Last week whilst checking out at the supermarket the assistant and I got into a conversation which led to her telling me the difficulty of getting a residential visa for her adopted toddler daughter in Malaysia to be with her and her husband in the UK. This had required her making constant trips between the two countries with her child. Clearly she was very troubled and very sad. I said I trusted that God was good and in control of our lives and we could patiently trust His power to take care of the whole situation. She started crying and said “You talk just like my prayer group in Malaysia talk to me.” She seemed comforted and assured by these thoughts. We exchanged names and agreed to look out for each other. As I left I thought THAT is CHURCH in ACTION!

I love the concept of “church in action”. Church is not just about attending Sunday and Wednesday services in a beautiful building, and it’s not just about holding Zoom services online. Mrs. Eddy defines CHURCH as “whatever rests upon and proceeds from divine Principle...” As I see it, “church in action” takes place when we let our light shine in our neighbourhoods and in our communities, as we look for opportunities to share the concepts of Christianity and Christian Science with others.

We experienced one of those happy moments the other morning. Martin and I were walking down our road when we bumped into our next-door neighbour. We know that he and his family are planning to move, so we asked him how things were going. He looked rather downcast, and said things had come to a grinding halt during lockdown, and so far not one person had viewed their property.

As we chatted, a verse from Ecclesiastes came clearly to thought: “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven”. Knowing that our neighbour and his wife attend the local parish church, I felt impelled to share this profound Bible verse with him. His face lit up, and he thanked me for the reassuring thought that the timing of their move would slot into place at the right moment. We shared a few other spiritual nuggets with him, including the fact that “all things work together for good to them that love God”.

We headed back home, having felt the gentle touch of the Christ in this encounter with our dear neighbour. “Church in action” felt very much alive to us in our little cul-de-sac that morning!

(Background Photo by Andre Ouellet on Unsplash)