Article July 12, 1919 Issue

The following remark was once made to a student of...

The Christian Science Monitor

The following remark was once made to a student of Christian Science by a clergyman whose work brought him into touch with the men working on the vast sheep-rearing farms of one of the British dominions: "Why is it that I can do what I like with the men when they come to church on Sundays, but during the week they abandon themselves again regularly to the bad habits so prevalent among that class of men working under those conditions?"

To many people, going to church is synonymous with doing something from a sense of duty, or often even with being thoroughly bored. Nevertheless, if questioned, they would doubtless admit that the purpose of going to church is to pray to or worship God. Is it, however, necessary to wait until we enter a church in order to worship or pray to God? Mrs. Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, has given the definition of church in the Glossary of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 583), a definition which contains a wealth of meaning and leaves no room for the parochial concept of the word, still so frequently met with. There we read: "Church. The structure of Truth and Love; whatever rests upon and proceeds from divine Principle. The Church is that institution, which affords proof of its utility and is found elevating the race, rousing the dormant understanding from material beliefs to the apprehension of spiritual ideas and the demonstration of divine Science, thereby casting out devils, or error, and healing the sick."

From this it is clear that the outward and visible form of going to church by no means represents all that that phrase, as understood in Christian Science, stands for. Now religion to be of any use must be available at all times and in all circumstances. Did not Jesus the Christ prove this? Did he not apply Christianity to all the experiences of daily life? Did he not feed the hungry, find the money for the tax, still the tempest, as well as heal the sick and raise the dead? This point is very forcibly brought out in the second paragraph of the definition referred to above. "The Church," Mrs. Eddy says, "is that institution, which affords proof of its utility and is found elevating the race, rousing the dormant understanding from material beliefs to the apprehension of spiritual ideas." A careful analysis of this statement implies that something more is necessary than the mere attendance at a church service, rather does it show that just in so far as we are overcoming the belief in the reality, power, or attraction of evil, are we demonstrating the true meaning of church. We are, that is, proving the presence, power, and infinite availability of God, divine Mind. It is certainly the duty as well as the privilege of all men to go to church, but it must not be forgotten, if we are really endeavoring to apply the teaching of Jesus the Christ, that we can be there while following our daily routine, be it serving in the Army or Navy, in the office or the air force, even though impossible to be in the material structure generally known as a church.

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