There is no love without service, and there is no service to be compared to loving service. There is a joy and a blessing which come through unselfish labor for others that can be obtained in no other way. On page 516 of Science and Health Mrs. Eddy says, "Love, redolent with unselfishness, bathes all in beauty and light," thus healing and purifying all that is unlike good and lifting consciousness to the perception of man's relationship to God and man.
After the performance of any service, while the thought may present itself that we have not done all that was expected of us or all that we had hoped to accomplish, still we may have the consciousness that we did the best we could. This emphasizes the fact that we are looking back upon past experiences from a higher point of view, one to which the experiences of the past may have raised us. So the ability to recognize past shortcomings may be a reason for rejoicing, if it is the result of a higher and clearer perception of what our service ought to be.
One who has been called upon to serve as a reader in a Christian Science church will find that such service is a source of much joy, also of many helpful experiences and many useful observations. It is true that there are many times when obstacles present themselves to be overcome, but the determination to go forward shows them in their right perspective and proves them to be anything but mountains when he arrives upon the scene of action. He will find that whatever good and loving work may be done at the desk is but the result of knowing that the divine Mind directs and inspires the services. His adherence to the requirements of the Church Manual should result in the state of consciousness indicated in Section 1 of Article III, namely, a mental atmosphere which "shall promote health and holiness, even that spiritual animus so universally needed."
It is a duty, and it should be a loving one on the part of all members, to know that those who come to our services for help receive it; that the word of Truth spoken from the desks may fulfil the prophecy, "It shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it." The sick should be healed, the sinner reformed, and the sorrowing comforted at every service. These are the demonstrations of Truth in our church, which, as our Leader says, "affords proof of its utility and is found elevating the race, rousing the dormant understanding from material beliefs to the apprehension of spiritual ideas and the demonstration of divine Science" (Science and Health, p. 583). If these are the results of our services, we need not be anxious about the reading which is being done. Neither need we have any anxiety concerning the growth of our church; such light will not long remain undiscovered.
He who has served his term as reader gladly takes his place in the ranks, not however with the thought of any less responsibility as to his part in the services, or as to his duty as a church member, but rather with a greater sense of responsibility, for his past work and observations have taught him many things. They have taught him that to be on time is an act of courtesy and a demand of Principle; also that the reading of the explanatory note in the Quarterly is an important part of our church service, and that the benediction is well worth waiting patiently for. They have shown him that insistence upon occupying the end of the pew is a source of disturbance, and that the passing of a Hymnal to a belated comer often relieves a great deal of embarrassment. He has learned that the stranger likes the word of welcome and that a great many others need a word of encouragement; also that there is no duty to be shirked, for each one is a means of growth, and God supplies the grace to perform it. He has learned that it is not the quantity but the quality of information we give out that is needed, and that if we are not careful we become "preachers" of Christian Science instead of practitioners; again, that a quiet word of appreciation is a reward for much effort, and that a kind and honest criticism is an effectual help.
In thinking of the amount of work each may do for our cause, one cannot help feeling that perhaps there is a tendency to compare official positions, and to feel that one is better situated to do this work than another, or that one business is better than another in which to practise the demands of Christian Science. In reality there is but one business for us, and that is to glorify God. It was to this end that man was created, and we are attending to our business, in whatever sphere of human activity we may seem to be engaged, when we are doing it the best we can and doing it with this end in view. One member of the body cannot say to another member that it is greater or of more importance. The head cannot belittle the work of the hand, nor the eye that of the ear, for each is equally necessary to the whole body. In bringing out the full manifestation of God each and every one of His ideas is of equal importance.
The response of individual effort to divine Principle is exemplified in the working of our church organization. When one looks around the edifice and realizes how bright and cheerful it is because it is well heated and lighted, because the aisles have been swept and the furnishings well cared for, he feels that the janitor has been doing his work to the glory of God. When he sees the ushers silently and courteously showing people to their respective seats and leaving them with a sense of welcome and good will, he feels that they are doing their work in the same spirit. When he listens to the organ pouring out its beautiful prelude, inviting all to the spiritual feast which has been prepared for them, and giving its benediction in a great burst of glory and exultation in the postlude, he feels that the organist is doing his work to the glory of God. When he has listened to the voice of the soloist, fading away and leaving with the hearers a sense of peace and joy, or soaring above the voices of the congregation, leading and encouraging them to bring out a greater sense of harmony and unity in their praise, he feels that this too is for God's glory.
Again, when one realizes how smoothly and harmoniously the machinery of the church government is manifesting itself, he knows that the officers and committees of the church are doing their work to the glory of God. When he remembers that in another part of the edifice the Sunday school superintendent, the officers and teachers, are engaged in that most important work of preparing the soil and planting the seed of Truth, he realizes that they are doing their work to the glory of God. When he sees the stranger come in and learns that it is his first visit to the church, he feels that some one otherwise unknown has been doing or saying something to the glory of God, and that the stranger has come to find the source of the inspiration. All this thought of unity and oneness of purpose is an inspiring and uplifting influence which falls on the congregation like a benediction, opening human consciousness to the divine activities and making it receptive to the message it has come to receive.
Then who will say which is the most important work, when like the individual instruments in an orchestra each one is most necessary to the bringing out, in all its fulness and completeness, of the beauty and harmony of the composer's concept. Who will say that any one's work is of no importance or is less necessary than that of some other, when the difference, if there be any, can be only one of degree. Christian Science teaches us that we cannot be held to a position outgrown, and so there is other work for each and every one of us when we have faithfully performed our present duty. For so it was with David, who after he had faithfully and lovingly tended and led his few sheep, was at length called upon to administer the laws of a nation.
Whatever then may be our efforts, let none of us become discouraged because of seemingly adverse circumstances. The sun is ever shining and clouds are at most but temporary. Whatever the seeming, the kingdom of heaven is come and we are all in it, glorifying God,—magnifying the good,—and this is made apparent to humanity through loving service.
