Articles

Through the years I've had many opportunities for spiritual growth—though at the time I may not have immediately seen them as opportunities! Membership in The Mother Church is more than a matter of joining—it's a matter of uniting with truly Christian love, of being supported by the daily prayers and spiritual progress of Christian Scientists throughout the world. Perhaps the most jolting experience, the one that resulted in the greatest step forward in my spiritual journey, came when I suddenly found myself alone with three young children to care for and no particular job skills—or so I thought —at the time.

Much is written today about a declining church and about the loss of spiritual vitality in religions in the West. One hears of shrinking church attendance in some areas and of apathy in organized religion.

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.

How many of us, do you suppose, have come into Christian Science through the help of some Reading Room? It's not unusual to read a passage in a testimony in the Journal or Christian Science Sentinel like the following ( Sentinel, August 8, 1988, p. 35): "I began going to a Christian Science Reading Room with my boss during our lunch hours.

Women have seldom been absent from the battlefield. Many have worked untiringly on behalf of the sick and wounded.

I still vividly recall the day the Sunday School superintendent of the branch Church of Christ, Scientist, to which I belong asked me to give specific thought to the subject "Prayer for children" and then share my thoughts at the next Sunday School teachers' meeting. Why me of all people? I wondered.

Over the years I've observed that many people whose lives illustrate longevity have a sincere interest in something such as current events, members of their family, friends, or some other activity. One of our friends, at the age of ninety, took up oil painting and was good at it.

Christian Scientists sometimes receive requests for healing through prayer from patients hundreds, even thousands, of miles away. And even when the request is from someone closer, healing may occur without the patient's being physically present with the healer.

Is our surrender to complacency helping to keep the world asleep in materialism? In Science and Health Mrs. Eddy warns, "Lulled by stupefying illusions, the world is asleep in the cradle of infancy, dreaming away the hours.

Either God is All, or there is no God. There isn't any middle ground.