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The devotion of thought to an honest achievement makes the achievement possible.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy p199: 21)
Honest Achievements Leave a comment
I Walked Away Unhurt Leave a comment
The members of the Christian Science community in Canberra share their experiences and thoughts on Christian Science:
Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe. (The Bible -Psalm 119: 117)
Today in casual conversation with a friend the subject of cars came up. We were exchanging stories about how we came to have our present vehicles, and what previous cars we had. We discovered that we had in the past the same make of car which we really enjoyed because it was a road hugging car in which we felt very safe. I related that my car previous to this one had been written off with me driving and how I had been protected through this experience.
I would like to share my story with a heart full of gratitude to God, good, that I was not hurt, but walked away from the scene totally unscathed. The country road that I was travelling on was very well known to me as I used it daily travelling to work and home again and at weekends when I went out.
I was living rurally at the time in a hilly area and the road was winding down towards the township. There had been a lot of rain overnight which had caused a pothole to form in the road and I did not see the hole as I came around the bend. One wheel of the car hit the edge of the pothole which caused the car to spin. I found myself unable to right the car as it spun to the other side of the road facing the opposite direction and over on its side.
As the car was flying through the air, with anything loose in the car flying about as well, I heard myself shouting out, “God is my life, God is my life, I cannot be separated from God, my life.” When all the spinning was over I was able to climb out of a door and proceeded to walk home which was probably about a couple of miles away. Even this was taken care of, as at that time a neighbouring farmer and his wife came driving up the road and took me home.
My husband and I had then to do the calling of the police and arrange to get the car back on the road. I had been on my way to church at the time where I had a duty to perform. After ringing to make my apologies I decided that I may as well bake a cake which I had intended to do when I got home from church anyway.
There were no after-effects from this experience. In fact it did not occur to me that there could be until the next day at my place of work someone commented that at least I should have had a headache as the result of the incident. The protection was complete as I turned to the presence of my Father-Mother God as the source of my life. My subsequent car was the road hugger which I enjoyed driving for a good number of years.
All power unto our God is given, on Him we place reliance. (Hymn 10 – Christian Science Hymnal)
Spiritual Healing – Available to All 2 comments
Wednesday Testimony Meeting Readings
This recording is of readings on the topic of Spiritual Healing.
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Suffer no claim of sin or of sickness to grow upon the thought. Dismiss it with an abiding conviction that it is illegitimate, because you know that God is no more the author of sickness than He is of sin. You have no law of His to support the necessity either of sin or sickness, but you have divine authority for denying that necessity and healing the sick (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy p390: 20).
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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. If you are in Canberra on any Wednesday, please join us.
Eye Health Restored – Cataract Gone 4 comments
The members of the Christian Science community in Canberra share their experiences and thoughts on Christian Science:
Early last year I needed to have my reading glasses replaced and this meant having an eye examination for a new script. At the end of the examination the optometrist informed me that I had a cataract forming on my left eye. He said that he wouldn’t recommend any treatment at that point but in a year I should look at having it removed.
At first I was tempted to feel concerned about this situation. I had quite a few friends who had had cataracts surgically removed and although they had all said it was a fairly straight forward procedure, it was not something that I had ever contemplated doing. I have always handled problems, both physical and otherwise, through prayer.
Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures is my textbook for life. In it, Mary Baker Eddy writes: Mind, not matter, is causation. … You embrace your body in your thought, and you should delineate upon it thoughts of health, not of sickness (p208: 25). She goes on to say: The physical affirmation of disease should always be met with the mental negation. Whatever benefit is produced on the body, must be expressed mentally, and thought should be held fast to this ideal (p392: 11). I thought on these ideas and every time my eye situation came into thought I claimed my spiritual perfection and denied the necessity for giving in to this verdict. This brought me a sense of peace and within a short time my eye stopped bothering me and I forgot to think about it anymore.
Recently when I again visited the optometrist for new glasses I was told that my eyes were perfectly healthy and there was no sign of a cataract. Christian Science is teaching me that the body is the representation of my thinking – what I believe about it is what I will experience. By learning to see myself as spiritual, not material, I can overcome beliefs of limitation or ill-health
Money Worries – A Thing of the Past Leave a comment
The members of the Christian Science community in Canberra share their experiences and thoughts on Christian Science:
When I was growing up money always seemed to be in short supply. There were many, many evenings when my mum had only toast and Vegemite for dinner because there wasn’t enough food to go around. As a child I watched my mum, who was normally a strong, calm woman, weep because there was no money for the electricity or to pay for the groceries. This left me feeling scared and as though life was jeopardous. I felt as though I was vulnerable to forces outside of my control.
As an adult I seemed to take many of these fears about finances and supply with me. Even though I had full employment, and sometimes more than one job, for many years I felt as though I was always borrowing from Peter to pay Paul; shuffling money around in order to pay the most pressing bills. There came a time when the burden of school fees and a mortgage was more than I could manage and we sold our house and moved to a smaller place further out. Still there never seemed to be quite enough.
In my study of Christian Science I had learned that all right ideas were God’s and that God as the divine Father-Mother supplied all that was necessary for those ideas to come to fruition. I had also learned that supply and demand were a part of the one Principle (a synonym for God) governing all; they were reciprocal and inseparable processes. One day I sat myself down and decided that it was time to let go of this false fear. I asked myself whether I really believed these spiritual statements and believed that God was my loving parent who knew and responded to my needs, or not. I had, over the years, had many other healings both of physical and work-related problems that showed me that God was real, and that the love of God was a principle to be counted on. I reviewed the evidence I had of this divine care and I decided that I did really trust in these truths. When I reasoned like this the fear seemed to melt away and it felt as though this huge burden of many years had been lifted off me.
From this time on I never again struggled to pay the bills. The money coming into the home had not changed and the outgoings remained the same but somehow when bills arrived there was always enough to meet them. Nowadays, I don’t worry at all about how much is, or isn’t, in my bank account. I know, because I have proved it, that if there is a need God will meet it. I have discovered that divine Love (another name for God) has a multitude of ways in which to meet the human need. This sense of God’s sure supply has given me a freedom that allows me to be generous towards others, to support worthy causes and so share Love’s wonderful abundance. I continue, every day, to be grateful to God, and to Christian Science which teaches me the power of spiritual reasoning.
Original Christianity – loving, practical, universal Leave a comment
What would Christianity of the kind that Jesus, the original Christian, lived be like if it were practiced today? Original Christianity simply loved; it loved gently, powerfully, universally. It met the human need right where that need was without judgement or limitation. It acted with the deepest, genuine humility – Jesus said, ‘Of my own self I can do nothing.’ It was not political. It had no robes, rituals or riches.
It loved with a divine love so transforming that it healed, or solved the human need, no matter what that need was – poverty, sorrow, sickness. It gave us an understanding of God that was not humanistic. ‘God is Love’ (The Bible – 1 John 3:23) lifts our sense from a limited, masculine, judgemental, far-off, traditional concept, to one that envelops us in a feeling of infinite closeness and care. To truly practise Christian worship we must live love for Love is the law of life that will bring, ‘on earth peace, good will to men.’ This is the type of worship that is at the core of Christian Science practice.
Real love reduces fear and that is the love that is most needed right now. It is needed for the current economic and public health crisis as well as global concerns about racial injustice.
The Bible quote “God is love” appears near the front of almost every Christian Science church, including in The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, the headquarters for the denomination.
To the degree that we love God with all our heart, soul, and mind — to that degree will our hearts and hands be moved by Christ to meet the needs of our brothers and sisters.
Our church is committed to spiritual healing, which endeavours to see the image of God in everyone. “Great charity and humility is necessary in this work of healing,” wrote church founder Mary Baker Eddy. “The loving patience of Jesus we must strive to emulate.” Healing can’t be approached dogmatically, Christian Scientists emphasise. Christian Scientists are always free to make their own health choices. Healing is about giving gratitude to God, who is love, and learning to acknowledge more of this saving presence.
The Christian Science church in Canberra has at its heart a great love for its community and shares an understanding of God that has brought healing and happiness to the lives of many. Anyone in need of some love and prayer, is welcome to come and visit.
(This article was contributed by Beth Packer, a Christian Science practitioner of healing and an international speaker on Christian Science and spiritual healing.)
Healing of an Eye Injury Leave a comment
The members of the Christian Science community in Canberra share their experiences and thoughts on Christian Science:
A few months ago I was attempting to pump some oil from a bottle that had a plunger top. The plunger was jammed and I gave it a hard bop to unstop it. This caused a very large glob of oil to shoot straight into my left eye. The pain was instantly intense. I immediately tried to wash it out but the oil was made not to wash off easily in water. For a few moments I struggled with the extreme sensation.
As a student of Christian Science I have studied the Bible and the textbook of Christian Science, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy all my life. There are many passages from these texts I turn to in order to bring me calm in times of challenge. Although I didn’t remember the exact words of this passage from Science and Health, I did remember the substance of it. It states:
When an accident happens, you think or exclaim, “I am hurt!” Your thought is more powerful than your words, more powerful than the accident itself, to make the injury real.
Now reverse the process. Declare that you are not hurt and understand the reason why, and you will find the ensuing good effects to be in exact proportion to your disbelief in physics, and your fidelity to divine metaphysics, confidence in God as All, which the Scriptures declare Him to be (p397).
I turned my full attention to this idea and straight away I felt calm and the pain quickly stopped. As the day wore on though, my face began to swell, I lost vision in that eye and it closed over. The next day my face was in an even worse state but there continued to be no pain. I held to the view of myself as a spiritual idea and not simply a mortal body. I continued to pray. It felt as though this situation was some kind of bad dream from which I was waiting to wake up. The following morning I was no better and if I pulled my eye open I could see nothing.
I spent this morning studying the weekly Christian Science Bible Lesson (passages from the Bible and Science and Health). There was one sentence from Science and Health that stood out to me: … the dreamer and dream are one, for neither is true nor real (p530: 27-29). When I read this I realised I had been thinking of myself as a dreamer – someone who was dreaming this bad dream. This passage was telling me there was no dreamer. If there is no dreamer there can be no dream. I loved this idea. I understood it in a way I hadn’t done before. Suddenly I felt joyous and happy, and I forgot to think about my face anymore. I had planned to meet a friend for coffee that afternoon so I kept the appointment and I met up with her. We talked for over an hour. Not once did she mention my face. I looked in the mirror when I got home and I realised that all was normal – even my vision was normal. That night I attended a big family dinner – no one could even tell which eye had been at issue.
I continue to be immensely grateful for what Christian Science is teaching me about my true spiritual nature and of my dominion over the claims of this material world.
Forgiveness Leave a comment
Wednesday Testimony Meeting Readings
Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven: (The Bible – Luke 6: 37)
Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.
But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. (The Bible – Matthew 5: 43-45)
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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. If you are in Canberra on any Wednesday, please join us.
This recording is of Wednesday Testimony Meeting Readings on the topic of Forgiveness.
Family Pet Healed Leave a comment
The members of the Christian Science community in Canberra share their experiences and thoughts on Christian Science:
One morning recently one of our cats appeared to be quite unwell. When I checked him I noticed that his face was extremely swollen and he had a deep open cut above one eye. He showed signs of being in pain and was quite distressed. This cat is quite a wild creature; he does not permit us to handle him and taking him to the vet wasn’t really an option.
In our family we are used to solving problems through prayer so I knew that this situation needed clear prayerful thinking. For me prayer is not a matter of asking God for help but of affirming spiritual truths relating to the situation. In this situation I made a point of looking away from the disturbing material picture and I held firmly to the idea that this dear kitty was in truth a spiritual idea, and a spiritual idea cannot be injured. I also reminded myself of the several healings he had experienced previously.
In Christian Science we are taught to hold to the spiritual truths despite the material evidence. If we understand and trust these truths that we are claiming then the physical situation adjusts. Holding on to the spiritual truth about this kitty helped me to stop worrying about him and to trust his care to divine Mind. I thought on these ideas until I felt a sense of peace.
Within the hour he was up and around and behaving normally. All signs of swelling had gone and the cut above his eye was healed to the point that I couldn’t even tell where it had been. He had no further ramifications from this incident.
First Steps Leave a comment
The members of the Christian Science community in Canberra share their experiences and thoughts on Christian Science:
Wake up. Bound out of bed. Feet on the ground. Up and running. Seize the day!
Some advocate such a start to the day. Others are advocates for an “Oh no! Not another day” approach and pull the covers up and almost refuse to face the day.
To begin my day, I start with a more reflective approach. It is not a reaction to the day. It is a contemplative period beginning with a daily prayer. I begin my day with the Daily Prayer from the Manual of the Mother Church:
“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! (Manual of the Mother Church p41, Mary Baker Eddy)
This apparently simple prayer holds so much. But why start the day with such an invocation?
From my experience, beginning with such an approach has a calming effect on my entire day. It allows me to be less reactive to events that occur during the day. There is a certain degree of ‘stillness’ within me, and this allows me to call this prayer to mind so much more easily throughout the day. It reminds me of who I am and what I am capable of. This prayer allows me to feel more at ease with the world and engenders a degree of ‘spirituality’ within me.
Those days when I do not start the day with the Daily Prayer, I tend to encounter ‘problems’ – disharmony, reactions to situations, greater disagreement – thoughts tend to ‘race’, and it is much more difficult to rein in my thoughts. I still refer to the Daily Prayer on such days, but getting back to such a more considered, reasoned and thoughtful mindset can be time consuming.
In Christian Science there are seven synonyms for God: Life, Love, Mind, Principle, Soul, Spirit and Truth. If I start the day with such a thought – let God (Truth, Life, Love) be established in me – how can I not have anything but a great day? This prayer goes further and asks that God’s reign rules out of me all sin. All sin, not just some, but ALL sin. This is to start the day! What a positive way to greet the day: clear my thoughts; start the day seeking and finding all good within myself. Building on this, the prayer then looks at God’s word to “enrich the affections of all mankind”. Already at the beginning of the day, I go beyond looking at and thinking about myself and adjust my thoughts to include all mankind.
This is not a prayer without substance. This is an applied prayer, with application for all my interactions and thoughts throughout the day. Without the application of this prayer my day can be somewhat ‘pear-shaped’; by applying this prayer even before getting out of bed my day is so much better.
Christian Science Canberra 