Thank you, Achim. Thank you everyone for your thoughtful and inspiring reports. The Christian Science Board of Directors also sends a special thank you to everyone on both sides of the Atlantic for all the preparation in bringing this Annual Meeting together. We are grateful for the global embrace of members and friends here in Berlin, in Boston, and on the World Wide Web. This meeting enables us to join together as one family.
"Why Berlin?" some have asked. We all know and appreciate what Berlin means to the world. Berlin symbolizes walls coming down and the irrepressible power of unity. Courage and perseverance were needed then—and are just as needed today—as the 21st-century world wrestles to bring down the walls that separate women from their rights, children from their innocence, and the "have nots" from the "haves." Annual Meeting, like Berlin, also symbolizes unity. The Church of Christ, Scientist, is not confined or defined by place. There is not a locale or building that could contain the love of The Mother Church, nor is there anything that can limit the healing potential of the Church and its members. This year the world demanded that The Mother Church go beyond buildings, boundaries, and borders, and in a very tangible way express its mothering to the world.
The Board is grateful for Annual Meeting. Mary Baker Eddy established it in the Church Manual. This yearly assembly provides the opportunity to pause and thoughtfully look back over the year and, at the same time, to scan the horizon for the opportunities and needs that lie ahead.
