Articles

what do I want to think of when I think of Church? It's a simple equation, really: Church = joy. Seriousness doesn't speak to me—I guess because in my mind, it relates to fear.

For me, culture is all about deeper meaning — being to look past superficialities and stereotypes to the essence, the real nature of the thing. It seems to me that cultural differences only become a problem if we stick with our perception of others' beliefs or values or cultural practices.

One question I've asked myself on the topic of culture is: Can we appreciate and celebrate our differences and still live in a way that expresses unity? The answer I've discovered is this: Yes, but it depends on where we start and what our definition of culture is. My starting point is the number one — one God and one creation.

It all started when I met up with this girl. We got on great, but after I expressed my feelings, it became apparent that we were going to stay friends.

I would describe finding my purpose as a constant filtering process: learning to discern between God-given thoughts and my own will. After college I moved to Los Angeles to begin a career in film and television.

Before I started studying Christian Science I always thought that purpose was something you had to obtain—like that "one pearl of great price"   Matt. 13:46.

I'm the antithesis of classifiable. I'm a Jamaican, who moved to the UK as a teenager and has lived in the United States in recent years.

AS MY FELLOW EDITORS on the Journal team can attest, I've been beating my 20-somethings drum for a while now. I suppose you could say that the idea for this feature sprang, at least in part, from my own selfish desire to hear from my peers.

TURNING TO GOD FOR HEALING IS NATURAL in Christian Science. But what if our prayers appear to go unanswered? We might ask ourselves, "Just what am I really praying for? Are my prayers focused just for healing? Or do I yearn to understand God better and to demonstrate the spiritual relationship that I have with Him?" In the preface of Science and Health, Mary Baker Eddy wrote, "In the spirit of Christ's charity,—as one who 'hopeth all things, endureth all things,' and is joyful to bear consolation to the sorrowing and healing to the sick,—she commits these pages to honest seekers for Truth.

HAVE YOU EVER NOTICED HOW, in everyday life, there often seems to be a push on people to be conventional, to conform? The pressure to think exactly as everyone else thinks is so prevalent that it's sometimes amusing. People come from such different backgrounds, yet we often wear similar fashions in clothing, speak the same way, and do the same things.