Article October 31, 1925 Issue

"Stretch forth thy hand"

MABEL REED HYZER

When Jesus did his healing work, he very often demanded significant activity on the part of his patient. To the ten lepers he said, "Go shew yourselves unto the priests;" and we are told that "as they went, they were cleansed." To the impotent man beside the pool of Bethesda he said, "Rise, take up thy bed, and walk;" and we find that "immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked." To the one with the withered hand he said, "Stretch forth thy hand." And when the man had obeyed, "his hand was restored whole as the other."

As Christian Scientists, are we not all striving to gain our healing from some phase of the belief of life and intelligence in matter, and thus to progress to a higher understanding of God? And to the extent that we need healing, are we not patients from whom some activity may rightly be demanded? Do we sometimes wonder why we have not progressed more rapidly in our understanding and demonstration of spiritual harmony? Perhaps it would be helpful if we would apply to ourselves Jesus' command to his patient to stretch forth his hand, and find through our own right activity the healing of sickness and sorrow and false belief made manifest. It was when Jesus' patients were obedient to such requests as he made that they received their healing; and it is the daily experience of Christian Scientists that obedience to the teachings of the Bible, and to such interpretation of its commands as may be found in Mrs. Eddy's writings, including the Manual of The Mother Church, invariably confers healing.

Section 7 of Article XXX of the Manual sets forth one very definite recommendation to each of us to stretch forth the hand. One sentence of this By-law reads, "I recommend that each member of this Church shall strive to demonstrate by his or her practice, that Christian Science heals the sick quickly and wholly, thus proving this Science to be all that we claim for it." There is nothing in the article to indicate that any member of The Mother Church shall be excused from the healing work; nor does it say that the healing work shall be confined to one's own problems. Those who have actively engaged in the healing work in Christian Science often tell of experiences in which they themselves were healed while helping others; and perhaps if our own problems are not yielding to ready solutions, it is because we have overlooked our opportunities and obligations to heal others as indicated in the article quoted from above.

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