When Christ Jesus journeyed through Galilee, people were healed. As a ship leaves behind a shining white trail on the sea on a clear moonlit night, so the light of deep joy and awe must have remained in many of the villages and towns he visited. Invalids were well, immorality had been overcome, melancholy had given way to the assurance "The kingdom of heaven is at hand." Matt. 4:17.
Over the centuries Christians have had many opportunities to prove that, as Jesus said, they are "the light of the world." Matt. 5:14. Yet like the first Christian communities, whose problems the letters of the Apostle Paul so vividly tell us about, today's churches do not always fulfill their purpose sufficiently. For example, self-righteousness, conservatism, spiritual laziness, may have replaced freshness, spiritual openness, and the striving for progress. If this applies to our own branch Church of Christ, Scientist, we need to reverse the situation by realizing our debt to the Master, Christ Jesus, and to Christian Science.
One way a congregation that has recognized the need for more spiritual growth can address the challenge is to set spiritual goals for itself. These goals should point the way out of seeming stagnation, should help members realize the great task of bringing healing and awakening to their fellowman. And these goals can assume as many forms as there are branch churches. The divine Mind is boundlessly rich in ideas and lovingly has the right solution on hand for every situation and every need.
In prayer, the members will find what is right for them, but here are some points they might consider.
Healing results
"Enough of words, let me finally see some actions, too," is a statement in the "Prelude on the Stage" of Goethe's Faust. The Christian Science movement goes beyond mere words and creeds; it is characterized by the practical efficacy that heals. It follows faithfully the footsteps of the great healer of Galilee. How did Christ Jesus answer those sent by John the Baptist to question him? He declared, "The blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, to the poor the gospel is preached." Luke 7:22. In the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health, Mrs. Eddy interprets this passage thus: "In other words: Tell John what the demonstration of divine power is, and he will at once perceive that God is the power in the Messianic work." Science and Health, p. 27.
If we are moved by the desire for more visible healing results, we should think of the dedication of Christian Science practitioners and consider our own willingness to heal others. A commitment to healing is a necessary part of our demonstration of Church. Our grateful acknowledgment of the unselfish service of those who have helped us should lead us to help others.
Healing results can come through individual members, whether or not they are practitioners listed in The Christian Science Journal and in The Herald of Christian Science. "Through the members?" one might ask. "One of them is me! Can I follow Christ Jesus on this path?" Didn't Jesus himself say, "He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also"? John 14:12.
We can make the powerful fact of Christian healing—this high expression of brotherly love—the central point of our prayer for the church. We are part of this healing activity; and God, with whom all things are possible, will lovingly attend to it. Like John the Baptist's querying disciples, there are many today who will see it, and they will tell others about it. Thanks to individual demonstrations of healing, our church will have the resonance that its holy task deserves.
Radiance
Your neighbors and acquaintances may have already noticed that you are a contemporary individual who is always doing research in the Bible. But your religion will become attractive and interesting to others only when they see how your health, your character, your career, change for the better—when they note from your example that "there's something to it." Likewise, a church's tasteful furnishings, good reading, good music, and hearty singing will surely be noticed, but the only thing that will attract others and impel them to come again is the tangible Christ-spirit manifested in the character and conduct of its members. If the members are visibly filled with the truth and power of the Lesson-Sermon, In the Christian Science Quarterly. the hymns, and the prayers, others will feel it.
"If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit," Gal. 5:25. Paul says. The key is that divine Spirit is ever present, ever active, and that Christian radiance comes from our efforts to express the Spirit in practical life. We need only to apply this truth; we don't have to produce it. Divine law is already established and is the very foundation of existence. It is necessary, however, to be on guard against the dark host of distractions that conveys "the world" to us through suggestion. Mrs. Eddy found for this concept the significant term animal magnetism.
we can make the powerful fact of Christian
healing—this high expression of brotherly love—
the central point of our prayer for the church. We are
part of this healing activity; and God, with whom all
things are possible, will lovingly attend to it.
Anxieties, deceptions, and malicious or egotistical beliefs would prevent us from walking "in the Spirit." Their pretensions must be seen through and rejected. This demands alertness and strength. Yet when a mother wants to rescue her child, when an artist defends his work, a saint his faith, they all find strength to resist these worldly influences. They stand their ground unswervingly on behalf of what is truly precious to them. We must thus be filled with our task of helping the world better understand its healing, its salvation. We all are in truth the image and likeness of the Divine. The joy we gain from understanding this fact shines upon us and through us, and we should give thanks for it every moment. This makes our heart warm and our brotherly love as natural as breathing.
Inspiring services
A religion without church services is like a sea without harbors. We may think of this church harbor of peace and progress as primarily a place where we can rest and prepare for new challenges and opportunities. We may even take it for granted. Actually, it is a gift for which we should be grateful every moment! This gratitude will also help us to see how to fulfill our responsibility for improving some aspect of our church work every day, refining, deepening it. Even being present at the service can be prepared for; it is not a passive activity.
"Your dual and impersonal pastor, the Bible, and 'Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,' is with you; and the Life these give, the Truth they illustrate, the Love they demonstrate, is the great Shepherd that feedeth my flock, and leadeth them 'beside the still waters,'" Mis., p. 322. says Mrs. Eddy in Miscellaneous Writings.
Going far beyond all human sermons, the references from the Bible and Science and Health that make up each lesson are the words of our pastor speaking to us. When we have consciously prepared ourselves for the pastor's message, the service becomes more than an act that is being performed, more than an instructional talk; it becomes truly spiritual communion. During the service we may be aware that "the Word" speaking here is power, pure healing power. It is the light that enriches the world with peace and beauty.
This treasure is freely given out. "Our church services are open to all," the desk announcements say in many cases. Let us bring to every service what we ourselves can contribute: spiritual understanding, joy, and gratitude. Thus the meaning that the words contain becomes filled with life.
Reading Room
Delving into Christian Science is a spiritual adventure. It departs from the beaten paths of obsolete theology. Fears and limitations held for thousands of years must fall before such inspired study and prayer. This search for truth bestows on all a power for good, for healing. It reveals the presence, all-power, and love of a God who is Spirit and who can become tangible in our lives.
The Bible tells us Elijah was on Mount Horeb, seeking God's help. While he was there, "a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake: and after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice." I Kings 19:11, 12. Our churches have been entrusted with a place where the "still small voice" of Truth may be heard: the Christian Science Reading Room.
Like Horeb, where Elijah experienced the quiet coming of Spirit, the Reading Room is a "high" place, a place standing out above and yet in the midst of worldly hustle and bustle. The seeker, sometimes even one who feels hunted, goes there. We are the servants of the still small voice. Whoever enters the Reading Room can find this voice, whether he is led to it through the Bible, through Science and Health, or through any of the other authorized literature available. This is a beginning, a holy moment in the midst of a world full of unrest, noise, problems, clamor.
Crises surround us in many forms, as we hear daily. The actual crisis is the decisive moment at which thinking changes, where one ceases to "see" as the world sees, where he begins truly to "see" life from a spiritual standpoint. God told Moses, "Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground." Ex. 3:5. We should daily think about the Reading Room in this manner, about the place where every day—for him who humbly listens—the "still small voice" becomes audible.
Sunday School
Whoever is a Sunday School teacher can experience the happifying and childlike thirst for knowledge, and also the spontaneous finding, discovering—the jubilation. Prayerful work for the Sunday School brings a wonderful new dimension for the rest of the members: the happiness of expectation. The child feels with certainty that he is on the pathway of good; he feels called, he expects success. It sometimes does us good to regenerate this attitude in ourselves.
That there is a Sunday School should not only fill all the members with joy but also imbue them with a Sunday School spirit. Older members can with profit call to mind again for themselves the inextinguishable qualities of Spirit-illumined childhood: joy of expectation, vitality, spiritual curiosity, fun, spontaneity, strength, purity. Since right thinking and knowing are prerequisites for wholesome experiences, prayer of this kind vitalizes and activates not only the Sunday School. Science and Health defines: "Creator. Spirit; Mind; intelligence; the animating divine Principle of all that is real and good ...." Science and Health, p. 583. The creative Principle on which the idea "Church" is based is always present; this idea waits for us to prepare a place for it in our thinking. As we do our spiritual work for Sunday School, the entire realm of learning, growing, and prospering—and that is the progress of the church—flourishes in us all.
There are many other aspects of church work, including, for example, the presentation of Christian Science lectures. Each of these activities opens up new possibilities for spiritual growth.
A church that sets goals for itself to do justice to its purpose does not have to invent anything new, but it should vigorously develop what is already there and waiting. A rich harvest awaits.
