Dear Friends,

This month's CSMonitor article features the James Webb telescope.  The images and the technology are breathtaking.  Enjoy. 

"Mark Your Books" has begun.  Meet in the Sunday School after church with your lesson books and get a jump start on the week's Bible Lesson.  

Bible Lesson Workshop is meeting on Fridays at noon.  Learn how to participate on social media - Signal platform.  Your contributions will be featured in the Friday meetings.  Find the meaning of Bible terms in Strongs Concordance online or look up words from Science and Health in Webster's 1828 dictionary.  

For assistance with websites or apps see email below.  All research tools are available in the Reading Room in book form or on our Study Room computer. 

With love,Andrea Hunter, Librarian
Hallie Keel, Asst. Librarian / Editor

Contact us at fccsroswellrr@gmail.com
Newsletter Links also at christianscienceroswell.com

Did Mary Baker Eddy say it?
“You must have lived love.”

We were asked about a statement attributed to Mary Baker Eddy. Did she ever connect the act of “living love” to the successful practice of Christian Science healing?

Our researchers found that Eddy did indeed cover this topic in her November 20–21, 1898, Normal class—the last class she taught. 

Lida Stocking Stone, who was among the 70 students invited to attend that instruction, recalled this in her 1935 reminiscence:

Among the many spiritual gems which our Leader gave us in the short period of two days, one grows clearer and brighter every year. Each member of the class was asked, “If you were called to some one who was apparently dying, what would you do?” After each one in turn answered earnestly but technically, she said, “Yes, you have all answered scientifically but that would not meet the case. You must have lived love.” I shall never forget the heavenly look upon our beloved Leader’s face. To one she had set the seal of Christian Science upon her teaching. How our Leader always taught that mere intellectualism would never heal the sick, cleanse the sinner or raise the dead.1 

By Moji George 

From the August 2023 issue of The Christian Science Journal

A young child just learning what sums are doesn’t realize they’re being introduced to the principle of addition, and the science of mathematics. Whatever is based in science is governed by principles or laws, be it music, tennis, or nuclear physics, and so on. 

When a principle or law is first discovered, it’s usually followed by a period of experimentation and research, before it is deemed an advance in human thought. But the law itself, e.g., the law of gravity, is not new. The law existed before its discovery. Objects fell to the ground just as readily before Isaac Newton discovered the law of gravity. Studying the law governing a science gives a better understanding of its practicality to human situations. 

As someone who studied several science subjects in school, I noticed that whether it’s a pure or applied science, it broadly has four essential elements. The first is the self-existing principle that governs the science. The second is the fixed, unvarying quality or constant value governing the implementation of the principle in every circumstance. The third is the discovery. Fourth is the understanding that comes from studying the science, adhering to its rules, and putting into practice what is learned.  

Christian Science is the Science of Christ that Jesus practiced. God, divine Love, is its self-existent Principle. This is the first essential element of this Science. Referring to God’s self-existence, the Bible states: “From everlasting to everlasting, thou art God” (Psalms 90:2). Expounding on this, Mary Baker Eddy, author of Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, writes, “God, good, is self-existent and self-expressed, though indefinable as a whole” (p. 213).

Jesus’ teaching and practice revealed God as Love, the divine Principle ever governing true existence. Although his work seemed new to his hearers, who said, “It was never so seen in Israel” (Matthew 9:33), Jesus assured them that what they perceived as unheard of, was based on the timeless, unchangeable, ever-present divine Principle—God.  

The human man, Jesus, proved practically that divine Love was the Principle of his teaching, by healing through God’s power alone. The incorporeal Christ, expressed so fully in Jesus’ life and example, is God’s spiritual ideal. Christ is the same from age to age, the unvarying constant or fixed ideal that’s applicable to every given situation. Referencing Hebrews 13:8, Science and Health says, “Life is, like Christ, ‘the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever’ ” (p. 249). Christ is the second essential element in this Science.  

In 1866, through consecrated study of the Bible, Mrs. Eddy discovered the Science of Christ, or Christian Science. It’s the theology that Jesus taught and practiced. The rules for this Science are found in Science and Health. Christian Science is not a new theory propounded by Mrs. Eddy. It’s the discovery of timeless Truth. This is the third essential element in the Science of Christ. 

The fourth essential element is gaining an understanding of divine Love, the Principle of Christ’s Science, through spiritual study and by practicing what we are understanding, however modest. Getting better acquainted with its law enables us to understand it better, and through the dependable grace of Christ, the more we practice, the more we understand; and vice versa. 

When, in my practice of Christian Science, my spiritual study and conscientious prayers aren’t yielding healing results in a case, rather than blame myself or the discovery, or wish I better understood metaphysics, I’m learning that what’s needed is to put into practice the understanding of God, divine Love, that I do know. Science and Health states, “If you fail to succeed in any case, it is because you have not demonstrated the life of Christ, Truth, more in your own life,—because you have not obeyed the rule and proved the Principle of divine Science” (p. 149). I see this as encouragement rather than an admonition.

What does it mean to demonstrate Truth more? Certainly, we can express more grace—a quality of Christ innate to all. We can also put into practice the mustard seed of faith we have, by holding to any simple truth about God that we know. And in the midst of a worrisome challenge, we can obey the rules of Christ’s Science found in Science and Health. I am finding that this is not an impossible task. We’re always capable of doing more than we are already doing. So, if I’m faced with a frightening situation, I see it as an opportunity to demonstrate Truth more—to prove the efficacy of Christian Science.   

Like Jesus, the Exemplar of the Science of Christ, we all include the ability to learn and prove the Principle of Christian Science that heals and transforms. This is because it is a Science. We are all empowered and enabled through Christ—God’s universal, unvarying, spiritual ideal—which is present in human consciousness, speaking to us in a way we can individually comprehend.

As we listen to, obey, and follow Christ’s leading, God shows the way, ensuring, in His mercy and love, that all who sincerely strive to listen, hear. Then we’re guided, step by step, thought by thought, as we adhere to the spiritual rules governing Christianly scientific demonstration. Today, many are finding that they can trust the outcome of their prayers to God—the unfailing divine Principle of Christian Science. 

Christian Science is the discovered Science that Jesus taught and practiced. Jesus’ healing record is the standard we strive to emulate, and we make progress in doing so, to some degree, in our daily healing practice. His work proves, now and forever, the reliability of the Science that Mrs. Eddy would later discover. So what must we do? “We must go and do likewise, else we are not improving the great blessings which our Master worked and suffered to bestow upon us” (Science and Health, p. 25).

When we seek Christian Science treatment from a Christian Science practitioner, or pray for ourselves, the universal applicability of the Christ-power is what gives us an expectation of healing. God, the self-existent, unchanging Principle that governed Jesus’ teaching and healing work, is omnipotent divine Love. Mrs. Eddy discovered the law of God and classified it a Science, because she proved that it is just as effective in healing today as it was long ago; and that anyone can prove this law.  

Moji George
Associate Editor