For many Filipinos, the day typhoon Ketsana hit was memorable.  Everyone remembers where they were, what they were doing, and who they were with.  Although it has already been three weeks since the storm hit, some parts of Metro Manila are still flooded in knee-high waters that may not recede until December. Ketsana was immediately followed by Parma, though bypassed Manila and hit the provinces of northern Luzon instead.  This category-5 typhoon caused a lot of landslides in Baguio and its neighboring areas. (more…)

Malvika – Christian Science Sentinel, April 6, 2009

I started going to the Sunday School of the Christian Science Society in my city two years ago, after being raised in a different religion.

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by Emily

Hey, my name is Emily, and I am interning at The Mother Church here in Boston. I spent the other day wallowing in self-pity and I felt completely justified in my anger and hurt. My friend had abandoned me to brave Boston, a new city to me, on my own, the 14-hour days of commuting and work and such weren’t giving me any time or energy to do any exploring, and I missed my friends and family. (more…)

by Kate Warner

I recently became an intern at The Mother Church. I’m going to be here in Boston all summer, and getting here was a little hectic. Since I didn’t know when I was going to be leaving until the day before I left, I didn’t get a chance to say goodbye to most of my friends and even to some of my family. Now, I dearly love my friends and am very close with my family. And I felt I had finally learned how to truly express love to those I’d always been close to. To be ripped so abruptly away—well, it hurt.

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by Meg Welch Dendler

Most of us are on a quest for happiness in our lives. That search is behind most of the choices we make—from marriage or where to live to where to work or whether or not to have children. We’re always asking ourselves, Will these things make us happy?

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Steve – Christian Science Sentinel, Aug. 25, 2008

During high school, I’d been playing basketball a lot and sometimes had practices on Sunday mornings. It just felt like I didn’t have much time to go to church. Being away from Sunday school, I kind of drifted away from praying about things. I had a lot going on and didn’t even know if I wanted to be a Christian Scientist anymore. My friends didn’t seem to understand what it was all about, and it was tough to feel different.

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by Mark Swinney

People aren’t required to just mindlessly swallow all of the news reports, whether lately about the economy or, more recently, about contagion. That’s not a new concept. As a Christian Scientist I’m used to questioning what the news media is telling me and thinking about the underlying cause of a given situation.

Now there are lots of headlines about the swine flu. And I’ve been thinking about something Mary Baker Eddy wrote. She said, “At a time of contagious disease Christian Scientists endeavor to rise in consciousness to the true sense of the omnipotence of Life, Truth, and Love, and this great fact in Christian Science realized will stop a contagion” (My., p. 116).

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by Melody

Throughout the last year I have been striving daily to express more humility. To me this means putting others’ interests before mine, knowing that the actions I take towards benefiting them will also benefit me. It means to love God and love your neighbor as yourself. One dictionary definition of humility is “to lower in pride; make modest.” One of Jesus’ messages that relates to humility is, “Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the Earth.” In my own life, I’ve met people who have inspired me to be more humble.

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Thank you God for your infinite love to me.
The product of Your love
to me
cannot be measured.
God is the solution to all my problems.
The diameter of the Earth
is smaller
than my love for God.
I never want to be
divided
from You.
You are the Sun
And the I Am.
And I am
one of
Your rays of light.
Happy Valentine’s Day!

Joe - Adapted from the Christian Science Sentinel, June 23, 2008, and posted on tmcyouth.com

Last year my church helped a family in Mexico. I saw how happy and loving the family was as we built them a little house in Tijuana. The Christian Science Society I attend was a sponsor for this mission trip.

When we got to the building site high on a hill in Mexico overlooking California, I met the youngest member of the family, Isaac. He calls himself Zak. I asked him what he got for Christmas. He said, “Nothing, because my parents don’t have any money.” And so I felt like that was why we were there, so that we could build a house for him and his family for Christmas. It was our Christmas present to them.
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