THE Sunday services and Wednesday meetings in Christian Science churches have one sublime purpose—that of healing. Through revelation and experience Mary Baker Eddy prescribed each component part of the services from prelude to postlude, and each is designed to contribute its share of blessing.
These services may be likened to certain procedures in our schools. The Sunday service presents readings from the Bible and "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy; in other words, it sets forth the law of God. The Wednesday meeting is designed to illustrate the results of applying the law of God, or the rules of scientific practice. The two services are thus closely connected and are indispensable to spiritual growth.
Like classroom exercises, our church services require active participation from those present, not passive attention. The hymn singing is congregational; prayer is individual silent communion with God as well as audible repetition in unison. About half the time on Wednesday evenings is given to testimonies of healing and regeneration from the congregation.
Christ Jesus was the greatest Teacher the world has ever known. In this, as in all ways, Mrs. Eddy patterned after him, for she was primarily a teacher. She called Science and Health a textbook. The Christian Science Quarterly may be likened to a course of study, for it contains the Lesson-Sermons for daily instruction. In fact, it would not be amiss to speak of Christian Science as an educational movement, teaching mankind the things of Spirit.
The beginner in this study and sometimes the older student as well may question why it is necessary to attend the Sunday service, at which is read the Lesson-Sermon which he has been studying all week. Here the counsel in Hebrews is timely: "Let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching" (Hebr. 10:24, 25).
It is significant that the references from the Bible and Science and Health are designated Lesson-Sermon by our Leader, not simply Lesson or Sermon. A lesson, according to a dictionary, is "a reading or exercise assigned to a pupil to be studied, learned, or prepared as a single task," while a sermon is "a discourse delivered in public ... for the purpose of religious instruction." A twofold function was apparently envisioned by our Leader. The Lesson necessitates individual daily study and meditation, with resulting enlightenment; it demands the application to our own affairs of what is learned. The Sermon requires our presence at a public rendition for purposes of instruction. Individual study should rightly precede the public rendition in order that the Word of Truth may fall on soil well prepared to bear fruit.
No matter how much unfoldment has come from individual study, new inspiration is always gained from hearing our only preachers, as the Bible and the Christian Science textbook are designated in the Christian Science Quarterly. The law of God set forth in these books leavens the thought of the congregation and imparts the understanding that there is neither apathy nor discouragement in Mind, for Mind interprets the Word with blessing for all who hear it. Here too we may realize more of the universal application of the message.
The congregation at a Christian Science church is composed of both students and inquirers. Working church members realize that they are assembled not as many persons but "as one man," and that like the group gathered before Ezra when he read from the law, their ears are attentive (Neh. 8:1, 3). Since the order of service and the Lesson-Sermon are the same in all Christian Science churches, no one need feel strange wherever he may be. Nor need one feel isolated if there is no Christian Science church or society in his community, for whether he reads the Lesson-Sermon alone or attends a church service, he is part of a great assembly gathered together "as one man"' throughout the world. The understanding of the oneness of Spirit includes the recognition that man reflects God, infinite good. This understanding annihilates anything unlike good.
Paul's instruction, "Study to shew thyself approved unto God" (II Tim. 2:15), implies that we are to study, not that mortal man may become better, but rather that we may obtain the understanding that we are now in reality the man approved and accepted of God, and that there is no other man. God's creation is complete; and daily study of the Bible and Science and Health makes this fact apparent. It brings harmony, completeness, and joy into every phase of our daily experience. As our Leader writes (Science and Health, p. 147): "Although this volume contains the complete Science of Mind-healing, never believe that you can absorb the whole meaning of the Science by a simple perusal of this book. The book needs to be studied, and the demonstration of the rules of scientific healing will plant you firmly on the spiritual groundwork of Christian Science. This proof lifts you high above the perishing fossils of theories already antiquated, and enables you to grasp the spiritual facts of being hitherto unattained and seemingly dim."
Sometimes one hears it said that an experience is too personal to relate at a Wednesday meeting. Yet the healing came about as the result of seeing the problem as impersonal error, unattached to man. Truth is the healer in every case. It is not essential to give the details of an experience; in fact, it is obedient, where physical symptoms are concerned, not to do so (see Manual of The Mother Church, Art. VIII, Sect. 24). Healing resulting from Christian Science may be related without fear and with mutual benefit to teller and listener when the motive is to glorify God and to help one's brother man.
Two women attended a Wednesday evening meeting for the first time to hear, as one said, the incredible stories which she had been told were related. One after the other of those present arose as witnesses of the healing power of Christian Science. Their sincerity, their joyful faces, and above all the results obtained from using Christian Science so impressed one of these women that some time later when she became ill she recalled this evening, turned wholeheartedly to Christian Science for help, and was healed.
As Jesus journeyed from place to place he seems to have sought out the synagogues. The Gospels record several healings as taking place in a synagogue or temple—the healing of the woman bowed together, of the man with a withered hand, and of the one with an unclean spirit. It was not physical presence in a synagogue which brought about these healings, but Jesus' awareness of the purifying Christ, nullifying any sense of imperfection. His religion was based on ever-operative divine Principle, Truth, never affected by place, time, or circumstance.
It was a frequent occurrence for the sick to be healed by Mrs. Eddy's sermons. And it is not uncommon today for healings to take place at Christian Science church services. During the time this article was being written, the writer observed that almost every Wednesday evening someone related a healing which had taken place at a church service. One young woman told of coming from an office at the end of the day, weary and ill. She resisted the temptation to remain away from church and was entirely freed during the service. Another related how she obtained new and harmonious employment when she refused to allow an unusually long business day to keep her from attending church.
Even greater healing will result from our church services if our members will come with the spiritual discernment of Peter and John as they went to the temple (Acts 3). Evidently, unhurried as they approached the place of worship, they rightly apprehended the spiritual need of one who sat daily at the gate. Others, bent more on getting than giving, had often passed him by, perhaps thoughtlessly tossing him a coin. But Peter and John paused. They knew that this man was not in need of money, but of being aroused from inactivity. They required him to rise and walk. They lifted him up from self-interest, as well as from physical distress, and he responded instantly and went into the temple with them, we are told, "walking, and leaping, and praising God."
Selfless consecration to Truth and Love unerringly heals and attracts. It is the proper and natural attitude of the Christian Scientist, just as healing is the proper and natural effect of the church service. The way to increase attendance at our churches is for the members to demonstrate greater spirituality, love, and zeal. This was the method approved by Mrs. Eddy in a letter to First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Lawrence, Massachusetts (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 155), "Forget self in laboring for mankind; then will you woo the weary wanderer to your door, win the pilgrim and stranger to your church, and find access to the heart of humanity."
