Church Alive May 7, 2012 Issue

The following was written in support of Church Alive, a focus of The First Church of Christ, Scientist, that explores the meaning and possibilities of awakening to the spiritual basis and impact of Church.

A vibrant, active testimony meeting

Hannah Mensing

Last summer, I was visiting a Christian Science church to attend a Wednesday evening testimony meeting. I had recently moved back to the area, and I had previously been living in a town with a vibrant church community. While waiting for the service to start, I noted that the congregation at the church I was visiting was fairly small and was comprised of mostly older women. After a few minutes, I caught myself thinking, “The attendance is so small and much older, how can this meeting be interesting? I guess I’ll have a lot of time to pray after the readings.” As I thought this, I realized I was already limiting the possibilities of these church members and my own ideas about vibrancy, newness, and goodness.

I had recently attended a Church Alive Summit, which had brought refreshing ideas of illimitable gratitude and the powerlessness of numbers. I had heard a talk reminding me of my daily duties—including a strong metaphysical defense of my own thought and the importance of praying “collectively and exclusively” for the church congregation, before, during, and after services (see Mary Baker Eddy, Church Manual, p. 42). I began praying for the church service to counter any ideas of limited or stagnant thinking and began nurturing the idea that freshness, energy, and healing power are ageless, numberless, expansive, and constantly being renewed. By the time the readings were over and testimonies began, I felt calm and expectant of good.

I had prepared my own testimony to share at the meeting, but I barely had time to give it! There were so many testimonies—and they all started with “earlier this week,” or even, “today”!