ITEMS OF INTEREST
[As published in the Christian Science Sentinel, May 12, 1934]
A correspondent writes to The Christian Science Board of Directors of her gratitude for the statement published by them in the March 24, 1934, issue of the Christian Science Sentinel, but she asks the question, "How can those who are not subscribers to the Sentinel know of the Directors' message?" She adds, surprisingly, that she knows of active workers in her local branch church who have, inadvertently perhaps, let their subscriptions lapse.
This correspondent has raised an important question. How can Christian Scientists receive the latest news from Boston, the headquarters of their movement? How can they keep abreast of the progress of their organization? The answer must be by subscribing for and reading the Christian Science periodicals which Mrs. Eddy established; and, in establishing them, she of course desired that they be read.
Many letters recently received from readers of the Monitor attest to greater, more lively interest and helpfulness aroused by that paper's discussion of world problems. The newest feature—the Weekly Magazine Section — which was started after the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Monitor, has attracted much favorable consideration from Christian Scientists and from non-Christian Scientists, and has decidedly increased the circulation of the newspaper. But, more than that, its articles have been lectured on, circulated widely, quoted from, and otherwise applied to the wider fulfillment of the duties of world citizens.
Almost weekly the Sentinel carries a statement, Item, or Notice which either originates with the Board of Directors of The Mother Church or has their approval. Thus the Sentinel is more and more fulfilling the purpose which Mrs. Eddy had in thought when in 1898 she wrote to a member of the Board of Trustees of The Christian Science Publishing Society (Historical Files of The Mother Church) that "the dignity of our Cause and the good of the students demand of us" such a paper.
A Christian Science radio program sponsored by the Committee on Publication in Northern California recently brought forth letters from listeners, among them two relating to the benefits received therefrom.
One of the listeners writes that she was contending with the difficulty of a poisoned hand. In order to listen to the morning Christian Science radiocast, she went a few blocks away from home. While the citations from the Bible and from the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," were being read, she found they took on new meanings to her. She writes: "I never heard a reading that seemed to give such hope and assurance. This marked a turning point for me."
The other writer states that at seven thirty in the morning she received a cablegram from abroad saying that her dear mother had passed on. Fifteen minutes later the Christian Science morning program began, and the words from Isaiah 61:1-3 were read: "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound." As she listened to these assurances, their deep spiritual meaning filled her thought with love, and she was immediately healed of her grief.
A correspondent who travels in a mideastern district reports that the radiocasting of Christian Science services has built up a large listening audience. Regarding these radiocast services he states: "It is evident to me that these services go out like rays of sunshine, penetrating hundreds of homes and institutions, ... go quietly, constructively, sowing seed in unusually fertile soil. We have an abundance of seed, and in this day and age broadcasting is being proved to be a safe, economical, and effective sower."
[As published in the Christian Science Sentinel, June 9, 1934]
In the Sentinel of November 25, 1933, was begun a series of Items describing the functions of the various offices comprising The Mother Church administrative activities. The first account related to the Clerk's Office, the second (February 3, 1934) to the Bureau of History and Records, and the third (May 19, 1934) to the Committee on Publication. But the story of the Committee on Publication was a long one; and two of its functions were reserved for later description, namely, radio activities and the giving of talks on Christian Science by invitation to various groups in churches, schools, and colleges.
The rule of procedure made by the Directors of The Mother Church regarding radio programs provides that Committees on Publication shall sponsor all Christian Science programs from studios, while the churches shall be responsible for radiocasting their services and lectures (Sentinel of October 24, 1931). Committees on Publication have been very active in supervising several types of radio programs, as follows:
(1) Special daily or weekly series at particular hours with programs comprised of music for the opening and closing key notes, hymns read or sung, readings from the Bible and from authorized Christian Science literature.
(2) Participation by invitation in a series of radiocasts sponsored by others when the Christian Science program includes some of the features already mentioned and sometimes an original address previously submitted for approval to the Manager of Committees on Publication in Boston.
(3) Church-of-the-Air Programs allotted by the Columbia Broadcasting System to the Christian Science church, five such having been allotted for Sunday afternoons during the season now ending. On these occasions hymns were sung, sometimes by a trained quartet, correlative citations were read from the Bible and from Mrs. Eddy's writings, an address was given which had been prepared previously and submitted for the approval of the Directors of The Mother Church, and appropriate music opened and closed these programs.
(4) Assistance to churches, if requested, in the radiocasting of their services and lectures and announcements over the air of forthcoming lectures on Christian Science. For instance, in Australia, several lectures to be given in the state of Victoria were announced over three stations by nineteen radio messages of one and two minutes each. So great was the interest aroused by these and other announcements, including twenty-eight newspaper insertions, that the audiences included many strangers and, after the lectures, eleven newspapers used over one thousand inches of space to report the lectures, four of them in full, and the supply of these reports was not sufficient to meet the demands which came from near and far.
(5) The radiocasting of three fifteen-minute electrical transcriptions on Christian Science that have been prepared by The Christian Science Board of Directors for this purpose and have been used successfully hundreds of times in the United States and Canada. And after these radiocasts there have come many expressions of gratitude from listeners, including shut-ins and residents in remote sections, for the messages of Christian Science. One such was from the husband of a Christian Scientist, who wrote of being so impressed by the message of the transcription (No. 1, Questions and Answers Concerning Christian Science) that he could not "refrain" from writing of his "gratitude." Referring to the help he had received from his wife and from reading Christian Science literature, he added, "but if I had never heard of Christian Science the radio dialogue this morning would have inspired me to learn more about it. I think it was wonderfully instructive, and that it will do more than anything else to bring to thousands of people a knowledge of what Christian Science is."
The Committees on Publication were responsible for fifty-three talks on Christian Science given by invitation in the year 1933 to groups of interested non-Christian Scientists. This was a substantial increase over the number in the previous year. The giving of such talks is a comparatively recent development, initiated a few years ago because of genuinely friendly requests. Often the giving of these talks has brought second invitations to participate in subsequent series of talks on religion.
The talks vary in length according to the time allotted. If not taken from published or approved material the talks are submitted for approval to the Manager of Committees on Publication in Boston. As a general rule questions are not permitted at these meetings, unless they are questions about procedure; whereas, questions submitted in advance in writing are gladly answered by the speakers. The audiences have varied from a few to nearly two hundred people. Of the talks given, sixteen occurred in Great Britain, three in Scotland, one in Switzerland, two in Canada, and thirty-one in the United States. Twenty-two were given before groups in churches, and several before Y.M.C.A. groups. Other talks were at the Third Religion Forum at the University of Southern California; the University of Tampa, Florida; Bowling Green Business College, Bowling Green, Kentucky; before the Wesleyan Forum Group at the State Teachers' College, Mt. Pleasant, Michigan; the class in Philosophy of Religion at Bloomfield College and Seminary, Bloomfield, New Jersey; class of Drew Theological Seminary, Madison, New Jersey; class in Religion at Adelphi College, Garden City, Long Island, New York; Student Christian Movement of Westminster College, London, England; students of Theology, at Basel University, Switzerland.
[As published in the Christian Science Sentinel, June 30, 1934]
The question is sometimes asked, "What literature is admitted to the sessions of The Mother Church Sunday School?" The readers of the Sentinel will be interested to know that only the two textbooks—the Bible, and "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy— the Christian Science Quarterly, and the Christian Science Hymnal are used in the Sunday school sessions of The Mother Church.
Occasionally pupils in the classes are given references to be read at home from Mrs. Eddy's other writings, or they are referred to the Christian Science periodicals. Also, the teachers inform the pupils of the availability of the Sunday school library from which books may be borrowed for a period of two weeks and renewed for a like period. The Bible, all of Mrs. Eddy's writings, the Concordances to her writings, her biographies, the Christian Science Hymnal, "The Mother Church" by Joseph Armstrong, and several Bible dictionaries and concordances are available to any Sunday school pupil for home use.
[As published in the Christian Science Sentinel, July 14, 1934]
Some confusion exists in the thought of people here and there as to what constitutes a recognized branch church or society. A recognized branch church or society is one whose application for recognition by The Mother Church has been passed upon favorably. Following this action by the Directors of The Mother Church, the card of the organization may be inserted in The Christian Science Journal, a process which takes about two months to accomplish.
A group of Christian Scientists desirous of becoming a recognized branch of The Mother Church may file an application for recognition, and, in response to their request, a blank form may be sent to them to fill out; but they should not regard the receipt of an application blank as giving them encouragement or promise as to the decision which ultimately may be reached. That is made on the merits of the application after the required evidence is assembled and considered.
Of course, the decision on an application for an organization formed on the basis Mrs. Eddy has indicated in the Church Manual, Article XXIII, Section 6, and in accordance with her letter which appeared in the Christian Science Sentinel of February 19, 1910 (to Second Church, Manchester, England), is likely to be favorable. In 1910, when news came to Mrs. Eddy's home at Pleasant View of the formation of a second church in Manchester, one of Mrs. Eddy's faithful secretaries wrote to The Christian Science Board of Directors, who at once made an investigation and ascertained that the organization had not come about because of division, but through multiplication. And so the letter of February 19, 1910, sent by Mrs. Eddy to the new church, spoke a truth which all churches and societies, and all who have in mind organizing a church or society, may well ponder: "Second Church of Christ, Scientist, of Manchester, thus starting as the outgrowth of multiplication and not division, is moving forward in accord with the 'eternal mandate of Mind' (Science and Health, p. 520)."
A similar situation exists with regard to an application for membership in The Mother Church. Until an application has been actually accepted by the Directors, at one of the semiannual meetings for which the By-Law, Article VI, Section 3, provides, the applicant cannot consider himself a member and is not eligible to be elected a Reader in a branch church, as has sometimes been thought. The Christian Scientists concerned should await the orderly process of the rules which Mrs. Eddy has provided for such transactions.
[As published in the Christian Science Sentinel, July 21, 1934]
In 1907 Christian Scientists were uniting with peace societies, thinking that that method of activity would help to prevent war and preserve peace. Mrs. Eddy at first did not object, but when the tendency was to go too far, she wrote the By-Law, Article VIII, Section 16, then entitled "The Promotion of Peace" but later named "Joining Another Society." At that time the text of the By-Law was slightly different from what it is today, but the import was the same. Upon the adoption of the By-Law and its publication in our periodicals, Mrs. Eddy's followers, in obedience to her wish, turned to the teachings of Christian Science as the true means of bringing peace, and realized that expending their efforts elsewhere through human methods and plans would not help the world's peace so much as would the active demonstration of the teachings of Christian Science.
Now, twenty-seven years later, the world seems rushing toward membership in new organizations of various kinds: secret societies, political clubs or organizations, and so on; some designated by spectacular insignia worn by members, and others requiring passwords and the acceptance of oaths of allegiance. Some among Christian Scientists think that they will help better to save their particular parts of the world by uniting with these organizations. But as the Board of Directors of The Mother Church has many times written in letters to inquirers, each Christian Scientist must, in accordance with the By-Law, Article VIII, Section 15, decide whether or not connection with an organization outside of The Mother Church will "impede" his "progress in Christian Science;" yet he can well remember the advice given by Mrs. Eddy in the By-Laws cited, particularly her designation of the means by which Christian Scientists shall "strive to promote the welfare of all mankind," that is, "by demonstrating the rules of divine Love."
REQUEST
The branch churches and societies that have not furnished historical statements as requested in the Sentinel for August 6, 1932, are now requested to send them to the Bureau of History and Records, 107 Falmouth Street, Boston, Massachusetts, as soon as may be conveniently possible. An important part of the information desired is the early history of Christian Science in the different localities. Where there are two or more organizations, the oldest one may be best prepared to furnish this part of the desired information, but cooperation can help, and duplication is not objectionable. Historical statements from individuals are also welcome.
The history of Christian Science in each locality should begin with the inception of interest there, and it should be as specific as possible. Among the details desired are full names of early students, names of early practitioners, earliest meetings or services, first organization, important or interesting events or incidents, and the date or time of each occurrence. Each statement should be dated and signed, as well as carefully, written.
GERMAN TRANSLATION OF "RETROSPECTION AND INTROSPECTION"
The Trustees under the Will of Mary Baker Eddy announce the publication on July 30 of the translation of "Retrospection and Introspection" into the German language. This translation of Mrs. Eddy's autobiography is issued in one volume, with alternate pages of English and the translation, in both cloth and pocket editions, uniform in size with the standard library and pocket editions of Mrs. Eddy's writings.
Printed on book paper, bound in library buckram, single copy $1.00; pocket edition bound in leatherette, round corners, gilt edges, single copy $1.25.
Orders for the above books should be sent to Harry I. Hunt, Publishers' Agent, One, Norway Street, Boston, Massachusetts.
ADMISSION TO MEMBERSHIP IN THE MOTHER CHURCH
Applications for admission to membership in The Mother Church may be sent to the Clerk at any time throughout the year. It is desirable that applications should be forwarded in ample time so that they may receive the essential preliminary attention before the date of election. The receipt of an application by the Clerk does not make the applicant a member. Applications are acted upon by the Board of Directors, twice each year, as provided by the Manual of The Mother Church, Article XIII, Section 2.
The receipt of all applications is acknowledged by the Clerk; and on the date set for consideration, notice of acceptance or rejection is sent by the Clerk to those whose applications have been received in time. Should an applicant not receive such notice, he is requested to communicate with the Clerk before forwarding a second application. A member of a branch church, on being admitted to membership in The Mother Church, should notify the clerk of his local branch church of this acceptance.
The next meeting of the Board for this purpose occurs November 2, 1934. Applications to be acted upon at that time should reach the Clerk by October 19, 1934. Applications received too late for the November" admission will be placed on file for the June, 1935, admission.
Application forms may usually be obtained from Reading Rooms and from the clerks of branch organizations, or they may be secured by addressing Ezra W. Palmer, Clerk, 107 Falmouth Street, Boston, Massachusetts. Cable address: Church, Boston.
