Church Services

I have now finished reading the book.  It surely is a very good overview for students who have not read all the other biographies.  Of course, there is some stuff which has not been printed before.  For instance, I liked the expanded version of Edward and Caroline Bates involvement in the building of The Mother Church in 1894.  And, if one were in Boston one could look up further reading about them.  The book is good in that respect, giving pointers for more personal delving into the archives.

There is also more detail about Mrs. Eddy’s son George and his children – with pictures.

I didn’t look up all the Source Notes as I read the book, but did skim through them after I finished the text.  A couple of notes took my eye: page 248 (p.111) and 258 (p.147).

The note on page 248 speaks about the evolution of the Wednesday Evening Meetings and quotes from an article “Broader Bounds” http://sentinel.christianscience.com/issues/2006/8/108-32/broader-bounds (Christian Science Sentinel August 7, 2006) by Judy Huenneke, researcher at The Mary Baker Eddy Library.

The article quoted in the page 253 note is, I think, worth copying here, for the quote from Mrs. Eddy about what was possible to achieve at our church services –

Healing the Multitudes

FLORENCE CLERIHEW BOYD
From the July 1, 1916 issue of the Christian Science Sentinel

At a business meeting in one of the branch churches the question of properly seating people at the services was earnestly discussed, and it was suggested by some that the church-members occupy front seats, so that late comers might be easily seated. One of the members, in giving prayerful thought to the subject at home, came to the conclusion that for the members to occupy any seats to the exclusion of others would not be conducive to harmony. Should all the members be seated in front, the stranger would be apt to go away unwelcomed. This led to the thought that the chief duty at the church services is to the stranger within our gates. Each member has his own part and place in the service, if the hungry and thirsty are not to go away as needy as they came. If each member would know that he was ready and glad to sit where he could best do his God-given work, where he could best supply the need that it was his business to supply, there would be no confusion, no selfish preempting of comfortable seats, but each one would be in the right place and comfort and order abound for all.

In demonstration of this thought the member went to church knowing that God governed and directed, and that no mortal thought could prevent His guidance from being manifested. She found herself seated beside two visitors who had never before attended a Christian Science service and who were eager to know where the text-book, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy, might be procured. In the succeeding weeks she found that every time she sought God's guidance and went to church with the thought of giving, she found herself near some one who needed help.

Further consideration led to the realization that it is our business as church-members to go to church not so much to get as to give. We should go not only expecting to be fed, but understanding how best to help those who have never known the healing power of Truth. We should take with us a clear consciousness of the presence and power of divine Love, deep gratitude for blessings received, unselfed purpose, each "seeking his own in another's good," as our Leader says (Science and Health, p. 518). Going with such intent, could any return unblessed?

Mrs. Eddy once said to a student that she longed for the day to come when no one could enter a Christian Science church, no matter how sick or how sorrowing that one might be, without being healed, and that this day can come only when every member of the church studies and demonstrates the truth contained in the Lesson-Sermon, and takes with him to the service the consciousness thus prepared. Were every member to take with him the unselfed love which our Leader called for, then it would be said of our churches as it was of Jesus' ministry: "And his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatic, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them."

Only through unselfed love can our Leader's hope be realized. When divine Love fills our churches to the exclusion of self, the multitudes will throng them as they thronged Jesus, and they will be healed of their sorrows and their sufferings. The fulfillment of this vision rests with us as adherents to and exponents of her teachings.

 

Oh yes!  The other comment I make is that it seems to me students came to Mrs. Eddy study in Class in order learn how to heal, and to make a living from the practice.  Is that different to-day?