After returning home from 2002 Annual Meeting & Conference, many people e-mailed with comments on ways they were already putting the vision of the meetings into action.
I am so grateful for the Pastoring Workshop. I have for some time felt our church services needed freshness, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. I just loved the idea that was shared at the workshop: to let the vision in Science and Health be reflected in the service. To do our best to let the service be more loving, and reflective of Mrs. Eddy's vision.
Working with this, in the two services I have done since 2002 Annual Meeting & Conference, I felt such a sense of freedom. Last night (Wednesday), I even changed the announcements. Instead of just saying, "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, was founded by Mary Baker Eddy to ...," I said, "First, Mary Baker Eddy was healed by reading the Bible and praying to God; then she wrote Science and Health to explain how she was healed and how to heal; then she founded The First Church of Christ, Scientist, to 'commemorate the....'"1 It felt great, and I'll probably change them again so they won't get stale.
