Editorials

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.

Even to the most devoted Christian, Christ Jesus' three years of public ministry may often seem like little more than a sweet dream in the night—quickly and sadly gone. In fact, most of the people who lived in the world at the time he was here didn't know him.

Perhaps many of us would have to admit we haven't actually thought about adoring God lately. Yet the spiritual sense of the Lord's Prayer given in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy interprets "Hallowed be Thy name" as "Adorable One.

People get together in many ways. Maybe it's weekly softball (or cricket perhaps) in the summer; or it's every day at work; even living in the same apartment building is a way of sharing common interests.

The other day I was reading some beautiful prose. The writer had a wonderful way of describing even ordinary things in her childhood.

It is always inspiring to get fresh light from our prayerful study of familiar Bible passages. In The New English Bible we read Jesus' words "If you dwell within the revelation I have brought, you are indeed my disciples; you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.

If you think of the great conversions in Christian history—the kind of transformation in a person's life that actually went far enough to make a significant impact on the world—perhaps it is the Apostle Paul who first comes to mind. There are few accounts more dramatic than Paul's experience along the Damascus road.

A recent headline caught my attention. It read, "Fighting the images graven in men's minds.

Reliance upon prayer for healing is difficult for many people to accept. And even though the number of people who have been healed through prayer in Christian Science over the past one hundred and twenty-two years must now be in the millions, as much controversy surrounds this phenomenon today as it did in the early Christian Church.