HAVE YOU EVER THOUGHT OF YOURSELF IN THAT LIGHT? Maybe a child of the Sunday School. But think of what it means to be "a child of the Church." That's the way Mary Baker Eddy saw her own religious heritage. She had an incredible respect and caring for those in her life who lived their love of God—Congregationalists, Baptists, Methodists. She praised them with phrases like, "... they were willing to renounce all for Him. ... They were heroes in the strife; ... Their convictions were honest, and they lived them; ..." (Message to The Mother Church for 1901, p. 32). She saw the beauty of Church lived in the lives of such individuals.
You may not have thought of yourself as a child of the Church. But your interest in reading this series is evidence that you are one. True, our lives are shaped and formed by a wide range of influences—family and friends, schooling, careers, media, all sorts of institutions. But not one of these has the potential of fashioning our experience the way Church does. Increased progress will come as you begin understanding, admitting, and valuing just how much you really are this child.
We're talking here about the human organization—the people and activities, the events and ways you've served. But we're also talking about something that underlies all this. Church includes spiritual ideals and teachings. It involves some of the most powerful feelings in our lives. It encourages vision and purpose. It nurtures in consciousness the revelation of Truth. Yes, true Church and its present manifestation uniquely defines and redefines you.
