All sincere students of Christian Science gain much spiritual inspiration and refreshment from attendance at the Sunday services and the Wednesday evening testimony meetings held in Christian Science churches. Constantly expressions of gratitude are heard for the readings from the desk, for the happy choice of hymns, and for the testimonies of healing.
One student, to whom the services meant much, was arrested by a question which insistently presented itself to her thought. What was she, as a member of The Mother Church and of one of its branches, contributing to the services to make the Church of Christ, Scientist, what its Founder intended it should be? This intent was expressed when, "at a meeting of the Christian Scientist Association, April 12, 1879, on motion of Mrs. Eddy, it was voted,—To organize a church designed to commemorate the word and works of our Master, which should reinstate primitive Christianity and its lost element of healing" (Church Manual, p. 17). The student could honestly say that she almost never absented herself from a service, that she contributed to the collections to the best of her ability, and frequently voiced gratitude for benefits received; but she realized that these things did not, in themselves, satisfactorily answer the question.
As she turned to divine Mind for guidance, the oft-quoted words of Christ Jesus came to her thought, "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me." The contemplation of these words suggested other questions, such as: What thoughts have I been entertaining during the services? What have I been enthroning in consciousness? Have I been lifting up the Christ. God's idea, or taking a merely personal view of the other members of the church and congregation?
