Article September 16, 1933 Issue

Fellowship

CORNELIUS JAMES FITZGERALD

Among the honors conferred in some colleges and universities that of a fellowship is held in very high esteem. Such standing assures the holder of an allowance and maintenance from college funds on certain conditions. Consequently, a fellowship is considered desirable and is attained by only a chosen number of scholars. Not everyone can achieve this honor, which, after all, is not eternal. But there is an everlasting and unlimited fellowship free to all which requires neither academic training, university degree, position, influence, nor social status. In the first epistle of John we read, "Our fellowship is with the Father."

When Jesus taught and demonstrated his understanding of God, on the seashore and mountain side, he made no exceptions to the fellowship he preached and practiced. Humble fishermen, others prominent and learned, men and women of different ranks and conditions, were attracted by his simple but profound utterances. Sin, sickness, extremes of wealth or poverty, excluded none. In fact, many sin-weary and infirm, some to whom wealth had not brought lasting comfort, were released from their bondage to material beliefs and became his faithful followers.

Christian Science, which today is doing similar works, teaches that God is Mind, and that man is the compound idea of Mind; that all true being is the expression of this one divine Mind. Since man individually and collectively, as the expression of Mind, cannot exist apart from the infinite creative source, all of God's ideas must of necessity reflect the qualities of Mind. On an understanding of this fact rests the basis of real fellowship. A dictionary defines "fellowship" in part as "companionship of persons on equal and friendly terms."

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