For two years between college and graduate school, I had the privilege of working part time as a tour guide at The Mother Church. I showed the Church buildings in Boston to visitors and answered questions. The experience caused me to think a great deal about what I valued in my own Church membership.
Most on the tours had little or no previous exposure to Christian Science. At first, I worried that the public would not appreciate the Church of Christ, Scientist, if they saw how it was different from other churches and institutions that they already knew and respected. I soon realized that the uniqueness of this denomination was actually refreshing to the open-minded public. To me, the way in which visitors were able to relate to the content of the tour indicated the universal sense of fellowship that Christian Science cultivates. For a Christian Scientist, the Church community does not refer to a special club or social network; it is really just another term for the whole human family, responding to the same, universal, healing Love.
Let me give an example of the deep sense of fellowship I’m gaining as a member of The Mother Church. I recently stayed with some good friends who are not Christian Scientists. As I sat in one room studying the Christian Science Bible Lesson, I thought about the fresh and new spiritual views I was gaining from my reading—views I assumed were completely unnoticed and inconsequential to my friends in the next room. I suddenly felt that we might as well be in different countries; our mental outlooks on life seemed so completely different.
