"ENTER into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name." "Let them exalt him also in the congregation of the people, and praise him in the assembly of the elders." So sang the Psalmist. The heart of the Christian Scientist is filled with thanksgiving and praise as he enters the "gates" of his church on a Sunday or on a Wednesday evening. He is grateful not alone for the blessing which will be his during that hour, but also for the fact that the "stranger that is within thy gates" may find in these meetings a vital, practical sense of religion and worship which will bring him healing and regeneration.
An atmosphere of peace and quietness; a sense of the presence of God; a recognition that here is a place of refuge "under the shadow of the Almighty;" these are the states of consciousness generally entertained by those who attend the Christian Science church. When hungering ones eagerly searching for spiritual food come to one of these services for the first time, they often experience so definite a sense of healing that the entire course of their lives is changed. They find that, like Paul, they have walked on a road to Damascus where a vision of the Christ has appeared, correcting the false sense of Christian Science they may have had, thereby making their thought receptive to Truth. They have lifted their heads somewhat above the miasma of mortal belief and breathed the atmosphere of divine Mind.
Our Leader, Mrs. Eddy, tells us in her work "Miscellaneous Writings" (p. 260), "Pure Mind gives out an atmosphere that heals and saves." This healing atmosphere of the Christian Science church is largely the responsibility of church members. In obedience to our Leader's instructions (Manual of The Mother Church, Art. VIII, Sect. 5) it is the Christian Scientist's joyous privilege to pray for the congregation "collectively and exclusively"; not for individuals in the assembly, but for the congregation as a whole. In this prayer the Scientist strives to recognize the presence and power of Mind, the all-inclusiveness of God, that he may definitely see the nothingness of evil suggestions and erroneous thinking. The seeming spell of materiality needs to be broken. Thought must ascend to that sanctuary of spiritual consciousness where the oneness of man with infinite Mind is realized, where the omnipresence of God, His healing power, His beneficence, are consciously recognized. Thus it is that the atmosphere which heals and saves, displaces the atmosphere of material sense, and healings occur. To pray such a prayer requires preparation of the heart. Blessed by the pure motive to help make of the church service a tabernacle where God is revealed to each waiting thought, this prayer may reach out confidently in its realization of the truth. Right motive assures the right reward for devout, consecrated effort.
