Article December 29, 1917 Issue

How We Spent Christmas Day

MARIAN E. MARTIN

In the prophecy of Isaiah we read: "Before they call, I will answer;" and again, "For ye shall not go out with haste, nor go by flight: for the Lord will go before you; and the God of Israel will be your rereward." Christmas day is our Thanksgiving day in the Christian Science churches of Australia, and to get a clearer understanding for the Thanksgiving service the writer had spent a good deal of time in the study of Mrs. Eddy's writings, especially the articles regarding Christmas in "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany."

Arrangements had been made to go to the mountains with some friends after the meeting for a quiet study of Christian Science; but when everything was packed an urgent message came from a son asking for treatment for his mother, whose family had also arranged to spend Christmas in the country. The question which then had to be considered was whether to carry out the first intention, for which the special study had been made, or to go to the sufferer, who was several miles out of town. A Thanksgiving meeting had not been missed for eight years; yet, remembering that the call came from one who knew very little of Christian Science, it was decided to forgo the service and to visit the family.

Meanwhile the son had thought he ought to make sure of what his mother really wanted, and had therefore called in a doctor, who diagnosed the complaint as peritonitis and appendicitis. The doctor would not handle the case and ordered the patient sent to the hospital for an operation, adding, "If it is not too late." The son then started off to the telephone to report what the doctor had said, and was met on the road by the Christian Scientist whom he was seeking. This surely was the fulfillment of the promise, "Before they call, I will answer."

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