This recording is of the readings on the topic: Sustained by the Father-Mother God
Psalm 23
DIVINE LOVE ] is my shepherd; I shall not want.
[LOVE] maketh me to lie down in green pastures: [LOVE] leadeth me beside the still waters.
[LOVE] restoreth my soul [spiritual sense]: [LOVE] leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow ofdeath, I will fear no evil: for [LOVE] is with me; [LOVE’S] rod and [LOVE’S] staff they comfort me.
[LOVE] prepareth a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: [LOVE] anointeth my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house [the consciousness] of [LOVE] for ever.
…. 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.
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.
Hymn 148 in the Christian Science Hymnal – words by Ann L Waring
In heavenly Love abiding, No change my heart shall fear; And safe is such confiding, For nothing changes here. The storm may roar without me, My heart may low be laid; But God is round about me, And can I be dismayed?
Wherever He may guide me, No want shall turn me back; My Shepherd is beside me, And nothing can I lack. His wisdom ever waketh, His sight is never dim; He knows the way He taketh, And I will walk with Him.
Green pastures are before me, Which yet I have not seen; Bright skies will soon be o’er 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.
O tender, loving Shepherd, We long to follow thee, To follow where thou leadest, Though rough the path may be; Though dark and heavy shadows Enshroud the way with gloom, We know that Love will guide us, And safely lead us home.
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We know, beloved Shepherd, The path that thou hast trod Leads ever out of darkness, And on and up to God. If from that path we wander, And far astray we roam, O, call us, faithful Shepherd, And bring us safely home.
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Throughout the way, dear Shepherd, Thy strong hand doth uphold; The weary ones, at nightfall, Thou gently dost enfold. And when to Truth’s green pastures With joy at length we come, There shall we find, O Shepherd, Our blest, eternal home.
When asked how she was praying about the war in the Middle East Bethany Taylor responded by penning this letter to a young mother:
I was watching the news about Israel and Hamas. You came on talking about trying to keep your baby quiet so you wouldn’t be detected by the attackers and how your husband had been taken as a hostage. My heart went out to you, and in a sincere desire to help, I humbly reached out to God and asked how I could help, how I could pray right then. The answer came in the form of a hymn written by the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy.
I began singing and praying the words: “O gentle presence, peace and joy and power; / O Life divine, that owns each waiting hour” (Christian Science Hymnal, No. 207). I felt assured of God’s ever-present peace, joy, and omnipotent power right then and there for you and all who are feeling alone and afraid, even when in the midst of terror and war.
As a young mother, I was widowed and found myself raising my three-year-old son on my own. I leaned on God’s mothering and fathering my son and me, and I know we can confidently rely on that same love here and now. As a recent Sentinel Watch podcast put it, “Love hasn’t left this home” (Tony Lobl, “Love hasn’t left this home,” cssentinel.com, September 11, 2023).
Love hasn’t left Israel, or Gaza, or Ukraine, or any other area experiencing war and conflict. Even though I am just one individual in a country far removed from these places, I actively pray to know that God’s love is always present, dependable, steadfast, all-powerful. “Thou Love that guards the nestling’s faltering flight! / Keep Thou my child on upward wing tonight,” that hymn says. We are each God’s nestlings, whether struggling with a small problem or the horror of war. We can feel and reflect God’s mothering love here and now.
Another line in this hymn, which I have known and loved for decades, is “Love is our refuge; only with mine eye / Can I behold the snare, the pit, the fall.” But as long as I have been singing this hymn, this was the first time I understood that Mrs. Eddy was saying that we can stay conscious of the spiritual fact that divine Love, God, is our—and everyone’s—ever-present refuge. When, instead, we begin to examine the snares, pits, falls, or material circumstances, that is when we feel immobilized by fear, and illness, conflict, hatred, and evil seem so much larger than Love’s ability to handle them. But that isn’t so. As we learn in Christian Science, God is All-in-all.
“His habitation high is here, and nigh, / His arm encircles me, and mine, and all,” the hymn assures. And I am thinking, in quiet prayer, just how it embraces you and all the mothers in the region.
Love, Bethany Taylor
This response to the war was originally published in the October 19, 2023 issue of the Christian Science Sentinel.
A member of the Christian Science community in Canberra was recently interviewed for a Sentinel Watch podcast titled Listening to God.Click here to listen to this podcasts.
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 Christian Science community in Canberra offered this account:
Last year, my husband and I went on a road trip to visit our children and grandchildren, who live in various parts of the greater Sydney area. While we were visiting one of our daughters on the Northern beaches, we decided to go out and walk wherever our inclination took us, leaving our daughter at home to work.
It was a beautifully sunny day and we had walked, probably for a couple of hours – through the golf course, along the beach, up to the headland, and we were walking back into town for lunch when, quite suddenly, my husband seemed to collapse. He was shaking uncontrollably and didn’t seem able to stand on his own.
We stopped still, and immediately I planted my feet physically and mentally, and supported him – declaring aloud, while absolutely knowing and feeling, that all he could be was an expression of God, an expression of Spirit; that God was his life, the only Life there is; that he didn’t live in a physical body, but in God. I know he was also praying because he was declaring aloud truths about himself that he had learned in a Christian Science Sunday School.
In an instanthe stopped shaking and stood upright, and we walked on. We still had quite a walk ahead of us but we never mentioned the incident again, just felt immensely grateful and awed at the power and presence of God.
Strangely enough, when this occurred, we were walking through the grounds of the local hospital, but there was never any suggestion of calling for human help or needing any other assistance. God’s presence is always with us and his help is always close at hand.
I have given this experience a lot of thought since then and it has impelled in me an ever-greater desire to understand, trust and be more constantly aware of God, infinite good – to really know God as Love; to strive, as Paul says in II Corinthians (5: 8), to be ‘absent from the body and present with the Lord’ and (II Corinthians 10:5) to bring ‘into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.’
When trauma seems to have so many lives in its grip, how can we respond in a way that heals, both individually and collectively? Kate walks us through her own healings of trauma to show what Christian Science makes possible.
Christian Science Canberra 