When Sunday School students and teachers at First Church of Christ, Scientist, Madison, Wisconsin, heard that the theme for Annual Meeting 2007 would be "What does it take to be a healer?" they eagerly took on the challenge. First they decided to study the Beatitudes from Jesus' Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5:1–12) from the standpoint of how the Beatitudes that Jesus taught relate to healing.
As a result to their study, the kids then created a colorful, wall-sized mural displaying the words of the Beatitudes along with students' accounts of their own healing work.
One student wrote that the Beatitude "Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God" (Matt. 5:9), helped her stop hating a classmate and how that led to their becoming friends. Another student told how the Beatitude "Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God" (Matt. 5:8) showed her that God saw her pet rat as perfect. She prayed about this idea, and her rat, who had not been well, got better.
One of the girls told how she prayed and that just listening to God quieted her fears when she had to take a big test. She ended up with a 98 percent grade. She likened her healing to the teaching "Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted" (Matt. 5:4).
Another student who woke in the middle of the night with his shoulder hurting thought about the Beatitude "Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 5:3). He said he prayed to be "poor in spirit," which to him meant giving up his material goals and desires for God's. He told how he was then much better in the morning and soon could freely return to his regular activities.
LOVESIDEA MBURU: This Annual Meeting was deep, because it was based on the teachings of Christ Jesus, who was the rock. We learned that healing isn't about human power. It's about divine power—the power flowing directly from God. So no case is impossible to heal. I originally found out about Christian Science in 1971 when I lived in Kenya. Since then I've been learning that our perfection is God-ordained. Our part is to be willing to align our thoughts with God. Jesus tells us that God is willing to give us the kingdom, that it's His "good pleasure." That we're not beggars. We're not begging for healing. We're sons and daughters of God.
DONNA BROWN: Some people go for physical checkups. Well, Annual Meeting is my yearly metaphysical checkup. I've been attending since 1975, and this was the best one yet! I've been a Christian Science practitioner for 35 years, and there's always more to learn. Today we heard how healing is all about love—and that God, divine Love, is always the healer. That's why anyone can do it!
