Having had the opportunity of traveling in many countries, I have attended Christian Science services in churches, societies, and groups on most of the continents. I was surprised to see that, generally speaking, the smaller groups seemed the ones that expressed a higher sense of church. I wondered why.
What were some of the qualities of those small groups? My list included warm affection; deep joy; great vitality in accomplishing every kind of church work; a spontaneous, loving, one-to-one communication; and a natural expectancy of good. I saw these qualities shining in the Readers, ushers, and members. Such buoyancy!
In reviewing this list, I realized that most of these qualities could be related to childlikeness. It was the childlike characteristics that were not always so openly expressed—it seemed to me—in larger churches and societies. Christ Jesus' words then occurred to me: "Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven."Matt. 18:3
