Hello, I'm Scott Preller.
I'm serving this year as chair of the Christian Science Board of Directors.
With me today is the newest member of the Board, Beth Schaefer.
We're here in the Reading Room of The Mother Church
to invite you to come to Annual Meeting this year.
It'll take place here in Boston on Monday, June 2nd.
There will be special events leading up to Annual Meeting
and to find out about those events, you can go to christianscience.com/annualmeeting
and there will be information posted there as it becomes available.
The theme we've chosen for this year's gathering is: "As you work, the ages win..."
We'll talk about the theme in a moment,
but first I'd like to talk about Annual Meeting itself.
Beth, I remember last year I ran into you at Annual Meeting,
and that was before we knew you were going to be on the Board.
And I'd love to know what your experience of Annual Meeting felt like.
I mean, why did you want to come all the way from your home in Texas
to be here in Boston for Annual Meeting?
Well, first off, I wanted to come because I wanted to support The Mother Church,
and coming was a tangible way to do that.
I realize that not everyone has the opportunity to come to Annual Meeting,
but for those who can come in person, it's a wonderful opportunity
to join with people across the globe.
And you feel this sense of instant connection to people
because you have this one thing in common: Christian Science.
You feel the hearts burning with what that means to them.
And also you can just feel that they have experienced the power of the Word.
It's so interesting.
It reminds me.
I remember when I was a teenager and I came to an Annual Meeting,
and then came again once when I was in college.
And I loved the meetings.
I loved the talks. They were inspiring.
But what I most took away was that sense of connection,
that sense of feeling the hearts on fire
with being together with fellow members.
In fact, now that I've been here while working at The Mother Church,
and every year when Annual Meeting comes around,
I just find myself filled with gratitude for Christian Scientists all over the world
who are endeavoring to demonstrate Christian Science and share it with their communities.
There are times when I run into people on the weekend of Annual Meeting
and I'll think, these are the people that are writing the articles I'm reading,
or I'll think, okay, the same Bible Lesson I'm studying during the week
and trying to put into practice,
they're on the other side of the world doing the same thing.
And you sort of feel the embrace of The Mother Church
and what we're doing to support each other,
but also what we're doing as a church to embrace the world.
And I just find that very moving.
Yeah. Talk about moving:
I don't know if you were at the Hymn Sing
in the Extension of The Mother Church last year,
but it was awesome to have hundreds of people just singing their hearts out.
It was very moving.
I remember, too, after the hymn sing was over, we all went outside
and there were ice cream stations, and we all had ice cream
on the lawn of The Mother Church.
And conversations were going on well into the night.
I remember talking to one college student from Africa
and a great grandmother from Canada,
and we were all just loving being together.
And I'm sure we're going to have a lot of other conversations
like that this year as well.
And let's maybe pivot now and talk about the theme:
"As you work the ages win...."
That statement comes from a letter by Mary Baker Eddy.
It says: "As you work the ages win; for the majesty of Christian Science teaches the majesty of man."
This whole letter that Mrs. Eddy wrote to a church in Atlanta, Georgia,
has a lot to tell us about our efforts at church.
We realize that many members are working really hard
and in fact often feel like there aren't enough workers
to do everything that needs to be done.
But that's actually why this theme is so important this year,
because it gives us an opportunity to think about not just
how much effort we're putting into the work,
but what approach are we taking?
Imagine for a moment that we're birds
and we're at the base of a mountain and we're told to get to the top of the mountain,
but we're told we're told to get to the top of the mountain,
that you can only get there by hopping.
That would indeed feel pretty discouraging and hard to do.
But if we're told get there by being yourselves, by flying,
we'd love it.
In fact, even the wind blowing at us would help lift us higher
and we'd enjoy the views all along the way.
And that's the approach we need to be taking as Christian Scientists
when we think about our practice of Christian Science and [how] our church work together.
The discovery of Christian Science shows us that we're meant to soar.
We're not meant to trudge through various challenges.
Yes. And the second part of our theme is just as important.
Mrs. Eddy clearly had high expectations
for the impact of our work as Christian Scientists.
We all may be tempted from time to time to feel like:
What difference does my work make?
Yet, Mrs. Eddy was convinced that as we work
from the standpoint of Christian Science, the ages win.
We get a hint of what she was talking about,
when we think about the nature of the work that goes on
in Christian Science Reading Rooms.
Jesus said: "My father worked hitherto, and I work."
And being in the Reading Room makes you realize that Christian Scientists
are endeavoring to follow that same example.
There's so much here to work with, to inspire us.
There are articles and testimonies by ordinary people
whose lives have been healed and transformed
by the Bible's message of God's law
that's been opened up to them through the study of
Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy.
And this year marks the 150th year of the publication of that work.
It is remarkable to pause and think about
all that's been accomplished in those 150 years.
How many lives have been made whole.
How much has been learned of the actuality of God
and of our ability to demonstrate the Christ in our lives
through the study of Science and Health.
We think it'd be wonderful, in fact, for each of us
to spend some time thinking about the impact that our own study
of Science and Health has made in our lives.
And to send an account in to the Clerk of The Mother Church for Annual Meeting.
When we gather those together in some form, I think we're going to realize why
the work we're doing in Christian Science
makes such a difference in our lives today
and why that work will make such an impact on the ages to come.
Whether you're able to be here in person with us
or whether you're joining us online for Annual Meeting.
We look so forward to being together on June 2nd.
See you then!