Article January 17, 2011 Issue

Our primary employment

By Fujiko Signs

This fall, I visited churches in Asia in the Philippines, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, and India. And throughout the trip, I met people whose first vocation was being a Christian Scientist. They then use their talents as a lawyer, teacher, mother, accountant, dentist, farmer.

These are strong women and men who are mastering fear and limitation every day. A mother with seven children, working full time in rice and vegetable fields, who doesn’t have quick access to communication or transportation, has learned to rely on God’s power and presence to protect and care for her family instead of giving in to worry and uncertainty. A lawyer who lives in an environment where bribery is prevalent stands even more steadfastly on Principle to prosecute her cases. A dentist shares Christian Science so that her patients require fewer procedures. This to me is truly living Church every day. They are committed to expressing universal love and to defusing criticism of a spiritual reliance or lack in whatever form. They are childlike and unassuming—not absorbed in theories and words.

What unites them is the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures—a book that presents the Science of the Christ, revealing the one perfect God and His reflection, man. The author, Mary Baker Eddy, was a true seeker and spiritual thinker. Anyone who studies her book and follows in the footsteps of Christ Jesus cannot help but become a spiritual thinker and a seeker with the determination necessary to find solutions to life’s challenges.