"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."
Gratitude for healing and redemption prompts the generous and spontaneous giving which results in the building of our church edifices and their dedication to the service of God. Sometimes the hearts of the members and attendants of Christian Science churches are so full of loving appreciation of benefits received that the building fund overflows proportionably and the needed amount is on hand even before the anticipated date of dedication. More often, however, faithful and persistent effort is required in order to reach this goal. This right activity always brings with it the abundant rewards of sincerity and obedience.
We can scarcely overestimate the power of a right example. In reading the story of the raising of Lazarus in the eleventh chapter of the Gospel of John, we find that just before he called his friend out of the tomb, Christ Jesus said (verses 41, 42): "Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me." "Because of the people which stand by"—this phrase has a new appeal when we recognize that it is because of those needing the encouragement of proof and example that much of our consecrated work in Christian Science is necessary and valuable. This unselfish approach is a great help in working out a problem individually or collectively. Each church dedicated is an encouragement to others and added proof of the efficacy of co-operative endeavor. Undoubtedly that is why we find notices of church dedications in the Christian Science Sentinel.
It is clear that Mrs. Eddy would not have made freedom from debt the requirement for the dedication of our churches if she had not intended that they should be kept free from debt. What becomes of dedication if it is not maintained? And may not church members sometimes think of maintenance too much in terms of money? Are they thus losing sight of the fact that fundamentally they are not maintaining a material structure, but their individual dedication to the service of God, their own concept of and relationship to the true spiritual structure? True church maintenance is the continuous activity in consciousness of spiritual ideas, those ideas which constitute the real man and make up the genuine church body. Supply will not be lacking if church members are maintaining their steadfast gratitude for Christian Science and expressing it in the giving which is the manifestation of unselfed love for God and man.
A testimony was once given in a Wednesday evening meeting in a Christian Science church which must have been a help to all who heard it, proving as it did that Love is substance. The speaker said that when he began the study of Christian Science he was burdened with debts. As he contemplated the amounts he owed, it seemed to him that it would be years before he could liquidate these obligations. One morning, as he was studying the Lesson-Sermon for the week in the Christian Science Quarterly, he found among the Bible references this verse (Rom. 13: 8): "Owe no man any thing, but to love one another." This arrested his attention, but he could not understand what it meant. Then the "still small voice" said to him, "Why, that means owe no man the right thought." He resolved to try to put this command into practice all that day.
The first test of his sincerity came when he got on the streetcar to go to his work, and a workman brushed rudely past him and sat down in the seat which he had been about to occupy. A great sense of resentment and anger swept over him, and he started to tell the man just what he thought of him. Then he remembered, "Owe no man the right thought," and he began to do some spiritual thinking about man as the loving, unselfish child of God. He became so interested in this mental work that he found it no longer mattered to him that he had lost his seat.
Time and again during the day, he said, he found himself tempted in some similar way, and each time he replaced the impatient, resentful thoughts with loving, spiritual ideas about his fellow workers. That night he felt happier and better than he had for years, and realized that he was for the first time actually practicing Christian Science.
Daily application of this truth brought gratifying results, the speaker said. Before long his salary was unexpectedly raised, and he began to have opportunities for remunerative work in his spare time, and gradually to pay off some of his obligations. In much less time than he would ever have believed possible, he found himself entirely free from debt. He concluded his testimony with these words: "I am happier this evening than I have ever been in my life, and I know it is not just because I don't owe any money, but because I can honestly say that I don't owe any love."
An important thing for us all to remember is that what is attained must be maintained. Mortal mind's lying suggestion that we can lose our early inspiration and joy needs to be constantly repudiated, and we must know that none of the bloom is rubbed off in the process of spiritual development. Let us rather understand and affirm that our joy deepens in service, our gratitude increases, our love expands, and our vision broadens, and then let us prove it in daily living.
When a church has held its dedication service and its members are rejoicing in the fruitage of good work, then—as many have learned—it is necessary to be on guard against the suggestion of reaction. Perhaps months of enthusiastic and inspired effort have preceded the actual day of dedication, and now the faithful workers may be tempted to think that they can rest on past accomplishments. Sometimes a period of years may elapse and then this subtle form of apathy may appear.
What may be needed in the hearts of church members who desire to retain the joy and inspiration of dedication is a renewal of that light and beauty which came to them in the springtide of their experience in Christian Science, and which bore fruit in the dedication of their church edifice. As they claim the full possibilities of these seasons of renewal, they will behold with gratitude the unfolding of each budding thought and the blossoming of every right idea. Then they will be led to take the necessary steps to counteract any tendency to inertia or indifference.
We are living in times of great personal sacrifice, times in which there is need of the recognition of individual responsibility. In the early days of the Battle of Britain, we are told, there came into use in Britain a slogan which was taken to heart by many a man, woman, and child in that trial by fire: "It all depends on me, and I depend on God." Let us remember this when the tempter whispers: Let someone else do this or that bit of church work; let someone else support the church; let someone else give to The Mother Church funds, or to the dedication fund. If we listen and respond to these aggressive mental suggestions, we are playing into the hands of the enemy—the anti-Christ—and allowing ourselves to be robbed of the fruits of individual spiritual growth. True dedication —individual consecration—means joy in service, inspiration in study, promptness and perseverance in application. It might be epitomized in Paul's heartfelt prayer of self-dedication at the time of his conversion to Christianity (Acts 9:6), "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?"
Our revered Leader well knew the value of dedication and what it could mean to those eager to progress in their demonstration of Christian Science and to be of service to mankind. In the Christian Science Sentinel of October 14, 1905, there is a letter to Mrs. Eddy from a branch church asking her for a statement of her thought about dedication services. Her reply is direct and a loving benediction: "Beloved Brethren: If your church is chartered, your church edifice should be dedicated when it is paid for. May heaven's rich blessing crown your faithful labors, and unity and praise dwell within your walls and in your hearts."
