These readings are from a Wednesday Testimony Meeting in Canberra. They are on the topic of God as the divine Father-Mother of all.
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We thank Thee and we bless Thee,
O Father of us all,
That e’en before we ask Thee
Thou hear’st Thy children’s call.
We praise Thee for Thy goodness
And tender, constant care,
We thank Thee, Father-Mother,
That Thou hast heard our prayer.
(The Christian Science Hymnal 374)
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When we realize that Life is Spirit, never in nor of matter, this understanding will expand into self-completeness, finding all in God, good, and needing no other consciousness.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy p264: 15)
An interview with Beth Packer, a Christian Science practitioner from NSW, Australia.
Click here to listen.
When a baby goat went missing, Beth learned a profound spiritual lesson about our oneness with God. She shares how a deepening understanding of this central Christian Science concept has helped bring healing to other areas of her life—and how it can in yours, too.
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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)
A member of the Christian Science community in Canberra offered this proof of the healing power of prayer.
In 2017 a sore appeared on my forehead and would not heal. Sometimes it was soft and moist and other times hard and scaly.
I became concerned because of all the discussion in the media and more generally about skin cancer.
I’ve had many healings by praying as I’ve been taught in Christian Science and wanted to rely on prayer for healing in this case.
In the Christian Science textbook Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, she writes on page 476 When speaking of God’s children, not the children of men, Jesus said, “The kingdom of God is within you;” that is, Truth and Love reign in the real man, showing that man in God’s image is unfallen and eternal. Jesus beheld in Science the perfect man, who appeared to him where sinning mortal man appears to mortals. In this perfect man the Saviour saw God’s own likeness, and this correct view of man healed the sick. Thus Jesus taught that the kingdom of God is intact, universal, and that man is pure and holy.
I prayed to get a better understanding of this perfect man and his purity and holiness. However, the idea kept coming to me that I also needed to read Science and Health from cover to cover, as many people have been healed by doing this. I kept praying, but delaying reading Science and Health and the sore did not heal.
During a 2023 holiday in South Africa, I decided that I needed to have this sore seen to. So, when I returned to Canberra I went to see a doctor. The doctor said it was a skin cancer and needed to be cut out, and because of the position on my forehead I would need plastic surgery. I decided that I did not want to go down this path but wanted a healing through prayer, so I began to read Science and Health, and sometime in early 2024 the sore disappeared.
I’m very grateful for this healing and to Mary Baker Eddy for Science and Health and this wonderful healing religion – Christian Science.
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When spiritual being is understood in all its perfection, continuity, and might, then shall man be found in God’s image.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy p325: 13-15)
A Sentinel Watch interview with Joan Bernard Bradley. Click here to listen.
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In this interview Joan talks about how she overcame resentment over incidents of racial abuse and discrimination. She goes on to tell how through prayer and effort she has been able build respectful relationships in racially diverse settings.
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… I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.
(NKJV Bible – Jeremiah 29: 11)
This article by Mark Swinney was first published in the 8 May 2009 issue of the Christian Science Sentinel. In it Mark talks about how he found confidence in parenting by understanding the nature of God as the Father-Mother of us all. Here is a small sample of what he writes. To read the full article click here.
… If there’s one thing I’ve learned as a parent, it’s this: Truly effective prayer for children results from a conscious acknowledgment of their oneness with God. Just seeing a child as near God, or extremely close to God, is not good enough. Oneness—that’s the true model of God and His offspring. Good parenting holds to the beautiful oneness of God as cause, and child as God’s effect—divine Parent and offspring. I’ve found that if I have even the slightest notion of a separation between God and my child, I become afraid. Yet, as soon as I behold God and my child as one, everything falls into place. Fear dissolves and everything is right. …
1 O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me.
2 Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off.
5 Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me.
7 Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence.
8 If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.
9 If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;
10 Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.
11 If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me.
14 I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.
17 How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!
18 If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee.
Christian Science Canberra 