Dear Fellow Mother Church Members,
As Clerk of The Mother Church, it is with special anticipation that I look forward to our coming together online for the Annual Meeting this year on June 8. And it is certainly what we each bring to the meeting that will impact what we receive from it! Thank you for the many member responses to the theme “Our duty to God, to our Leader, and to mankind.” This speaks to your earnest devotion and commitment as members and leads to practical healing progress for our movement and humanity.
Mary Baker Eddy offered us such love and wisdom by urging church members to remain mentally alert and defend themselves every day from the mortal tendency to “forget” or “neglect” the cultivation and exercise of their spiritual sense (see Church Manual, p. 42). Daily study of the Bible coupled with deep, quiet, prayerful meditation is powerful. Certainly we know that individual spiritual illumination is a brightening for all amidst the seeming obstruction of today’s materialism.
Many speak of the great and continuing need to know God better and serve Him more fully. Knowing God is the essence of our ability to love and enables us to feel His presence and to reflect His power in tangible ways. What a wonderful obligation to commit to!
Our duty to our Leader is understood and visibly evidenced—in our devotion to the Christ, Truth, that God revealed to her, and she clearly explains in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. Mrs. Eddy’s generous encouragement and admonitions are ever with us. And as we live with the fundamentals of Christian Science in every activity of our daily lives and learn from her example—from her selflessness and singleness of purpose—we, too, will become more effective and blessed healers.
Then naturally we are ready to fulfill our duty to mankind because we feel spiritually awakened through cultivated, fresh devotion to God and to our Leader. We have found the prerequisites to offering spiritual solutions to the imperative needs of our fellow man by reflecting the Christly power that destroys materialism and reveals the substance of Spirit as harmonious and everlasting.
Right this moment, we are being called to forward the hope of divine Science for all. Thank you for your sacred and devoted individual preparation for Annual Meeting as members of The Mother Church.
Laurie Q. Richardson
Clerk of The Mother Church
Note: The announcement has been changed from what is found in the print edition of The Christian Science Journal to reflect that Annual Meeting will be held online only.
