Great examples of optimistic reporting that show how we have solved many global world problems such as ozone holes and smog; and that we are capable of meeting our current and future challenges amidst the fear mongering of the opposing polarized naysayers who try to capitalize on our fears.
https://youtu.be/JhtZbtJ_xB4
Bridge Alliance City Events: Marshall Ingwerson (Christian Science Monitor) – Boston 6.20.15
In an audio cast: Many Voices, One Foundation—The Public History of Christian Science, our Reading Room Librarian, Jobina Townsend Zellner, comments about the development of our church movement and our structure.
You can go to the nine minute mark of the June 3, 2015 audio cast by clicking here, and you will hear what was written by her about our recent history:
On June 13, 2015 the Mary Baker Eddy Library did a follow-up to the Library’s Annual Meeting program held the previous weekend. Staff members Jonathon Eder, Steve Graham, Mike Hamilton, and Judy Huenneke discuss their work in researching and creating the June 6 event “Building on the foundation of Christ-healing: From the Collections at The Mary Baker Eddy Library.”
Here is an opportunity to learn more about the letters and other documents that Mary Baker Eddy wrote or dictated, as well as additional materials that formed the basis for the program. As part of the broadcast, listeners are encouraged to submit their thoughts about “building on the foundation of Christ-healing,” including their own personal, family, and community histories.
Also of note, Jonathon, Judy, and Mike participated in an interview that appeared in the April 2015 Christian Science Journal—”The rich history of Christian Science”, in which they brought out different dimensions of the ongoing story of Christian Science and its healing impact on individuals and in the world.
This is a reprint from the June 8, 2015 issue of the Christian Science Sentinel on JSH Online By Keitha Walker
Keitha, a mother and grandmother, and a local Journal-listed Christian Science Practitioner, shares her insights on “how to pray for the children of the world” and protect them.
Click on arrow to hear audio or read article below
When my first grandchild was three months old, I had the pleasure of taking care of him for about ten days. I had forgotten what it was like to be immersed in caring for such a pure and precious child, whom I knew to be truly an idea of God. It really was exalting. I found I didn’t want to have a thought, word, or action that wasn’t worthy of coming into his experience.
For example, when I gave Mikayel a bottle during the evening news, it wasn’t long before I turned off the TV. It was just too difficult to feed him and edit out reports of violence and all those commercials depicting disease and drugs. Not knowing how much he was capable of taking in, I decided that TV could wait until he had some tools with which to defend himself.
Once, while carrying Mikayel, I raised my voice at one of the dogs to get him to stop doing something. That made the baby cry. It helped me realize we don’t come into this world conditioned to startling words or loud noises. It helped me to question why I thought there weren’t alternatives to such jarring actions.
All of this was reminiscent of my very first days of motherhood. I remember the strong desire that welled up inside me to be the best person I could be so that a suitable model would be presented to my child. I wasn’t a Christian Scientist then, but in a few short years I read the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, and came across this sentence: “Nothing unworthy of perpetuity should be transmitted to children” (p. 61). The sentence had a familiar feel to it, although I was reading it for the first time.
That’s the way it is with an idea that comes from God. It has always been in divine Mind and is something we all innately know, even before we are particularly conscious of it or choose to be governed by it. And we can effectively support the children of the world and their caregivers by praying to bring out the correct idea of parenting that already exists in man’s true consciousness. Each of us, as the complete reflection of God, includes all the rightful attributes of our divine Parent (see Genesis 1:26, 27)—and this fact, when understood and put into practice, makes a good parent.
Seeing everyone as God’s reflection as we pray for mankind, we can help every parent and guardian of every child by acknowledging that the perfect qualities of our Father-Mother God are being expressed through each idea of His creation. Mothering and comforting ministrations are divinely natural to every individual charged with the care of a child.
The fatherhood and motherhood of God, reflected in God’s idea, man, are never absent, never overridden by false concepts such as exploitation, domination, or lack of compassion. We can know with deep conviction that everyone is, in reality, created to express the unselfed love so important in caring for children. Our recognition of this truth helps support the innate ability of all mankind to respond selflessly when called upon to care for those innocent ones, who express such childlike qualities as trust, optimism, and goodness. Our youth, after all, are the budding citizens of our future world, and worthy of our utmost attention and very best efforts.
The Glossary of the Christian Science textbook referenced above defines children in part this way: “The spiritual thoughts and representatives of Life, Truth, and Love” (p. 582). Life, Truth, and Love are capitalized because they are synonyms for God. Can mankind do less than honor and cherish children, and see them as precious spiritual ideas who are linked to God, as we all truly are?
Each of us, as the complete reflection of God, includes all the rightful attributes of our divine Parent.
Is it possible that our prayers can have an effect on the thought of others and help uplift world consciousness about the care of children? Years ago I was shown the need to pray about this issue and was given evidence of the effectiveness of such prayer. With my toddler daughter in a stroller, I was shopping one Sunday afternoon in a discount department store. A young woman with a little boy who looked to be about three years old was also shopping while pushing a stroller. They came to my attention because, although it appeared that she was the mother of the child, she was in a very matter-of-fact way making hateful remarks to him and calling him names.
The woman’s remarks bothered me greatly, and I moved away so my child wouldn’t hear them. I began to pray. Although I knew enough about Christian Science to know I didn’t have the right to interfere with another’s thinking without his or her knowledge and consent, the thought came to me that neither was I to bear witness to a false concept of man. In other words, I needed to stop being impressed by the picture before me and pray to see and know only what was actually true about the idea God created.
A short while later I took something into the dressing room to try on, and this young woman and her child were in an adjacent room. The verbal abuse of the little boy continued. At this, I turned wholeheartedly to God, and at that moment overwhelming compassion for both the mother and the child swept over me.
I don’t remember exactly what came to thought, but I do remember acknowledging that one spiritual idea could not harm another, nor could anyone be made to act out feelings of being victimized by the birth of, or need to care for, a child. I prayed to know that an innocent child could not be blamed or become the victim of another’s frustration or wrath concerning what she might be going through. I affirmed that love is eternally expressed in all of us, as God’s spiritual offspring; therefore, love is always present between a mother and a child and could be felt and expressed. I saw that love is the only true motivating factor of parenthood.
I have no idea how long I prayed along these lines, but gradually I became aware of a completely different attitude being articulated in the other cubicle. The most tender and loving words were coming out of this mother’s mouth. She was expressing the affection of real parenting to the little fellow.
This incident taught me a good lesson about how to pray for the children of the world. It assured me that God shows us what direction our prayers should take, and that our prayers do make a difference.
This week’s Bible lesson addresses this very question.
Is the Universe, Including Man, Evolved by Atomic Force?
Researchers are learning more and more about the brain everyday; but they still admit to knowing very little about Mind. Listen to this interesting TED talk where Donald Hoffman a Cognitive scientist presents his research on this subject.
Hoffman, in his presentation debunks our current theories about consciousness stating that “we are wrong and misinterpreting our perceptions” and that there is a different source than the brain for consciousness. Yet he still is reluctant to draw a correlation to a deific source.
In Christian Science, Mrs. Eddy, author of Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, established early on that Mind is a synonym for God. She writes in the glossary of the Science and Health on page 591
Mind. The only I, or Us; the only Spirit, Soul, divine
Principle, substance, Life, Truth, Love; the one God;
not that which is in man, but the divine Principle, or God,
of whom man is the full and perfect expression; Deity,
which outlines but is not outlined.
You are welcome to come to our service at 4:00 this Sunday, June 21, and join us to hear this lesson sermon on Is the Universe, Including Man, Evolved by Atomic Force?
Or you can listen to it here online.
We have all heard the joke and it sounds like a funny question, but what is the first thing we do in an emergency and how do we dial up God when there is an urgent need for help? Many find what they need by going to 911 in the Bible; that is Psalms 91 verse 1. It starts out ‘He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty“.
Click the below link from JSH-Online to hear some testimonies of how people used the 91st Psalm in prayer to get themselves out of some tight spots including a parachute jump where the chute failed.
Guests: Nigel Hutchinson-Brooks, Channing Walker, Clark Kelley, Paul Marin
October 12, 1997 – Sentinel Radio 1997
Click here to view:’ http://sentinel.christianscience.com/shared/view/cdzy71il1i?s=e
Our Bible lesson this Sunday, June 14, is entitled “God the Preserver of Man” and will be read at our 4:00 service. There will be readings from the Bible in which the 91st Psalm is included along with correlative passages from our text book, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy. We will hear the song ‘Amazing Grace’ by guest soloist, Nicole Moersch.
Click here for some examples of music at our services
You can read the whole Psalm below.
Psalm 91 KJV
He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.
Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.
He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.
Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day;
Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday.
A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee.
Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked.
Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation;
There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.
For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.
They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.
Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.
Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name.
He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him.
With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation.
This years Annual Meeting at the Mother Church is called “A spiritual foundation of Christ healing.”
You can view it online by checking here The Mother Church Annual Meeting
Or come and join others to view it together at the Rancho Santa Fe church in the Sunday school
.Phone 858-756-1691
6165 La Flecha, Rancho Santa Fe, CA (Map)
View the replay of Annual Meeting 2014.
Check World Clock (an external website) to find the time in your community.
Saturday, June 6, from 2:00 to 3:30 p.m.—”Building on the foundation of Christ-healing: From The Mary Baker Eddy Library Collections” (live audio webcast on ChristianScience.com/AnnualMeeting and in the Extension of The Mother Church): This session focuses on Mary Baker Eddy’s correspondence with her students about the practice of healing, and on how Christian Scientists since Mrs. Eddy’s time have built on the foundation of Christ-healing. The webcast will be available for replay for one year.
Saturday, June 6, from 4:00 to 5:00 p.m.—Mary Baker Eddy Library Open House (Atrium and Lobby of the Mary Baker Eddy Library)
Saturday, June 6, from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m.—Christian Science Monitor New England Field Meeting (live audio webcast on ChristianScience.com/AnnualMeeting and in the Extension of The Mother Church): This session will explore how active engagement with the Monitor directly relates to your healing practice and spiritual progress. The webcast will be available for replay for one year.
Sunday, June 7, from 1:30 to 3:00 p.m.—”Hearts given to a Cause” (live audio webcast on ChristianScience.com/AnnualMeeting and in the Extension of The Mother Church): This session is a metaphysical focus on how genuine healing ignites a fire in our hearts, impelling us individually and together to respond with the Comforter to the wider needs of the world. The webcast will be available for replay for one year.
Monday, June 8, from 1:00 pm to around 2:45 or 3 p.m.—Annual Meeting (live video webcast on ChristianScience.com/AnnualMeeting and in the Extension of The Mother Church): Annual Meeting will include discussion of the theme, “‘A spiritual foundation of Christ-healing’—continuing to build.” The webcast will be available for replay for one year.
Tuesday, June 9, (morning, 9:00 to 11:00 am, and afternoon, 1:30 to 3:30 pm)—Christian Science Practitioner Roundtable discussions (at various locations, the roundtables won’t be online). This event is ticketed. Registration closed on April 30.
Tuesday, June 9, from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m.—”Conversation on Christian Science Nursing with our Church Family” (in the Original Edifice of The Mother Church, the conversation won’t be online).
Let us know as soon as possible if you plan to come to Boston. Please fill out the “Are you coming?” form. This way we can make sure we have space for everyone. Seating for all events, except the Practitioner Roundtables, is first come, first serve. If needed, we will provide over-flow seating in the Original Edifice. Also make your accommodation reservation soon as this is a busy time of year. Consider exploring hotels in the suburbs of Boston too.
At this coming Sunday’s service, May 23rd, Bill Bailey who plays regularly at the Rancho Santa Fe Church, will be playing and soloing for us. Bill has played for us before, and most recently at the potluck we had after church on May 3rd. Watch the below video where he performed with Elizabeth Griswold as she sings her original song “This Love”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0c96hEbbODY&feature=youtu.be
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlT5Ri5H9UE&rel=0
This is from a blog post from JSH-Online, April 30, 2015 called Living Christian Science Today
There we were, in a glass-enclosed room with our seven young male students, all violent offenders in a youth correctional facility. My husband and I had been teaching these young men about Christian Science and about God’s love for them, and now it was time for them to apply what they had learned.
I watched them shift uneasily in their seats. They had just found out that the two young men who had stabbed some of their fellow prisoners with pens the night before would be allowed to return to the prison ward that night. Since all the men on the ward slept in one big room, not in separate cells, they felt vulnerable after lights-out. They feared a repeat of the violence and told us, “We don’t know what we’re going to do.”
As I heard my husband assure them of their safety in the everlasting arms of divine Love, I turned to God in prayer and quietly affirmed His constant presence and power despite the apparent threat. Just as Moses heard what he needed to know when he spoke to the children of Israel, I knew that I, too, could hear and speak God’s Word to these young men to calm their fears.
I listened for the still small voice of divine wisdom, and the thought came that God and His goodness are ever present, and that Christ, Truth, is always communicating that goodness to each of us—and expressing it in each of us as Love’s image. I knew that all of God’s creation reflects the perfection of the one divine Mind. Since God is Love and governs everyone, I reasoned that there could not possibly be a victim or a perpetrator. I also recalled the statement “Divine Love corrects and governs man,” which was in the Bible Lesson that week from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy (p. 6).
I told the men, “God is Love, and He has created each and every one of us to love and be loved. The word God comes from the word good. God has created each of us good, and the goodness of divine Love shines on everyone in this ward right now and always, leaving no one out of the kingdom of heaven. God, good, Love, takes care of you and me and all, because God is All-in-all, so there is nothing to fear.”
We learn in Christian Science that a humble desire to be and do good is prayer. My husband and I had taught the young men in the class the Lord’s Prayer, together with its spiritual interpretation in Science and Health (see pp. 16–17). We also assured them that to “let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:5) is empowering, and they were being given an opportunity to prove that their prayers could be effective in their own lives.
So how did it all turn out that day? Was our prayer effective?
Prayer has a leavening effect that not only blesses the one who prays but also lifts the thought of others involved in the situation. And, as in the story of the woman who hid the leaven “in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened” (Luke 13:21), right there in the prison, the leaven of divine Science leavened the whole ward. Our students exuded a confidence that God was their Life and that the power of God—the action of Love—takes care of man.
They high-fived each other as they walked out of our session into the prisoners’ common area. Written on yellow sticky-notes stuck to their shirts was Mrs. Eddy’s statement “Divine Love corrects and governs man.” They were empowered by the realization that they had the divine right to be free of fear.
There were no further problems with fights breaking out in the prison ward, even after the two prisoners returned. We had all patiently persevered and proved the effectiveness of prayer to overcome fear, and we had demonstrated that all of God’s children are under the control of divine Love. We had heeded Paul’s injunction “Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:21).
Marsha Pecaut CS is a local Christian Science Practitioner and a member of the Christian Science Society of Encinitas
The Reading Room will be open this weekend from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM on Saturday and 11:30 AM to 4:00 PM on Sunday during the Encinitas Street Fair. Parking is tight so it might be a good time to take the train! Come by and say hi if you can.
We will have a scavenger hunt called “The God’s name game” during the fair this Saturday and Sunday in our Garden where the kids search for the seven synonyms for God.
In our textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy she defines God in the glossary as:
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.
So we place the names: Principle; Mind; Soul; Spirit; Life; Truth; Love around the garden to be found by the seekers. Come by and join the fun and when a prize .
This game is based on ideas taught in a Christian Science Sunday school. For more information about a Sunday School near you click Here .
We are also affiliated with the Sunday school at the Rancho Santa Fe Church whose Sunday School meets Sunday mornings at 10:00 am while church is going on in the auditorium next door. This is a very active Sunday school and would also welcome new students with open arms.
If you would like to know what kids learn in Sunday school, click on the link below
What do you learn in Sunday School?
For information about the Rancho Santa Fe Sunday School Click here
April 29 & 30. Enjoy over 450 unique food, arts and crafts vendors plus four entertainment stages, children’s rides, Bike Valets, and a Beer Garden! Take advantage of free family fun, entertainment, a National Award Winning MainStreet and a traditional So-Cal beach town. Come for the sun, stay for the moonlight.
Savor craft beers and soak up the sun while listening to the best bands in San Diego rock out at the Beer Garden Stage. You can even bring your kids and your dogs! Take a break from the hustle and bustle by listening to the eclectic music at The Lumberyard Courtyard Stage. See the stars of tomorrow perform at the Hansen’s Community Stage and the Encinitas School of Music Stage! Great news cyclists, our two Bike Valet stations are open both days to store your bicycles while you peruse the Street Fair!
PLEASE NOTE that there is NO PARKING on Hwy 101 from D to J Street on Saturday and Sunday from 4am – 6pm. Your car will be towed by law enforcement if parked in the specified area. There will be signage leading up to the Street Fair as a reminder.
Phone (760) 753 4545
912 S. Coast Hwy. 101, (just South of H Street – across from Starbucks), Encinitas, CA 92024
If you would like to receive information from our Christian Science Society of Encinitas which includes notices about our events and services, please enter your email address to the right in the subscribe window. It is free, and you will then be sent an email to confirm your subscription.
Mary Baker Eddy wrote the poem Satisfied and it is a regular hymn that is sung during our services. Jen Hijj sang this hymn as a solo with a contemporary arrangement at today’s May 17th church service. She does a great job and we were blessed to have her.
The words to the poem are:
It matters not what be thy lot,
So Love doth guide;
For storm or shine, pure peace is thine,
Whate’er betide.
And of these stones, or tyrants’ thrones,
God able is
To raise up seed — in thought and deed —
To faithful His.
Aye, darkling sense, arise, go hence!
Our God is good.
False fears are foes — truth tatters those,
When understood.
Love looseth thee, and lifteth me,
Ayont hate’s thrall:
There Life is light, and wisdom might,
And God is All.
The centuries break, the earth-bound wake,
God’s glorified!
Who doth His will — His likeness still —
Is satisfied.
