There’s a desire in each of us to express creativity,” BA resident Dee Miller remarks to a group of people seated at tables scattered with writing pads and pens. “The purpose of this workshop is to jump-start your creative battery—to get the pen moving,” she adds.

These remarks opened one of the meeting of the Sparklers Writing Workshop, a monthly gathering at the BA of people interested in writing and in sharing ideas in a relaxed, nonjudgmental atmosphere. Attendees include residents, their friends and family, BA staff members, and friends of the facility who live nearby.

“Everyone who comes to the workshop is asked to write and not just observe,” says Dee, who is herself a published writer with a career in advertising. “There are two rules by which workshop participants must abide—the first is that everyone must write, and the second is that each participant must respect what he or she has written.”

Participants are encouraged to respect not only their own writing, but the writing of others produced during the workshops. “All our creativity comes from God,” says Dee, who founded the workshop at the BA several years ago. Participants are not required to share their work with other attendees during the workshops.

A key aspect of each workshop is three-to-five minute writing “sprints” focused on a variety of words or phrases given during the workshop. The intent behind this exercise is “to get an idea down on paper and to get it down quickly,” Dee emphasizes. Topics have included “prayer for the hurricane victims,” “a trip on a raindrop,” and “moonlight.”

Those participating are also encouraged to submit their work for publication. At one recent count, 14 articles had been published, including in The Christian Science Monitor and Christian Science Sentinel. In addition, these writers have produced two booklets of their collective work, one of which is called I Will Light My Candle, which took its title from the theme of the first workshop of 2006.

“When we take time to share with each other, we are in a way ‘publishing’ our work,” Dee sums up.

Ask any resident to share his or her experience in the Residential Program and you may hear the words “balance,” “activity,” “peace,” “independence,” and “expectancy” in the response. Residents Jean Reilly and Jean Bishop use these words to describe life at the BA.

“It’s important to have a balance in life,” says Jean Reilly, who has lived at the BA for two-and-a-half years. She appreciates the atmosphere of peace that supports her prayer and study in Christian Science, while also enjoying opportunities to be active in the community. “There are so many things that have opened up for me since I’ve been here.”

“I’ve enjoyed being part of our larger community,” she notes. Some of this enjoyment includes reading to the children in an extended-day program at a local elementary school every week and attending open rehearsals of the Boston Symphony, as well as enjoying many other cultural and educational activities.

Jean Bishop remarks that when she moved to the BA one-and-a-half years ago, “Everything seemed new and my routine changed somewhat, but I had an expectancy of good and a sense of independence that still characterize my residence here.”

“There are lots of opportunities to be out and about as a Christian Scientist,” she offers.

Both women look forward each week to volunteering as attendants at a nearby Christian Science Reading Room. They also appreciate the opportunities afforded local members of The Mother Church to attend meetings and to serve in various ways including ushering at the Annual Meeting of The Mother Church.

Home has taken many forms over the years for BA resident Mary-Anna Nairn. She has lived in places as far away as Peru, Argentina, and the United Kingdom. But, she says, despite her frequent moves, there is one thought that has stayed with her: “I’ve always been ‘at home’ wherever I’ve lived.”

And nowhere does she feel more at home than at Chestnut Hill Benevolent Association. “I’m really so comfortable here at the BA,” says Mary-Anna who has lived at the BA for 15 years. “This is my extended family.” She remarks on the varied opportunities she has had during those 15 years to contribute to her BA home atop a hill in Boston.

“My home at the BA is so like where I lived in Guernsey in the Channel Islands,” says Mary-Anna. “I lived there with my husband, who was Scottish, and my four daughters as they were growing up.” Now, one of these daughters lives in Greece and England, another daughter in Hawaii, the third in Minnesota, and the fourth near the BA in Massachusetts.

As an artist, Mary-Anna has found special joy in the natural beauty of the BA’s grounds. She is often seen in warmer weather painting a favorite view from a bench or swing. “Landscapes are my favorite subject as a watercolorist,” she says, adding that she has donated many paintings to the BA.

Before becoming a resident, Mary-Anna enjoyed volunteering at the BA for three years. Then she was admitted to the BA as a patient. During that time under nursing care, which resulted in a healing, she was inspired to move to the BA as a resident. Her move from nursing to independent living as a resident was just like coming home, she recalls joyfully.