Editorials

Giving thanks is widely recognized as an important aspect of fruitful living—for individuals, families, communities, and nations. And gratitude is always important, especially when good seems absent.

Can God give us a BMW? At one point in my life this was not a hypothetical question. I was being given a ride in a fully functioning but run-of-the-mill family car when the driver said in all earnestness that he was praying for a BMW.

Once, years ago, after my annual Christian Science students’ association meeting, my Christian Science teacher (with whom I had gone through Primary class instruction in Christian Science) asked if I would help her carry some things to her apartment nearby. As we walked and talked, suddenly she stopped, reached into her purse, and pulled out a rather large address book.

Not far from the crowds coming and going at the main train station in Helsinki, Finland, is a modest modern building with a rounded wooden exterior. It is the Kamppi Chapel, also known informally as “the quiet chapel.

Traveling around the UK recently, I’ve noted certain self-proclaimed Christian spokespeople standing in town centers preaching the gospel. While I salute their willingness to stand up in public as followers of Christ, my heart sinks as I hear many of them shout at passersby that they are sinners destined to end up in hell.

If you were asked to name some “worthy causes,” you could probably identify quite a few.   You might begin simply by recalling some solicitations in the regular mail—from organizations wanting to prevent cruelty to animals, possibly, or save the whales or preserve the environment.

“Church of the lighted lamps. ” There was a village church known by this name.

“He is risen”! This joyful exclamation marked Jesus arising from death after his crucifixion (see Mark 16:6). It was first spoken by the angel at Jesus’ empty tomb to the women who came to look for him, and quickly became the happy greeting of the early Christians as a triumphant reminder of Jesus’ proof of everlasting Life.

Climbing a picker’s ladder to the top of a peach tree in late August in Michigan, when the morning sun has just begun to warm the fruit and dry the dew, one breathes the essence of peach to the exclusion of all else. A lone peach doesn’t achieve that effect, but a tree’s-worth does.

You don’t need to be perfect to have a healing. So, what is needed to experience healing?