Articles

When I was chairman of the executive board of our branch church several years ago, a member delivered what seemed to me to be a scathing attack upon the board. Suddenly the quarterly meeting was sparked by confrontation.

One approach to prayer that I find helpful is to think of it as "friendship with the great companion. " This view brings a warmth of affection that enables us to feel the presence and power of God.

How would you describe the role of business in the late twentieth century? Over a period of five or six years, in the organization of which I am chief executive, we have been giving serious consideration to "What is the role of business?" That is, of course, particularly relevant in the South African context, where very aggressive management of businesses toward the single goal of maximizing the bottom-line profit seems to bear very little relevance to the critical needs of the South African community. And so we were challenged: If the role of business isn't solely the maximization of the bottom-line profit, then what is it? About five years ago we came to the relatively easy conclusion—relatively easy, that is, from the standpoint of Biblical priorities— that the role of business is actually the management of the resources of that business in the service of the community, either by the production of products or by the delivery of services which are useful to that community.

How often during the day we're apt to think of age, our own or someone else's. Usually, such thoughts are negative, even fearful.

For those actively studying Christian Science, there usually comes a time of deep, serious inquisitiveness. This is not a period of doubt about the healing power of God, but of exploring how such healing takes place and how one can better apply spiritual understanding to bring about healing.

" I have an extremely painful back," the patient told the Christian Science practitioner. "The cause of it may be strain from too much gardening or a sense of burden from preparing for my daughter's wedding, which will be quite a large affair.

Doubt is an element of most delayed healing. The doubt may be about God: "Can He heal me? Is He willing to heal me?" Or the doubt may be more personal: "Do I have enough faith to be healed? Do I know enough?" Left to feed on itself, doubt may take on a life of its own and look like a mountainous obstacle to healing.

Every Christian Science healing is an instance of spiritual progression. More than a change in a physical condition or an improvement in human experience, it represents a yielding of thought to God.

Can you imagine a more hopeless, despairing scene than that which faced the disciples at Christ Jesus' crucifixion? Their Teacher and Master, invincible in every conceivable human situation, was now hanging, apparently helpless, on the cross. He had told them that he was "the light of the world," but now darkness covered everything.

Whether at a shopping mall, on a college campus, or in the foyer of a church, a bulletin board is a great place for people to share information. You can learn a lot about an active community from reading local bulletin boards.