Article July 15, 1933 Issue

The Attraction of Love

BLANCHE MURIEL FUNNELL

On page 247 of "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany" Mrs. Eddy has given us the secret which, as it is faithfully practiced, will make us "fishers of men." She says, "It is not a stern but a loving look which brings forth mankind to receive your bestowal,—not so much eloquence as tender persuasion that takes away their fear, for it is Love alone that feeds them." A helpful thought is found in another rendering of the words, "Charity suffereth long, and is kind," namely, "Love patiently persists, is tender."

How we long to bring our friends and associates to the understanding of divine Love, and pray that our church services may proclaim Truth winningly and healingly to the sufferer! Some of us remember well our first attendance at a Christian Science service. Perhaps we arrived in an antagonistic state of thought, prepared to criticize, but instead we found ourselves drinking in the beauty and dignity of the new-old truth there set forth. Wherein lay the attraction that, overcoming stubborn obstacles, made us hunger for each Sunday and Wednesday service? We remember well the love with which we were met by ushers in the vestibule, the sympathetic interest in the stranger; the hearty singing of the hymns, with now and then a familiar tune making our hearts responsive and warm; the eager, joyous testimonies, irrefutably genuine and spontaneous, following speedily one upon another; and, lastly, the angel-thoughts that overshadowed us on our homeward way; the bliss with which our thought leaped rapturously to the certain knowledge that the kingdom of heaven lies indeed within our awakened spiritual thinking, our sins forgiven—destroyed—and our ills healed.

The yearning to bring the truth to others must always be felt by the true evangelist, for it partakes of the spirit of the Christ. How Jesus yearned for his friends to share his bliss in communion with the Father, as shown in his prayer: "That they may be one, even as we are one.... And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them"! Undoubtedly, it was this name or nature of Love that drew us, in spite of our unwillingness, to the Christian Science services, giving us an overwhelming desire to be more loving, and to consecrate our daily life more practically to God, whom we professed to serve.

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