The members of the Christian Science community in Canberra share their experiences and thoughts on Christian Science:
A few years ago, my wife and I and our two daughters flew from Canberra to Cape Town in South Africa to spend Christmas with my family.
We set off from Canberra without any problems and landed somewhere in Australia – I forget where – to connect with our international flight to our next stop in Johannesburg. Wherever it was, we were delayed and very late taking off.
We arrived in Johannesburg very late – about midnight – and missed our connection to Cape Town, so the airline arranged for us to fly the following morning and put us up in an airport hotel for the night.
We collected our luggage and walked out of the airport terminus to wait for the shuttle bus to take us to the hotel feeling tired, hungry and harassed. When we arrived at the hotel and were in the queue to check in, I couldn’t find my small backpack with all our passports and travel documents and knew I’d left it at the airport terminus where we boarded the shuttle bus. My immediate feeling was despair because Johannesburg was known as a crime capital and I’d previously misplaced things there and never had them returned.
My wife and I follow the teachings of Christian Science, and when I told her what had happened, she immediately started to pray, as we are taught in Christian Science, to know that God’s presence is everywhere, so there is no room for anything else. We talked about God’s nature as only good, loving, honest and caring and as being the only qualities that everyone, everywhere could express. I began to feel a lot less fearful.
The shuttle bus was still bringing people to the hotel, so I boarded it, continuing to pray, and returned to the airport terminus pick-up point. I asked the people waiting there if they’d seen my bag and someone said they thought someone had taken it to the hotel.
When I got back to the hotel, there was my wife, with my bag, and the person who had found it. We thanked her and quietly thanked God for his tender, loving care.
I am very grateful for the way Christian Science teaches us that we can always pray to God in times of need.
Mary Baker Eddy writes in her book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures (pp 12,13) “In divine Science, where prayers are mental, all may avail themselves of God as “a very present help in trouble.” Love is impartial and universal in its adaptation and bestowals. It is the open fount which cries, “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters.”
Christian Science Canberra 