In the Church Manual Mary Baker Eddy shared a description under the heading “Prayer in Church,” for the direction of our prayers. She wrote: “The prayers in Christian Science churches shall be offered for the congregations collectively and exclusively” (p. 42). I had been praying deeply to find a fresh, new view of the relevance and importance of this prayer provision.
One day I attended the Sunday service in Boston with my husband, and the First Reader read all of the verses to the second hymn. When he read these words: “Sinner, it calls you,—‘Come to this fountain, / Cleanse the foul senses within;’ ” (Mary Baker Eddy, Christian Science Hymnal, No. 301), a disturbing relationship situation that had been an ongoing battle for me in my prayers simply melted as these words were read and then as everyone sang together in unison. God was revealing to me that if I wanted to truly heal and be healed, then I had to “cleanse the foul senses within.” I had to purify and elevate my perspective of this family member in order to see what God had been seeing all the time: His perfect, adorable creation.
On the following day, I was riding my bike up the last hill before returning home. During this ride, I had been rejoicing and thanking God for the ideas revealed to me during the Sunday service. Just as I turned the last corner, I swerved off the road onto an area of sand and broken gravel. As the bike began to slip away from my grip, I began to pray, using some of the words from a solo that I had listened to the previous Sunday at church: “If God doesn’t know it, there’s nothing to know. If God doesn’t see it, there’s nothing to see.”
When I walked inside the house, I realized that I had witnessed the result of my prayers to have a fresh new perspective of the ideas in the Church Manual.
It all happened so quickly: I was faced with the possibility of falling off my bike in what might be called a serious cycling accident, but instead, all that happened was that my right knee gently touched the surface of the gravel. There was no evidence of injury either to my body or my clothing. I tangibly felt the sweet and comforting sense of God’s loving, protective power.
When I walked inside the house, I realized that I had witnessed the result of my prayers to have a fresh new perspective of the ideas in the Church Manual: “The prayers in Christian Science churches shall be offered for the congregations collectively and exclusively” (p. 42). This deeper and more expansive concept of how each aspect of the church service provides an avenue for spiritual healing through our collective and exclusive prayers, brought about this instantaneous cycling healing. I am humbly grateful to be part of this global family of church healers!
This piece has been adapted from an article posted on the “Church Alive” website of The First Church of Christ, Scientist: http://members.christianscience.com/church-alive
