, who recently completed a term as President of The First Church of Christ, Scientist, has been a public speaker on Christian Science for nine years and has advertised as a Christian healer since 1986. The Journal asked her to offer some observations about the Church Mary Baker Eddy founded and to tell about her experiences as lecturer.
When I was asked to serve as President of The Mother Church, I began to think about the Church and its branches from a different standpoint. And I noticed something I hadn't noticed before.
I'm lecturing quite a lot these days about a spiritual approach to aging. In that lecture, I bring out an idea that I first read about some time ago in an article on Christian Science in The Christian Science Monitor. It challenges the view that old has to be the opposite of young, and points out that new can be the opposite of old. If you see a plant growing, you see new leaves, new shoots, new flowers, perhaps, or fruit. It's the new growth that tells you it's growing. It's the newness that tells you about its vitality, its life, and that it's doing well.
