Articles

Last month's segment included the mountaintop experience of the transfiguration. However, further lessons on discipleship await Jesus' followers—lessons that will take them from that mountaintop right down to the valley, where they will be confronted with difficult demons and attitudes on greatness.

In celebrating the centennial year of The Christian Science Publishing Society, the Journal recognizes the many behind-the-scenes sacrifices involved in carrying out its healing mission. To illustrate, here is a brief excerpt from an early employee's reminiscence, one of several being published this year.

Can you have a relationship with God? How?—from an inquirer to the home page of the Church of Christ, Scientist The wonderful thing is that your relation to God already exists! The question is not can you relate to God, but how can you see more clearly the unbreakable relation we each already have. Our relation to God is built into His nature and ours; as the Bible explains, God is our Parent, loving us, providing for us, and always with us.

Before you say "no!" in response to the title of this article, and turn the page, you might consider the definition of the word worship . To worship means "to show religious devotion or reverence for; adore or venerate as a deity" The Christian Scientist thinks of God as infinite, all-powerful Spirit, as divine Mind.

What if you were feeling far from God-lonely, confused, perhaps alienated or separated from loved ones? Could you still pray to God for comfort and help and expect a meaningful answer? It's reassuring to know that we can find clear answers through prayer, through opening our thought to and affirming our Father-Mother God's presence and omnipotence. As we do this, we begin to feel our oneness with Him.

A clergyman friend once told me how his mother, a devout Christian, always tithed to her church. They had an apple orchard and sold most of their apples.

Are you a caregiver? Many people find themselves in this role today, whether it be for small children, elderly relatives, friends, or someone with special needs. Also, many governmental and private organizations exist to provide for the needs of senior citizens at one end of the spectrum, and at the other, for young children of working parents.

The concept of innocence being powerful might sound anomalous in the context of the world's perception of strength. We may even think of innocence as weakness.

In mid-July, the events celebrating the 150th anniversary of the birth of the women's rights movement in the United States reached their climax on a hot, humid morning in the village of Seneca Falls, New York State. First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton addressed an enthusiastic crowd of twenty thousand people on the Mynderse Academy High School playing field, calling on everyone—women, men, and children—to finish the work that those early pioneers had begun.

The first women's rights convention opened July 19, 1848, in Seneca Falls, New York. To mark this important anniversary, the Christian Science magazines and The Christian Science Monitor are running a number of articles on the status of women, including important spiritual issues that affect the progress of both women and men.