Today there is a great need for spiritual education to lift each one of us. The desire to learn more about God and man needs to be satisfied. The "hunger and thirst after righteousness" Matt. 5:6 needs to be filled. Only a spiritual education can satisfy the yearning heart.
The desire to learn rightly and the humility to listen without self-righteousness enable spiritual education to reach our searching thought. If we find ourselves yearning to express a purer love or a freer joy, then it is time to study the Scriptures and Mrs. Eddy's writings more deeply and pray more earnestly. This yearning for spiritual growth will lead us closer to God.
Daily study is imperative to our spiritual growth. It lies at the very core of our spiritual education. Each day offers the sacred opportunity to talk with God, to learn more about ourselves as His child, and to grow Spiritward. Individual study prepares us for humble listening and forward steps. Growth in spirituality helps us to express unfeigned grace.
If we are genuinely striving to learn more about God and man, and we are daily praying and studying but still feel the need to grow more, to serve the Church of Christ, Scientist, with deeper understanding, to study more effectively, to pray more successfully, to think and act more lovingly, then class instruction and association meetings provide a vital opportunity.
I sometimes like to think of Christian Science class instruction and the association meetings that are provided for class-taught students as a "how to" course. This course teaches how to love, how to heal, how to pray, how to think correctly, how to act according to the teachings of Christ Jesus, how to understand God and man rightly, how to uplift thought. This course is for students of Christian Science who need and want to grow into a better understanding of God and man. And whether one has been a Christian Scientist for one year or one hundred years—or has had class yesterday or years ago— he can still use what he learned in class to love more, heal better, follow Christ more closely.
As Christian Scientists we have been blessed with the privilege of having our spiritual education provided for us in the Manual of The Mother Church. This guide was brought to us through Mrs. Eddy's clearsighted spirituality. In the Manual she instructs: "Christian Scientists who are teachers shall carefully select for pupils such only as have good past records and promising proclivities toward Christian Science." Man., Art. XXVI, Sect. 2
Whether one has been a Christian Scientist for
one year or one hundred years—or has had class
yesterday or years ago—he can still use what he
learned in class to love more, heal better, follow
Christ more closely.
This provision opens our paths to true education. This education begins with the Bible and Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy, which are the textbooks for class instruction. But class instruction is not a Bible history course or a spiritual pick-me-up course. It is a course in true, pure metaphysics. Mrs. Eddy says of it, "Teaching Christian Science shall not be a question of money, but of morals and religion, healing and uplifting the race." Ibid., Art. XXVI, Sect. 1
And we need not keep delaying this step in our spiritual growth because of fear of inadequacy, past failure, future failure, or lack of funds. Such a neglect of our spiritual education would lead to mental barrenness. If, for example, one is fearful of inadequacy, he can dwell with assurance upon God's adequacy. As the mother bird feeds and watches over her young, so God feeds and watches over His children. He has all one needs to be spiritually filled, and He gives all good, abundantly.
A close friend of mine was considering class instruction. She had prayed daily about it for some time; she knew class instruction was the right step for her to take at the time; she had a deep desire and willingness to learn. She prayed to gain a better understanding of how God directs and governs man; she also prayed to learn and to see that God's direction is unerring, always accurate. She knew that God wouldn't prepare her for something and then abandon her.
Soon she felt sure of when she would have class instruction—but not from whom. As my friend continued to pray, she saw that God's answer could not be incomplete. She felt genuinely ready to learn more; the desire to grow was evident.
About this time she went with her family on a trip to a large city. While she was there she was reintroduced to the individual who later became her teacher. And the years since she has had class instruction have shown her that it was indeed God's guidance that enabled her to choose the right teacher for herself.
Our spiritual education does not end with two weeks in the classroom, however. We still need to nourish, cherish, and treasure our spiritual understanding. Spiritual growth goes on each day, hour, moment; it opens the door to spiritual progress and increased understanding of the unity of God and man. During class instruction, thought is uplifted and inspired as well as taught. Daily prayer and study enable us to continue on this road of broader horizons, higher views, loftier summits.
Mrs. Eddy gives us a picture of the results of true education when she writes: "The entire purpose of true education is to make one not only know the truth but live it—to make one enjoy doing right, make one not work in the sunshine and run away in the storm, but work midst clouds of wrong, injustice, envy, hate; and wait on God, the strong deliverer, who will reward righteousness and punish iniquity. 'As thy days, so shall thy strength be.'" The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 252
The "how to" course teaches us how to find strength in the face of weakness; how to love when hatred tempts; how to hold fast to man's oneness with God when disease would try to make us believe in separation, isolation, division.
Our prayerful, inspired preparatory work leads us to a higher spiritual education—class instruction; and then after that education our continued prayer guides us in serving God and living for mankind. Our education is continued and sustained by daily prayer, study, and inspiration.
The yearly association meeting is designed to add to students' understanding. This is a time for fellow students to bring their harvest, broader horizons, grander views, clearer and deeper insights, and to add to them and build on them. It is a day not to be missed or taken for granted; it is an opportunity for sharing spiritual inspiration and abundance.
Class instruction and the yearly association meeting help one to grow and progress, but mainly they teach how to grow and progress. They are tools that help the individual in his journey toward higher spiritual vistas. The provision for spiritual education wisely set up by our Leader, Mrs. Eddy, in the Manual gives a strong basis for spiritual growth to take place throughout one's life. It provides a firm foundation for unfoldment, for gaining a better understanding of God and man and how they are related. In the words of Christ Jesus, "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled." Matt. 5:6
As we learn these spiritual lessons, we are better able to take a stand against evil, to stop being a bystander and begin being a runner in the race toward spirituality—toward God. The activities of the Church of Christ, Scientist, enable us to do this. And as Christ Jesus said to his disciples, "If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them." John 13:17
