Archive for the ‘Identity’ Category
God is infinite omnipresent Spirit. (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy p223:7)
Scriptures inform us that man is made in the image and likeness of God. Matter is not that likeness. The likeness of Spirit cannot be so unlike Spirit. (Science and Health p475:8)
If Life is God, as the Scriptures imply, then Life is not embryonic, it is infinite. (Science and Health p550:21)
Spirit is the real and eternal; matter is the unreal and temporal. Spirit is God, and man is His image and likeness. Therefore man is not material; he is spiritual. (Science and Health p468:12)
I had to learn humility the hard way! I was ice-skating with my granddaughter one evening. I am not a very good skater and I was doing my best to keep up speed and glide. At one point I noticed that the rink was populated with young people, and a little pride crept in that I was out there even though I am a grandmother.
Well, a few more turns around the rink and then down I went. My wrist was badly hurt.
My go-to in times of need has always been prayer. In this case, a wake-up call about pride was my biggest take-away from my prayers. After about two weeks, I could still not move my wrist. Then, one day in humble prayer, it came to me that all of us out there on the ice were children of God, expressing the joy, strength, and energy of divine Life. Our true nature is not defined by a certain age and personal abilities. Instead, it appears in our reflection of God’s qualities.
I was very humbled by this thought. In his book “Mere Christianity,” C. S. Lewis, the Christian apologist, refers to pride as “the complete anti-God state of mind.” It suggests the possibility of a selfhood or ego apart from God, the one true Ego. It is a way of thinking that denies the onliness and allness of infinite good.
Click here to continue reading, or listen to, this article by Elizabeth Crecelius Schwartz published in the Christian Science Monitor Daily. In it Elizabeth describes more of the thinking that then led to a quick and complete healing of the injured wrist.
The upright man is guided by a fixed Principle, which destines him to do nothing but what is honorable, and to abhor whatever is base or unworthy; hence we find him ever the same, — at all times the trusty friend, the affectionate relative, the conscientious man of business, the pious worker, the public-spirited citizen.
He assumes no borrowed appearance. He seeks no mask to cover him, for he acts no studied part; but he is indeed what he appears to be, — full of truth, candor, and humanity. In all his pursuits, he knows no reproachable means. He never shows us a smiling countenance while he meditates evil against us in his heart. We shall never find one part of his character at variance with another.
(Miscellaneous Writings 1883-1896 by Mary Baker Eddy p147:19)
An article from the Christian Science Monitor by Blythe Evans
When my children were in elementary school, they played soccer through a local sports program. Before each game, the coach would assign each child a player on the opposing team to “mark.” That meant to focus on and stay right with the player at all times, rather than meandering around the field of play. Sometimes the coach would even say, “Mark that player so closely you feel like you’re in their shirt! Stay right with them.”
The importance of this was not lost on the young athletes, and the better they each marked their player, the better the game went for them.
I think of this sometimes when I read in the Bible, “Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace” (Psalms 37:37). Practically speaking, who is “the perfect man” we are to “mark”? How do we do that? And why should we?
Well, it is clear there is no perfect human being, so the “perfect man” must be a higher, more spiritual concept of man than we experience with our material senses. In fact, the teachings of Christian Science help us see that the “perfect man” is the spiritual man (meaning all of us) of God’s creating, made in the image of divine Spirit.
Blythe goes on to explain how this reasoning and spiritualisation of thought brought about a quick healing of her young grandson’s injured finger. She concludes by saying:
This doesn’t mean putting our heads in the sand when we or someone we encounter is not well or acting wrongly. Rather, we can silently affirm that everyone’s true nature is one of harmony, health, and integrity, because God, Spirit, is all good. Understanding this enables us to overcome illness or bad character traits, and to help others do the same.
Click here to read the complete article.
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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)
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.
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We must form perfect models in thought and look at them continually, or we shall never carve them out in grand and noble lives.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy p248)
An article by Lindsey Biggs from the Christian Science Monitor.
Where does our worth come from? A particular job? How much praise we get from a job well done? Many of us have had to wrestle with such questions.
Lindsey writes:
There was a point when I desired additional employment. I felt there were greater ways that my skill set could be used than in what my role at the time offered.
I regularly turn to prayer when I need help or guidance. Prayer gives me a clearer sense of my (and everyone’s) relation to God. I’ve found that getting a clearer view of what God sees and knows helps me experience more harmony.
In this instance, my prayers led me to write a “spiritual resume” – not to share with prospective employers, but to help me think more deeply about where our true worth lies. What I mean by this is I compiled a list of spiritual qualities I felt I expressed, such as patience, creativity, compassion, timeliness, order, self-discipline, etc.
Click here to read, or listen to, this short article where Lindsey explains how a change of thinking from a material to a spiritual basis brought about long-term, satisfying employment.
When spiritual being is understood in all its
perfection, continuity, and might, then shall man be found in God’s image.
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(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy p325:13)
Christian Science Canberra 