Several years ago, I visited a friend who was restoring her home. As she talked about her different house projects, she explained that while the fireplace was the original, the mantel on the fireplace was not. She planned to take off the false mantel and put on a new mantel, built in the likeness of the original.
While listening to her, I realized I needed to do some dismantling and remodeling of my own—not in my physical house, but in the way I was thinking about things; particularly, in the way I was thinking about church. A thought came to me that my concept of church needed to be dismantled and rebuilt in the likeness of what church really is. I knew I needed to look higher, to view church from a more spiritual standpoint.
I was inspired by this spiritual definition of Church given by Mary Baker Eddy in the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures: “Church. The structure of Truth and Love; whatever rests upon and proceeds from divine Principle.
“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” (p. 583).
I realized I had to stop relying on what I thought church should look like and get a better view of what Church truly is and does.
Rebuilding my mantel
When I prayed to let God show me the true meaning of Church, the idea came to me that I should be getting a better understanding of what grace is, as the Bible talks about God’s grace, mercy, and unfailing love. Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible describes the Greek word for grace as “the divine influence upon the heart, and its reflection in the life.”
While I found that helpful, I felt I needed an even fuller answer, so I sat silently and listened for inspiration from God on the meaning of grace. What came to me was the idea that grace is pure unselfed love, the reflection of divine Love; it’s love just being love, expecting nothing in return and containing nothing unlike Love. I knew from the Bible that as we are all made in God’s image and likeness, we each reflect this infinite and eternal quality of grace.
Mrs. Eddy also says, “What we most need is the prayer of fervent desire for growth in grace, expressed in patience, meekness, love, and good deeds” (Science and Health, p. 4). This helped me realize I needed to better express pure, selfless love. No matter what is said or done, if it is not from divine Love, it is no part of me or any of God’s children. I could take off any self-centered thinking—self-justification, self-will, self-righteousness, self-love, etc.—just like an old mantel facade, in order to put on the God-centered ideas of divine
Love.
These ideas came to me as I put Philippians 4:8 into practice: “Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”
From then on, I consistently asked God to show me how to be the most loving, the most patient, and the humblest I could be. I really worked at getting my own self-will out of the way in order to live out what is loving, true, just, and pure.
Discovering true church
At one point while serving as First Reader for my branch Church of Christ, Scientist, I was struggling with stomach issues. After finishing the readings for a Sunday service, I was thinking about what I did right or wrong—whether the message of the readings came through clearly and so on. I then heard this message that seemed to come directly from God: “This is My church. I’m responsible for it, not you. I am the Worker; you are the works. I am bringing My children to Christian Science, and you are here to serve Me.”
I immediately realized I was holding on to a sense of false responsibility. And just as immediately as I knew that false responsibility could not be a part of me, I let it go. Instantly, I felt completely free, mentally and physically, and the stomach issues left and never came back.
Where at first I had thought that serving church meant being active in the church offices, I was beginning to get a more spiritual view of what serving meant. One Sunday I got to thinking about all that goes into a church service. Not just on the Readers’ part, but with the ushers, soloist, organist, and congregation. I again turned to God, and listened for His definition of service. What came to me was that if I am doing a service, that means I am a servant.
Then the question came, As a servant, who or what am I serving? The only answer to that question is God, which coincides with the First Commandment, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3). I cannot serve counterfeit concepts or the “gods” of personal attachment, false responsibility, human opinion, or the belief of many minds. I serve by reflecting God’s infinite, eternal, immortal qualities of joy, spiritual insight, and spiritual understanding—and by knowing that I have a genuine oneness with divine Mind.
Not long after that revelation, a coworker with whom I discussed Christian Science from time to time told me her finger hurt. The words “Well, maybe we should listen to hear what God is saying about that” came out of my mouth. I noticed she closed her eyes. I then silently prayed to God: I affirmed that ever-present divine Love answers every one of His children. I knew that this friend of mine was God’s beloved daughter, held perfect in God’s hand, and that pain cannot be part of God’s beautiful creation. Shortly after that, I heard a quiet “Thank you, God” from my coworker. She was free, had no more pain, and she and I joyfully went back to work.
As I too thanked God, the thought clearly came to me: “That’s Church!” Church isn’t a building; Church is healing, and each individual expresses the healing that comes from Church. We are a healing service as we live to reflect divine Love.
Practicing church
As I continue to work at discerning true Church, I am learning not to judge by appearances but to discern the underlying Principle governing all being—the rock upon which Church is built: Truth and Love. Church is not “My church” or “Their church.” Church is God’s—and He maintains the whole of it.
