Article September 3, 2012 Issue

Travel and church

Ginger Mack Emden

The following was written in support of Church Alive, a focus of The First Church of Christ, Scientist, that explores the meaning and possibilities of awakening to the spiritual basis and impact of Church. 

The Sentinel prints selected Web offerings from christianscience.com/church-alive on a weekly basis.  

Last Easter, I found myself in a small city in the southwest of France known as Pau. I was there with a group of Christian Scientists for a study-abroad program. There, in this town in the foothills of the Pyrenees, we received the most gracious welcome by the local Christian Science church members. During our ten-day visit, the members hosted a pizza party on Wednesday night before the testimony meeting, took time to get to know our group members, invited my colleague and me for Easter dinner at one member’s house, and banded together to transport the group members to the airport after a Sunday service when our initial plans fell through.