What can be said of coldness in the church, lack of caring, lack of spiritual affection?
Do we rejoice spontaneously over the warmth and love we find in our church body? Or do we have cause for sadness?
Our Leader, Mrs. Eddy, was outspoken on this subject after addressing a communion service in The Mother Church in 1896. With compassionate realism she wrote to friends, "I find the general atmosphere of my church as cold and still as the marble floors." And she commented in another note: "My students are doing a great, good work and the meeting and the way it was conducted rejoices my heart. But O I did feel a coldness a lack of inspiration all through the dear hearts (not for me, Oh no, they are loyal to the highest degree) but it was a stillness a lack of spiritual energy and zeal I felt." Quoted in Robert Peel, Mary Baker Eddy: The Years of Authority (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1977), p. 97
Throughout her years of founding her Cause, how patiently and fervently Mrs. Eddy stressed the vital necessity of Christian warmth and affection in the church—as well as in the heart of the individual worker! She emphasized that Christly love is indispensable to healing. As she writes in Science and Health: "The vital part, the heart and soul of Christian Science, is Love. Without this, the letter is but the dead body of Science,— pulseless, cold, inanimate." Science and Health, p. 113
Such words thunder Christ Jesus' teachings. In the Sermon on the Mount we find admonitions not to return evil for evil but to turn the other cheek, not to try to remove the mote from our brother's eye without casting the beam out of our own eye, not to come to the altar with a gift until we're reconciled with our brother. Our Way-shower counsels us to love our enemies and bless them that curse us. See Matt., chaps. 5-7
This spiritual standard for all human relationships reverberates throughout the New Testament. In I John alone we find: "He that hateth his brother is in darkness"; "He that loveth not his brother abideth in death"; "He that loveth not knoweth not God"; "If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us"; "He that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him." I John 2:11; 3:14; 4:8, 12, 16
Metaphysically speaking, the true Church is a divine idea. It is made manifest to humanity, in a degree, not only as a necessary institution but also as the Christlike spirit—the inspired and spiritualized state of thinking—that animates the institution and is in fact the essence and substance of it. Even on the human level, however, we don't find our church just in buildings or organizational structure, but in the Christlike consciousness expressed and shared by the members. What counts is the healing elements of Love that prevail!
If we seek renewal in our church, then let there be a renewal of spiritual love.
If we want revival in our church, let there be a revival of invigorating Christian affection.
If we yearn for a feeling of freshness in our church, let there be an influx of kindliness and charity.
If we desire regenerated activity in our church, let there be increasing consideration for others and generosity of heart.
If we want a resurgence of healing power, let there be less destructive criticism and more gratitude and gentleness. More warmth of spirituality. Love is the source of all vitality. It sweeps away discord. Mrs. Eddy writes, "The way to extract error from mortal mind is to pour in truth through flood-tides of Love." Science and Health, p. 201 Those "flood-tides" can sweep away the debilitating elements of mortal will, egotism, hurt, animosity, ill feeling, suspicion, undermining—and nothing else can.
Our need is to translate love as theory into love in action. Only by doing this can we lift our sense of organization from the ordinary human level, so filled with the collision of mortal traits, toward demonstration of Christ-impelled and spiritually governed relationships.
How can we do it?
Love means not just sporadic healing in our church, but spiritual love permeating the consciousness, aims, and atmosphere of the church so fully that the spirit of Christ-healing prevails in every service and every activity, as well as in the lives of individual members.
Love means honesty—not twisting facts to suit our purposes or saying one thing when we think the opposite. It would preclude thinking evil of another while outwardly professing good will.
Love means separating erroneous traits from our concept of the other fellow—through the method Science gives for correcting our own concept of God and man—then repudiating the error as nothing (unreal in God's all-presence) and maintaining our Christlike love for the one concerned. Love certainly means not spreading destructive criticism of fellow members (or others) .
Love means patience and forbearance with one another—not reacting hotly. Forgiveness too.
If love is to prevail, cliquishness and attention to social status must give way to open-hearted welcome and a feeling of brotherhood with those of other social, economic, and ethnic backgrounds.
One can meet such a requirement only by seeing with spiritual sense the spark of genuine Christliness in others.
Love means appreciating our fellow members and expressing this appreciation. A little caring, a little encouragement sincerely expressed, are like the widow's oil in the story of Elisha—these multiply without stint and enrich us all. See II Kings 4:1-7
Love is the opposite of indifference toward our neighbor in trouble. A church that loves is a caring church.
Love means not letting detailed rules shut out magnanimity. The Christlike healing consciousness must not be chilled by formalism or ritual.
Translated into organizational relationships, Christian love must include those daily reflected graces of Spirit that warm the heart of both giver and receiver: courtesy, sensitivity to others, thoughtfulness, kindness.
To be specific, this would include making sure to tell committee members information they need to know for their work. It would include not taking arbitrary or secret decisions on matters that should be referred to the membership as the sovereign body under the governing rules. Courtesy would also preclude a committee chairman or other member from deciding issues or taking action without consulting the committee itself; also, from countermanding an instruction given by another, even if one has the authority to do so, without telling the one who gave it.
Good communication is vital to good organization. And good communication springs from love.
Lacking such elements of brotherly consideration, an organization may tend to be harsh and restrictive. But learning the spiritual love that is kindly and considerate, true followers of the Science of Christ are pioneering a purified concept of organization that advances Christ's aims and blesses all—through its spirit even more than through its mechanisms.
Love calls for the moral courage to state one's position humbly and clearly, even though others may disagree and vote one down. It prompts us to abide willingly by legitimate decisions, trusting God to correct anything needing correction, even our own attitude, and to govern the church. Surely it means not holding grudges or letting them prompt our actions. It means wholeheartedly supporting what our branch church has decided by democratic vote to do.
In deciding church actions, love requires putting prayer first, before the administrative issues. Prayer means listening for Love's guidance, not just praying for one's own view to prevail. Otherwise, the dreary cycle of clashing opinions, mortal willfulness, and factionalism may gain momentum.
No material question relating to a physical building, for example, is more important than building trust and good will in the hearts of the members. Why? Because spiritual love is the divine consciousness made manifest; administrative choices are but human options, though subject to divine guidance.
Wouldn't love include turning to the Bible and our Leader's writings, not to find justification for one's own partisan view, but in humble listening to let Truth lead—with a readiness to change one's human opinion if necessary?
There's nothing wrong with organization per se, but a great deal that's right and necessary about it. When it's governed by spiritual motives and methods, it serves God's purpose, as our Leader teaches. When difficulties arise, what's at fault is the as yet undestroyed traits of mortal mind. But these can be controlled and purged through the Science of Truth and Love. As we let divine Love govern our own thoughts and actions in practical ways, what first appears as a trickle of love-filled aspirations can become a vigorous stream of spiritual momentum in church affairs.
Renewal in the church begins with ourselves —and with the irresistible power of God's ineffable love brought to light in demonstration.
This editorial first appeared in The Christian Science Journal of December 1981.
