Abnormally for us lately, the meeting was quite large and diverse. We had a visiting Christian Science couple from Florida, two newcomers to Science, an old-timer returning after months of absence, along with a core of regulars. The meeting took some unusual turns, but we did start with our topic, Normality. It was pretty much a free-for-all; here are some conclusions.

1) The word normal comes from the root "gno", to know. The Greek word "gnomon" — a carpenter's square or pattern — passed into Latin as "norma".

2) What is normal shifts over time and place. Much depends on fashion. When the Hapsburg monarch lisped his Spanish, the whole kingdom followed. Even though the U.S. once appeared to be a hetero-WASP nation, that's hardly the case now and will increasingly become less so.

3) Each person is his own standard of normality based on alignment with his divine selfhood. This is true whether one is a Christian Scientist or not. We all have to face up to our divinity.

4) Mortality is an abnormal state where we think we're apart from God. We achieve normality only as we reside in and as God.

5) We are restless until we are at-one with and as God. There is great value in the eccentric (off center), strange, odd, queer and outlandish in disrupting a too comfortable resting in material beliefs of bliss.

6) Most groups have rules and customs which establish what's normal for their adherents. These may have a basis in truth but they can become sclerotic if out of touch with the changing textures of the outer culture. Then there's a need to seek the fundamentals underlying the rules and reinterpret them. One of the newcomers couldn't believe we'd continue with Christian Science when many of its officials are homophobic. One old-timer said we're here for the Science and not to placate a bunch of personalities. Thus we had reinterpreted "Church" and even the "Manual" to embrace the current human need, by working with our study group. (And the church organization does seem to be shifting to a more welcoming and modern stance).

We next turned to some Christian Science healings to show our newcomers how it works.

1) Our friends from Florida described the demonstration of their meeting. They had sought Christian Science partners for years. One afternoon they saw each other in the lobby of their company but had no idea that they were Gay. Later the Gay support group at the company issued an invitation to all Gay personnel to come to a gathering at a bar after work; there, as they sipped Perrier's, they met and struck up a conversation. One talked of a new book by Wayne Dyer and the other somehow sensed he knew something of Science. When he mentioned Christian Science they were both astounded and have been soul-mates since.

2) Our Floridians went on to describe a weather situation they recently faced together. One of them had invited the other out on his boat. As darkness came upon them — other boats in the party having long since made for port — they flicked on the TV to be met with dire warnings of advancing severe weather — lots of yellow and red splotches — heading right for them. Lightning was already appearing on the horizon and they were three hours from port. They were quite fearful. One of them decided to call his father, an experienced student of Science, on the cell phone. He agreed to pray and when the boaters said they thought they'd try to outrun the storm, the father said to pray first, then decide on human action. The owner of the boat said to his lover, "Okay, here's our opportunity to demonstrate Christian Science." They switched off the weather reports and went to opposite ends of the boat to pray and commune with God. They both recalled Jesus stilling the waves. One said he thought of all the weather reports as a kind of science, but now he was interested in the real Science of being. Eventually both felt greatly comforted and reassured by their communion with the divine; they came back together, moved the boat to a somewhat more secure spot and started cooking dinner. Afterwards they slept for the night. When they docked at the port next day, a gentle, much needed rain began( Florida has had a severe draught).

3) A couple of members gave testimonies of healings previously reported here — one of seeing the airliner she was on find a parting of the clouds in a wicked thunderstorm permitting a joltless landing; the other of a tumor healed when he sent his internalized homophobia and the tainted thought of some practitioners packing.

4) Another member related the healing of a knee problem when he realized his omnipresence through reflection and the authority — the dominant aspect of knees in astrology — of God. Soon after his own problem dissipated he saw a crippled woman on the street and made himself aware of similar realities in regard to her. This gave him an insight into working for others. He was healing his own beliefs about the case. Once he had cleared his own stuff, he could be attentive to a patient's actual need.

As our hour drew to a close one of the newcomers asked for help. She was homeless, evicted by her lover and sent forth with a bag of clothes and her beloved cat, who slept in a cat carrier at her side. There was no other group waiting to use the room, so we stayed an extra 30 minutes talking and praying with her. She told of frustrated attempts to get public housing, but could not unless she agreed to let the cat go. She just couldn't do that. To mortal belief the case looked hopeless but we kept pointing out that the desolation of mortal sense is where divinity can operate most effectively. See Miscellaneous Writings, p. 81: 25-26. Our Treasurer discretely canvassed members and gave her the evening's collection. A member gave her a Sentinel. As we were leaving the room, a man came into the room and said he had been listening in the hall to what was going on and was very interested in coming to the group next week. He also mentioned that he had been homeless once for quite a long period and immediately engaged our newcomer in conversation about her situation and how to address it.

We couldn't agree on a topic at the restaurant, but as we said goodbye to our friends from Florida and watched them disappear up Seventh Avenue, arms thrown about each other's shoulders, a topic fell upon us like manna from Heaven: it's — do we need to say it? — Romance.