Youth summit

Marta Greenwood

Orah Moore

The President of The Mother Church, Marta Greenwood, of London, England, is not only a Christian Science practitioner and teacher, but also serves on the Christian Science Board of Lectureship. To keep in touch with Church members, Marta is posting regular blogs in the Church Alive Community on christianscience.com.

From time to time, the Sentinel will publish excerpts from these blogs. You can find them at christianscience.com/presidentsblog.

Persistent asking

Late last year on a flight to Toronto to attend a Youth Summit, I found myself sitting near a little girl who was traveling with her parents. She was really chatty, and talked nonstop in a loud voice. What seemed at first rather sweet, soon became a source of irritation to those passengers who were trying to sleep. The decibel level increased considerably when the little girl tried to ask her daddy for something. He was watching a movie with headphones on. It seemed her parents had become immune to her constant chatter and her demands on them, so she persisted: “Daddy, I’ve finished. Turn this off.” Her cries went on and on for at least 20 minutes. By now every passenger was ready to jump up and turn off whatever she had in front of her. But not her cool daddy! Eventually, she won. He took his headphones off and gave her the attention she was demanding.

It made me think of several of Christ Jesus’ parables and what he taught his followers about the importance of persistent asking, often in prayer. His parable of the friend at midnight in Luke 11:5–8 illustrates this. And another is the account in Luke 18 of the widow who only through persistence found the justice she was seeking. This confirms that our just God is always present to help and guide us, and nothing can resist the power of prayer to bring adjustment when it is needed. Jesus promised: “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you” (Matthew 7:7).

I was grateful to the little girl on the plane. She reminded me of the importance of persistent prayer and never giving up on prayer until we see the full demonstration.

Meeting each other

In the hotel where the Summit attendees were staying, we met for a hymn sing that was out of this world. My goodness, can these people sing! There are so many talented musicians among them who have made CDs of their own renderings of hymns. They raised the roof! One of the leaders got everyone going, and others joined in on various instruments, plus a beating of drums. Many people going past the room stopped to listen.

I felt so grateful for the Love that bonded us together.

What is so incredible is how creative the young people I met in Toronto are. The ice-breaking games were hilarious, and after that no one was shy. The games used passages from the Bible and Science and Health. Some participants were relatives or friends of attendees. They knew nothing about Christian Science, but wanted to come and find out.

What impressed me was that the organizing committee was such a warm and united team—most of them young people. I felt so grateful for the Love that bonded us together. This passage by Mary Baker Eddy was spot on: “With one Father, even God, the whole family of man would be brethren; and with one Mind and that God, or good, the brotherhood of man would consist of Love and Truth, and have unity of Principle and spiritual power which constitute divine Science” (Science and Health, pp. 469–470).

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