“A more radical willingness to be ‘in the way’ of Truth and to ‘go with’ Spirit more fully.”

After last year’s Association, including reading Mary Baker Eddy: Christian Healer, there was an actual, felt increase in healings experienced and witnessed.

In early fall came a remarkable recovery of a stolen bag that held my computer and all my essentials. It was taken from a coffee shop in a Berlin train station at rush hour as I was on the way to the airport. The practitioner involved said the bag would be returned; I told her she had more faith than me! The next day when I was in Paris, it was reported as found. Everything was returned but a credit card.

A month later came a healing of sudden dizziness, nausea, and near loss of consciousness while I was out with a friend in a restaurant. Stumbling out of the place, I phoned a practitioner, and help was immediate. My own protests were also ardent, and there was a quick and holy return to normalcy. 

There were other healings as well, including the successful completion of a project that greatly disturbed the wishes and will of mortal mind! So there was a feeling that things were going well and I was in the path of Truth. Then the Association letters arrived in January and February. They seemed to say that as progressive as things were, there was a lot more to go in terms of real Christian Science. It was a nice, loving reminder. Were there many things I could do that I was not doing? Yes, was the honest answer.

In all recent Associations we have talked about Alertness to Duty, the by-law. I’ve acknowledged it each time. But had I, in actual fact, been working daily with it, early and clearly and systematically? Not nearly enough. No.

Having seen this, several weeks later I realized I’d again dropped it. So I began daily work with Alertness to Duty, only to find that I could not remember the words. I’d read it, pray with it, and then would not remember it the next day. Outrageous!! I started carrying the Manual with me, so there could be no excuse. This worked. (I mention this because it seems to show the degree to which aggressive suggestion wants this by-law neglected or forgotten. It was eye-opening.)

The current assignment could be seen as related to the last line of the by-law: “By his works he shall be judged, —and justified or condemned (Man. 42:9).” I’m sure Mrs. Eddy wasn’t advocating condemnation; the discovery of God as All and the meaning of Christ is the furthest thing from condemnation. But Mrs. Eddy did write it, and it seems to indicate what the stakes are for the reinstatement of primitive Christianity. Likewise, this assignment urges a more radical willingness to be “in the way” of Truth and to “go with” Spirit more fully. It is a challenge, and at times I’ve felt discouraged. But it has awoken some sweet secrets that show the Science of Christ as the pearl we would sell everything for.