I remember the very first Christian Science service I attended, one Sunday morning many years ago. I thought the Readers lived in the church and were not allowed to lead normal lives or ever leave the building. I quickly learned that Readers are very normal people who often have families and lead busy, active lives. I also learned that the pastor in Christian Science churches isn't the Readers, but is the Bible and Science and Health. I began to love and appreciate this always-available, universal pastor. And since attending the workshop on the pastor at the 2002 Annual Meeting & Conference of The Mother Church, I've appreciated the healing power of this pastor more than ever before.
I had my own little example of the healing power of the Bible and Science and Health at a Sunday service last November. I had been thinking about a math problem I needed to explain to my middleschool students. Although I had solved the problem completely a few days earlier, I had since forgotten the solution and had spent a lot of time trying to reconstruct it, without success. I felt it was important that my students understand the concept behind this particular problem before they participated in an upcoming math contest. But I had drawn a blank on how to solve it.
At the same time, I needed to call a close friend. I remembered that she had written her new, unlisted phone number for me on a small piece of paper, and I knew I had put it in a good place. Just as the solution to the math problem was a blank for me, however, so was the whereabouts of that little piece of paper.
