Of Good Report

Our church , a branch of The First Church of Christ, Scientist, was dwindling through attrition. We were down to just a handful of members, and our spirits were flagging.

It’s interesting to note that the early Christian Church strove for unity. It seems that the early church leaders realized that dissent and inharmony, more than anything else, could undermine the spread of genuine Christianity.

In the early 1900s a family relative became a Christian Science practitioner in St. Louis.

It was natural for Christ Jesus to reach out to others in his daily walk. In so many examples in the Bible, we see his love for God and for humanity, and his willingness to express this love even in a challenging environment where religious laws were rigidly enforced.

Last September , I was alerted to alarming news in my country. I was at work in the middle of the day, and suddenly reports of a terror alert were coming in to Mumbai, as well as to neighboring towns and cities in the western part of India.

Christ Jesus stated in his Sermon on the Mount, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” ( Matthew 5:16 ). And each week, in Christian Science Sunday Schools around the world, teachers are doing just that—helping their students understand their relation to God, and how this can be lived in their lives every day.

In the past few months, I’ve been in regular communication with my daughter who is living abroad in Germany for the year. She is a recent college graduate, and while navigating the waters of life beyond school, she has had many new experiences to think and pray about.

Recently I had the opportunity to talk with a group of Christian Scientists who were about to graduate from college. During our conversation one of the questions asked was, “What helped you stay committed to Christian Science?” I found myself sharing that the one thing that had been a great support in keeping me connected to Science was my commitment to attending Wednesday evening testimony meetings.

I yearned for answers. I had been earnestly praying for weeks and months—much of the time with the loving, tender, and inspired help of a Christian Science practitioner.

In Christian Science we learn that there is only one Mind, God, and that we are the expression of that Mind—not governed by a mortal mentality. I knew the first part (only one Mind), but when I started a new work engagement helping a customer team I hadn’t worked with before, I was reminded of the second part—of what the truth of God’s nature means for us.