Meeting, I am reminded of Mary Baker Eddy’s 1896 message to the Annual Meeting of The Mother Church (Mis. page 127). In that message of encouragement and counsel, Mrs. Eddy includes her observation, “Hitherto, I have observed that in proportion as this church has smiled on His ‘little ones,’ He has blessed her. Throughout my entire connection with The Mother Church, I have seen, that in the ratio of her love for others, hath His love been bestowed upon her; watering her waste places, and enlarging her borders.”
Through the years, our experiences have been similar, and we can testify to the truth of that relationship, “…in the ratio of [our] love for others, hath His love been bestowed upon [us].” As we humbly acknowledge that Christian Science nursing must be an expression of divine Love, shown and felt in the love of our staff, board, volunteers, patients, and donors, we see the waste places of our facility put into good repair and the borders of our service to the Christian Science community enlarged.
With Summer over, the joyous sounds of FLOCK activities no longer are part of our days. This childcare program completed its third year, and it is clear to us that it would be a blessing if Fern Lodge could include the FLOCK program throughout the year. We need enlarged accommodations to fulfill this vision, and we may need to purchase all or part of the property next door in order to do so. We will keep you informed of our progress, and we look forward to any insights or ideas you have to share.
The Fern Lodge Workshops on Care continue to be given for Christian Science branch churches. Our most recent program was given in September in Anchorage, AK, and it was attended by 32 Christian Scientists from a broad area of southern Alaska. The next Workshop will be a shorter version that will be held after our Annual Meeting on October 29 at the Christian Science church in Hayward. We hope you will join us.
Coming soon, Fern Lodge will host a meeting to explain the options available to pay for Christian Science nursing care. The program will be held at Fern Lodge, and will include discussion of Medicare, Medi-Cal, health insurance, and benevolence; there will be ample time for questions. We will be able to accommodate 15 to 20 people at a time, and we will repeat the program as often as needed to ensure that all who are interested will have a chance to participate. Look for an announcement soon.
Our Leader’s 1896 message quoted above also includes the following assurance, which gives us fond hope and eager expectations: “When a hungry heart petitions the divine Father-Mother God for bread, it is not given a stone,—but more grace, obedience, and love. If this heart, humble and trustful, faithfully asks divine Love to feed it with the bread of heaven, health, holiness, it will be conformed to a fitness to receive the answer to its desire; then will flow into it the “river of His pleasure,” the tributary of divine Love, and great growth in Christian Science will follow,—even that joy which finds one’s own in another’s good.”
Lovingly,
George Strong
Administrator[:]
One Comment on “Fern Lodge Focus — October 2016”
Wonderful idea George, enlarging Fern Lodge, you deserve more than this, you have been a permanent fighter for the cause of nursing in U.S.A., I am very grateful for your loving expressions, and hospitality, when I have been visiting Fern Lodge, and the CHRISTIAN human warm in the environment of the Facility. Congratulations, for all this progress, which come from experience(S & H).