"We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers; remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father; knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God."I Thess. 1:2-4; These words, part of the opening of an Epistle written by the Apostle Paul to the young church in Thessalonica, typify the great love which he and the other early Christians felt for each faithful group of their fellow worshipers throughout the land, no matter how small or insignificant the group.
Christ Jesus told his disciples, "Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them."The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, Matt. 18:20; There needed to be no more than a handful of the Master's followers, meeting together to worship according to his teachings, for the power of the Christ to be in their midst. Moreover, just two or three individuals, firm in the truth that Jesus taught, were adequate to represent their beloved Master's teaching and thus merit unbounded affection.
Centuries later the same spirit of Christly compassion was expressed by the Master's devoted follower, Mrs. Eddy. She cherished each branch Church of Christ, Scientist, with the affection of a mother. No loyal band of Christian Scientists was too distant or too small in numbers to find a place in the heart of their Leader. With tender solicitude and constant prayer for their welfare, with appreciation of their success and gratitude for their fidelity, she directed many messages of love and advice to these widely scattered branches of The Mother Church. Some were large in membership and some were small, but not one could have felt excluded from the warmth of her loving care.
