Coming together as a community on watch

Dear Reader:

When a strategy consultant new to Christian Science recently learned that the content of our magazines comes from our community of members, his mouth dropped open. He’d never heard of a publication that didn’t rely on professional writers. 

I see it this way: It’s another aspect of what makes the Christian Science publications unique. They represent a community coming together to share challenges and triumphs from each one’s individual healing practice. The ideas you share through these magazines challenge conventional thinking. They uplift readers to contemplate life in and of divine Spirit. 

Upcoming changes to the Sentinel you’ve read about in this column invite you to connect with us each week in maintaining a spiritual watch for ourselves and the world. Together, we will be able to be in touch more frequently through fresh online content that responds even more quickly to current issues. 

The Sentinel gives us all an opportunity to join together in a community of practice dedicated to keeping awake to spiritual reality and to “waken[ing] the world” (Mary Baker Eddy, Message to The Mother Church for 1902, p. 17). When the pandemic hit earlier this year, that’s what happened. There was an influx of fresh content from many of you—a global community of healers. These pieces were a compassionate response to the needs of people everywhere.

Our mission today is no less than the mission Jesus came here to fulfill: “Jesus’ deed was for the enlightenment of men and for the salvation of the whole world from sin, sickness, and death” (Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 45). This spiritually motivated activism includes every one of us. As you feel the urgent needs of the world, we hope you will continue to share your insights, prayers, and thoughts here in the Sentinel.  

In this modern era of writing and publishing, staying “abreast of the times” (Mrs. Eddy, Church Manual, p. 44) with more timely content will enable us all, together, to lift thought out of materialism to a change of base—to life in God, Spirit. 

Larissa Snorek, Associate Editor