Greetings from the Mother Church!
Updated: Sep 26, 2022
Welcome to the Tri-State Reading Room Website and Blog!
My name is Shelby Michaels. I am the Head Librarian, and will be your hostess and informal guide to all things Reading Room, virtually, and in person, at our beautiful Manhattan location, in the heart of the Financial District, at 9 John Street, just steps away from the Freedom Tower -- as well as amazing shopping and restaurants. Where else can you find fancy indoor malls with great a/c, a movie theater with reclining leather seats, and spiritual enlightenment, all within walking distance? You guessed it! Come for the scenery but stay for the spirituality.
Ask, and ye Shall Receive!
We are open six days a week, Monday - Saturday. That is: 10-7 pm on Mondays and Thursdays, 10-4 pm on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and 11-4 pm on Saturdays. I know that is a lot to remember, so please see our hours below, or just call us at 212-587-9530, and say, "Hey, when are you open?" We are here to answer all of your questions, big or small. If you call outside our hours, leave a message! I promise we will get back to you promptly. Or send me an email at head_librarian.tscsrr@protonmail.com. I check my email constantly throughout the day.
A Warm Welcome!
We have a wonderful staff of warm, friendly Librarians and attendants to make you feel right at home, and everyone is welcome in our Reading Room. You can view pics of our current Librarian staff below on this web page. In the coming weeks, I will post about all of them, so that you will get to know them and feel they are already your friends when you come to visit.
Me At Annual Meeting!
This picture is of me at our Mother Church in Boston during Annual Meeting. Can you tell I was excited to be there? Lol. Annual Meeting is our big yearly event where we get together and celebrate the joys of Christianity and express our gratitude to God. But as Christian Scientists, that gratitude isn't confined to a yearly event; it is something we do daily. For me, a lot of this gratitude and joy comes from my work as a Librarian, in speaking to you, and in sharing the Good News of God's Love for us all, His beloved children. I grew up in the Jewish religion, but didn't find what I needed there. I was looking for a closer connection to God than I could glean from my ancestral faith, but I didn't know where to find it. Many of us start out as seekers, or, as the Bible refers to us, Pilgrims. And what does this pilgrimage consist of? Like the pilgrims of yore, we are striving to find the way to our divine Home, to our true dwelling place, the spiritual source that we all innately sense is within us. Ecclesiastes tells us: "Unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again." God is our divine source. It is natural for us to long for Him, for us to seek our unity with our true Parent.
Shortcut to God!
Is there really a shortcut we can take to find God? Absolutely! There is a simple, straightforward way to bypass the false highways and byways of human thinking and find Him, here and now, and all the spiritual peace and comfort He can provide! It's gratitude. Someone once described it as putting gas in our gas tank. When we express gratitude to God for all that He does, it opens us up to His presence and then we are aware of His care. Try it! Experiment! That's what the Science of the Christ is all about. It's a Science because we can prove when we turn to God that His promises are perpetual.
See You At the Reading Room!
Call 212-587-9530, or Email head_librarian.tscsrr@protonmail.com.
No need to stand on ceremony. Honestly, these are the quickest ways to reach us!