Sparked, kindled, and on fire for a healing Cause

By Joyce Walton

When I was 12, I applied for membership in The First Church of Christ, Scientist— also known as The Mother Church. My Sunday School teacher at that time had highly recommended this course of action. And you don't argue with your Sunday School teacher when she also happens to be your grandmother. In my family, it was just the expected thing to do. So I filled out the application. I had no idea what membership in this organization really meant, although on occasion I had heard my grandmother refer to becoming a Mother Church member as "joining the Cause."

In college I became aware that many people were devoted to causes. Sometimes they would advertise their cause with a well-placed bumper sticker or hold fundraisers or donate hundreds of dollars a year, zealously spreading the word about their cause. I often thought, "Wow, they're really on fire—that organization must be doing some amazing things in the world."

About 15 years ago, I began to take a closer look at what it really means to be an active member of The First Church of Christ, Scientist. I began to appreciate more deeply Mary Baker Eddy's vision for the Church she had founded and to see the "amazing things" it was doing for the world. I began to discover that it was fun to be on fire about this Cause—making the message of Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy more available and making Christian Science and its healing influence accessible to all races, ages, people—all over the world.

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