Articles

No matter the threat, no matter where in the world, God is a present help.

 Today, we place so many demands on ourselves—working for more productivity at our jobs, continuing education, parents managing their children’s myriad activities—all that along with daily activity. When asked to take on a role or task for church, however, the hesitancy to take on another commitment sometimes sneaks in.

 It was the first snow of that winter, and I headed out of my hotel for an early morning run. This was decades ago, but I still remember it vividly—the ground was covered with a thin blanket of white and everything seemed extra quiet.

The 18th-century English poet Alexander Pope wrote, “Order is heaven’s first law,” an often-quoted line that Mary Baker Eddy refers to as “so eternally true, so axiomatic, that it has become a truism; and its wisdom is as obvious in religion and scholarship as in astronomy or mathematics” ( Retrospection and Introspection, p. 87 ).

Do you, like me, drive to work on a congested freeway? Is “rush hour” merely a time for sitting in traffic?  One morning, sitting in especially heavy traffic, I began to ponder how Christ Jesus was always praying. I’ve found this to be a seriously wonderful jumping-off point for my prayers.

I recently had a sweet experience using JSH-Online. com.

How can we take a prayerful approach to considering where we truly find Church? We can start with the Bible. Christ Jesus said, “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them” ( Matthew 18:20 ), and also, “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me” ( John 12:32 ).

I have been thinking and praying deeply about church and cherishing its role in the world today.   One afternoon I read an address that Mary Baker Eddy wrote to her students in 1894, on the occasion of laying the cornerstone of her church.

Over the years, I have loved pondering the Apostle Paul’s mission of extending Christianity across a broad swath of Asia Minor, Greece, and what was then the Roman empire. With each new venture he encountered challenges, at times severe.

“Yes, I know, I know—casting out demons is what Jesus did. So what does that have to do with today?”  I was having a conversation with a friend about the Cross and Crown insignia found on the cover of Mary Baker Eddy’s writings.