It's hard to believe, but here we are in January, and I've already agreed to several presentations in the coming year, as follows:
At Center for Spiritual Awakening in Pacific Grove, California:

• January 23-25 "Emma Intensive" - 12 lessons in 15 hours between Friday evening and Sunday afternoon, donation plus $80 for food and $27 for workbook - can count as Emerson Institute credit.
• March 27-29 “Understanding Emerson” – finding the essence of New Thought in Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essays - can count as Emerson Institute credit.
• June 26-28 “Decoding Troward” – experiencing the power and possibility in the writings of Thomas Troward, a British magistrate in India who helped found New Thought - can count as Emerson Institute credit.

​At the Florence Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Florence, Oregon most 2nd Saturday-Sundays, offering classes 1-3pm Saturday and speaking on 2nd Sundays, with a Wednesday “Power Up” service there most 2nd Wednesdays (also on Zoom, the usual Ruth's Groups link).

At Unity Village, outside Kansas City, Missouri

• May 4-7 offering a session at the International New Thought Alliance annual meeting
• October 5-9 leading a colloquium for New Thought instructors and coordinating the Emerson Institute Commencement at the Affiliated New Thought Network annual retreat

Check the Classes & Schedules page a few weeks ahead of each for details, or use the Contact form to learn more.

What is the distinction between traditional Christian Science and the teachings of Emma Curtis Hopkins and Emilie Cady?
Basically, Emilie Cady didn't go there at all. She found her path through her training as a holistic physician, attendance at revival meetings, participating in study groups around Emma Curtis Hopkins' teachings, and her own reading of the Bible. Her ideas became the foundation of Unity teachings precisely because they were so clearly NOT Christian Science but were so clearly expressed that all could understand and practice them.
 
Emma, on the other hand, studied with Mary Baker Eddy and worked for her for a while, called her own teachings Christian Science until MBE made it clear that no one outside her organization would be permitted to do so, and actually taught and published lessons that were very similar to MBE's for the first couple of years. We have published books based on her notes for 1887 and 1888 that are virtually indistinguishable from MBE's CS. 
 
Emma's initial move away was to include references to what she called "other mystical writers" and to accept what is now called NeoPlatonism: the existence of everything in an ideal form ready for us to attune ourselves to experience it. In Lesson 2 of Scientific Christian Mental Practice she goes further away when she contradicts MBE's teachings on 2 points:
    1, That there is no intelligence in matter; Emma argues that if God is omnipresent and God is Intelligence then Intelligence must be omnipresent and that includes all forms of matter. She also says that matter, as such, is not Real, but transitory. That is, eternal spiritual Substance is taking a form for the moment that meets a consciousness and will change as that consciousness changes. 
   2, The denial of sensation; Emma states that if all sensation were delightful then no one would argue against its existence, that the issue is with our perception, not with the object being sensed; if God is Good and God is omnipresent, then all that is Good is omnipresent and therefore what we sense must be Good.  
 
 
What’s the difference between praise and gratitude?
Gratitude is a heart opening brought about by deep appreciation in the moment, and may be triggered by contemplation of the past or the present or potential futures. Gratitude opens the way for more opportunities to experience gratitude.
 
Praise is any and all descriptions of what is. Emma says, literally, that "all description is praise". Praise opens the way for more of what is being described., which is why we're careful about what we describe. Praises may also arise from a state of gratitude, as reflected in the Psalms and many hymns, where words can't describe the depth of our appreciation for what we're experiencing, but still we try.