A Church for the whole world

A CONTINUING SERIES ON HOW CHURCH IS ACTIVE IN PEOPLE'S LIVES

By Olaf Dietz

I Became A Member of The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, when I was a teenager. But, growing up in Germany, I felt far away from The Mother Church. I suppose I saw it as a building, or a congregation, in an American city.

In many respects, I think that impression stayed with me through my adolescence and even into adulthood—until last year, when the Annual Meeting of The Mother Church was held in Berlin, as well as in Boston, and broadcast on the World Wide Web.

Attending that meeting in Berlin shifted my understanding of what The First Church of Christ, Scientist, really is. I began to take part in the "Heart to Heart" conference calls sponsored by The Mother Church. In these calls, people from all over the world come together and share how they are praying and sharing Mary Baker Eddy's book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures with other people. These calls continued to expand my concept of what Church could be—something beyond a geographic location, something that involves feeling, understanding, and action on my part.

Listening to those conversations, hearing the unselfishness expressed by these fellow members and readers of Science and Health, I was inspired to follow their examples. I travel a lot for my company (we supply our products—spare for machines—to clients in 50 countries), and each day I was praying for the opportunity to do something good for the world. It became so clear to me that Christian Science had changed my life. And I asked myself, What better thing can I offer to others than this Science?

I have since given copies of Science and Health to people in Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, China, and Iran. I've shared the book with some of my business partners and recently with several people in the waiting room of a hospital. Friends with whom I have shared Science and Health have been coming back to me after reading the book, and I find them saying, "Yes, Olaf, I knew that you had something spiritual. Now I'm reading this book and understand what it is, and I see a change in my life, too." I've become so happy to share the healing ideas of Christian Science.

I have come to see how important it is to be prepared to help people by sharing what is helpful to me.

I have come to see how important it is to be prepared to help people by sharing what is helpful to me. I think the world really needs Christian Science. A lot of information that people get about their world is not true or balanced. This produces fear, and they start to think they are very different from one another. But as I travel, I see that people everywhere are good. Christian Science tells me what is true and good about the world. People want this and need this.

The people I've been meeting are getting the idea that there are some good ideas behind The Mother Church. They see that this Church has enabled me to find an understanding of who I am and who God is—of the spiritual connection between God and His creation. They know that I am working to know myself better by gaining a clearer concept of my relationship to God. They really like this approach and find it helpful. I'm not telling them what to do or where to go. And my Church does not telling me what to do or where to go. This makes it easy to share what I've found. When I am talking with someone, I start by asking God, "How do You see this person?"

The global nature of this Church is very important. No matter where we live, as members we are each finding our way and our own expression of Church in our lives.

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SENTINEL WATCH

Images that rend, and those that mend

June 7, 2004

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