As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you:
(The Bible KJV – Isaiah 66: 13)
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Father-Mother is the name for Deity, which indicates His tender relationship to His spiritual creation.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy p332)
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A member of the Christian Science community in Canberra shared his thoughts on how Christian Science helps him:
Recently I have found myself being very busy trying to achieve the many goals I have set myself. These tasks seemed important and usually came with deadlines. In doing this I have realised that I have let go of my usual focus on spiritual development. As a Christian Scientist there is a commitment to the daily prayer (Church Manual p41):
Thy kingdom come
Let the reign of divine Truth, Life and Love be established in me, and rule out of me all sin
And may Thy Word enrich the affections of all mankind
And govern them
I found that I had almost just been saying the words to the daily prayer, for example, without really having a full commitment to it. I had been studying the Daily Bible Lesson but not with the same degree of commitment or focus as a result of this busy work. I had foregone the focus and commitment to developing spiritually and instead had been focusing on getting this busy work done. The busy work itself had taken over my attention.
Even the busy work – those little goals – weren’t being achieved with the same degree of freedom, the same degree of perfection, I had previously been able to achieve. When I had taken a more spiritual or a more focused attention to the spiritual side of my life there didn’t appear to be such a focus on busy work or human activity, and the busy work didn’t seem so difficult.
In my commitment to Christian Science there is the understanding it is more than just the Daily Prayer or doing the Daily Bible Lesson. It is a commitment to a way of living and that way of living has an impact on what happens. In her textbook Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy writes (p423):
The Christian Scientist, understanding scientifically that all is Mind, commences with mental causation, the truth of being, to destroy the error. This corrective is an alterative, reaching to every part of the human system. According to Scripture, it searches “the joints and marrow,” and it restores the harmony of man.
The inharmony on display because of the busy work had been brought about by my neglect of the spiritual recognition that all is brought about by mental causation. I had to remember to trust God to give me the order of work – He knew what was important and what needed to be done in what order. It was necessary to find that quiet mental place to pray; to silence the material senses and intrusive noises. Once again I turned to Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, where Mary Baker Eddy writes (p15):
In order to pray aright, we must enter into the closet and shut the door. We must close the lips and silence the material senses. In the quiet sanctuary of earnest longings, we must deny sin and plead God’s allness. We must resolve to take up the cross, and go forth with honest hearts to work and watch for wisdom, Truth, and Love. We must “pray without ceasing.” Such prayer is answered, in so far as we put our desires into practice. The Master’s injunction is, that we pray in secret and let our lives attest our sincerity.
I shall be forever grateful for Christian Science. The study of Christian Science and application to my life has allowed me to make significant long lasting and beneficial changes to my way of thinking and living. Christian Science is to me, an applied, practical science that can be used everyday in one’s life. The application of Christian Science in this instance has allowed me to be free from the constraints of ‘busyness’ and to be much more productive both materially and spiritually.
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God is Love.
(The Bible – I John 4: 8)
Love inspires, illumines, designates, and leads the way.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy p454: 18-19)
Wednesday Testimony Meeting Readings.
This recording is of the readings on the topic: God – Parent, Shepherd, Friend
God is Love (The Bible – I John 4: 8)
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 of death, 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.
(From the 23rd Psalm – Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy p578)
Wednesday Testimony Meeting Readings.
This recording is of the readings on the topic: Secure Amid the Storm.
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For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
(The Bible KJV – Romans 8: 38, 39)
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Every Wednesday at 6.15pm a Testimony Meeting is held at the Christian Science church in Canberra (corner of Macquarie and Bligh Streets, Barton). At these meetings short readings on a particular topic are followed by time for members of the congregation to share how they have been helped and healed through prayer.
Everyone is welcome.
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My flesh and my heart fail; God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
(The Bible NKJV – Psalms 73: 26)
God. The great I AM; the all-knowing, all-seeing, all-acting, all-wise, all-loving, and eternal; Principle; Mind; Soul; Spirit; Life; Truth; Love; all substance; intelligence.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy p587)
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O Lord, You have searched me and known me.
Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
If I ascend into heaven, You are there;
If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.
If I take the wings of the morning,
And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
Even there Your hand shall lead me,
And Your right hand shall hold me.
(The Bible NKJV – Psalm 139: 1, 8-10)
God is the fountain of light, and He illumines one’s way when one is obedient. The disobedient make their moves before God makes His, or make them too late to follow Him. Be sure that God directs your way; then, hasten to follow under every circumstance.
(Miscellaneous Writings 1883-1896 by Mary Baker Eddy p117)
A Christian Science perspective: A deeper understanding of Mind brings peace to the disturbed mentality. By Deborah Huebsch
In these times of global stir, greater mental stability is certainly something we all would like to experience. A slight variation on a famous saying about peace might relate, “Let there be stability in the world and let it begin with me.” Surely mental equilibrium, an unshakable peace that can withstand turbulent events that occur, is a necessity.
There was a time in my life when I had to think deeply about this subject. A history of severe emotional problems affected both sides of my family. When I started to experience signs of a mental breakdown similar to those other family members had, I was terrified.
At that time a friend, seeing my obvious distress, offered me a copy of a book that literally changed my life – “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures” by Mary Baker Eddy. It explained God as Mind, … continue reading.
Upheaval in the world might suggest that there’s no hope for finding order in it. But as this author discovered, acknowledging and evidencing God’s control in our daily lives helps us understand how peace and harmony truly prevail.
This article by Emma Leslie is from the Christian Science Perspective featured in the August 25, 2022 Christian Science Monitor.
Reports of extreme weather, war, the pandemic, and economic instability can make it feel as though we live in a chaotic universe where we have little agency over our own lives.
As someone who has found mental peace and practical answers through prayer, I wanted to pray to see beyond this depressing view of life to something more hopeful, for myself and my family and for all citizens of the world. A moment of chaos on a recent trip gave me a modest but significant opportunity for such prayer.
Click here to read, or listen to, the full article.
Christian Science Canberra 