Through all the tumult and the strife
I hear the music ringing; …
What though my human comforts die,
The Lord my Saviour liveth;
What though the darkness gather round,
Songs in the night God giveth.
No storm can shake my inmost calm
While to that Rock I’m clinging;
Since Love is God of heaven and earth,
How can I keep from singing?
(Christian Science Hymnal 533)
O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me.
Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.
Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?
If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.
If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;
Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.
(The Bible – Psalm 139: 1, 2, 7-10)
“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, . . . though the waters thereof roar and be troubled”
(The Bible – Psalm 46: 1-3)
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… prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
(The Bible – Malachi 3: 10)
Spirit, God, is heard when the senses are silent.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy p89: 20)
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The divine Mind maintains all identities, from a blade of grass to a star, as distinct and eternal.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy p70: 12)
‘Love’ what a word!
Isn’t it Love that makes us happy? Isn’t it Love that heals our hurts and fears? Isn’t Love the thing that at every stage of our lives we need in order to flourish and thrive, not just survive?
Isn’t it Love that makes life worth living? Isn’t it Love and only Love that can bring ‘… on earth peace, goodwill to men’?
Golden Rule
Love is what unites us all. No matter what our religion or philosophy, Christian, non-Christian, atheist, sectarian, Love is at the heart of us all. In fact, most great spiritual thinking has the Golden Rule as a core value.
Judaism says, ‘What is hateful to you do not do to your neighbour.’
Buddhism – ‘Hurt not others with that which hurts yourself.’
Sikhism – ‘Treat others as you would be treated yourself.’
Islam – ‘Not one of you truly believes until you wish for others what you wish for yourself.’
In the Christian Bible, Christ Jesus says, ‘… all things whatsoever you would that men should do to you, do even so to them.’
Love for one another is at the core of all of them.
However, this Love that is such a core principle, has to be more than mere human affection. So, what then is it?
What Does the Bible Say?
The Bible does tell us very clearly when it says in 1 John, ‘God is Love’.
For many, that term ‘God’ is variously thought of as the non-physical, all good, supreme Being; the governing benevolent power in our lives and of the universe. Too often though, we can also overlay our sense of God with all sorts of human traits and limitations. But, to think of the supreme, wholly good, governing power of all things, as Love, lifts our thoughts of God beyond the human into something far greater; it lifts it into the realm of the divine. It takes away a sense of the distance and unknowability of God, the humanness and variability, and brings it to the here and nowness, the closeness of Love, of what we already know within the core of ourselves.
A Powerful Force
It makes Love a powerful force in our lives.
Love is the true essence of all religion. This is certainly true of Christian Science. I grew up in Christian Science, but you can’t inherit an understanding of what a religion has to offer. There has to come a point when you decide for yourself that its ideas and Principles are right and good.
Personal Experience
For me it was this sense of God as Love, that helped me see its worth. Like most of us, I went through a period where I felt lost and alone, and very unloved, but it was the inner voice that kept telling me how much God loved me and knew me, that blew away the darkness and brought me into the light – the light of feeling loved. It literally transformed me.
In fact, the founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, has made Love an essential quality for being a Christian Scientist. She said, “Christian Scientists, their children and grandchildren to the latest generations, inevitably love one another with that love wherewith Christ loveth us; a love unselfish, unambitious, impartial, universal, — that loves only because it is Love.” (Pulpit and Press p21:1)
Original Christianity
It’s a high ideal to live up to, but no less a standard than Jesus set for original Christianity. Original Christianity loves without discrimination; unites and never divides; values a person by the quality of character not material riches. This original standard is at the heart of Christian Science.
Find Out More
If you would like to know more about this religion of Love, please meet us at our Sunday Services (10.00 am) and our Wednesday Testimony Meetings (6.15 pm). We are located on the corner of Macquarie and Bligh Streets in Barton. Sunday School for students up to the age of 20 is also at 10.00 am – new students are always welcome.
This article was contributed by Beth Packer who is a full-time Christian Science healer.
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)
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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)
Green pastures are before me,
Which yet I have not seen;
Bright skies will soon be o’ver me,
Where darkest clouds have been.
My hope I cannot measure,
My path in life is free;
My father has my treasure,
And He will walk with me.
(The Christian Science Hymnal – 148 by Anna L Waring)
Christian Science Canberra 