Matthew Cocks - The Christian Science Journal, March 2008

I have always believed there is a God, or I suppose at least sensed that there’s something more than ourselves. But as I grew up, I developed the belief of a punishing God. I was quite scared of God actually. On one hand, I had the feeling that God was on my side, but on the other hand, that bad stuff would happen if I did anything wrong. It has been only in this past year (four years after learning about Christian Science) that I have gotten over this idea of a punishing God. It’s still something I work at really’understanding that God loves unconditionally, like a mother or a father. I kind of always knew that in theory, but in practice, I’d be fearful and worry about being punished. I’m still progressing in my understanding of the depth of God’s unconditional love.

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Christian Science Sentinel, Nov. 12, 2007

Recently, Sentinel staff editor JENNY ROEMER spoke with ELLEN HAMMOND, MATT LAWRENCE, and LAURA FORBES’ three employees (all in their 20s) who work at The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston. They talked about handling stress in their lives.

Jenny Roemer: We’re here today discussing how to handle pressure and stress through prayer. Let’s start off by talking about where we’re seeing stress and pressure crop up.

Laura Forbes: Especially being in our 20s, there are pressures out there about where we’re supposed to be in our lives, and what success means. I think there’s a lot of pressure on us these days to really have it all together. Society tells you that you should have a great place to live, a great career’and maybe be looking for a wife or husband, thinking about kids, and getting your finances in order. And that can sometimes seem overwhelming when you look at your life and think, Do I really have any of those things in the way the world says I should?

Matt Lawrence: That’s really interesting, Laura, because I feel that same stress. But as someone who is young and married, I also feel a different kind of pressure from my peers’the pressure not to grow up, not to have kids, but to be young and go out every night and keep up with that lifestyle. It seems that people our age are caught in this middle zone’like, “Well, are we going to act 20 years old, or do we need to act 30?”

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Ariana Dale - Christian Science Sentinel, July 16, 2007

I was lying in bed, hours after “flashlights out.” My family, my dog, Carmel, and my best friend all flashed through my mind. I was also thinking about my older brother, who had just started football camp back at home, and I worried about his safety. My face felt hot and wet as I quietly cried into my pillow. But why was I sad? Wasn’t I supposed to be happy at summer camp?

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Erik Gates - Christian Science Sentinel, Oct. 8, 2007

Swimming is a big part of my life. I swim for two hours a day, four days a week, on a competitive aquatics team. Just like with swimming, I’ve realized that it’s equally important to practice the spiritual ideas I’m learning in Christian Science.

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by Pamela Cook

Recently NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams ran a special series called “The Mind-Body Connection.” It’s not hard to find evidence of a widespread desire to understand this connection. A Google search yields 47.1 million hits on “mind-body,” including 105 news stories in a single month (April 9 — May 9, 2008), and Amazon.com lists 6,641 books on the subject.

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Emma Grewal - The Christian Science Journal, Feb. 2008

I had never heard of Qatar, a place I now consider home, until three years ago when my dad got a job working for a company there. My mum, dad, and younger sister, Abigail, and I moved to Doha, the capital city of Qatar, from Dubai. Being born and brought up in Australia, and having also lived in India, I found moving to a country like Qatar a big change. When you’re used to seeing people in jeans and shirts, coming to an Islamic country like Qatar hits you most visually. Here a lot of the women wear a black abaya, a traditional form of Islamic dress worn over your clothes, and a lot of my girlfriends also wear a black headscarf, even to school, although wearing the scarf is a personal decision.

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by Matthew Cocks

A few years ago I spent some time reading about the life of Mohandas K Gandhi (more popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi). Gandhi was an Indian political and spiritual leader who lived most his life during the first half of the twentieth century. He was very influential in the process of India gaining independence from British colonial rule.

As fascinating as I found his extraordinary political career, it was his spiritual approach to life and thoughts on the nature of God which particularly interested me. Gandhi was a radical spiritual thinker. He loved simplicity, and is very well known for his strong encouragement of non-violence.

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Nate Talbot - the Christian Science Sentinel, Oct. 15, 2007

SUPPOSE TWO PEOPLE, John and Linda, are walking down the street. Linda sees a window sign with an invitation to come in and be hypnotized. She’s game for anything. So John follows along as she marches into the office. After a discussion, the hypnotist places Linda in a trance. During this experiment, he plants a posthypnotic suggestion in her mind—when she hears the word blue, she will feel the impulse to react negatively. Then the hypnotist wakes her up from the spell. Later, as Linda and John continue their walk, John makes some offhanded comment about so little smog in the air and the brightness of the blue sky. Linda reacts with an unkind comment—maybe even a strong insult. How would John feel? Probably a smile. Oh yeah, she’s just delivering some words that haven’t originated with her. She doesn’t even understand the impulse that brought about those words.

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Nicole T. - The Christian Science Journal, Dec. 2007

Performing and singing in musicals are two of my favorite things to do. One reason that I love musicals so much is that they give me an opportunity to share with others my God-given talents.

All through grade school, I watched the musical productions at our high school with the hope of some day being the lead. During the first two years of high school, I was the understudy for the lead roles. In my junior year, when auditions came around for our spring musical, “Annie Get Your Gun,” I practiced the audition material until I felt fully prepared. When the cast list was posted, I was thrilled to find that the directors had cast me in the lead role of Annie.

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by Catherine Hellman

I have always loved angels. No, not winged ethereal beings, but angels as Mary Baker Eddy defined them. She wrote in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures that angels are “God’s thoughts passing to man; spiritual intuitions, pure and perfect; the inspiration of God’s goodness, purity, and immortality, counteracting all evil, sensuality, and mortality.” I love that! It seems to me that angels are our intuitions. They tap on us on the shoulder to remind us who is really in control, and who really loves us all. And that’s God.

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