More than just words

Originally published on sentinel.christianscience.com, June 24, 2019.

Have you ever felt that some spiritual statements, especially ones that are well known to you, are just words?

I have, and at one time it was a real obstacle to my ability to practice and experience Christian Science healing. In my case, it had to do with “the scientific statement of being,” which is found on page 468 of Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy and is read aloud at the conclusion of every Sunday service in Churches of Christ, Scientist. It says: “There is no life, truth, intelligence, nor substance in matter. All is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation, for God is All-in-all. Spirit is immortal Truth; matter is mortal error. Spirit is the real and eternal; matter is the unreal and temporal. Spirit is God, and man is His image and likeness. Therefore man is not material; he is spiritual.”

This statement is profound not only in what it says about the nature of true existence, but also in its ability to heal when we glimpse something of that reality, which is the foundation for the practice of Christian Science. But there came a point where its words had become so familiar to me that I lost sight of all that.

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