Welcome

In Shakespeare’s play Much Ado About Nothing, one character asks another: “Why, what’s the matter, that you have such a February face, so full of frost, of storm and cloudiness?” Well, we hope this month’s issue puts another face on February—more of a countenance— which along with being defined as “the way one looks” also means “calm and composed .

“Revision”—Not an author’s or student’s favorite word, especially if it means one’s best shot at an article or paper needs to be rewritten. Maybe totally rewritten! But after revising more drafts than I could ever count over the years, I can honestly say I’m not afraid of the word revision any more.

Peace on earth? It’s coming! No doubt about it. The spiritual era with its ultimate promise of universal peace and harmony  is advancing.

As Thanksgiving Day approaches here in the United States, many of us will be reflecting on our blessings this past year. Those of you in Canada, the United Kingdom, and elsewhere, who celebrate an annual day of thanks, know what a wonderful feast it is—of gratitude to God for the abundance of good in our lives.

As we were putting this issue to bed, it occurred to me that here in New England, October means putting gardens to bed, too. It brings to mind the statement from Second Timothy ( 4:2 ) in the Bible, to “be instant in season, out of season”—challenging us to turn, instantly, to God’s eternal presence, no matter what shifts may be taking place in our lives.

If anyone doubts that the Church Mary Baker Eddy founded—The Church of Christ, Scientist—is alive and ON THE MOVE, he or she should read this issue! No, you won’t read about church programs, administration, and fund-raising. You’ll read about how people live Church, and how Church comes alive through their thoughts and actions.

“These are God’s magazines,” a colleague mentioned recently, as we shared how much we value the Journal and its sister publications the Christian Science Sentinel and The Herald of Christian Science.   Yes! These are God’s magazines.

This month is the second in which we’re discussing each of the six religious tenets of Christian Science, which Mary Baker Eddy set down as the conclusion to the chapter “Recapitulation” in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures ( see pp. 496–497 ).

To the woman who discovered Christian Science, the gap between a  creed and a  tenet was huge and impassable. Early on, Mary Baker Eddy balked at religious creeds as rigid and exclusive, because she saw her older brothers and sisters condemned to eternal punishment by the orthodox church for not subscribing to the time-honored “Apostles’ Creed,” which represented official doctrine on the Trinity, heaven, hell, judgment.

It would not be a stretch to say that every issue of this magazine carries a “back to basics” message. To a Christian Scientist theology matters.