Article April 6, 1918 Issue

The Reading Rooms

L. A. IRELAND

Remembering the purpose of The Christian Science Journal we cannot regard too highly the instructions it contains relative to the reading rooms. In these instructions we read: "A reading room notice, giving the address and the hours when the rooms are regularly open to the public, is a necessary part of every church advertisement." Surely in view of the importance of the reading rooms no opportunity to inform the public regarding them should be lost. At every service we find the stranger within our gates, and perhaps some who are specially waiting to be informed as to the location of the reading rooms and the hours during which they are open.

Some years ago a young man, who has since become a student of Christian Science, found himself struggling in the wilderness of mortal mind. He was sick and discouraged, his business was in a precarious condition, and there seemed to be no way out of his unhappy state. One day, when everything appeared unusually gloomy without and within, he was walking along the main street of a large western city when something suddenly awoke in him a desire to visit the Christian Science reading room. That something was an angel, for on page 581 of Science and Health angels are defined as "God's thoughts passing to man; spiritual intuitions, pure and perfect." This spiritual intuition had been entertained unawares during the reading of the notices at a Christian Science Sunday service some days previously. At that service it had been announced that the reading rooms were in a certain building, and were open daily. This was all that the young man recalled, and it was all that was necessary. The rooms were less than a block away, and it did not take him long to find his way there.

Here was indeed a table in the wilderness. The kindly lady in charge of the rooms welcomed the stranger, and her very manner seemed to lift a load from his shoulders. In response to his inquiry as to whom he could go to for help, the young man was given a list of practitioners. There was momentary rebellion at being given a list instead of personal advice as to whom to see, but divine Love was leading a child out of the wilderness, and a few moments later the first healing this young man had experienced in Christian Science was well under way.

Send a comment to the editors

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit

The Reading Rooms

We'd love to hear from you!

Sign up for unlimited access