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A fuller freedom

Today’s column includes a poem and quotes that point to our inherent freedom and unity.

Christian Science Perspective audio edition
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God made all His creatures free;
Life itself is liberty;
God ordained no other bands
Than united hearts and hands.

One in fellowship of Mind,
We our bliss and glory find
In that endless happy whole,
Where our God is Life and Soul.

So shall all our slavery cease,
All God’s children dwell in peace,
And the newborn earth record
Love, and Love alone, is Lord.
– James Montgomery, “Christian Science Hymnal,” No. 83, adapt. © CSBD

You will know the truth, and that truth will give you freedom.
– Christ Jesus, John 8:32, “The Voice”

Like our nation, Christian Science has its Declaration of Independence. God has endowed man with inalienable rights, among which are self-government, reason, and conscience. Man is properly self-governed only when he is guided rightly and governed by his Maker, divine Truth and Love.
– Mary Baker Eddy, “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” p. 106

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Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

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