listen to, or read, the full story.
Reggie, an elderly dog we adopted, was a member of our family until last year. We loved him dearly and he lived with us long past the life expectancy of a dog of his breed.
Gradually last year I noticed that he was slowing down and sleeping much of the time. It was starting to feel as if Reggie might be about to move on.
One Saturday morning he was in a long, deep sleep. He couldn’t be roused, and he had lost control of his bodily functions.
I’ve been a Christian Scientist all my life and it is natural for me to turn to God in prayer when I need answers, so I sat on the floor beside his bed and turned to God. “Tell me how to think about this,” I asked. Continue reading …
A member of the Christian Science community in Canberra offered this account:
A couple of weeks ago I came home from shopping to find that our small dog, Tess, was unable to use her back left leg and it hung awkwardly when she tried to walk. I took her out into the garden to see if she might be persuaded to stretch it out and use it but she wasn’t able to.
I carried her inside and together we sat on my bed and I turned silently to God. I was brought up in Christian Science and I have witnessed many healings of both animals and family members and I knew that this was a quick and effective way to meet this need. However, as I sat with her it became very difficult not to be alarmed by the material picture. She seemed to be in so much pain that she was vomiting and just couldn’t settle. I knew that I would not let her remain in this situation and the thought kept coming to me that I should take her to the vet. She seemed so tiny and defenceless and my heart went out to her.
Through experience I also know that prayer in Christian Science gives quick results with no waiting and no side-effects. If this was the case then controlling my thought and handling the situation through prayer was the kindest course of action. Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures is the textbook of Christian Science and in it Mary Baker Eddy, the author, advises:
I determined to look away from the material picture and ask God what I should know about this. The inspirations came. I knew that there is more to life than the body – that all life is God expressed and God is Spirit which is never damaged, is never vulnerable. As I thought on these and other ideas I found my peace and Tess began to calm. Shortly, it felt right to get on with the evening chores. When I stood up to leave the room Tess jumped off the bed and followed me. She was trotting along using all four legs easily. During the night and the next day I watched her racing around and playing happily. There was no trace of any difficulty. I am very grateful for all I am learning through the continued study of Christian Science.
Christian Science Canberra 