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American writer and humorist Mark Twain once wrote, “The difference between the almost-right word and the right word is really a large matter—it’s the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning. ” What a profound observation! It strikes me that the sincere Christian thought I was brought up with, and the more metaphysical view of Christian theology and practice I’ve since learned through the teachings of Christian Science, hold a similar relation.

At this time of year, much of the world is ablaze with color and lights and decoration in anticipation of Christmas. Amid all the dazzle it’s sometimes hard to find the simple signs that mark this as a holy day.

The following is an edited summary of the 2017 Annual Meeting workshop “ The Christian Science Monitor:  uplifting the spirit of humanity,” held on June 3 in the Extension of The Mother Church and broadcast live online. To watch the complete replay, visit christianscience.

My friend had a healing that took her by surprise. She wasn’t amazed that she’d been healed; she had expected that.

While vast numbers of people find comfort and healing in the Bible’s spiritual meaning, many pages of the Bible are filled with violence. To interpret the Scriptures in an authentic way—and to find inspiration even in those passages depicting violence and death—we need to deal with and confront that violent record truthfully and openly, and with deep prayer.

Many realize that we can’t demonstrate, or prove, what we don’t understand, neither do we understand what we don’t demonstrate. Understanding and demonstration go hand in hand and are essential to each other.

One of the most precious gifts that God gives each one of us is spiritual sense, our inherent ability to understand God and to discern the reality of good. We can always exercise this God-derived insight to rightly assess the quality of our thoughts and actions, to distinguish between what’s right and what needs correcting and uplifting, so that we better conform to God-modeled thinking and behavior.

Some things work . Others don’t.

The author of Hebrews wrote about the great faith of Abraham and other early Bible worthies, who “confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.

Each year, our church sponsors a Christian Science lecture, given by a member of the Christian Science Board of Lectureship. The lecture is for the community, on a topic we feel will particularly bless others.