MONDAY • JUNE 7
"We are gathered here in Boston ... and around the globe on the World Wide Web to celebrate the priceless gift of Christian Science...
"... and today is also special in that it marks the beginning of the three-year term of the new Readers of The Mother Church—Sandy Sandberg as First Reader, and Marian English as Second Reader. Speaking for my colleagues on the Board of Directors, we feel so much gratitude and love for the departing Readers who've given so richly and selflessly over the past three years—Curt Wahlberg and Beth Schaefer. And speaking of a job well done, let's also thank our outgoing President, Skip Phinney.
"Which brings us to the announcement of the new President of The Mother Church for the upcoming year—Fujiko Signs."
ANNUAL MEETING COMMENTS:
"As soon as I sat down for the meeting I could feel the love in the room. It totally wiped away the uncertainty I was feeling at the time, and that was priceless."
Adam Scherr, Brooklyn, New York, US
I enjoyed this Annual Meeting particularly because it was less about the Church's operational business and more about the spiritual business.
Margaret Mayer (left). Gloucester, Massachusetts, US
"... the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it."
MATTHEW 13:45, 46
"Those, who are willing to leave their nets or to cast them on the right side for Truth, have the opportunity now, as aforetime, to learn and to practice Christian healing."
SCIENCE AND HEALTH, p. 271
Excerpts from readings, incoming president practitioner and teacher, Tokyo, Japan
On video: Report from the Philippines
"Most people are hungry for spirituality. People are starting to think more logically about their faith and really searching..."
MANILA
"A man worked as a houseboy in a Christian Science home, and he saw this literature around, and he picked it up, and passed it on to my father. My mother was complaining of stomachache, and my father said, "Perhaps this will help you." So she began reading this literature and was healed. And so they took up Christian Science..."
BAGUIO CITY
Reports: Treasurer and Committee on Publication
"There needs to be a balance between the supply and demand of funds, and a demonstration on the part of members to know how to give. And also on the part of the officers to know how to effectively deploy those funds..."
Ned: In obeying the Manual By-Law, the Board of Directors is asked to report three financial numbers. Trinka, as Chair, can you help us with that?
Trinka: Happy to. Our funds on hand are at 455 million dollars. The Church has no indebtedness, and our expenditures for the past year were at 102 million dollars.
Ned: And I can add that the general fund stands today at 164 million dollars.
Phil: The Manual of The Mother Church requires that the Committee on Publication corrects impositions on the public in regard to Christian Science. And Ned, you and I have been talking about how you're dealing with impositions, too.
Ned: We are. From a financial perspective, there's the thought that the Church has lots of money, "so does it really need my financial support?" The Board of Directors considers not only current requirements, but also future needs. So it does seem wiser to maintain a higher level of funds.
Phil: So there's something deeper that needs to be accomplished, because the "impositions" are in thought. For our staff it isn't just going out and doing articles and broadcasts, and getting new provisions in law. We've been meeting people face to face, building relationships ... so that [we] can bear witness to the value of Christian Science through the people who represent it—and live it. And it can't be just 135 people [those serving as Committees] around the world. It has to be all of us—all of you.
Ned: Please know how much all of us here at The Mother Church treasure each one of you....
"I think many of us identify an 'imposition' as an ignorance of Christian Science—and that includes hostility toward it. This tends to weigh down public thought from having a natural receptivity...."
On video:
"For me, picking a solo starts with the weekly Bible Lesson. So it involves a deep study of the Lessons that are coming up..."
"If you think about the solo within our Sunday service, it comes at a really interesting spot. Mrs. Eddy made provision for it to be right before the main part of the service. So I think the solo just prepares thought to take in this incredible message that's coming.
"The relationship with the organist at The Mother Church, Bryan Ashley, is a very important one. We've figured out how to talk musically, lyrically, spiritually. Music in church is reverence, but there are times when it expresses joy, where you just want to get up and dance or drum, or clap your hands.
"Every church comes complete with resources. It doesn't mean we all have the same ones. If you don't have an instrument, a piano or an organ, or you don't have the person in your church or community to play that instrument, maybe you have a CD player and can use professionally recorded tracks.
"I believe we'll begin to see that each individual church and community has an infinite array of resources they hadn't seen before. To me, this is an opportunity for all of us to open our thought to expressions that will not only touch our current members, but anybody else coming in those doors to be healed...."
On video: Behind the scenes at The Mother Church
"To be a part of implementing technology that spreads the Word ... that lets others embrace the pearl of Christian Science ... is fantastic."
"Our whole staff has a genuine love for—and appreciation of—everything that comes to us relative to how people are applying Christian Science in their daily lives...."
"I work with Christian Scientists halfway across the world in Indonesia—or next-door in New York. We're all working toward one goal. To uphold 'the structure of Truth and Love'..." (Science and Health, p. 583).
Board of Education:
"Let's think together about God's sacred teaching through Christian Science class instruction. And about the joy of continuous spiritual growth through yearly association meetings..."
A conversation among Christian Science teachers Christiane West Little and Allison "Skip" Phinney in Boston, and Georgia Bulloch in Houston, Texas, and Michael Seek in Berlin, Germany, via Skype.
Christiane: OK, Skip—tell us. What is class instruction like?
Skip: That's a big question. It's not just talking about spiritual topics. It's the increasing conviction of God's allness—His actuality. And this is what happens right in the class....
Christiane: It's learning to heal, isn't it? Learning to listen to God, and to let oneself be led by God in everything.
Michael: There was a woman who came to me who had been diagnosed with several diseases. She had heard of Christian Science, but she said, "Before you might agree to help me, I'd like to send you the two folders with the history of all my diseases." I thanked her, and said: "This is not necessary. Because I already know your history." And she asked, "From whom?" I said, "From God."
We experienced a quick healing. And about two months later she said, "Now I want to learn why you were not interested in that medical history"—and she applied for class instruction.
Skip: What a story. And there was enormous wisdom, wasn't there, in Mary Baker Eddy establishing a system of spiritual education that would continue through yearly association meetings....
Georgia: I love what she says in Miscellaneous Writings—it was noteworthy that she doesn't say to come to the meeting to be healed. She does say that we gather "to minister and to be ministered unto" (p. 98), but she includes important issues for us to tackle in doing this. For instance, the association should address how to aid the whole human family. And for me, I've found that everyone is eager to roll up their sleeves and participate in tackling these issues....
Skip: When I look at all of you out there I feel surer than ever that we have Christian Scientists who will give everything. You are living the Christ, and that Christ is taking away the darkness—not just for Christian Scientists, but for humanity as well.
Christiane: At the conclusion of the Primary class in 1889 Mrs. Eddy said: "You will need, in future, practice more than theory. You are going out to demonstrate a living faith, a true sense of the infinite good, a sense that does not limit God, but brings to human view an enlarged sense of Deity" (Miscellaneous Writings 1883–1896, pp. 281–282).
Testimonies of healing:
"... a complete healing is when you gain that absolute conviction that what you experienced was an illusion...."
"I spent the rest of that train ride thinking about my status as a part of God's already-perfect creation...."
"I saw clearly that sight was entirely spiritual—that it was spiritual clarity...."
And on video:
Brant: About eight years ago, my dad and I were cycling together, and we were going down a big descent. Toward the bottom, a woman unexpectedly turned into my lane. The car hit my bike at a great speed....
Greg: The bike went one way, and Brant was literally cart-wheeling down the pavement. When I came upon him, the situation looked so grim. As a parent, I just couldn't even go to what the situation was.
Brant: At the hospital, there was a nurse there who really got it—with how we were addressing this through prayer. And there came a time when we thought it was best to go home, and this nurse was supportive of that....
Greg: It was almost like "in by eight, out by midnight"—which surprised everybody. Then the next morning we were faced with a lot of bandages. We called a Christian Science nurse, and she showed us how to change the bandages, how not to be shocked at what we saw ... she was just so patient, so loving, so gentle.
Brant: I had a broken bone in my arm, but that healed within a couple of weeks. And I was back at work in a couple days. Another really important part of the healing for me was forgiveness of the woman who hit me. It just seemed so clear that the love that was protecting me that day was protecting all of us—including her.
Clerk's report:
"We've been hearing from all over the world right up until a few minutes ago. Tweets and e-mails and Facebook...."
Nate Talbot, Clerk
Nate Talbot: I'm going to have a little help [for the Clerk's report] from my fellow Directors today. Several months ago we invited you to share what Christian Science—what this "pearl of great price"—means to you. Here's a compelling point from James in Connecticut. Referring to the pearl of great price, he says, "This may require the same sacrifices to keep it, as it did to purchase it in the first place."
Tajd from Tanzania writes: "I'm so grateful that Christian Science came into my life when I was totally worn-out ... weary of living a senseless, material existence. Today I am transformed and renewed...." And an e-mail from Wendy in Kent, England: She looked up the term mother of pearl—"something very choice or precious." She goes on, "I feel I must begin with this, because without our beloved Discoverer of Christian Science, we would not have Christian Science as the 'pearl of great price.'"
Well, as we talk about mothering, that ties in with something Ann sent in from North Lincolnshire in the UK: "The Mother Church is reaching out, keeping the priceless, precious pearl safe for all mankind." That's the real purpose of Church, isn't it? A mother takes care of her children, and even the oyster takes care of that pearl that's inside—safeguards it from the world. And The Mother Church is safeguarding this pearl so that it will be there for all humanity ... forever.
Janna wrote from Leawood, Kansas, that she grew up in an area called Tornado Alley. She says: "When these warnings would occur my parents would instantly gather their most precious possessions, and head to the basement. But the only possessions they took to save were us kids, my mother's purse, the pets, and our books—the Bible and Science and Health." Isn't that remarkable? She was raised with a sense of the infinite value of the books that represent the Comforter.
As I look through these responses, so many of them refer to the need to protect the Comforter. It's interesting that Jesus didn't only refer to the "pearl of great price." He said, "Don't cast your pearls before swine lest they turn and rend you." He said the pearl came to a merchantman. It didn't come to a king or a queen. It didn't come to some fabulous jeweler, but to a merchantman, who apparently knew its value, and was willing to sacrifice everything to have it.
Nate: Let's just take a few moments ... quietly pray together ... and cherish this peal of great price. Shall we do that?
SATURDAY • JUNE 5
WINNING HEARTS AND MINDS
Church members are encouraged by "Talking to others about Christian Science" workshop
"HOW CAN RELIGION BE SCIENCE?"
At this year's Annual Meeting, a two-hour workshop offered helpful tips for answering frequently asked questions like that one, as well as immediate opportunities to put such tips into practice. The workshop was held in the Sunday School on Saturday afternoon, June 5.
At the start, Tom Black immediately engaged the capacity audience of about 450 church members with a bit of humor. Experience has shown, said this member of the Board of Directors, that when a Christian Scientist sits down with someone unfamiliar with or misinformed about their faith, there's usually an elephant in the room—even multiple elephants—of varying sizes! That elephant, he explained, is the belief (among other beliefs), or at least the perception, that if Christian Scientists choose to have medical care, they must get permission from their Church.
Of course, the Church doesn't control people, Black confirmed. Yet misinformation persists.
Through the Church Manual, Mary Baker Eddy provided offices within the Church to deal with such impositions on the public—the Board of Lectureship, Committees on Publication, and Reading Rooms. Representatives from those departments had joined the workshop, said Black, to help us understand the "brilliance" God gives everyone to deal effectively with such impositions. "Not as an end in itself," he added, "but so that the resistance of the carnal mind against this pearl of incomparable price shall be thwarted, and that the promise of God will be fulfilled—that the earth, the whole earth, every individual on this earth, shall be touched with the fullness of Christ as the waters cover the sea" (see Hab. 2:14).
The audience was encouraged to welcome every opportunity in their daily lives to respond to people's questions about Christian Science, following a few simple tips that were displayed on the wall during the workshop (see the box on page 34).
Attendees were divided into groups of eight, at separate tables, each with a discussion facilitator. The purpose was to help the groups "think on their feet." During two 20-minute sessions, the members of each group challenged one another to answer (within 30 seconds) a wide variety of questions provided by the workshop organizers—real questions that had been fielded by Committees on Publication in recent months, and questions that any Christian Scientist might encounter while discussing his or her faith with others. No question was off-the-table. After each session, facilitators shared with the gathering some of the fruits and frustrations of their individual group discussions.
The questions included:
• How can you advocate Christian Science for children when several children have died under its care?
• Are you telling me that if anyone is not healed, then it means that they didn't have enough faith?
• At what point would you stop praying and go to a doctor?
• What about genetic defects that aren't curable, like Down syndrome? Has Christian Science healed that?
• Christian Science is a cult, isn't it?
Many in the audience said they were helped by listening to excerpts from an interview given by a Christian Science lecturer to a radio station in Vancouver, Canada. In answer to a provocative question from the host as to whether she would reject medical care in the face of an impending flu epidemic, the lecturer calmly answered: "I don't reject medical care. I reject anything that limits me. I have the right not to be told 'You have no choice, [the flu's] coming!' I reject that I have to submit to that kind of thinking. We [all] have the right to say, 'No, I'm not going to buy that.' We have dominion over our lives, over our bodies, and over our world. Spiritual dominion!"
After the workshop, attendees were only too happy to give their impressions:
Helen and Charles Smart, from Richmond-on-Thames, near London, said they were delighted to find it was such a practical exercise. "We were not being talked to," said Helen, "and we were made to answer questions spontaneously—and without notice. What we especially liked is that there were no books on the table, and the answers to questions were unique to each individual situation."
Allan Bossen, from Melbourne, Australia, offered his experience of answering questions from a radio reporter during the Parliament of the World's Religions in Melbourne last December. "What I learned from answering her questions," he said, "is that our first response needs to be affirmative, and inclusive in such a manner that it eliminates any sense of polarity or difference between the questioner and the one who's going to give the response."
Sunita and Parmod Jain, from Chandigarh, India, said that after the workshop they felt better trained to use the tools discussed at the meeting. "We have to speak from our own heart, and share the love, so that the questioner will want to ask more," explained Sunita. "Let the metaphysics come later," added Parmod. "That happens if you reach their heart in the first instance."
Tamie Kanata of Brookline, Massachusetts, originally from Japan, said: "We are a church of healers. Whatever questions a person may have, they have to feel the love of Christ and leave with impressions of Spirit. They have to take away a feeling that 'there's something here'—a feeling of something bigger than themselves."
And Anthony Whitehouse, from Coppet, Switzerland, put it this way: "What we have to share is a Science. We're not persuading people to join a church. This is something that can transform their lives. We needn't have any anxiety about how successful our discussion is going to be. They're already the children of God. When they become aware of that fact, they're healed. It's impossible for them not to be touched by this Science."
Toward the end of the workshop, Karen McCoy, Manager of Christian Science Reading Room Activities, mentioned that teamwork in her department had been strengthened by each day taking one of the questions on the workshop list and answering it among themselves. "To the extent we were prepared in this way," she said, "it was amazing how many opportunities arose to share Christian Science with others."
Marceil DeLacy, Co-Manager of the Board of Lectureship, pointed out that when David ran to meet his adversary Goliath, all he needed was what he had proved in his own experience; while Peter, when he was asked if he knew Jesus, didn't even want to admit that he knew him. If such challenges "take you out of your comfort zone," said DeLacy, "remember they will never take you out of the Comforter's zone."
Phil Davis, Manager of Committee on Publication, closed with some remarks about Church members' fear of vulnerability. He invited the audience to take a minute, in complete silence, to consider what they most loved about Christian Science.
Davis then concluded, "I bet it had something to do with God! Something to do with Christian Science being the 'pearl of great price'—the majesty of it, the beauty of it. I guess it had something to do with God's law of unconditional love for you and for everyone else—something to do with the Christ, and that Christ-spirit that is with each of you. ... When you're embracing what you love most about Christian Science, you have the opportunity to be a transparency for Truth—to be a divine influence on the hearts and minds of others. And it cannot come back to bite you.
"If you can convey to another person's heart what you love most about Christian Science, you're home free."
Helpful tips for talking with others about Christian Science:
Pray.
Listen.
Be concise.
Speak from your own experience.
Don't be defensive; love the person.
Accept that there is not one right answer.
'I'm Denisse, and I'm a Christian Scientist'
ON THE SATURDAY BEFORE Annual Meeting, , a high school sophomore and a native of Santiago, Chile, attended the workshop "Talking with others about Christian Science." What she didn't realize was she'd be putting what she learned there into practice so soon.
The next day, while looking for some brochures on Boston sightseeing at a nearby mall, she picked up on the conversation of two tourists in their twenties. With The Mother Church nearby, they ruminated about Christian Science. "I think it's a cult," one of them said. "Weird," the other one added.
Denisse sprang into action. "I really wanted to make the workshop more than just a place where I took some good notes." A little hesitant because of her English, she pressed on. She turned to them and smiled. "Hi, I'm Denisse, and I'm a Christian Scientist from Chile," she said. She asked if they wanted some information about Christian Science, just to set the record straight.
First hurdle over. They were interested.
Right away some of the vibrant points from the workshop came to life. "I prayed as I talked. I listened to God. And I think the biggest thing is that I included them as part of one Mind—not outside of it," she says.
The first thing they asked was "Who is your guide?"
"I told them that two books are our 'pastor,' Science and Health and the Bible. And though there is a discoverer of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, no way are we a cult, because we don't get direction from a person, but only from God.
"'Then what kind of religion is it?' they asked. I explained that we look to Jesus as our model about how to heal—to see one another as God's expression, whole and complete—not sinning and broken."
Then Denisse took her cue from the workshop and spoke from her own experience. "I said I hadn't been sick much, but when I was, I'd been healed—and not just of sickness but of relationship issues, too. And even depression once, when I changed schools and found myself crying every day."
Next, she told them about prayer—that "it was the most powerful for me when I learned to stay quiet and listen to my Father-Mother God. They loved that expression. Instead of asking for something, the way most people pray, I told them I acknowledge that God, one Mind, is already complete, and as His expression, each one of us is, too. And that through prayer I am often led to the right idea in Science and Health or the Bible that heals my thought and helps me understand this completeness better."
After a few minutes, the conversation came to a natural end. "They really caught it," Denisse says. "They thanked me, and wandered in the direction of The Mother Church across the street."
"I just stayed standing there very still for a few moments, grateful for God's absolute expression in each one of us."
SUNDAY • JUNE 6
THE LIVING HEALING HYMNAL
UPLIFTING, PRAISE-HAPPY VOICES filled The Mother Church Extension on Sunday afternoon for "The Living, Healing Hymnal" event. To kick off this joyous afternoon gathering, we were asked to first hug and get to know our pew neighbors and then sing together "Church of the ever-living God" (Christian Science Hymnal, Horatius Bonar, No. 36). Afterward, guest conductor, Alastair Willis, asked the audience: "Who here has been healed by a hymn?" Instantly, almost everyone's hand went up. "Oh wow ... proof right here that we have a healing hymnal," he concluded.
The event featured a variety of classic hymns such as Mary Baker Eddy's "Mother's Evening Prayer" (No. 208) and "O Lord, I would delight in Thee" (John Ryland, No. 224), newer selections from the Christian Science Hymnal Supplement such as "Simply Praising Him" (Susan Mack, No. 462) and "Come Gracious Spirit" (Simon Browne, No. 436), as well as some hymns that had never been sung before in The Mother Church. Christian Science practitioner Susan Mack debuted her hymn "Humility," performing with Sue and Carey Loomis. Andrew D. Brewis, a composer and musician from London, played the piano along with the ensemble Newsong Group, as the audience joined them in singing his new arrangement for "I Love thy Way of Freedom, Lord," and an upbeat arrangement of Mary Baker Eddy's "Communion Hymn."
Mr. Willis gently and humorously encouraged singers to learn how to sing new hymns. Willis also invited members to send in their own submissions for the upcoming second supplement, and even added a special request for hymns in other languages. "The musical future of our movement is in your hands," he said.
Throughout the 90-minute event, composers shared healing fruitage from the new hymns. They also explained how composing has become a part of their Christian Science practice as they turn to God for inspiration and composition ideas. Susan Mack read an e-mail from one woman who expressed gratitude for Mack's "Simply Praising Him." One morning, the woman noted, she felt very troubled and listened to the Hymnal Supplement CD while driving. With tears of gratitude she replayed "Simply Praising Him" 20 times, soaking in its reassuring message. Andrew Brewis remembered a call from a friend who was struggling with an adverse physical diagnosis. Inspired to help, he wrote the solo "The Child of God" and converted it to an MP3 to share with his friend. The song, Brewis said, "dealt with her immediate sense of fear right then and there."
Christian Science practitioner and teacher Linda Stocks-Copley, who traveled to the Annual Meeting from Noordhoek, Cape Town, South Africa, said the hymn sing reminded her of her first visit to The Mother Church, when she found healing in the Hymnal. "The hymn sing really took me back to when I was eighteen years old ... and I had just lost my mom two weeks before. When we sang the last hymn today, 'Mother's Evening Prayer,' it was so special. That hymn really held me in Christian Science."
Willis and Mack also gave some history behind well-known hymns including, "Joy cometh in the morning" (M. M. Wienland, No. 425), which once lifted Mary Baker Eddy's spirits when she was facing a difficult situation. When she heard the household members singing this hymn around the piano just before breakfast, she soon felt uplifted. This song had brought refreshment and an answer to her prayers. Willis noted, "It wasn't just the hymn, but also the way it was sung, with spirit, that helped and healed Mrs. Eddy, and I'm sure countless other people since." To recreate that same spirit, participants stood and sang the hymn with plenty of fervency.
Troy Patterson, who traveled from Ft. Worth, Texas, to attend Annual Meeting, felt that same healing spirit throughout the hymn sing event. He said, These hymns "aren't just for singing. We're really praying through song. ... We're all loving each other by hearing each other's voices. That was very special."
Some of the hymns featured at this event appear on the albums "Let's Sing," "Hymnal Supplement Hymns 430–462," "Songburst," and "Gracenotes," which are available for purchase at Christian Science Reading Rooms and online at spirituality.com.
MORE ANNUAL MEETING COMMENTS:
"What really came out well in this meeting is that if we consider Christian Science as the 'pearl of great price,' we should make a bigger effort to share it with others. It's just not possible to imagine life without it."
Mexico City, Mexico
"This pearl, Christian Science, is something so precious to me. I found it 15 years ago on the Spanish Herald TV show in Houston. After I saw the program, my boys and I went over to the Christian Science church and we loved it."
Sring, Texas, US
TMC YOUTH OPEN HOUSE
SUNDAY • JUNE 6
WHY DO YOU LOVE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE? That's the question TMC Youth asked participants at their open house in The Mother Church Sunday School during Annual Meeting. Armed with markers and paper, participants explained in ten word or less why they love Christian Science. Their creative elevator speeches ranged from, "I love CS because it is fun!" to "It teaches me who I am and why I'm here!"
Later on, during a car ride to Canada en route to a camp for young Christian Scientists, this activity inspired Christian Science practitioner Shelly Richardson to ask her family why they love Christian Science. As family members discussed this topic on the highway, a car next to them lost control, but Shelly wasn't aftaid. She said she felt so uplifted by the conversation and never felt fearful. "It just seemed so obvious that the Science of the Christ, not material physics, was keeping each of us in our perfect place," she said. The car then crossed over into their lane behind them and spun around safely onto the other side of the road. Her family's car never lost control and the cars behind them all stopped safely in time.
As they continued their trip, Shelly said her family all decided that they love Christian Science "because it means that instead of our lives being governed by impersonal, sometimes beneficial rules called 'physical science,' we are governed by a very generous, loving—and Christian—Science."
While her family's response wasn't a carefully crafted elevator speech, this simple question brought clarity and met their need on the road that very moment. Perhaps you'll discover new ideas and inspiration by asking yourself the same question.
