WHEN we have seen the healing power of Christian Science made manifest in our lives, the desire to join the Christian Science church naturally springs up in our hearts. This desire should be cherished and encouraged until the right moment comes for its fulfillment, for in speaking of right desire our Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, writes (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 13), "If we cherish the desire honestly and silently and humbly, God will bless it."
After the necessary steps have been taken, and we find ourselves members of The Mother Church and of one of its branches, we may well continue to examine this question of church membership, and we shall find that its deeper meaning appears as our understanding grows.
Membership in a branch church is not solely a question of obeying its by-laws, attending its services and members' meetings, and accepting any church work that may be given us to do. Membership is more far-reaching than this. Mrs. Eddy writes (ibid., p. 35): "We can unite with this church only as we are newborn of Spirit, as we reach the Life which is Truth and the Truth which is Life by bringing forth the fruits of Love,—casting out error and healing the sick." Only as we gain some sense of the spiritual meaning of Church do we understand that uniting with the Church of Christ, Scientist, is a spiritual process, involving regeneration—the new birth, which separates us from materiality and increases our ability to heal sickness and sin. The very word "unite" implies that indissoluble bond which the Apostle Paul calls "the unity of the Spirit;" and in this bond all the members are united. When we consider church membership in this light, we see that the good of one is the good of all, and conversely, as St. Paul declares, "Whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it."
