Of Good Report

I loved Sunday School. The inspiration and dedication of one teacher in particular was responsible for a life-changing glimpse into who I really am.

The following is a paraphrase of a short conversation the author had with a man on the train.   HE: May I sit here? ME: Of course.

Every year since 1987 my city, Austin, Texas, has hosted an event called South by Southwest (SXSW). It’s a ten-day film festival, technology conference, and music festival, and is considered a breeding ground for innovation and new talent.

A man purchases two copies of the Spanish translation of Mary Baker Eddy’s book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures to take to his brothers during a visit to his home country. A woman, originally from Mexico and now going through a difficult divorce, finds help from a Spanish translation of Science and Health , a copy of El Heraldo, and a Spanish translation of the pamphlet “ God’s Law of Adjustment.

Since 2005, a small group of Christian Scientists in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, has been producing and broadcasting a bimonthly radio show titled Spiritual healing today,  featuring Christian Science healings. In January this year, one of the hosts of the show, Gérard Mutombo Biba [GMB], recorded a program about the importance of the Wednesday testimony meetings held in Christian Science churches all over the world.

Dear Journal, My name is Victor. I have been studying Christian Science for almost two years now.

Once while getting ready to attend a members’ meeting in my branch church, I heard a grumpy thought in my head that said, “Being a church member is no picnic!” Not a particularly healing or constructive observation, I quickly realized, so I took a moment to reconsider my understanding of and feeling for Church, which Mary Baker Eddy defined in part as “the structure of Truth and Love” ( Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 583 ).

I boarded my connecting flight in Atlanta, Georgia, and settled into my window seat, ready to take a short nap on the last leg of my journey. When my seatmate sat down, we exchanged smiles and greeted one another.

I had been serving as First Reader in my Christian Science branch church and had only three Sundays left for the completion of a three-year term. It was my habit to arrive at the church about an hour before the beginning of the service.

A JSH-Online reader comments on Carol Kingstrom Rounds’s “Practice, Practice, Practice” Journal blog: Dear Carol, I appreciate the candor in your article “ Not selfish or depressing . ” It is so helpful to read how your search changed from a “sad, gloomy” struggle to being “sweet, calm, and buoyant with hope, not selfish nor depressing” (Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures , p.