Editorial November 4, 2002 ISSUE

Church that lasts forever

Mary Trammell

Granite. It's tough, durable rock—molten deep in the earth and solidified into crystalline stone that polishes to a high shine. The mountains in Mary Baker Eddy's native New Hampshire (the "Granite State") are full of it. So are the yards of many New Englanders, where massive granite outcropppings sometimes look like statuary. And around the globe, the enduring beauty of granite finds its way into important buildings and monuments—a symbol of strength, permanence, and continuity.

Church is a lot like that. Strong and everlasting, it stands like a rock against the ravages of time, trauma, adversity, oppression. Over the centuries, the Christian Church has stood as a secure reference point where people can turn for encouragement, strength, grounding, peace, healing.

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