About Us
Dear Reader,
In my four decades as an active member of The Mother Church and nine branch churches, I have never been more hopeful about the impact of Christian Science on humanity than I am today. At the same time, the basis for my hope and how its fruition may come about are very different than when I started my journey in the denominational culture of my youth. Four spiritual disciplines have contributed to what I have felt to be my growth in grace (and in humbling me through the recognition of how much more growth is needed!).
- Diving deep into the Bible and its characters and coming to see them as a template for my whole life…and I mean every aspect and relationship
- Witnessing the variety of individual faith experiences and forms of practiced spirituality in which healing and profound transformation take place
- Experiencing God through the Bible and Christ, but also through many different expressions of Christianity – including several of which Mary Baker Eddy wrote appreciatively
- Feeling closer to a very genuine and approachable Mary Baker Eddy that I’ve come to know through her unpublished correspondence and talks with her recent biographers (this has helped me understand her in her own words, rather than traditions repeated about her – both by outside critics as well as Christian Scientists)
So the outcome is that I have a story I love to tell!
Bible Study Seminars’ 2010 conference theme embraces the importance of each of us feeling that way by invoking the title of the much-loved hymn “I Love to Tell the Story.” The story referred to is about Jesus, but each person tells it in a way that reflects his or her own spiritual journey. Even the Gospel writers had to edit what, among the vast tradition about Jesus, they put into their story of him. We are going to help attendees dig deeper in Scripture and their experience and find or refine the witness they have about the story of the hope within them as discussed in 1 Peter 3:15. This passage individualizes the story to be told by instructing us to “be prepared” at any time, to respond to any one who is interested, with a ( “did not our hearts burn within us” – Luke 24) witness as to the reason for the hope that is within each of us.
Hope is such a rich dimension of one’s spiritual life, much more profound than optimism – which may be feigned or come from a psychological disposition that ignores what is going on. Mary Baker Eddy defines hope as a moral quality (Science and Health 115). I take from her discussion that to be without hope would be to be immoral. Not surprisingly, the most enduring and effective basis for hope comes from our deepest source of meaning and authority – the Bible – in whose “inspired Word” Mary Baker Eddy says we would find our sufficient (complete) guidance for eternal life.
On this website you will discover that Bible Study Seminars has designed two very distinct conferences that explore our 2010 theme. As attendance at the Asilomar Bible Conference has grown to include more people from the Midwest and East Coast, we have had increased requests for a conference closer to them and their friends. So in response, we are bringing a conference to Cedars Camps in Lebanon, MO, this coming September. Cedars’ beautiful setting in the foothills of the Ozarks (32 miles from the population nexus of the country), along with its enhanced accommodations for adults and its extraordinary reputation for the hospitality of its staff, will offer a special experience to our Midwest Bible Conference featured on the center pages of this brochure.
Thank you for spending some time visiting our website, and we would love to see you at Asilomar or Cedars…or both!
With Much Love, Joy, and Gratitude,
Dick Davenport, Bible Conference Director
Would you like to learn more about BSS and Mary Baker Eddy’s Christianity? (PDF, 928 KB)
