Recently we toured countries where large cities of ancient civilizations had been excavated and restored. We saw many ruins of statues and temples of worship—structures of tremendous size and architectural beauty —all built to worship the gods and goddesses of mythology.
Guides repeated the ancient myths. It seems that through mythology the people were able to explain the universe to themselves. The guides emphasized how important the worship of gods and goddesses was in the lives of these people.
Reflecting on the trip and the different ideas of worship we had become acquainted with, I thought about my membership in the Church of Christ, Scientist. From my earliest Sunday School years up to the present, what had I learned about church membership and its relation to worshiping God?
Jesus taught: "The hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." John 4:23, 24 I realized that membership in The Mother Church had been teaching me how to live in accord with this teaching of Jesus—in accord with the true, spiritual sense of worship.
Mary Baker Eddy's explanation of Church in the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health, helps us better understand jesus' teaching. She defines Church in its spiritual sense this way: "The structure of Truth and Love; whatever rests upon and proceeds from divine Principle." She continues, "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." Science and Health, p. 583
Studying this definition, I discovered that church membership made imperative spiritual demands on me as an individual. And I saw, too, that in its highest sense Church is a spiritual idea within my own consciousness. By joining The Mother Church, I had made a commitment to "live" this structure of Truth and Love, not only in my daily life, but also in my work for the church organization. To accomplish this divine purpose, I realized I must give up the belief in "gods and goddesses," the supposed existence of more than one Mind, one God. This belief in many minds, I saw, was the basis of idolatry.
Jesus' life of obedience to the one God and His law excluded idolatry from his worship. He claimed no goodness or intelligence apart from God, but instead constantly acknowledged his oneness with the divine Principle of all being. And he lived this oneness through his healing and teaching.
To live Christ's Christianity in church organization, each member must willingly turn from personal sense and human opinions to God, Mind, for inspiration. Seeking the guidance of divine intelligence, one is not deceived by the disguises of personal sense, which are sophisticated, modern-day forms of idolatry.
Seeing intelligence as a personal attribute, separate from God, is a kind of idolatry that leads to worshiping person instead of Principle. This tendency fails to identify the expression of good qualities as having a divine source. Such a false concept opens the door not only to personal worship but to criticism and condemnation.
Believing in the existence of more than one Mind is believing in more than one God. Bowing to this belief—accepting it in consciousness—is in essence no different from bowing down to a graven image. One cannot worship God and attribute His qualities to material personality at the same time.
It requires meekness and humility constantly to honor God as the only self-existence, the one Ego reflected by all. It isn't always easy to recognize that the qualities of good we see in others express God's nature. But it is necessary if we are to follow Christ and worship God "in spirit and in truth."
If we personalize a fellow church member's intelligence, wisdom, or love, we may then at some time find ourselves judging another as lacking these qualities. This temptation is an opportunity to correct a false view of man and church organization in our own thought, an opportunity to express the Truth and Love that are the substance of church structure. We "elevate the race" when we see man as Jesus saw him, pure and perfect, the image and likeness of divine Spirit. This is the spiritual perception that heals.
Each member has unlimited spiritual ability to perceive man as the reflection of the divine Mind. Through his healing works Jesus demonstrated the practical effect of beholding man as he is in truth. Each one of us must allow himself to be roused "from material beliefs to the apprehension of spiritual ideas and the demonstration of divine Science." This casts error out of thought, allowing the God-bestowed spiritual perception of man in His image and likeness to control consciousness.
What makes for a church that heals? It begins with the individual demonstration of that Christlike consciousness which truly worships God in spirit and in truth.
Church lives through its members' lives. What goes on within a church organization, and what the church represents to the community and the world, is the membership's spiritual understanding of God and man, and its practice of that understanding.
To obey what the Master designated as the first and greatest commandment—to love God with all our heart and soul—we must understand that God is the only Mind, supremely governing all. This spiritual obedience enables us to love each other as Jesus loved. Praying for church with an unwavering scientific understanding that one divine Principle controls all brings peace and progress to us as individuals and as an organization. To recognize that Truth is the sovereign authority is to express the Christlike meekness that lifts us up and draws others to the Christ. See John 12:32
What makes for a church that heals?
It begins with the individual demonstration of Christlike consciousness.
This worshiping of the one Mind is the very essence of Christian Science—the Science that seeks to supply practically the needs of humanity through a church that is, in Mrs. Eddy's words, "designed to commemorate the word and works of our Master, which should reinstate primitive Christianity and its lost element of healing." Manual of The Mother Church, p. 17
If thou turn to the Lord thy God, and
shalt be obedient unto his voice; ... he will not forsake thee, ...
nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he sware unto them.
Deuteronomy 4:30, 31
