Of Good Report

The following is an edited and abridged transcript of the “An able ministry—when healing is too real to keep to ourselves” session held June 1, 2019, the Saturday before Annual Meeting, in the Extension of The Mother Church. It was also broadcast live online, and you can watch the complete replay at christianscience.

In Science and Health  with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy says, “Home is the dearest spot on earth, and it should be the centre, though not the boundary, of the affections” ( p. 58 ).

Something I am continually learning more about is the blessings that come through membership in a branch Church of Christ, Scientist. When one joins a branch church, it is so much more than simply signing a membership book and agreeing to support the church financially and prayerfully.

Many years ago , when I got my first teaching job, I joined the nearest Christian Science church. Immediately, I was assigned to the nursery, where babies and children too young for Sunday School are cared for.

The question “What is my work today?” had been coming to me over a number of months. As I prayed to understand more clearly what my work was and how to do it well, my volunteer work in a Christian Science Reading Room helped me find an answer.

Even though I grew up attending a Christian Science Sunday School and was active in the Christian Science organization at my college, I never knew very much about Primary class instruction in Christian Science. I just knew it was a course conducted by a Christian Science teacher, an experienced Christian Science practitioner who has taken a course on teaching Christian Science, and it generally lasts about two weeks.

I used to be very anxious about talking with others about Christian Science. The root of this anxiety may have been partly nervousness, but there was also a deeper issue: I was holding on to a belief that understanding Christian Science made me different—or even better—than everyone else.

Whether your first student runs into the Christian Science Sunday School with a Superman cape on and poses with his hands on his hips, or hides in his grandmother’s arms because he doesn’t want her to leave, you are in for a treat. Teaching the three- and four-year-old children is a true treasure.

One day my husband came home feeling very upset. Someone had made a comment to him that was very hurtful.

I recently heard a man say in a Christian Science organization testimony meeting, “If you are afraid or unsure of sharing the healing power of Christian Science, just know that, for me, my life was a lot harder before I learned about Christian Science. ” I certainly echo this sentiment in regard to my own life, having spent many years wandering in the wilderness of human beliefs searching for answers and divine inspiration.