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On Thursday January 20, 1876, there was a knock at the front door of Number 8 Broad Street in Lynn, Massachusetts. The resident, a woman by the name of Mary Baker Glover, had recently published her first book, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures.

 “What a word is this!” Those words express the amazement people felt when Jesus healed a man with “a spirit of an unclean devil” (see Luke 4:33–36 ). They were not marveling over an especially well-crafted speech or sermon by Jesus.

In a Christian Science lecture in the mid-1960s, I heard the speaker make a statement of truth and then add dryly, “I’m sure we all know someone who needs to hear that!” Laughter from the audience greeted this comment. Isn’t that always the temptation—to tell someone else what to think or do? I love the anecdote about a Christian Science couple taking a drive in the country.

Two of the world’s greatest givers, Christ Jesus and one who reverently followed him, Mary Baker Eddy, show us through their words and works how to be active participants in the healing work of brotherly love, charitable kindness, generous spirit, and spiritual witnessing. We could say that, instead of keeping to themselves all the spiritual good they loved and lived, they gave of their “heart’s rich overflow” (Minny M.

At a Christian Science students’ association meeting a while ago, the speaker asked the audience to pray for themselves for three minutes. They were to use a specific concept from Mary Baker Eddy’s answer to the question, “What is man?” ( Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p.

Individuals and our world community are often challenged by lack. It may be lack of health, a lack of finances, of housing, of family, of safety, of intelligence, of opportunity, of food, of contentment, or of something else worthwhile.

If there is one point that becomes apparent from reading the Old Testament book of Job, it is that chronic analysis of some problem and the self-blame that tends to accompany it are ultimately futile. They don’t contribute to progress or healing.

A headache and sickness is healed.

In one day , I attended an informal meeting for Christian Science practitioners and teachers at First Church of Christ, Scientist, Altrincham, and then a larger meeting including others who were serious about developing their healing practice.   I was grateful for a sense of unity in the healing work and for the dedication and inspired prayer that my fellow practitioners give to their work.

Our practitioner roundtable was sponsored by the Christian Science Society, Margate, in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.   An atmosphere was created where each participant was able to speak freely and openly, not only about personal healings, but about issues relating to the public practice.