I am so grateful to have served as First Reader in my branch Church of Christ, Scientist, in New York City. I have so appreciated learning what it means to let go of a too-personal sense of responsibility and trust that each church service is really God’s service, and that God has a specific message for His congregation. He is taking care of every single detail.
On a Tuesday afternoon in the fall of 2017, I had just finished preparing the readings from the Bible and Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy for the Wednesday testimony meeting, when I received a phone call from someone who works for my parents. A vehicle attack, which made national news, had just taken place in downtown Manhattan. The person who called me had just walked out of my parents’ building into the scene. He was able to come back inside to call me and let me know that my mother was not home. I immediately began to pray to see that she was safe in God and that Love was caring for her wherever she was. He called back about 15 minutes later to say that my mother had returned home safely.
I was so grateful to hear that my mother was safe, but I continued to pray to see that God was embracing our whole neighborhood. Over the next few hours it became clear that this was a terrorist attack, and several people had been injured and some killed. I realized that the readings I’d prepared for our Wednesday meeting needed to be different, and that the hymns in particular needed to change.
