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Friday, 7 September 2012


Australia and the cross of Calvary
Joyce Voysey

Before I start on Luke, may I add a few facts I found when consulting Historical Sketches by Clifford Smith?  Mr. Smith starts out by talking about New Hampshire the way it was in Mrs. Eddy’s early days – in 1840 to be precise. 

He says there were 5,000 inhabitants in Concord, the capital of the state.  Concord was famous for its stagecoaches; it had a number of societies, agricultural, musical, Bible, and missionary, besides four or five bookstores, at least three newspapers, and a literary journal!!!

In 1840 Bow, which was the Baker’s town, had 1,000 inhabitants, a meeting house, ten district schools, and fifteen mills of different kinds.  (As an Australian, I can’t but want to compare those figures with towns of similar size in Australia.  I wonder how I would go about doing that for Brisbane in 1840.)

What a vibrant mental atmosphere was prepared in New Hampshire for the reception of Christian Science by one of its offspring!  However, one wonders what God has prepared for Australia, which has “the Southern Cross in its skies, - the Cross of Calvary, which binds human society into solemn union” Science &Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy p.475:30-32.

Listening


As mentioned in another column here, I had a note from a reader of last month’s book “Christian Science in Germany”, who felt that the secret of the successful healing work recounted in that book was that the author LISTENED.  

As authority, our book club member sent a remarkable and beautiful poem by Helen R. Quitzow called “In A Christian Science Sunday School” from the May 1966 issue of The Christian Science Journal which readers can find at any Christian Science Reading Room or at the JSH-online website, http://jsh.christianscience.com/.  And we have permission to reproduce a snippet below.

 

poem

IN A CHRISTIAN SCIENCE SUNDAY SCHOOL - The Christian Science Journal
Source: journal.christianscience.com
After her first visit to the Sunday School,A tiny child said,"I sat still for a very long time."That was all.After a second visit, she said,"I listened."And that too was all.Jesus said to the damsel he called not dead but sleeping:"Talitha cumi; . . . Damsel, I say unto thee,...

Tuesday, 4 September 2012


Reading the Bible together

I always feel that reading the Bible is like coming home.  It’s somehow authentic, honest.  It reveals.  It challenges.  It stirs.  It comforts.

Some years ago, a young Chinese passer-by popped her head into our Reading Room door (in the south west of Sydney) and said: This door is never open!  We replied: Well, it’s open now.  She responded: Do you do Bible study here?  We said (after a short pause): Yes of course.  Come along on Wednesday nights.

Well, she came, many times.  And so, to accommodate her request, we included some time for reading the Bible together in our regular mid-week meetings.  We sat around in a small circle, each with our Bibles, taking turns to read 5 verses each.  Our new friend, a Buddhist, has a Christian mother back in China.   She wanted to understand.  She asked about Revelation; we suggested starting with something a bit easier and chose one of the Gospels.  She read from a different version from the rest of us, and was unfamiliar with lots of the pronunciations, but it was so wonderful to journey together in this reading.

That reading together changed us, and changed the church.     

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