Phillip Hockley, CS

Speaker: Phillip Hockley

— When most people think about life-changing moments, they may not think of a lecture on Christian Science. That wasn’t why I attended a lecture for the first time; I didn’t expect to walk out a new person. But I found something in that lecture that was indeed life-transforming. Christian Science gave me a new view of God that I’d not had before: a view of God as Love itself, divine Love that loved me fully. I also discovered that this loving God was not the source of my troubles (which were many) but the solution to them. My life began to improve quickly after that and I became a healthy man after many years of suffering.

There’s no question that I was jubilant about the way my life was being transformed. But what impressed me the most was finding out that these kinds of breakthroughs aren’t one-time, personal miracles. God’s love is available to everyone, and there’s even a textbook on Christian Science healing that explains the power of God’s love in our lives: Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures.

What I’ve gone on to learn, and what I’ll share in my lecture, is that the perspective of God and reality that Christian Science opens up is one that offers freedom from whatever in our lives seems painful, debilitating, or limiting. I’ll talk about a 19th-century woman, Mary Baker Eddy, who after a life-threatening injury, discovered this new view of God for herself and went on to explain her discovery and its Bible-based principles in her book Science and Health. And I’ll share how that discovery is still relevant to our lives today because of what it reveals about God’s great love for each of us and its powerful, life-transforming effects.

Phillip Hockley, CS

Speaker: Phillip Hockley

— When most people think about life-changing moments, they may not think of a lecture on Christian Science. That wasn’t why I attended a lecture for the first time; I didn’t expect to walk out a new person. But I found something in that lecture that was indeed life-transforming. Christian Science gave me a new view of God that I’d not had before: a view of God as Love itself, divine Love that loved me fully. I also discovered that this loving God was not the source of my troubles (which were many) but the solution to them. My life began to improve quickly after that and I became a healthy man after many years of suffering.

There’s no question that I was jubilant about the way my life was being transformed. But what impressed me the most was finding out that these kinds of breakthroughs aren’t one-time, personal miracles. God’s love is available to everyone, and there’s even a textbook on Christian Science healing that explains the power of God’s love in our lives: Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures.

What I’ve gone on to learn, and what I’ll share in my lecture, is that the perspective of God and reality that Christian Science opens up is one that offers freedom from whatever in our lives seems painful, debilitating, or limiting. I’ll talk about a 19th-century woman, Mary Baker Eddy, who after a life-threatening injury, discovered this new view of God for herself and went on to explain her discovery and its Bible-based principles in her book Science and Health. And I’ll share how that discovery is still relevant to our lives today because of what it reveals about God’s great love for each of us and its powerful, life-transforming effects.

Mark McCurties

Speaker: Mark McCurties, CS — One of the central themes of Christ Jesus’ ministry was to teach and show that the power of God’s love can help us to overcome the various injustices that we face in the world. In fact, Jesus fully proved the power of God’s might. He healed all kinds of disease, transformed the worst types of behavior, he stopped violent acts from occurring, and he forgave his enemies in order to save them, proving hatred to be powerless in the face of divine Love. Ultimately, Jesus showed that the power of God’s love doesn’t just help us to cope with the ills of the world; it helps us to conquer them.

Yet, for all the remarkable healing work that Jesus did, he never once took the credit. Instead he always gave the glory and honor to God, our Father in heaven. So sincere was Jesus in his expression of humility that he even said, “I can of my own self do nothing” (John 5:30). In other words, Christ Jesus, the Son of God, who overcame all the ugliness that the world could throw at him, said (in essence), the good that I do isn’t personal to me; it’s the Father working through me.

Mary Baker Eddy, the woman who founded the Christian Science church, perceived the powerful impact that Jesus’ humility had on his healing and saving mission. She wrote, “Great charity and humility is necessary in this work of healing. The loving patience of Jesus, we must strive to emulate.” (Miscellaneous Writings 7:7-9)

In this lecture, we will discuss how learning to follow the example of Christ Jesus, particularly his profound display of humility, can empower each one of us to heal and to overcome the hard problems that we face. We will discuss what true humility is, how it links us to God, and by extension, how it connects us with God’s healing and saving laws. There is great need for healing in the world today, and Christ-like humility can help us to meet that demand.

Patricia Woodard

Speaker: Patricia Woodard, CS

Topic: Never Too Late to Experience Freedom — The little bird in my hand was free to fly away. We’d banded him as part of an Audubon Society effort and the time had come for his release. But even when I opened my hand to let him go, he didn’t budge. What did he need? He just needed a little lift. When I gave him even the tiniest nudge upward, off he flew. Free!

What is it that gives this kind of lift to our lives? Good news, for one thing. And what better news than the promise that health and freedom can be ours today. Yes, today!

My lecture traces the origins of this good news to Christ Jesus’ ministry, and then explores how the discovery of a 19th-century woman named Mary Baker Eddy—who found freedom from chronic illness and other struggles in her own life—shows the provable relevance of Jesus’ ministry in our lives today. What she discovered through this study she called Christian Science—a view of God and the universe that uplifts our thoughts, changes our perspective to a spiritual viewpoint, and heals.

And it lifts all of us, and can heal all of us. I’ll share the way Christian Science has brought healing to my own life, rescuing me from a troubling situation with my teenage daughter, and freeing me from the effects of an accident, as well as examples of how it has helped others from different walks of life. The common thread through these experiences is the way a clearer view of the reality of our God-given wholeness also releases us from burdens in our lives and causes us to soar. Free!

About the Speaker: Patricia Woodard discovered Christian Science as an adolescent and soon thereafter experienced the complete healing of a broken arm through Christian Science treatment, to the amazement of her mother, a registered nurse.

After working in New York City in the fashion business, she realized she wanted to help children learn how to learn. So she returned to school and got a Masters of Arts in Teaching. This desire to help others and her love of Christian Science impelled her to set time aside to pray for others. While a mother of two children, she became a full-time Christian Science practitioner, and has pursued a lifelong career of learning about God, sharing Truth, and witnessing God’s love for mankind.

She’s lived in six states in the U.S. and twice in São Paulo, Brazil, where she became fluent in Portuguese. “Each new culture and environment has taught me more about God, universal Love, and how God’s goodness is reflected by all people. These new views have opened up wonderful opportunities to interact with people from a wide variety of cultural and economic backgrounds, faiths, and age groups. In Brazil, I helped start up an award winning social program that taught mothers living in a favela (slum) how to make beautiful handmade quilts for resale, the income from which put shoes on their childrens’ feet and gave these women a new sense of self-worth.

“Underlying all my experiences is the desire to bring healing to mankind, to show each individual their God-given freedom, their real heritage, their right to happiness and health, and their inherent ability to feel God’s love.”

Today, she resides in Dallas, Texas, where she continues her healing practice as well as prison ministry. While serving on the Board of Lectureship, she has given lectures at food pantries, museums, libraries, community centers, churches, as well as at local, state, and federal prisons.

Video excerpt of talk