It is maybe a similar but different stillness one finds across the river at Mount Auburn Cemetery, where founder Mary Baker Eddy is buried. A trip there in the morning finds this remarkable historical figure buried near other New England dignitaries beneath a circle of towering marble columns overlooking a legion of tombs, headstones and statues surrounding what is at the moment a frozen pond. It is difficult to say whether the grave is worthy of the founder of an entire religion. However, white marble, ice, and patches of snow blanketing the graves give everything a pristine appearance.

Later during a trip to the First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, to speak with a reporter, Sawyer wears jeans and speaks with her hands as well as her voice. She looks much younger than her 28 years.

The Mother Church, as its known, is located across the street from the Prudential Center in Back Bay. It is a massive structure with a dome and portico on one side, a simple stone church on the other. Elaborate stained glass and rose windows give warmth to the structure's original edifice. The main church, which can seat 3,000 and hosts a huge pipe organ, is empty of tourists on a weekday just before closing time.

Is it coincidence that a church founded by a woman is called the "Mother Church"? she is asked. Sawyer is not sure, but she doesn't think so. Christian Scientists, she says, believe that God is both male and female.Sawyer has been a Christian Scientist http://www.tfccs.com/aboutchristianscience/ all her life. NOT a Scientologist, she'll remind you. That's something entirely different. Christian Scientists believe in healing through prayer.

Sawyer's parents raised her in the church. She went to Sunday School and then to public schools and to a private girl’s college before landing in New England, where she is writing children’s books and trying to make ends meet by freelancing for the church’s website.

“I think for me, faith is believing in something that maybe at first you can’t initially see,” says Sawyer. “You know, it’s not something that you have tangible evidence in immediately. It takes a little bit of a leap.”

Sawyer has never questioned the existence of God. And she says she has never not had faith. “Putting it in the context of Christian Science, for me the cool thing is that faith leads to something tangible.”

In other words, prayer can heal. Prayer can help reverse financial misfortunes. Prayer can help mend broken relationships.

Sometimes, she said, there are times when she has questioned the power of prayer. And she’s wanted to test it out.

Once she and a friend had a falling out. They fought for months, and nothing she could say would help reconcile their argument.

Then one day, Sawyer said she decided to do something simple. She said she saw her friend as she believed God saw her. Nothing else mattered. Soon she said she got a phone call from that friend wanting to reconcile.

Everything changed, just by prayer and by love.