Among the many blessings which a loving Father has bestowed upon His children is that which is known by the dear word home. Humanly speaking, home is a place which affords safety and shelter, where one's material needs are cared for and where one may always be sure of a joyous welcome. Home is a quiet sanctuary, where one may close his door upon the world outside, with all its harsh and raucous noises, to find sweet and satisfying companionship.
Beautiful and right as this may be, however, the real home, as Christian Science reveals it, is much more than this. It is a state of consciousness attainable by all and available to all, where heaven is found on earth and where one finds his true selfhood as the son of God. Home is where man really lives, moves, and has his being. It is a spiritual idea, from which he can never be separated by reason of his oneness with the divine Mind.
If one always holds in consciousness this true concept of home and accepts no other, the outward abode where the world thinks he lives will continue to improve in exact proportion to his understanding of the spiritual facts. As Christ is acknowledged to be the head of one's house, it will be governed by Principle, and not personality. In one's quiet daily work for his home one has a right to protect it from any mental marauder, which comes only to cause trouble and confusion.
Like the city which "lieth foursquare," of John's prophetic vision, his home shall not harbor "any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie" (Rev. 21: 27). One can remember also the words of his beloved Master, Christ Jesus (John 6:44), "No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him." Those whom the Father sends to us will always find a warm and cordial welcome, but, conversely, those whom the Father does not send will not know where to find us.
If, in spite of one's best efforts, any wrong and unworthy thoughts should ever succeed, even for one unguarded moment, in intruding themselves upon the happiness and harmony of his home, they will not stay long. As soon as they discover there is nothing to respond to their evil arguments, they will take themselves away.
When tourist cabins are filled, usually a sign with the words "No Vacancy" is hung by the owner in a conspicuous place, so that upon seeing it the passing motorist does not even stop. The would-be guest knows that it is useless to argue. He does not quibble or complain or plead that he be allowed to enter. He just drives on. When evil suggestions of any nature present themselves at the door of one's mental home asking for admittance, what a happy world this would be if the only response to that request was "No Vacancy." It conveys its message with such definite finality!
Since one's home is the outward and visible expression of God's tender care, it can never be less than beautiful, for beauty is one of the qualities of divine Mind, and hence is inseparable from it. Beauty, however, is in no way dependent upon material surroundings. A home replete with all the luxuries and treasures that a connoisseur can assemble may not be a home at all, but just a house—cold, austere, and forbidding. There is a beauty of holiness which far transcends anything that money can buy. The simplest home may express it in boundless measure. If the thoughts of those who live within it are always filled with love for God and man, it will possess a loveliness of Spirit beyond the power of an artist's brush to depict or of human words to describe.
Our beloved Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, writes in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 58), "Home is the dearest spot on earth, and it should be the centre, though not the boundary, of the affections." Home should never become a self-centered place, where one settles down in lazy satisfaction to enjoy himself. Home is a blessing which he must share with others if he would continue to keep it as his own. His own personal contentment must not make him grow selfishly unmindful of the world beyond his doors, with all its fears, with its struggles, and with its need of comforting.
As a pebble dropped into some silent pool will set in motion countless ripples radiating in all directions, so from a God-governed home, healing thoughts will go forth impartially and universally. How far the influence of these thoughts may spread, like the widening ripples, one may never know; but what does that matter? He did his part when he dropped the pebble of pure thought. God will do the rest.
Our church gives us another glimpse of home that is to be loved and cherished. Church too is in reality a spiritual idea, not built of wood or stone, not located on any street in any city, but defined by our Leader, in part, as "the structure of Truth and Love; whatever rests upon and proceeds from divine Principle" (ibid., p. 583). Not only does The Mother Church, The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts, find a deep place in the affections of every Christian Scientist, but all branches of this Church are as dear to him as the one in which he is privileged to be a member. Eagerly does he look forward each week to the opportunity of entering his church home. It too is a place of peace, where no worldliness, frivolity, or material planning should enter. Here he listens quietly and humbly as a little child to the inspired words of the Bible and of Science and Health as they are read without comment from the desk.
His own prayer is a silent one; it is not for himself alone, but for the entire congregation, and is known only to God. Such prayer carries with it the strength and the power of omnipotence. Some who may have entered the church when he did, bringing with them heavy burdens of trouble and heartache, often find these burdens lifted in the pure atmosphere of right thinking which prevails. Not from a sense of duty, nor with lagging footsteps, does he go to the services of his beloved church, but with joy and expectation, because he knows that he is going not only to receive, but to give and to serve and to bless and to make others happy.
It is recorded that in the year 1550 a church was built which depends for its light upon the lamps that each one lights as he enters and carries with him to his place. Every Christian Scientist today has his lamp, the Word of God, and he brings it to his church, trimmed and burning. He is not satisfied to sit at home and enjoy its light by himself. He must share it with others, and he knows that each lamp in its place will help to add light to the services.
The great Cause of Christian Science needs us all, needs all our fidelity, our consecration, our unselfed love. Was there ever an hour in human history when there was more reason than now to give God thanks for our Leader's demonstration? Her Church stands as a factor for good in every community: in times of quietness as a symbol of peace on earth, good will to men, and in times not so quiet, still standing like some great rock on a bleak and stormy shore, unmoved by the tumult of the waves below which dash themselves against it in impotent fury. The true Church is indeed untouched and unassailable, "an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens" (II Cor. 5:1).
A third aspect of home is our country. Contrary to human opinion, the country where man's home is located cannot be found on any map, discovered on any continent, bound by any sea. Man's country is where God is, and that is everywhere. It is the kingdom of heaven, which Mrs. Eddy defines thus on page 590 of Science and Health: "The reign of harmony in divine Science; the realm of unerring, eternal, and omnipotent Mind; the atmosphere of Spirit, where Soul is supreme." It belongs to all alike, because God is no respecter of persons, and out of His infinite abundance He gives each of His children richly all things to enjoy. There is enough for all and a place for all in His kingdom. Our heavenly Father knows no partiality, no distinction of race, creed, or nationality. He knows only His own beloved son, who is ever with Him, and in whom He is well pleased. God sees only the reflected perfection of His own being, where quietness and peace are ever present to bless.
Let us refuse to think of our country in any other way. The spirit of the anti-Christ, seemingly so rampant in the world today, would have us judge by material evidences, by the seeing of the eye and the hearing of the ear, and so would try to separate us from our God and our true home. But every Christian Scientist knows how to deny the suggestions of separation.
Whenever he is called upon to heal an individual who appears to be sick, the Scientist quickly denies the evidence of the material senses and stands with the truth that a loving God never made man sick. Nor did God ever make a sick world, and harmony is restored to it by our standing with the truth.
Let us not lose our courage and our unshaken conviction of our trust in God. Mental manipulation may attempt to dull the minds of those who have important decisions to make, causing them to become confused and contentious, unreasonable and mistaken in judgment. If this ever seems to happen, let us look in the right place for the actual aggressor and put the blame where it really belongs.
Christian Science teaches that evil is never a person. It also teaches that condemnation and criticism never healed anyone of anything. A righteous cause can never lack God's outstretched arm. Whatever may seem wrong now will be corrected in God's own time and way. His children cannot be separated from each other or made to hate or fear each other, and all the efforts of all the so-called powers of darkness can never change this forever fact. When this is more universally understood, the hour will have struck when God's kingdom will have come on earth and all that is unlike Him will have given place to the glory and grandeur of His sovereign ever-presence. There shall be "thine" and "mine" no longer. No more shall be heard the words, "This is my country; that is your country." There will be just one country. And God will be "the governor among the nations" (Ps. 22:28).
A great statesman once wrote of this longed-for day, "God grant that not only the love of liberty, but a thorough knowledge of the rights of man may pervade all the nations of the earth, so that one may set his foot anywhere on its surface and say, 'This is my Country.' "
God will surely bless and preserve our home, our Church, our country.
