In "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" Mary Baker Eddy defines "Church" in its absolute sense as, "The structure of Truth and Love; whatever rests upon and proceeds from divine Principle" (p. 583). As "the structure of Truth" Church embodies all health and perfect being, and as the structure of "Love" it embodies all harmony and absolute good. Since Church is based upon divine Principle, it is governed by perfect law.
The human institution of church is the manifestation of the unfoldment of spiritual truths to human consciousness. Mrs. Eddy says in the same definition, "The Church is that institution, which affords proof of its utility and is found elevating the race, rousing the dormant understanding from material beliefs to the apprehension of spiritual ideas and the demonstration of divine Science, thereby casting out devils, or error, and healing the sick."
Only in the degree that spiritually scientific truths are unfolding in the thoughts and experience of church members individually and collectively is a Church of Christ, Scientist, strong, active, and well supplied. The supply of a branch church, then, will be in the exact ratio to the membership's turning to God, Spirit, consciously and intelligently in understanding and practice, not in blind faith. Turning to a material source for supply is like going to a broken cistern for water, as Jeremiah put it; but turning to Spirit is turning to the infinite source of all good, which never fails.
In Christian Science we understand that true receiving is found in reflecting good. Man, in Science, is the expression of God's being and exists to reflect God. All that he receives from God, then, is reflected, not absorbed. From the human standpoint, we apprehend our infinite supply in the degree that we understandingly express Spirit, God. In Science, man reflects all because he receives all. In our human experience the more we express the attributes of Spirit, the more we receive, because we are then understanding more and more the spiritual fact of man's unity with God.
We may be inclined to think that we are supplied in the way that a fledgling is fed by the mother bird. The fledgling does little but ask, loudly and persistently, to be fed. It is necessary to ask, or pray, persistently, yet in Christian Science, prayer usually includes more than petition. It affirms the ever-presence of abundant good and demonstrates this fact. To realize our supply, we have a prayerful work to undertake: that of understanding Spirit and the expression of spiritual qualities.
In talking to the Samaritan woman at the well at Sychar, Jesus said (John 4: 24), "God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." To worship God is to express Him. Spirit, God, must have expression to have entity, and the expression of God is man, His spiritual image and likeness. Man expresses the infinite abundance of spiritual ideas. From the human standpoint, we must first of all realize the true nature of Spirit, God, and then claim and accept Spirit as our Mind to reflect. To claim and accept Spirit is to express Spirit, and we do so by manifesting the graces of Spirit—love, joy, peace, goodness, wisdom, holiness, generosity, and gratitude—in abundance.
The apparent need for supply is never the need for matter. Lack is merely evidence of a negative sense. Abundance is gained by looking to God, infinite good, for supply. If we reflect divine Spirit, pour out gratitude, love, and generosity, then abundance will be our rich experience; but if we manifest a spirit of limitation—fear, meanness, and selfishness—then limitation will be our poor experience.
In Science and Health Mrs. Eddy writes (p. 507), "Spirit duly feeds and clothes every object, as it appears in the line of spiritual creation, thus tenderly expressing the fatherhood and motherhood of God." Objects which appear in the line of spiritual creation reflect Spirit and thus are supplied by Spirit. Then divine Spirit clothes with the richness of spiritual understanding every object that appears to our consciousness, such as our income, our home, our business, our church. It is only our false belief that would clothe these concepts in the rags of limitation.
As it is with us individually, so it is with us collectively, as church members. The activity and prosperity of a church are dependent upon the quality of the members' thoughts. If we, individually or as a membership, think in a limited fashion, we shall experience limitation and cannot have any other experience until we spiritualize and enrich our thinking. If, in fact, we express mortal mind with all its doubts, fears, and worries and say, "We have not enough. We cannot afford it," we see the results of such poor thinking in poor living. When we manifest the Spirit of infinite good and know positively that, as the reflection of divine Mind, we have abundance because we reflect all good, we can give freely. Our experience will invariably be the result of the thinking we maintain and the Spirit we manifest.
In the parable of the prodigal son, the elder brother, manifesting a spirit of resentment, refused to enter the house and enjoy the feast. He complained that nothing had been given to him. But his father reminded him of his heritage in these tender words (Luke 15:31): "Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine." Our Father, divine Mind, provides us with an abundance of spiritual ideas, but we can only experience this abundance in the degree that we express these ideas. This provision of divine Mind is ever present and now; nor need we fear the future, for we shall still have the same Mind to turn to and the same Spirit to manifest.
As we obey the teachings of Christ Jesus and Christian Science, we may also share the good described by Mrs. Eddy in this comment on a letter from a branch church (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 209): "God will abundantly bless this willing and obedient church with the rich reward of those that seek and serve Him. No greater hope have we than in right thinking and right acting, and faith in the blessing of fidelity, courage, patience, and grace."
