Online event: Giving Freely of Ourselves and What We All Gain

online event:

The New View of God and Its Effect on Well-being

A Christian Science Talk given on January 8, 2023
by Melanie Wahlberg

(View the full talk on our Lecture Page)

When we feel overwhelmed by life’s problems, we may want to try to get more from the world. But when we do the opposite–give more of ourselves or focus on the God-given qualities we already have to express or contribute, we find that we end up not lacking anything. Really, we gain the unexpected good of joy, health, and strength that moves our lives and the world forward. Join Christian Science healer Melanie Wahlberg as she explains how.

About Melanie Wahlberg

 Says Melanie:

Two influences on me that I’ll never forget were the Christian Science Sunday School and a mom who turned to prayer and encouraged me to do the same.  These influences showed me something of the reliability of God and spiritual inspiration and trusting this helped me find my way growing up. 

Significant healing experiences with relationship and food issues, and violence in the community, were also unforgettable.  From this, I got an idea of the many ways that Christian Science can transform lives.

After finishing a doctorate in mathematics, I became a college professor and truly enjoyed teaching.  I found that teaching was less about telling students something than facilitating the students’ discoveries of new concepts.  There was nothing better than witnessing a reluctant student realize that a previously mystifying concept was actually within reach to anyone.

But the higher promise of Christian Science beckoned me to help people redeem and uplift their lives in a fuller way.  When students came to my office for help with calculus, we often found ourselves talking about the joy and excitement of growing spirituality.  After just two years at the college, I resigned from my position and began accepting calls as a Christian Science practitioner. I wrote articles for the Christian Science periodicals, was a frequent guest on Sentinel radio, and began advertising my practice in The Christian Science Journal in 2004. My husband and I also started a family.

These days I love working from my home office in the Los Angeles area.  I like to see lives transformed by the healing ideas of Christian Science, where we ourselves are helped and, at the same time, find we can help others.  My life as a mom has a lot of the same focus.  And whether the spiritual ideas apply to health issues, school, social lives, or sports, my three teenagers push me to “keep it real.”

 This event will be live-streamed on our Lecture Page . It will be available for on-demand video replay for 30 days afterward, at the same link..

More information: 703.591.3332
Sponsored by First Church of Christ, Scientist, Fairfax, Virginia.

Perfection within Imperfection

Wednesday Readings for September 21st, 2022

From The Bible

PSALMS. Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth.

EXODUS. And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they turn and encamp before Pi–hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, over against Baal–zephon: before it shall ye encamp by the sea. For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, They are entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut them in. And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, that he shall follow after them; and I will be honoured upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host; that the Egyptians may know that I am the LORD. And they did so. And it was told the king of Egypt that the people fled:

And he took six hundred chosen chariots, and all the chariots of Egypt, and captains over every one of them. And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and, behold, the Egyptians marched after them; and they were sore afraid: and the children of Israel cried out unto the LORD. And they said unto Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt? Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will shew to you to-day: ...

The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace. And the LORD said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me? speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward: But lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it: and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea. And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them: ...

And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground:

II SAMUEL. And David spake unto the LORD the words of this song in the day that the LORD had delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies, and out of the hand of Saul: And he said, The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; The God of my rock; in him will I trust: he is my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my saviour; thou savest me from violence. I will call on the LORD, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies. When the waves of death compassed me, the floods of ungodly men made me afraid; The sorrows of hell compassed me about; the snares of death prevented me; In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried to my God: and he did hear my voice out of his temple, and my cry did enter into his ears.

The LORD thundered from heaven, and the most High uttered his voice. And the channels of the sea appeared, the foundations of the world were discovered, at the rebuking of the LORD, at the blast of the breath of his nostrils. He sent from above, he took me; he drew me out of many waters; He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them that hated me: for they were too strong for me. They prevented me in the day of my calamity: but the LORD was my stay.

LUKE. And it came to pass afterward, that he went throughout every city and village, preaching and shewing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God: Now it came to pass on a certain day, that he went into a ship with his disciples: and he said unto them, Let us go over unto the other side of the lake. And they launched forth. But as they sailed he fell asleep: and there came down a storm of wind on the lake; and they were filled with water, and were in jeopardy. And they came to him, and awoke him, saying, Master, master, we perish. Then he arose, and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water: and they ceased, and there was a calm. And he said unto them, Where is your faith? And they being afraid wondered, saying one to another, What manner of man is this! for he commandeth even the winds and water, and they obey him.

II PETER. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, ...
Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.

SCIENCE AND HEALTH WITH KEY TO THE SCRIPTURES by Mary Baker Eddy

Let us rejoice that we are subject to the divine “powers that be.”

God is not the author of mortal discords.

Error, not Truth, produces all the suffering on earth.

To suppose that God constitutes laws of inharmony is a mistake; discords have no support from nature or divine law, however much is said to the contrary.

Man, created by God, was given dominion over the whole earth.

Man, made in His likeness, possesses and reflects God's dominion over all the earth.

To Jesus, not materiality, but spirituality, was the reality of man's existence, while to the rabbis the spiritual was the intangible and uncertain, if not the unreal.

Christ illustrates that blending with God, his divine Principle, which gives man dominion over all the earth.

Paul said, “To be spiritually minded is life.”

“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.” (Genesis i. 1, 2.) In the vast forever, in the Science and truth of being, the only facts are Spirit and its innumerable creations.

Entirely separate from the belief and dream of material living, is the Life divine, revealing spiritual understanding and the consciousness of man's dominion over the whole earth.

Human capacity is slow to discern and to grasp God's creation and the divine power and presence which go with it, demonstrating its spiritual origin.

Entire immunity from the belief in sin, suffering, and death may not be reached at this period, but we may look for an abatement of these evils; and this scientific beginning is in the right direction.

In the midst of imperfection, perfection is seen and acknowledged only by degrees. The ages must slowly work up to perfection. How long it must be before we arrive at the demonstration of scientific being, no man knoweth, — not even “the Son but the Father;” but the false claim of error continues its delusions until the goal of goodness is assiduously earned and won.

Earth has little light or joy for mortals before Life is spiritually learned.

The very circumstance, which your suffering sense deems wrathful and afflictive, Love can make an angel entertained unawares.

The days of our pilgrimage will multiply instead of diminish, when God's kingdom comes on earth; for the true way leads to Life instead of to death, and earthly experience discloses the finity of error and the infinite capacities of Truth, in which God gives man dominion over all the earth.

There is no vapid fury of mortal mind — expressed in earthquake, wind, wave, lightning, fire, bestial ferocity — and this so-called mind is self-destroyed. The manifestations of evil, which counterfeit divine justice, are called in the Scriptures, “The anger of the Lord.” In reality, they show the self-destruction of error or matter and point to matter's opposite, the strength and permanency of Spirit. Christian Science brings to light Truth and its supremacy, universal harmony, the entireness of God, good, and the nothingness of evil.

WIND. That which indicates the might of omnipotence and the movements of God's spiritual government, encompassing all things. Destruction; anger; mortal passions.

The divine must overcome the human at every point.

Because mortals believe in material laws and reject the Science of Mind, this does not make materiality first and the superior law of Soul last.

Matter is an error of statement.

We define matter as error, because it is the opposite of life, substance, and intelligence.

What you call matter was originally error in solution, elementary mortal mind, — likened by Milton to “chaos and old night.”

The destruction of error is by no means the destruction of Truth or Life, but is the acknowledgment of them.

The triumphs of Christian Science are recorded in the destruction of error and evil, from which are propagated the dismal beliefs of sin, sickness, and death.

What if the old dragon should send forth a new flood to drown the Christ-idea? He can neither drown your voice with its roar, nor again sink the world into the deep waters of chaos and old night. In this age the earth will help the woman; the spiritual idea will be understood.

In proportion as matter loses to human sense all entity as man, in that proportion does man become its master. He enters into a diviner sense of the facts, and comprehends the theology of Jesus as demonstrated in healing the sick, raising the dead, and walking over the wave.

The evidence of the physical senses often reverses the real Science of being, and so creates a reign of discord, — assigning seeming power to sin, sickness, and death; but the great facts of Life, rightly understood, defeat this triad of errors, contradict their false witnesses, and reveal the kingdom of heaven, — the actual reign of harmony on earth.

The more destructive matter becomes, the more its nothingness will appear, until matter reaches its mortal zenith in illusion and forever disappears.

Erring human mind-forces can work only evil under whatever name or pretence they are employed; for Spirit and matter, good and evil, light and darkness, cannot mingle.

Christian Science, contradicting sense, maketh the valley to bud and blossom as the rose.

Science reveals only one Mind, and this one shining by its own light and governing the universe, including man, in perfect harmony.

Mind and its formations can never be annihilated.

Every quality and condition of mortality is lost, swallowed up in immortality.

Mortal error will vanish in a moral chemicalization. This mental fermentation has begun, and will continue until all errors of belief yield to understanding. Belief is changeable, but spiritual understanding is changeless.

What I term chemicalization is the upheaval produced when immortal Truth is destroying erroneous mortal belief. Mental chemicalization brings sin and sickness to the surface, forcing impurities to pass away, as is the case with a fermenting fluid.

In moral chemicalization, when the symptoms of evil, illusion, are aggravated, we may think in our ignorance that the Lord hath wrought an evil; but we ought to know that God's law uncovers so-called sin and its effects, only that Truth may annihilate all sense of evil and all power to sin.

Before error is wholly destroyed, there will be interruptions of the general material routine. Earth will become dreary and desolate, but summer and winter, seedtime and harvest (though in changed forms), will continue unto the end, — until the final spiritualization of all things.

As material knowledge diminishes and spiritual understanding increases, real objects will be apprehended mentally instead of materially. The more destructive matter becomes, the more its nothingness will appear, until matter reaches its mortal zenith in illusion and forever disappears.

Final deliverance from error, whereby we rejoice in immortality, boundless freedom, and sinless sense, is not reached through paths of flowers nor by pinning one's faith without works to another's vicarious effort.

As this consummation draws nearer, he who has shaped his course in accordance with divine Science will endure to the end. As material knowledge diminishes and spiritual understanding increases, real objects will be apprehended mentally instead of materially.

What God cannot do, man need not attempt.

The Receptive Heart

Wednesday Readings for September 14th, 2022

From The Bible

Prov. 3:5, 6

5¶ Trust in the Lordwith all thine heart; and lean not unto thine ownunderstanding. 6In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

Josh. 14:6 (to ,), 7, 8, 10, 11 (to 2nd ,), 13

6¶ Then the children of Judah came unto Joshua in Gilgal: and Caleb the son ofJephunneh the Kenezite said unto him, ...7Forty years old was I when Moses the servant of the Lordsent me fromKadesh–barnea to espy out the land; and I brought him word again as it was inmine heart. 8Nevertheless my brethren that went up with me made the heart of the peoplemelt: but I wholly followed the Lordmy God. 10And now, behold, the Lordhath kept me alive, as he said, these forty and fiveyears, even since the Lordspake this word unto Moses, while the children ofIsrael wandered in the wilderness: and now, lo, I am this day fourscore andfive years old. 11As yet I am as strong this day as I was in the day that Moses sent me: as mystrength was then, even so is my strength now, ...13And Joshua blessed him, and gave unto Caleb the son of Jephunneh Hebronfor an inheritance.

Ps. 40:10, 11

10I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart; I have declared thyfaithfulness and thy salvation: I have not concealed thy lovingkindness and thytruth from the great congregation. 11Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me, O Lord: let thy lovingkindnessand thy truth continually preserve me.

Isa. 55:8–11

8¶ For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saiththe Lord. 9For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than yourways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. 10For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth notthither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it maygive seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: 11So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return untome void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in thething whereto I sent it.

Matt. 13:1–3, 18–23

1The same day went Jesus out of the house, and sat by the sea side. 2And great multitudes were gathered together unto him, so that he went into aship, and sat; and the whole multitude stood on the shore. 3And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sowerwent forth to sow; 18¶ Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower. 19When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, thencometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart.This is he which received seed by the way side. 20But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth theword, and anon with joy receiveth it; 21Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation orpersecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended. 22He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; andthe care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and hebecometh unfruitful. 23But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, andunderstandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some anhundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.

Mark 4:35–41

35And the same day, when the even was come, he saith unto them, Let us passover unto the other side. 36And when they had sent away the multitude, they took him even as he was inthe ship. And there were also with him other little ships. 37And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so thatit was now full. 38And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awakehim, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish? 39And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. Andthe wind ceased, and there was a great calm. 40And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith? 41And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of man isthis, that even the wind and the sea obey him?

Mark 11:22–24

22And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God. 23For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Bethou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart,but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shallhave whatsoever he saith. 24Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believethat ye receive them, and ye shall have them.

Mark 16:9–11, 14, 15, 17

9¶ Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared firstto Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils. 10And she went and told them that had been with him, as they mourned andwept. 11And they, when they had heard that he was alive, and had been seen of her,believed not. 14¶ Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraidedthem with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not themwhich had seen him after he was risen.

15And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel toevery creature. 17And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast outdevils; they shall speak with new tongues;

John 14:12, 13, 27

12Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shallhe do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto myFather. 13And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may beglorified in the Son. 27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, giveI unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

SH 46:7

The divineSpirit, which identified Jesus thus centuries9ago, has spoken through the inspired Word and will speakthrough it in every age and clime. It is revealed to thereceptive heart, and is again seen casting out evil and12 healing the sick.

SH 258:31–14

Through spiritual sense you can discern the heart ofdivinity, and thus begin to comprehend in Science the1generic term man. Man is not absorbed in Deity, andman cannot lose his individuality, for he re-3flects eternal Life; nor is he an isolated, soli-tary idea, for he represents infinite Mind, the sum of allsubstance. 6In divine Science, man is the true image of God. Thedivine nature was best expressed in Christ Jesus, whothrew upon mortals the truer reflection of God and lifted9their lives higher than their poor thought-models would allow, — thoughts which presented man as fallen, sick,sinning, and dying. The Christlike understanding of12 scientific being and divine healing includes a perfect Prin-ciple and idea, — perfect God and perfect man, — as thebasis of thought and demonstration.

SH 191:16, 24–25

The human thought must free itself from self-imposedmateriality and bondage. It should no longer18ask of the head, heart, or lungs: What areman's prospects for life? Mind is not helpless. Intelli-gence is not mute before non-intelligence. 24 The Science of being reveals man and immortality asbased on Spirit.

SH 114:23–8

Christian Science explains all cause and effect as men-24tal, not physical. It lifts the veil of mystery from Soul andbody. It shows the scientific relation of manto God, disentangles the interlaced ambiguities27of being, and sets free the imprisoned thought. In divineScience, the universe, including man, is spiritual, harmoni-ous, and eternal. Science shows that what is termed mat-30ter is but the subjective state of what is termed by theauthor mortal mind. Apart from the usual opposition to everything new,1the one great obstacle to the reception of that spiritual-ity, through which the understanding of Mind-science3comes, is the inadequacy of material terms formetaphysical statements, and the consequentdifficulty of so expressing metaphysical ideas as to make6them comprehensible to any reader, who has not person-ally demonstrated Christian Science as brought forth in my discovery.

SH 323:28

The effects of Christian Science are not so much seenas felt. It is the “still, small voice” of Truth30uttering itself. We are either turning awayfrom this utterance, or we are listening to it and goingup higher. Willingness to become as a little child and1to leave the old for the new, renders thought receptive ofthe advanced idea. Gladness to leave the false landmarks3and joy to see them disappear, — this disposition helpsto precipitate the ultimate harmony. The purificationof sense and self is a proof of progress. “Blessed are the6 pure in heart: for they shall see God.”

SH 272:3

3The spiritual sense of truth must be gained beforeTruth can be understood. This sense is assimilated onlyas we are honest, unselfish, loving, and meek.6In the soil of an “honest and good heart” theseed must be sown; else it beareth not much fruit, for theswinish element in human nature uproots it. Jesus said:9“Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures.” The spiritualsense of the Scriptures brings out the scientific sense, andis the new tongue referred to in the last chapter of Mark's12 Gospel.

SH 112:32

God is the Principle of divine metaphysics. As there1is but one God, there can be but one divine Principle ofall Science; and there must be fixed rules for the demon-3stration of this divine Principle. The letterof Science plentifully reaches humanity to-day,but its spirit comes only in small degrees. The vital part,

6 the heart and soul of Christian Science, is Love. With-out this, the letter is but the dead body of Science, —pulseless, cold, inanimate.

SH 451:8

Students of Christian Science, who start with its letter9and think to succeed without the spirit, will either makeshipwreck of their faith or be turned sadlyawry. They must not only seek, but strive,12to enter the narrow path of Life, for “wide is the gate,and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, andmany there be which go in thereat.” Man walks in the15direction towards which he looks, and where his treasureis, there will his heart be also. If our hopes and affec-tions are spiritual, they come from above, not from be-18 neath, and they bear as of old the fruits of the Spirit.SH 182:1

1The actof healing the sick through divine Mind alone, of casting3 out error with Truth, shows your position as a ChristianScientist.

SH 140:7–13

Not materially but spiritually weknow Him as divine Mind, as Life, Truth, and Love. We9shall obey and adore in proportion as we apprehend thedivine nature and love Him understandingly, warring nomore over the corporeality, but rejoicing in the affluence12 of our God. Religion will then be of the heart and not ofthe head.

SH 9:17

Dost thou “love the Lord thy God with all thy18heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind”?

This command includes much, even the sur-render of all merely material sensation, affec-21tion, and worship. This is the El Dorado of Christianity.It involves the Science of Life, and recognizes only thedivine control of Spirit, in which Soul is our master,24 and material sense and human will have no place.

SH 8:28–30

We should examine ourselves and learn what is theaffection and purpose of the heart, for in this way30 only can we learn what we honestly are.

SH 15:14

In order to pray aright, we must enter into the15closet and shut the door. We must close the lips andsilence the material senses. In the quietsanctuary of earnest longings, we must18deny sin and plead God's allness. We must resolve totake up the cross, and go forth with honest hearts towork and watch for wisdom, Truth, and Love. We21must “pray without ceasing.” Such prayer is an-swered, in so far as we put our desires into practice.The Master's injunction is, that we pray in secret and24let our lives attest our sincerity.

SH 573:29

Take heart, dear sufferer, for this reality of being willsurely appear sometime and in some way. There willbe no more pain, and all tears will be wiped away. Whenyou read this, remember Jesus' words, “The kingdom ofGod is within you.” This spiritual consciousness istherefore a present possibility.