Articles

Two years ago , my wife Sara and I joyfully welcomed Henry into our family. These are some of the thoughts and prayers that I had along the way.

Last summer, a week before her baby was due, Karen Schneider spoke with the Journal about the ways—spiritual and practical—she and her husband Skip were preparing for their first child. After baby Jack came along, Karen talked with us again.

Sometimes when one is turning to God in prayer for healing, it can be tempting to check the problem one is praying about to see if there's any improvement. In the past, I've even slipped into a pray-and-check, check-and-pray routine, which doesn't help one bit.

As spiritual ideas of God , you and I are always fresh, new, and full of promise. Nothing can ever take our newness away.

Sometimes we feel so alone , like everything we care deeply about has been taken from us. I went through one of those life-changing experiences several years ago when I was employed in a job that I believed was a milestone in my acting and singing career.

Lyric soprano Jennifer Foster is soloist of The Mother Church in Boston. Jennifer has continued her professional career while raising her children.

Ed Blomquist is copyright administrator for The Christian Science Publishing Society, advising various departments on copyright issues and also everseeing the permission for reprints of The Christian Science Monitor and other periodicals. An amateur jazz musician, he teaches several courses on copyright issues at Berklee College of Music.

Some years ago , I hand-carried a friend's family Bible, chock full of history, to her relatives in England. She wanted to make sure the record of events would not be lost.

Since the terrorist attacks in the United States on September 11, I've been more aware of a distinct connection between two different longings—the longing for community, and the longing for communion with a higher power. I began to think about the connection when I got my hair cut a few days after the attacks.

Growing up in an area where religion wasn't discussed much in school, I was unprepared for the theological conversations I encountered when I went to college. Religion was a major topic of conversation at mealtime and during other informal gatherings.