Articles

On the front of the T-shirt is the message "Celebrate Diversity. " It's printed beneath a small globe.

If someone were to ask "Who are you?" how would you identify yourself? As a man or a woman with such and such a name? Someone belonging to this or that age-group? A resident of some city or nation? A member of a particular family with a specific ethnic heritage? Regardless of your response, would you also inwardly affirm with unwavering conviction, "I am the perfect child of God"? It's often a challenge to hold to the spiritual fact that we are perfect children of the one, perfect God, to silence suggestions of inferiority, to cast off the worries that weigh us down, to conquer the sin and disease that claim jurisdiction over us. Yet, this is exactly what we must do in following Christ Jesus.

The March 1996 issue of The Christian Science Journal, and the Annual Meeting report carried in the July 1996 issue, focused on the healing mission, purpose, focus, and current priorities of the Church of Christ, Scientist. As a continuing report on how the Church is going forward in this work, senior managers at The Mother Church have been invited to write for the Journal a brief account of how workers in their area of activity are approaching these goals.

This feature provides a forum where people around the world ask questions vital to the activities of church, and others respond with fresh, healing approaches. Questions pertain to subjects such as the public practice of Christian Science healing and nursing; the vitality of church membership; churches and Sunday Schools ministering to their communities; spiritual exploration and outreach at colleges and universities.

Our church and Reading Room are located in downtown Chicago. Every day we have visitors in our Reading Room from other countries.

With the many opportunities for giving during the holiday season, how natural it is to think of giving the gift of healing as found in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy. The Publisher's Office regularly hears from people who are sharing the book, and recently received a letter from a member of The Mother Church in Westlake Village, California, who has volunteered to work with this Office to place Science and Health in local bookstores.

Courtnay Douglas, a member of the Journal, Sentinel, and Herald Editorial staff, reports on a recent visit to Boston of an enthusiastic group of young people with a mission. A year ago, the pupils in the Sunday School at First Church of Christ, Scientist, Seattle, Washington, were asked, "What is the pastor of Christian Science?" When they didn't have answers, the members of the Sunday School were presented with the idea, which they decided to work on, of an extracurricular project to read biographies of Mary Baker Eddy in order to get background that would help them answer this question.

We do it all the time—number the people. The news media constantly publish the results of polls on topics ranging from the popularity of political candidates, to the state of people's finances, to their daily habits.

A new baby, children in college, loss of employment, big mortgage expenses, high cost of living, unwise investments, relatives in need—such situations sometimes drain people's financial resources, telling them it's time to worry, or to keep worrying! I've found that if I have time to worry, I have time to pray. And I've also discovered that while worry brings no solution, consecrated prayer brings to light a definite and appropriate solution, whatever the problem.

Around the time of my university graduation, I went to visit a Christian Science practitioner about what seemed an overwhelming problem. I was suffering from an eating disorder.