“…a new church and a new attitude”

There has been much fruitage in our little church (which I once referred to as “a new church and a new attitude”) since I last wrote. As a member recently noted one Wednesday evening, although we tend to think of ourselves as a little church, we actually are a large power for good in our community.

Our Reading Room finally reopened a year ago, and that has turned out to be a great blessing for all of us, but especially for one of our neighbors. At one Sunday service, after a year of wondering, the woman from across the street came in to find out “what you are all about.” She became a regular attender at a time of great turmoil in her life. Her long-time boyfriend had been jailed for tax evasion, and because their finances were considered by law enforcement to be mingled (actually, they were not), all her assets were frozen.

Our Wednesday evening testimony meetings became even more uplifting than usual as we responded to her questions about Christian Science, and as we recounted our many healings, and she recognized the healings that were taking place in her own life. She was a frequent visitor to the Reading Room, taking home Sentinels and Journals, and reading Science and Health from cover to cover. She said that Christian Science is what she has been looking for all her life. As she began to understand that God is her Father-Mother, and that God meets all human needs, her financial situation was corrected, and a years-long estrangement from her mother (resulting from an abusive childhood) was healed. Before she moved to another state, I gave her the address and phone number of a nearby Branch Church and Reading Room. We have been in touch since her move, and she has had some truly wonderful healings. When she was carried farther and farther out to sea by a riptide at a beach with no human lifeguard, she prayed to know that God is her Life and her Preserver, and she was rescued. Also, she was healed of MRSA which she contracted in a hospital where she had gone for the treatment of a severely burned hand. “I learned the difference between Christian Science and mesmerism,” she said.

Our church has also been blessed by the recent membership of a regular attendee who for many years had been a member of a Christian Science Church that had disbanded. She is a loving and energetic worker, reflecting many fresh ideas (we know where those came from!) that have sparked beautiful improvements in our church. She is now serving as the church treasurer (which had been the responsibility of the First Reader for many years!). So many of her initiatives – landscaping, finally unpacking from our move, selling items no long needed, to name a few – have brought us even closer together as a loving church family.

A man who has attended the church off and on for many years – “the only church where [he] ever felt welcome” has overcome mental illness (referring in testimonies to “when I was crazy”), a severe smoking addiction (which almost always caused him to walk out of church in the middle of a service to have a smoke), homelessness, and many other challenges. Interestingly, he has brought more visitors to church than any of our members! When he had a room with a family in the inner city, he brought them with him, when he used to have a car. When he was living in a residential hotel in the city, he brought a fellow veteran who seemed to be suffering from severe emotional problems – the first time, by promising to take him out to supper. Attending church means so much to this loving man that he takes a taxi to be there. (We take him home.)

We have made arrangements for people to be able to call in to hear the Wednesday evening meetings and the Sunday services, if they are unable to attend. Some of our members no longer drive at night, and they are so grateful to hear the readings and testimonies AND to be able to testify to their own healings.

Two visitors came to the Sunday service several weeks ago, and I became aware during the hymns that they both had beautiful voices. They turned out to be a Christian Science couple, both professional singers, who were looking for a church. Although they live 40 minutes away, they asked if we might like them to be our soloists! (We had not had a soloist or any live music in several years and relied on the lovely CDs that we had in the Reading Room.) We offered to pay them, but they said they wanted to volunteer, and so they have, taking turns each week, bringing their recorded accompaniment with them. This has been such a lovely blessing for our church, and we have all been moved and inspired by the beauty of their solos.