The Christian Science Board of Directors' message to the Annual Meeting of The Mother Church was an inspiring call for higher demonstration: "Prayer is like the prow of the ship—it must come first to cleave the waves. . . . And so today the need is not for more busywork but for more healing. It's not for more organizational mechanics but for more spirituality, meekness, humility. The need is not for more media exposure but for more demonstrated Christlikeness in the lives of all of us—more inspiration, love, and unity of action. "
Held in Boston on Monday, June 5, the meeting was attended by more than 13,000 members. (Many were young people who also attended the International Youth Meeting, which convened Monday evening and continued through Wednesday morning.)
Annual Meeting opened with Hymn No. 351 from the Christian Science Hymnal. Outgoing President, James Spencer, of Birmingham, Michigan, read these selections: