Editorial June 20, 1908 Issue

"FACE TO FACE"

Annie M. Knott

As the opening hymn was being sung at our Communion service in The Mother Church, on Sunday last, the appropriateness and deep significance of the first line, "Here, O my Lord, I'd see Thee face to face," must have appealed to many who were present, and it almost seemed as if "a rushing mighty wind" from heaven came in response, as on the day of Pentecost. Then the words of the hymn recalled Jacob's wrestling with the angel, when he said, at the close of the struggle, "I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved."

Doubtless there were many present who recalled their experiences in other days, when material symbols were believed to be an essential part of a communion service, and the suffering and crucifixion of Christ Jesus was the dominant thought. No Christian Scientist, however, needs to be told why material symbols are not used in our Church, which seeks to worship God, Spirit, "in spirit and in truth," for the great Teacher's own words point the way unmistakably. He says, "As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me." As Jesus lived by the Father,—partook of the divine Life,—so must we partake of Christ, Truth, that we, too, may live; and that in no uncertain sense, but in the sure recognition of eternal Life.

There were many in The Mother Church last Sunday who, like Jacob, had wrestled through long hours of material darkness, wrestled with disease, fear, and belief in the power of evil, until the day dawned for them in Christian Science; and because they then had a glimpse of God "face to face," their lives, which had been doomed according to material law, were preserved. What need, then, of material bread and wine on the part of one who has known the healing, quickening touch of the divine Life? George McDonald says, "The sight of the eye is sometimes an intrusion between the heart and its love." To spiritual sense material things are always intruders, and when we would draw near to the divine presence we must always take off our shoes,—remove the veil of mortal belief,—that we may see the infinite Father, divine Mind, face to face, and reflect the glory of Truth and Love.

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