Editorials

Early within each of the first five books of the New Testament is an account of John the Baptist's activities and of his baptism of Jesus. The record shows that as Jesus came up out of the water, the Spirit of God descended upon him and a voice was heard out of heaven, declaring, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

Most people want to be able to help and comfort others. If we pray about it, there's no question that we'll find opportunities to do so.

The young visitor was quite excited to tell his parents all that he had been taught during his first visit to a Christian Science Sunday School. He started to describe to them some of the things the class had discussed during the hour, adding that they also talked about someone named "Myrtle Mind"! When a friend told me this many years ago, it reminded me of some of the early impressions I had as a young Sunday School pupil about the terms mortal mind and error, which appear in Mrs.

She arrived in a shoe box, tenderly cushioned in plain white paper. My dad, who worked for The Mother Church, brought her home one day to show me.

She was known around the city as a sinner. Simon, the highminded Pharisee who had invited Jesus to a banquet at his house, was shocked that the Master allowed her to come near him as he ate—to wash his feet with her teardrops, dry them with her long hair, kiss them, and then tenderly pour expensive perfumed ointment over them.

In recent months I've become increasingly aware of an opening of thought—a growing willingness among people to consider new ideas. The ideas I'm referring to, however, are so different from the normal course of human thinking that an outside observer who hasn't fully investigated them for himself might even wonder why a rational person should take them seriously.

The validity of Christian healing and of its reforming influence in the world has never been verified merely by the popularity of religion or by the number of people attending a church. If we look back at the advent of Christianity, it's clear that Christ Jesus didn't depend on how many people were ready to commit themselves fully to his teachings in order to validate somehow the real significance or value of his God-given mission.

A friend of mine, experiencing severe pain, called for help from a Christian Science practitioner in the early hours one morning. My friend is a Christian Scientist, and the help she was seeking was prayer.

LEADING THOUGHT INTO THE 21ST CENTURY "We have it within us to be splendid, Dan Rather. " These were the closing words of poet Maya Angelou as she was being interviewed by the CBS news anchor a couple of days prior to the inauguration of President Clinton.

Quite obviously, if a person went around with a bushel basket on his head, the world would seem pretty dark! But who would do such a thing? It may be a twist on Christ Jesus' intended message to think of a person putting a basket over his or her head, but that's a picture that has presented itself to my thought. Of course, when Jesus said, "Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house," he was talking about his followers being "the light of the world,"   Matt.