Caitlin Holland - Christian Science Sentinel, Feb. 26, 2007

Two summers ago, I left my home on the East Coast to attend college in Washington State. Surrounded by the Olympic Mountains on one side, and the Cascade Range on the other, I couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful setting. Only an hour away from snow-capped Mt. Rainier, it’s the ideal place for students who love the outdoors. I especially enjoy the many opportunities to go backpacking, hiking, and sea-kayaking. Still, being away from home was a big adjustment for me. Even though my days were filled with classes and outdoor sports, I missed my family and friends back home. And then there was church—I loved attending my church at home, which was familiar and comfortable, but I wondered how it would fit into my busy schedule in college. Would a church in my college town offer the same warmth and support as back home? (more…)

The following appeared as an editorial commentary in the December 7, 1992, Sentinel.

Mention the name Judas and people all around the world are likely to think of one word: betrayal. What an awful legacy for an individual to have left—to be remembered for nearly two thousand years by hundreds of millions of people as a betrayer! The name Judas seems universally to call forth condemnation.

But there’s another side to the story, and it’s one that shouldn’t be lost sight of. This side calls for our compassion. Relatively few people caught enough of a glimpse of Jesus’ mission while he was here to commit themselves to close discipleship. Yet Judas was one of those few. He did make a beginning effort. But the most significant aspect of this other side of the story has to do with what happened after the betrayal. My feeling of compassion for Judas took quite a leap forward one day as I pondered Matthew’s account of the dramatic change that began to come over Judas when he saw what was happening to Jesus. Judas, according to the Gospel of Matthew, “repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood” (27:3, 4). (more…)

Johanna - The Christian Science Journal Feb. 2006

I live in Germany and my friends at school call me “Jojo.” I enjoy horseback riding, playing the guitar, listening to my CDs, and recently I’ve gotten pretty interested in studying the ancient Maya Indians. Someday, I think I’d even like to be a research explorer.

I also like to spend some time each day praying. Usually, I read something from the Bible and Science and Health, or sometimes I just think quietly about God. Since I was little, I’ve had a lot of healings through prayer and learning more about my relationship with God. (more…)

Lena Showalter - The Christian Science Sentinel Aug. 7, 2006

As a teenager I’d been to overnight summer camp, went on a five-week school trip to Spain the summer before my senior year of high school, and even successfully made it through my freshman year away at college–all without any homesickness. So I thought a year studying abroad in Valencia, Spain, would be just as easy. And I was right–well, about the first semester at least. (more…)

Flávio Colombini - The Christian Science Sentinel June 5, 2006
São Paulo, Brazil

A few years ago, I was feeling very eager to extend my church activities beyond the church edifice.

After giving Bible classes at a juvenile prison for over a year, I embarked on a second journey of “Church outside church” when I volunteered in a local public hospital. I went there once a week during visiting hours, going from room to room and offering to read passages from the Bible and to pray with the patients. Many patients accepted my offer and gladly listened to me reading psalms and other passages from the Bible, and rejoiced to pray the Lord’s Prayer out loud with me. Some patients just listened to me in awe, as if I were an angel visiting them, and others started happy conversations with me, asking questions and telling me about their faith in God to heal them. (more…)

Suzanne Smedley - The Christian Science Journal June, 2006

When 13-year-old Anna decided to join her local branch church, she wasn’t sure what to expect during the application process. What would she be asked? And what would she say? As it turned out, the whole thing was a lot easier than she thought. Here’s her story . . . (more…)

Steve Henn - The Christian Science Journal March 2006

What do I want to think of when I think of Church? It’s a simple equation, really: Church = joy.

Seriousness doesn’t speak to me-I guess because in my mind, it relates to fear. And that’s what I’ve asked myself a lot with regard to Church: Why on earth do we take Church so seriously? Why do we seem to take these ideas, this Science of Christianity, so seriously? What are we afraid of? Are we afraid if we don’t, if we don’t guard it and protect it, that we’ll lose it? What do we think is going to happen? (more…)

Adedeh Malachi - Christian Science Sentinel, June 26, 2006

I grew up in a Pentecostal church where I was made to believe that our denomination was better than the other denominations around. But after becoming a student of Christian Science in my teens, I realized that we are different from each other only in the extent to which we embrace and practice the teachings of Jesus Christ. Healing as Jesus healed, or gaining dominion over sin, sickness, and death, is all that matters.

God is for us all; no one is ever excluded from the presence or the love of God. As St. Paul said to Christians at Rome: “For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Rom. 10:12, 13). (more…)

By David Hogg - The Christian Science Journal, February 2006

If you’d asked me a few years ago, I probably would have said that Christian Science is just another religion. It didn’t really seem practical to me—more like something you only thought about at church on Sundays. But little by little over the last couple of years I’ve been seeing something different. Christian Science is practical. It’s relevant. It’s fantastic, really!

Once I started really living like a Christian Scientist, putting Christian Science into practice, I began to see that no problem is without a solution. Christian Science isn’t about being labeled, or about do’s and don’ts. I think living as a Christian Scientist means taking everything to God, just having a constant willingness to listen to Him and to see things from His perspective. (more…)

By Kim Korinek - Christian Science Sentinel, March 13, 2006

When I was in middle school, I loved to dance. I danced whenever I got the chance. At one point, my feet were getting uncommonly tired all the time. Soon after that, they were covered with warts.

Using Christian Science for healing was what my mom and I always did. When I was sick, I’d ask her to read to me from Science and Health, and I always got better.

This time, my mom suggested that I was old enough to ask a Christian Science practitioner myself to pray for me to heal the warts. I had never done this before and wasn’t sure what to expect, but I knew that the practitioner had dedicated her life to helping others with prayer. The practitioner I knew was kind and had a knock-your-socks-off joy that was infectious. Still, it took courage for me to call her. Finally I did call, though, and told her I was very unhappy because of warts all over my feet. I asked if she would please help me through prayer to be healed. (more…)