"I Was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord." These words (Ps. 122:1) find an echo in the hearts of all students of Christian Science who, having learned something of the great spiritual facts of harmonious being—the truth about God and man— and how to put their understanding to practical use, are ready for the progressive step of membership in the Church of Christ, Scientist.
Many of us remember the feeling of deep gratitude which came with our first healing in Christian Science. The light of a new-found confidence in God, good, flooded our consciousness as we glimpsed the new heaven and new earth possible of attainment. With an increasing understanding of this Science came a growing appreciation of its Discoverer and Founder, Mary Baker Eddy, and the desire to be of service to the Cause and identified with the movement. Church membership then unfolded as the natural result of this right desire. What a liberal education church work is! How it teaches us to pull together, and what lessons in patience, humility, and unselfed love are learned in the seasoning process of becoming a genuine Christian Scientist!
The members of Christian Science churches are either working towards dedication or striving to maintain their sense of dedication. As this dedication, this setting apart or consecration of thought and purpose to divine Principle, takes place in the individual consciousness of church members, they find themselves able as a church body to declare their freedom from debt, which frequently means the lifting of a mortgage on their church property. The Scriptural command is thus joyously fulfilled (Ps. 107:2):"Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy."
