Archive for the ‘Practical Spirituality’ Category

Always useful to God

employment-cameroonI have been active professionally for 6 years. During that time I decided to go back to university to continue my studies. I am an active member of a Christian Science church in Yaoundé, Cameroon, where I have served as Clerk/Treasurer for the past 3 years. For many years the Cameroon government had recruited young people like me, but without a signed contract! As the years went by many of them began to worry about their future. I did not want to get caught up in this anxiety, however legitimate it seemed, because I knew that God goes before us no matter the situation! (more…)

On the ride to Baguio

stomach-problemsAfter the Indonesian Summit, one half of the Summit team from The Mother Church had to take a red-eye flight to Manila on our way to the Philippines Summit. The night of our flight, we had dinner late, just before heading out to the airport, so we could rest on the 5ish hour flight, and skip the airplane food without going hungry. When the food trolley came by during the flight and the hostess asked if I wanted chicken or fish, as I said “Nothing for me, thank you.” I remember thinking, “If I eat anything at this time, it’ll feel like I have a rock in my tummy in the morning.” Well, we landed in the morning, and as we got off the plane I started to feel like I had a rock in my tummy, even though I hadn’t eaten! This was very inconvenient as I had another eight hour drive to get to Baguio City, where the Summit was to be held. (more…)

Back in the Sunshine

mbl-sunshineI squeezed out of the tiny elevator, onto the fifth floor, as my Spanish home-stay hostess gave me the tour of her colonial-style apartment. I spied my room. With one window to the cold winter world outside and a bed, I could tell it would be my sanctuary for the next three months away from home. She left me to unpack. I heaved my suitcase onto the bed and unzipped it to find, on top of all the clothes, the pink journal my mom had made for me the summer before. Clippings of quotes from the Bible and Science and Health filled the pages and were generously balanced by many stickers of flowers and cheerful-looking shapes. (more…)

The Christ in you

christ-in-youMost of the time you hear people refer to Jesus when talking about the Christ. It’s natural, when mentioning Jesus, for people to say, Jesus Christ or Christ Jesus. That’s because Christ is the title for Jesus, sort of like how people use the word, Queen, as the title of a person who may be at the head of a country.

There will only be one Christ Jesus, though. The title isn’t going to be handed down to a successor. But the good news is that you and I have everything good about the Christ available to us, too—now and all the time. (more…)

Uruguay y Argentina; talleres de Escuela Dominical, y más

uruguayPara un país relativamente pequeño, Uruguay tiene un movimiento fuerte de Ciencia Cristiana, que ha estado ya por muchas décadas. Tiene seis iglesias y una sociedad en la capital, Montevideo, y dos más en el interior. Dada las similitudes entre Uruguay y Argentina, así como el hecho que talleres de Escuela Dominical y reuniones para la juventud se llevaron a cabo en ambos países, cubriremos ambos países aquí. (more…)

Youth lectures in Argentina

colorhousesDuring our time in Argentina, Susie gave three youth lectures to about 230 people, approximately 40% of which were close to Sunday School age and/or new to Christian Science. Each lecture started with an explanation that youth is an attitude that everyone can express, with freshness, joy, love, energy and the welcoming of new ideas. Throughout each lecture, the loving and prayerful support of everyone involved was evident. (Highlights from the lectures will be made available in Spanish on tmcyouth.com, and the nine other TMC Youth activities that took place in Argentina will be described in our next blog.) (more…)

Navigating away from the bully

navigatingWhat I remember about seventh grade is finding myself in a new school about five times as big as I’d ever known—I was stumped by algebra, and the girl who wanted to help me get through that class was my only friend. Neither of us were cool, and she didn’t care, but I longed to be accepted by the in-crowd. But every attempt to connect with them ended up in some awful embarrassment. It was a painful time of learning how to make friends and how to be a friend.

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göttlicher Einfluss

airportAls ich letzten wieder mal am Flughafen war, sah ich all die Schilder, die vor der Schweinegrippe warnen. Und was man Alles tun muss um sich zu schützen.

Soviel Angst und Furcht steckt dahinter. Ich dachte kurz darüber nach wie stark diese Furcht und Angst die Gedanken der Menschen beeinflussen wollen. Gleichzeitig dachte ich darüber nach, wie man sich vor dieser angsterfüllten Beeinflussung frei halten kann. Ein Wortspiel half mir dabei. Schweinegrippe ( swine flu) = Schweineinfluenza ( swine influenza)= Influence =der Einfluss, Beeinflussen (Influence). (more…)

The Path to Christian Science

Tony Lobl
by TonyThe Christian Science Journal, March 2008

Have you heard the one about the Jewish mathematician who became a Christian Scientist?

No, it’s not a Christmas cracker [party favor] joke. It’s my history in a nutshell. Like Rabbi Janet Burden in an earlier “Faith Column” blog—who went in the reverse direction to me—I don’t feel I “converted” from one faith to another. I still worship one almighty God. And I still love chicken soup with matzo balls! (more…)

Which movies should I watch?

From the Christian Science Sentinel, Jan. 14 & 21, 2008

The following posts are from a recent tmcyouth.com discussion. These selected comments are not republished with the Sentinel’s intent to endorse particular views, but to give a snapshot of current issues young people are thinking and praying about in today’s world.

Danie13
As a Christian Scientist, what kind of movies do you think people should watch? I’ve been wrestling with this question, and any response will be greatly appreciated.

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