Editorials

How can a church, or any organization for that matter, pare down ritualized traditions that could deaden its effectiveness?

Imagine the wonder of the wise men when they saw the babe Jesus—the human manifestation of the Son of God, or Christ. "When they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.

In the spring of 1879, a little band of earnest seekers after Truth went into deliberations over forming a church without creeds, to be called the "Church of Christ, Scientist. " They were members of evangelical churches, and students of Mrs.

There was urgency in his voice as Dr. Eugene Habecker, president of the American Bible Society (ABS), described the challenge of "post-literacy," a phenomenon of twentieth-century society that, he says, keeps people in Western culture from reading the Bible.

There are people whose hearts burn with gratitude even in the midst of hardship. The Pilgrims who founded the first permanent European colonial settlement in New England in 1620 suffered continuous hardship.

Have you been thinking that the church you attend isn't what you want it or expect it to be? Maybe you think it's dull or restrictive, something uninspiring. If what you're thinking about Church is unattractive, if it's something you don't care to unite with, consider the significance of seeing Church from a different standpoint.

Few things present as great a contrast as Jesus' thoughts and his disciples' thoughts as they walked back to Bethany, near Jerusalem, to the home of Mary and Martha and their brother Lazarus.  See John 10:39—11:44.

Most bookstores and libraries have a special section called "self-improvement" or "self-help"—filled with books, tapes, and videos that profess to make you a better person. Some of these say that they can make you an expert on Oriental cooking or plumbing or a foreign language.

Overcoming sickness and sin through a growing understanding of the allness of God, good, is the natural result of practicing Christian Science. But healing oneself is really just the beginning of this practice.

For consistent effectiveness in the practice of Christian Science healing, we must understand the essential metaphysics of man's relationship to God and how God's laws apply specifically to individual human needs. We must also know the rules of Christian Science practice and adhere to them faithfully.