The LGBT Center was closed September 6th to investigate a fire hazard, so we held our meeting at our usual after-meeting coffee shop.

Here's a medley of conclusions we reached on our two week topic, "The True Healing" which is the marginal heading on page 230 of Science and Health accompaning the statement set forth above as our focus text.

1) The liability to be ill or have problems will persist as long as we consider ourselves and others to be mortals — i.e., dualistic beings, subject to good and evil. As we progressively obliterate mortal mind by living the Christ — or God being man and the universe — problems will fade because their predisposing cause is fading.

2) How does one get off what Mary Baker Eddy terms "the mortal basis of belief"? She gives us very clear directions on page 424 of the Textbook: We must "...unite with the one Mind, in order to change the notion of chance to the proper sense of God's unerring control and thus bring out harmony" (see p. 424:5-9 in the readings).

3) If we can't make this transition in one leap, members found reversal and translation as effective tools to facilitate the shift. "I'm hurt," becomes, "I'm not hurt. Why? Because I'm divine idea — that is, the very idea of divine Mind, God." Alternately, we can see a problem as mortal mind's inarticulate, dualistic attempt to counterfeit what divine Mind is saying and doing. As we proceed to find out what the latter is and let it hold sway, better concepts of reality come forward. We mustn't be fooled however — better concepts are still concepts and we must live their diefic underpinnings or they too will eventually cause pain.

4) Mortal existence substantiates itself through on-off, sick-well, problem-no problem dream cycles. Divine Mind, the source and condition of man and the universe, substantiates itself by constant conscious perfection.

5) "Liability" comes from a root meaning "to bind". Other words from this same root are "oblige", "link" and "religion". We bind ourselves to dualism and suffer. Any linkage — even to God — is erroneous, because it's dual. Instead, we need to be clear that we and all others are the actual being of God — not just because that'll heal us but because that's the way it is!

Here are some healings reported over the two weeks.

1) A member was riding along on a bus and feeling lonely. He prayed to realize he was not separated from God, Love. Within seconds he overheard a couple behind him talking about a play he had seen. He screwed up his courage and turned to engage them in conversaton. They responded positively and others on the bus soon got involved as well. A happy time was had by all.

2) Another member was nearing his home late one night when he became aware of a group of toughs approaching him rapidly. He felt panicky but reached out to God to see his and their divinity. He got a solid conviction of harmony and found himself quickly at his door. With one thrust the key went in, the door opened, admiting him, and closed. He and the others were saved from a greivous incident — although as they banged on the door and shreiked of their bad luck they still seemed a bit lacking in gratitude. "Chemicalization," remarked one member.

3) Another member vacationed with a group of five Gay friends at a beach community where only hard drinking white blue collar heterosexuals hold forth. It was somewhat disorienting to find such a place on the North Atlantic and our member prayed constantly to feel oneness and harmony in God with all concerned. He got relatively comfortable, but still managed a very bad fall from a bike which left him virtually unable to walk. He called a practitioner who said, "You walk on holy ground." This reference to Moses and the burning bush gave him the key to effect a healing of his ankle/foot by seeing Spirit where matter seems to be. It also showed him how to work on apparently inhospitable surroundings. His friends were wonderful in caring for him and he even walked down the main drag in what appeard to be a loving honeymoon embrace with one of them. Looks of shock and scorn turned to compassion and understanding when passersby intuited he was either drunk or injured. The foot healed rapidly and he now sees the need to keep the pioneering work of "liberating" this beach town out of the hands of mortal mind and putting it firmly in those of God. After all, the liberting influence of merely exposing society to Gay people had a reverse effect in 1930's Germany and 1970's US — remember Anita Bryant and her spawn. Again the burning bush symbol can be rolled out: the mixing of the sexual orientations is the bush; Spirit is the oneness that is what's really going on.

4) Another member got into an argument with waiters at a restauant. During the night he came down with food poisoning. He worked prayerfully for two days with a practitioner, addressing his feelings about the waiters as well as the physical evidence. The problem was pretty well licked but he still felt unable to go forward with a singing gig on the third day. His producer called to say she was on the way to pick him up; he told her of his condition and she said she had no replacement for him. She suggested a remedy and he consented to take it. He felt it was the proper thing to do in the circumstances. Everything went well at the performance and his physical condition is now back to normal.

As the meeting closed we found ourselves talking about recent remarks by an English prelate — probably the Archbishop of Canterbury — that the church is now merely a dipenser of weddings, funerals and bingo. Its spiritual mission is gone and it is therefore teetering on the brink of being "vanquished". We wondered how true his remarks were for our own church. Of course, Christian Science churches do not permit weddings, funerals or bingo but we do have our own distractions. We'll try to find the exact quote and who said it during the week. But we want to focus on whether the church is ripe for destruction and of course how healing can be brought to this area.

The two word summary for this quest is admittedly clumsy, "Church Defeated?"