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Last year, our daughter, son-in-law, and grandchildren were spending a holiday weekend with my wife and me. After enjoying some time outdoors, my daughter and I had just started up the exterior stairs when we heard disturbingly loud cracking sounds.

As a fairly new member of a Christian Science branch church years ago, I was happy to be elected to serve on its Board of Trustees—my first opportunity to fill a church board position. What I didn’t know was that the membership was bitterly divided over whether to keep or sell the church edifice, and that board work would be contentious and stressful.

Some years ago I came to understand, in a tangible way, the meaning of this quote from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy: “Divine Love always has met and always will meet every human need” ( p. 494 ).

What does any good building need? It needs a solid foundation and a strong structure, with pillars to support the walls and roof even under severe weather conditions.   What, then, would a church need as its firm foundation and sturdy structure? Mary Baker Eddy, the Founder of The Church of Christ, Scientist, defines Church in part as “the structure of Truth and Love; whatever rests upon and proceeds from divine Principle” ( Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p.

These three words, “Thy kingdom come” ( Matthew 6:10 ), given to us by Christ Jesus in the Lord’s Prayer, are an invitation to let God, not human will, govern our thoughts and actions day by day. Jesus made clear our need to do this at the beginning of his ministry when he said, “Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” ( Matthew 4:17 ).

This author shares an experience that reflects how acknowledging God’s oneness brings harmony.

It was a light wind day,    the breeze as lazy as a cat curled in a spot of sun.   “Trial Island?” coach asked.

A few years ago, a lecturer on Christian Science said something that really stood out to me: “Yeast on a shelf doesn’t leaven the bread. ” To make bread, yeast needs to be added to flour, salt, and water, then the ingredients must be stirred, before the resulting dough is allowed to rise, and then baked.

American humorist Garrison Keillor quipped, “Anyone who thinks sitting in church can make you a Christian must also think that sitting in a garage can make you a car. ”  True, yet attending church is so much more than being a “pew potato” instead of a “couch potato.

According to the Gospel of Luke, on at least two occasions Christ Jesus tenderly said to those who were grieving, “Weep not. ” First, to a mother who had lost her only son, then later to a ruler of a synagogue and his family and friends who were crying because his young daughter had just passed on (see chaps.