In Guatemala City—strength and conviction
Soon after the extent of the Guatemalan earthquake became known, calls and letters from around the world started coming to The Mother Church. Branch churches and individuals wanted to know how they could help. And The Mother Church, too, wanted to extend aid and support to the country as well as to the Christian Scientists in the area.
But how to reach Guatemala City?
Most telephone lines within the country had been destroyed, and informed sources said a call would be impossible. However, about the time of the earthquake, The Mother Church received a field report from the Area Manager for Latin America containing the office telephone number of the clerk of the Christian Science Society there.
After trying for two days, a Spanish-speaking member of the International Department managed to put through a call. Without this number, the contact could not have been made.
The clerk of the society said that while the members didn't want to ask for any specific help, he did have one request—to change the society's address in the Journal. He reported that the building that housed the church and Reading Room had been extensively damaged and was no longer usable. It was readily apparent, however, that the members' concept of Church as "the structure of Truth and Love" had not been shaken and was as firm as ever.
At the time, the society's books, hymnals, and official records, as well as literature and other supplies, were under the rubble, the clerk said. But members were sharing what they had and continuing to read the Lesson-Sermon. Later some furnishings, books, and supplies were salvaged, and within a few days the society was meeting regularly again in a member's home until a suitable public hall could be found.
Follow-up calls determined that several members had their homes destroyed, and that money received from individuals and branches was being used to help one member who had lost his home and all personal possessions.
When asked about financial aid for the society, the clerk repeated his appreciation for all the support already received, then added, "No, we really don't need money. God is supplying our every need."
The Treasurer's Office has, however, forwarded funds to help the society relocate, buy the necessary books and supplies, and assist those members most in need. When asked to send the phone bill for a call the clerk placed to Boston, the young man replied, "Let this be my donation to The Mother Church."
In April a representative of The Mother Church, returning to Boston from a tour of South America, stopped off in Guatemala to see if anything more could be done and to share The Mother Church's appreciation for their strength and conviction of purpose.
Their goal brought a resurgence of spiritual activity
"Although our church has always been an active one," a branch in New Jersey reports, "attendance at our services and business meetings was not representative of our membership."
Sound familiar?
Within the past year, however, this branch got their entire membership actively backing a spiritual goal. "And this spiritual rededication," they tell us, "is now blessing every aspect of our church and is overflowing into the community."
They took as their spiritual goal:
"To joyously exemplify the highest sense of love for all mankind—an overflowing love that attracts and heals."
To achieve it, they asked each member to conscientiously pursue in the Bible and Mrs. Eddy's writings an in-depth study of the word love, as well as Love as a synonym for God. They asked each committee chairman, too, to have his committee study some attribute of Love, such as humility, patience, kindness, as part of their regular metaphysical work each month.
They also asked each member to give high priority to attendance at Wednesday testimony meetings and to share healing experiences at them.
The result has been "a resurgence of spiritual activity and increased attendance at all of our services, lectures, and church meetings," the branch reports. "We felt this working together with a spiritual goal would bless each individual member, our branch church, the Christian Science movement, and the community. And it certainly has!
"Increased attendance at our Wednesday evening meetings includes many Sunday School pupils, new faces, new testifiers (including the young people), and more healing testimonies."
People are finding what they're looking for
From Reading Room librarians' fruitage notebooks:
—San Francisco—"A young Eskimo now working in this area came in to find out what we were all about. He borrowed a copy of Science and Health and returned to buy several paperbacks of Mrs. Eddy's other writings and some pamphlets. He said his wife, a Hopi Indian, was also reading the literature. He was told about church services, Christian Science practitioners, and how to read the Lesson-Sermon.
"He didn't return for some time, but when he did, it was to tell us he and his wife are now attending church, have enrolled their three children in Sunday School, and that the children had a quick healing of chicken pox with the help of a practitioner. He said he would be returning home on his vacation and was looking forward to sharing what he had learned about Christian Science. His wife, too, he said, was planning to give books and pamphlets to her people on the Hopi reservation."
—Melbourne, Australia—"On arriving one morning, I found a man looking at the citations in the window. I invited him in. He said he had been outside for an hour, and each time he tried to leave he was drawn back. He spoke of his family's tragic economic circumstances. He had not been long in Australia, and he knew nothing of Christian Science. After a brief talk he went away with a changed attitude toward finding employment. He was back in a few days, radiantly happy, having found good employment, and a home for his family. He calls whenever in the city and says his English is improving every day through reading the textbook."
—Also Melbourne—"A woman stopped in to ask whether we remembered her husband coming in a year previously asking for something helpful for his wife. He had been on his way to the cricket matches and was down from the country. He'd said he was quite happy with his own religion but his wife was searching to understand God. He saw our religious books and felt we might have something he could take back. After a brief talk he had purchased a paperback Science and Health.
"The woman went on to explain that when her husband arrived home she started reading the textbook and immediately her health improved. She said she knew she had found what she had long been looking for. At that period, she said, they had been staying with a friend, who for the past 30 years had needed hospital treatment at the same time each year for a recurring disease. He also started reading the textbook and since then has had no sign of the former illness. The friend is now the librarian for the Christian Science Society serving that area. The one who related these events said she is also very active now in branch church work."
—Milwaukee, Wisconsin—"One morning a clergyman came into the Reading Room to inquire about Bibles. He said he had broken away from his organized church, determined to find 'the pure word of God without human opinions.' He was shown the Bible Lessons in the Christian Science Quarterly and was impressed that the Bible and Science and Health are our only pastor. He read a section or two of the lesson and spent some time examining the Quarterly and textbook. He ordered 14 Bibles and then said, 'I have to have this wonderful book also.' He bought two copies of Science and Health and a Quarterly.
"Later, when he came for the Bibles, he brought another person with him, who was also inspired by what she found in the textbook, and she purchased a Science and Health and a Quarterly for herself."
—Los Angeles—"A young man came in and explained he had been visiting churches of many denominations all over the United States and Canada, 'searching for the light,' he said, but he hadn't found it. He asked about Christian Science and purchased a paperback Science and Health. The next day he was back, beaming. He had bought a tape recorder so that he could hear as well as read the words. He came in often to study his book, in which he had underlined many favorite passages. One day he said he had read the chapter 'Footsteps of Truth' three times it was so beautiful. Before leaving to return home to Indiana, he voiced hope of one day joining the church and said he was anxious to share his newfound 'light' with his family."
This lecture committee kept it simple—in a big way!
A branch in Florida "went by the book"—the Lecture Handbook—in preparing for the 1975–76 season, and they got some picture-book results!
Before meeting for the first time, each member of their new lecture committee was asked to thoroughly review the Handbook, and all became enthusiastic in their desire to fulfill its objectives.
After examining and discussing the new list of lecturers, they were unanimous on who would be their first choice for their fall lecture. But they wanted to be sure this was due to Mind's direction, not human preference, and therefore decided to wait and prayerfully discern the needs of their immediate community and how best to meet them.
To avoid bunching dates with branches nearby, the committee chairman met with his neighboring counterparts and discovered two of these churches had the same lecturer as their first choice. The prayer that had accompanied their work from the outset obliterated fear of competition and identified this unity of thought as part of God's unfolding plan. It gave them a clearer understanding of their purpose for giving a lecture and strengthened their desire to reach the people in their own community and not look to members of neighboring Christian Science churches to boost their own attendance.
They began also to see definite advantages in neighboring branches having the same lecturer. The chairmen from the three churches realized they could take sizable joint ads in a large-circulation county newspaper and list all three lectures. In addition, each church could advertise locally in its own community. So it was decided that each branch would include an accompanying letter with its application form to The Mother Church, requesting back-to-back lecture dates for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, leaving the specific dates as wide open as possible.
The lecturer accepted the invitations of all three churches, and the dates given were ideal.
The committee now directed its attention toward possible locations. Their previous lectures had attracted between 300 and 350, but they anticipated a much larger turnout. They decided on the civic auditorium, which seats 2,500! There were some who felt that with the lecture being given three times in the area the same weekend they couldn't possibly draw more than a small crowd. However, as they explained, their motives were pure, their expectations large.
One of the several study topics chosen by the committee was "Preparing the Ground," and each member was asked to work daily to rout any obstructions to the Christ in his consciousness by dispelling materialism in the form of counterattraction, sensualism, apathy, lack (of time, money, ability, and so on). This was to be followed by evicting the "self" family—self-righteousness, self-justification, self-indulgence, self-satisfaction. And, lastly, to handle medical domination, psychology, fear, occultism, intellectualism, prejudice, and resistance to the Christ and opposition to Mrs. Eddy.
Also at this time the committee decided to ask their executive board's permission to include the literature distribution committee in their work by asking that committee to open new avenues for distribution in the black community. They requested that 12 leaflets and pamphlets, 3 different ones each week—all selected and paid for by the lecture committee—be included with regular literature being distributed. They also asked their prayerful support of this work.
The lecture committee agreed, too, that they would have no music or flowers and that the ushers were to dress informally, serve only in areas where they would be functional, and wear usher pins rather than flowers for identification.
A month before the lecture they sent each church member an invitation to a lecture preparatory meeting, asking in the letter that each member (1) spend at least 10 minutes a day studying an assigned portion of the Sermon on the Mount in conjunction with Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy, (2) bring to this work inspiration and joy, (3) write down truths they are knowing and declaring specifically for the lecture activity, together with fruitage from this work, and (4) accept the opportunity to share these truths at the lecture preparatory meeting to strengthen each other's work.
The preparatory meeting was held the same week as the lecture so that the inspiration shared would serve as a spiritual impetus just prior to the lecture. There were negative predictions that people wouldn't come out to a night meeting and, as it turned out, there was a terrible storm that evening. But aggressive mental suggestions were being so well met that extra chairs had to be set up in the Sunday School where the meeting was held to take care of all the regular attendants as well as church members.
Approximately 700 people came to the lecture—more than double the usual number. And the branch was overjoyed, too, to see that they were mostly members of the community and not other Christian Scientists from neighboring churches!
One among a sizable group of blacks was a minister from a nearby college. He was overheard telling the lecturer that he had never before been so aware of "the presence of the Christ" as he had been during that hour. Upon leaving, he requested a supply of the Sentinels that ushers were distributing, to share with his congregation and students.
The director of education at the same college asked the lecturer if it would be possible for him to give a talk there. She took about two dozen Sentinels and asked for as many more as could be spared later. She said she could make good use of them and offered to help the literature distribution committee gain access to the Student Union building and other prime locations on campus.
Several displayed copies of Science and Health were borrowed after the lecture, and one man took his directly to the Reading Room that afternoon and purchased it.
Two church members told of close relatives attending a lecture for the first time and being so impressed they decided to go hear it again the following day. Another church member said her husband had gone grudgingly, as he had to past lectures, but that he, too, decided to attend again the following day.
Said another first-time visitor, "Now I really know what it means to love!"
Wire floor rack solved their wall-space problem
The "how" and "where" of placing literature distribution boxes has often been a problem for many branch committees. Glass and metal walls in newer stores, and lack of wall space generally, have intensified the problem.
An LD committee in southern California asked a local wire products company to design a compact floor rack to hold about 35 Sentinels and 25 Journals. What they came up with (see photo) is a practical, yet good-looking 40-inch-high, galvanized rack that has proved very successful.
"We've been able to place them in several supermarkets in our area, and the literature is being well received by the public and is moving fast," the committee reports.
The company that made the racks has no objection to having the design copied. Companies specializing in galvanized wire display racks can be found under "Wire Products" in the classified section of most phone books.
10 Friday Workshop tapes available to branches
Some of the church activities workshops that have been a part of the Friday Workshops program at The Mother Church are being made available now to a wider audience by audio tape.
Branches may borrow one or more of these 10 tapes, and Christian Scientists visiting Boston can also hear them at the special listening area on the 22nd floor of the Administration building. They are in English only.
It is intended that branches ordering the tapes (singly or several) will use them as the basis of an inspirational meeting for members, groups of members, or committees. They may be obtained by writing:
The First Church of Christ, Scientist
Film and Broadcasting Department
Media Services Division
Christian Science Center
Boston, MA, U.S.A. 02115
In Australia and New Zealand contact the Committee on Publication in Sydney or Christchurch.
Specify the title(s) of the tape(s) you are requesting and state whether you want a cassette or a reel-to-reel tape. Please list three dates spanning a 90-day period and allow four weeks within the United States and six weeks elsewhere for your request to be processed. Also, please give the name, residential address, and daytime telephone number of the person who will receive the tape(s) for your branch.
The titles are:
Serving with Gladness in the
Reading Room
The Branch Church Clerk and
the Executive Board
Democracy in the Branch Church
and the Role of the Executive
Board
Youth and the Church
Church Music
Our Healing Goal
The Practice of Christian Science
Love in the Church
Adjusting Our Teaching to the Sunday School Pupil
Teaching the Youngest Sunday School Children
Sunday School questionnaire led to more effective teaching
Ever taught Sunday School? No doubt then you've wondered at times whether you were "getting through" to your pupils.
One teacher asked her class of young teen-agers to complete a questionnaire. She asked them to take it home and answer each question honestly and return it to her the following Sunday. They weren't to sign it.
It set the pupils as well as the teacher to deeper thinking. The questions were very straightforward, such as "Are you in Sunday School because you want to be, or have to be?" "What do you like about Sunday School?" "What don't you like?" "What do you most want from Sunday School?" And it asked about the pupils' interest in Bible history, about their study of the Lesson-Sermon in the Christian Science Quarterly, and whether or not they ever attended Wednesday testimony meetings. Other questions measured their understanding of why we have an organized church and invited comments on both church and Sunday School.
The response was an eye-opener for the teacher. It enabled her to get a clear line on what the young people were thinking; it helped her correct some misconceptions and basically do more effective teaching.
"It was only a 'one-shot' experiment and might not be as effective elsewhere or with another age-group," the teacher offered, "but for my 13and 14-year-olds it seems to have been just what we needed to bring us closer together. Just the fact that someone was truly interested in their views impressed them greatly.
"With this better rapport and eagerness to cooperate—to learn together—I'm able to gear my teaching to meet their needs more specifically, and we're making great strides together."
'Anyone would appreciate the Monitor'
How well should you know someone before sending a gift subscription to the Monitor?
A German schoolteacher traveling through South America met a member of the Peace Corps who felt it wasn't necessary to know someone very well at all. The two met just casually; yet when the schoolteacher returned to Germany, he received a gift subscription to the international edition.
His reaction was so enthusiastic that the donor decided to share his letter with us. It reads in part: "I have not known this newspaper before, and it really is extraordinarily interesting (e.g., the article on the Baltic States ... at the moment we are deeply involved studying the Soviet Union in one of my geography courses). Above all it makes me improve my English. Thank you very, very much."
In sharing this response with The Mother Church the Peace Corps worker admitted she had some second thoughts about sending the paper, not knowing how he would react. "I guess what I'm trying to say," she concluded, "is that anyone would appreciate the Monitor, and we don't have to give a subscription only to someone with whom we are well acquainted."
Zadie Hatfield, Manager of The Christian Science Publishing Society, says, "We are most encouraged with the many favorable comments we're receiving from subscribers all over the world who are enjoying our international edition. Circulation of this edition has increased substantially in the last six months, and even readers off main routes in Australia and Africa are now experiencing prompt delivery via airmail subscriptions.
"Through your desire to share our newspaper with others," Miss Hatfield wrote to the Peace Corps worker, "you are proving that the more we love and appreciate the Monitor, the more it will be able to fulfill its mission of blessing all mankind. Thank you so much for all you're doing to insure the continued progress of our newspaper."
Two tapes of IYM talks are now available
Available now to branches, groups of Christian Scientists, and college and university organizations are two new tapes of major talks given at the 1974 International Youth Meeting.
The first, "Am I Worthy Enough to Fulfill My Purpose?" by James K. Kyser, is an inspiring message that helps us recognize the claims of animal magnetism that would prevent us from fulfilling our true purpose.
The second, "Twentieth Century Prophets" by Helen C. Moon, is a rousing call to action that was the final talk of the IYM. It challenges us to be Christian Scientists of vision, to be modern-day prophets, spiritual seers.
Each tape runs about 15 minutes and could be used as a springboard for further discussion. They are particularly appropriate for youth committee activities, but a branch or organization might also like to obtain both or use them separately at inspirational meetings or for a specific committee meeting. Both talks have a broad appeal.
To borrow either tape (or both of them), write to:
The First Church of Christ, Scientist
Film and Broadcasting Department
Media Services Division
Christian Science Center
Boston, MA, U.S.A. 02115
In Australia and New Zealand contact the Committees on Publication in Sydney and Christchurch.
Specify the title of the tape you are requesting and state whether you want a cassette or a reel-to-reel tape. Please list three dates spanning a 90-day period and allow four weeks within the United States and six weeks elsewhere for your request to be processed. Also, please give the name, residential address, and daytime telephone number of the person who will receive the tape(s) for your branch or organization.
