It was wonderful to spend the last three days in Boston at our church’s Annual Meeting. We arrived on Saturday for a picnic in tents set out in front of the church, then attended a hymn sing, followed by an ice cream social. Sunday we went to church in the morning and to an inspirational meeting in the afternoon, followed by a date out to dinner. Monday was Annual Meeting proper, and we went out to dinner with a new friend afterwards, before driving home.

My favorite part of all this is the people, and I love seeing all of them, loving on dear friends and meeting new ones. There are several folks I wish I got selfies with, but got so involved in the moment with them that I didn’t always think of it.

Besides what you can see below in the photos, here are some highlights of our time together:

• Don’t side with the “cold conventionality of materialism.”
• Church is a movement of transformation before a brick is laid. It grows through gratitude and enthusiasm. Be a living stone in that church.
• What meets spiritual yearning? First, revelation, and then, the human mind has to yield.
• If this is where God has led us it means there is work to do.
• In loving your enemies, remember that Psalm 91 was written for everybody.
• “You worship no distant deity, nor talk of unknown love. The silent prayers of our churches, resounding through the dim corridors of time, go forth in waves of sound, a diapason of heart-beats, vibrating from one pulpit to another and from one heart to another, till truth and love, commingling in one righteous prayer, shall encircle and cement the human race.” The long, pregnant silent prayers, together with hundreds (or thousands, including those online) were one of my favorite parts. Also the singing together!
• I loved watching Andrew Brewis, who composed the lovely intro and outro for my podcast, hear all those voices fill the huge Mother Church with the melody of the hymn he wrote; it was such a life moment for him that I got to witness, and my heart overflowed with gratitude for his musical contribution.
• There were testimonies of the healing of epilepsy, of safely flying 700 helicopter missions in Vietnam among perpetually whizzing bullets, the healing of a skin disease, the overcoming of infertility, of sharing 50 copies of the textbook in one year. There was a video from Africa, where a young woman was so impressed that there were so many women in charge in the Christian Science church, and another was incredulous that we have no hierarchy and are completely democratically run. We are all thankful for “unprecarious joy.”
• In the Bible story with Peter and the fishes, Peter had been toiling all night, so why would he go back and try again? Because he was listening to, and being obedient to the Christ, and remembering the healings he had seen, which gave authority Christ’s directive. And after getting a boatload of fishes, did Peter then double down in the fish business? No, he followed Christ instead. So we too need to remember the healings we’ve already seen, and listen to the Christ, be obedient, get results, and then follow, doing this cycle on a continuous loop.
• Amazing things can be accomplished when we have steadfast trust.
• Our first response to unrelenting threats is unrelenting love.
• Spiritualization of thought leads to discipleship.
• listen to the church carillon (click here)
• listen to a clip of the Mother Church organ (click here )

I passed out a lot of podcast cards for my new podcast, A Cup of Cold Water, which many still have not heard about. If you’d like to listen or to it, or subscribe, you can do that here on my podcast website, or on any podcast platform of your choice.

I am also inspired to offer free copies of Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy, which is the Christian Science textbook. I initially got a free copy of this book, so it is on my heart to share them too to bless others and pay my blessing forward. This book completely changed my life from formerly being an atheist, to believing in God as Life, Truth, and Love. (You can hear a short podcast about that here.) Anyway, if you do not have a copy of this amazing, inspirational book, which is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year, please give me your snail mail address here, and I will be very happy to send you a copy.