Reading Room
145 E. Michigan Avenue
Jackson, Michigan 49201-1401
(517) 768-1283
The Reading Room is immediately adjacent to the Church at 147 E. Michigan Avenue.
Hours:
Tuesday 10 am – 2 pm
Wednesday 10 am – 12 noon (Wednesday Testimony Meeting service follows at 12:30 pm)
Thursday 12 noon – 2 pm
For some spiritual refreshment, why not consider a visit to our Reading Room? Explore a whole world that includes thousands of articles and testimonies of Christian Science healing found in our magazines. And now it’s easy to explore these by topic, author or title with JSH-online. At your fingertips you will have every Christian Science Sentinel, Journal and Herald, organized in a way that makes research and exploring simple. Also available are current podcasts and Sentinel Radio programs from 1987 to 2011. It’s waiting for you!
What’s a Reading Room?
The Bible and Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures are marked, ready for you to read
Christian Scientists are united in great gratitude for the healing power of Christian Science. When you experience a healing in Christian Science, it is truly awe inspiring; and Christian Scientists cherish it as a great blessing. Prayer that draws you closer to God is a stepping stone. Spiritual regeneration is a path to the healing of all kinds of problems: the cure of physical illness, harmonizing of dysfunctional relationships, elimination of joblessness, and solution to financial pressures. You can pray or study Christian Science anywhere and under most circumstances, but it helps to have a place where calm and peace prevail and everyday distractions do not intrude. Christian Science Reading Rooms like the one maintained by this Church of Christ, Scientist, are such places.
When you open the door…
Cabinets holding Christian Science Sentinels and Journals from the late 1800s to present
When you enter the Reading Room at 145 East Michigan Avenue, Jackson, you’ll find a librarian who can help you find answers to your questions. You’ll also find a display of Christian Science literature to borrow or purchase. Among items available are the Bible and writings of Mary Baker Eddy, Christian Science Quarterly Bible Lessons and periodicals like the Sentinel (weekly), Journal (monthly), Herald (published in different languages) and the Christian Science Monitor Weekly.
What else is there?
In the next room, you’ll find a well-lit quiet area designed for individual study and prayer. There you can read the current Bible lesson. Also at your fingertips are the bound volumes of the Christian Science Sentinel and Journal. The bound volumes provide a written record going back to the late 1800s. They include countless articles on healing in Christian Science. You can also read thousands of testimonies submitted by people who have experienced physical cures and other healings in Christian Science and willingly shared how this occurred.
JHS-online is now available in this Reading Room. Using our computer, you can use its intuitive search engine to research topics, authors and titles for the entire published history of the Christian Science Journal, Sentinel, and Herald. You can also listen to podcasts of current interest and an archive of over 600 Sentinel Radio programs (each a half-hour in length).
More about healing…
Local members tell of healings regularly at the hour-long Wednesday testimony meeting held at the church adjacent to the Reading Room (12:30 pm). Members of the congregation have made public many hundreds of testimonies in this way. And over the years, people from Jackson, as well as the world, committed their experience to writing for publishing in the Sentinel or Journal. You’re invited to look them up for yourself and read the full story in our Reading Room. Here are 18 testimonies from Jackson along with the names of the individuals and where you can find their story in the bound volumes or on JSH-online:
Elizabeth N. Bomhoff with contributions from L. Frederick Bomhoff
Christian Science Sentinel, May 14, 1932
Searching for a religion she found Christian Science and healings for her family followed.
Genevieve Mary Chesley
Christian Science Sentinel, December 25, 1965
She was healed of whooping cough as a child; later in life she and her family experienced several other significant healings.
Faye L. Comstock
Christian Science Sentinel, August 28, 1943
A child was healed of measles in one day. Faye Comstock’s husband was healed of an infection and their family experienced freedom from lack.
Richard J. Cook
Christian Science Sentinel, August 20, 1966
He was healed of a severe injury to his foot.
Mary H. Cummings
Christian Science Sentinel, March 22, 1958
After twisting her ankle some of those around her insisted on taking her to a hospital. Instead, she chose Christian Science treatment, and was healed in one day.
Jerry F. DeWitt
Christian Science Sentinel, August 21, 1948
As a soldier in WWII in France he was injured and experienced a quick healing of extreme pain. He also tells of other healings, including a medically diagnosed case of appendicitis.
Virginia Mae Eggleston
Christian Science Sentinel, January 13, 1951
Her mother suffered with tuberculosis and was given up to die by medical specialists, but experienced an instantaneous healing after seeking help in Christian Science. Virginia Mae Eggleston also recorded other impressive healings.
Mrs. E. C. Hickox
Christian Science Journal, March, 1898
Mrs. Hickox was healed of serious physical problems after years of suffering by reading Science and Health. She was able to continue her work as a Sunday school teacher in the Michigan State Prison.
Norma S. Hilzinger with Frederick J. Hilzinger
Christian Science Journal, February 1979
Her son, Frederick, avoided difficult and complicated dental work through a healing in Christian Science.
Katherine A. Polhemus
Christian Science Sentinel, August 21, 1954
She was healed of a severe electrical shock, a throat infection, heart condition, and injury to the foot.
Cora D. Porter
Christian Science Sentinel, October 24, 1953
As a medical nurse, she had suffered with epilepsy. After turning to
Christian Science, she was healed.
Virginia Mae Ryan
Christian Science Journal, February, 1964
Her young daughter was healed quickly of grief. Later Virginia Mae Ryan was healed of a foot injury caused by a drill passing through her foot. Included also are several other healings of physical ills.
Vera M. Schafer
Christian Science Sentinel, April 21, 1962
Her daughter was still-born, but that turned around and she lived. A son was healed of severe injuries suffered in an auto accident.
Carolyn E. Schooley
Christian Science Sentinel, April 11, 1983
Her son had been taken to the hospital in severe pain that turned out to be kidney stones, but was healed through his mother’s prayers. The doctor in charge called it a “miracle.”
Nancy C. Sebring with contributions from Mary H. Cummings, Robert Wayne Cummings
Christian Science Sentinel, September 15, 1986
She was healed of longstanding depression. Her mother, Mary H. Cummings recounted several other healings including earaches, influenza, partial deafness, leg injuries. She goes on to tell of her eldest son, Robert Wayne Cummings, who was healed of a condition where he lost all muscular control and could not walk, talk, hold anything or eat normally.
Maude J. Smith
Christian Science Sentinel, August 8, 1936
She had been under medical treatment. When she became severely ill, she was healed in Christian Science.
D. Pauline Stephenson
Christian Science Sentinel, January 17, 1959
She was healed of a medically diagnosed stomach ulcer and mentioned several other healings.
Barbara Walz
Christian Science Sentinel, July 25, 1988
She was healed of a long-lasting, severe case of the flu.
A final thought…
Consider visiting our Reading Room to study, pray or purchase works on Christian Science. Think of these words of calm and peace by Mary Baker Eddy as our welcome to you!:
“O glorious hope! there remaineth a rest for the righteous, a rest in Christ, a peace in Love. The thought of it stills complaint; the heaving surf of life’s troubled sea foams itself away, and underneath is a deep-settled calm.”
(Message for ‘o2 pg 19)
