Article April 25, 1925 Issue

Every Hour's Demand

LUCIA CRISOLA WARREN

In the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (pp. 261, 262), our beloved Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, has written, "Good demands of man every hour, in which to work out the problem of being." When first this declaration dawned upon one individual's thought it seemed startling. It appeared so imperative, so all-inclusive, so exacting. What, she thought, of the many seeming material demands upon our time which will not let us serve each hour? What of the pleasure or recreation we feel to be our need and right? These were puzzling questions. She realized how far short she fell of the demand to give to God, good, every hour of her existence. She asked herself, Could I consider that even one hour is daily spent in fulfilling this demand? Human sense urged the ever pressing duties, the consequent lack of time for study and contemplation of a religious nature; but the light began to dawn on the troubled thought. The old notions of practicing religion began to give way to the new viewpoint which Christian Science brings.

It then began to be seen that the demand of good is not that one spend every hour on bended knee petitioning the heavenly Father to do something; nor that one use hours visiting the sick to talk in mournful sympathy with them of their ills; nor that one press upon the prisoner in his cell attentions which do not change thought to a better basis; neither is it that one retire from the world and live a life of asceticism. Indeed, the world has seen all too long the failure of these applications of so-called religion to heal its distresses. Christian Science teaches that one fulfills the demands of good by bringing religion into his daily affairs, into world affairs, and into humanity's problems.

So, in this new view of serving good, we do not necessarily give up our friendships; we do not give up our joy and happiness. The child need not renounce his innocent pleasures, the adult his normal recreation, his enjoyment of nature, art, music, and beauty. Instead, each may enjoy each hour—in whatever occupation or activity—the goodness of God, the love that is the reflection of the divine, the spirituality which displaces materiality, the intelligence which guides and guards. Christ Jesus was a carpenter while he was preparing for his great mission. He was, moreover, a good carpenter until called to devote all his time to preaching the gospel of good tidings and healing the sick and sinning. Even then he retired during certain brief periods for prayer and spiritual refreshment; and even after his resurrection A correction was made in the May 16, 1925 Sentinel: "On page 663 of the Sentinel for April 25, the word "ascension," in the third paragraph, is incorrectly used for "resurrection." he walked with his disciples and partook of bread with them while teaching them and feeding them spiritually. In Christian Science we learn to serve lovingly and quietly in our present callings until God enlarges our borders.