Editorials

There's an old saying that you can't put your foot in the same river twice. The message conveyed is that whenever we enter a situation or engage an issue, we change it.

Balak, the king of the Moabites in the Old Testament, would have liked to put a curse on the children of Israel. He was afraid that they would overrun his kingdom, so he sought out Balaam, a well-known magician and soothsayer, to pronounce a curse against the Israelites.

I remember a time when I was about five years old and my family went to an Easter play produced at a local college. The portrayal of Christ Jesus was very persuasive.

The teachings of Christian Science place great emphasis on the importance of exercising spiritual sense if we would begin to comprehend the true nature of God's universe and discover our own purpose in the divine order of being. To some, however, this frequently unrecognized, though always innate, capacity called "spiritual sense" may not seem like something that would have much relationship to everyday life.

There's a story about a woman from the South in the United States who visited a staid northern church in New York City. The service was formal, cool, perfect.

Of all the paintings depicting the Annunciation, the one that holds a special appeal for me is the Fra Angelico fresco in the Convent of S. Marco in Florence.

I've always felt it was so appropriate that the first Christmas came wrapped in such beautiful images of light. For example, there is the story we all know of the humble shepherds in the field, quietly watching their flock on the night of Jesus' birth.

Christmas shouldn't feel like a burden; it's really all about the lifting of weight and darkness. It's about light.

If we were to select a passage from the Bible that represents the very essence of Christian Science, it would be difficult to find a more appropriate one than the account of Jesus' praying after the last supper. Prayer began his ministry, anchored it, and confirmed all that he did.

To someone who hasn't had the actual experience of living with Christianity on a daily basis, some of its goals and ideals might be considered rather impractical. On the one hand, most people could probably agree that it's relatively reasonable to want to get along with your neighbor—even perhaps to love your neighbor.