Editorial February 17, 1934 Issue

Ministering to Spiritual Needs

Violet Ker Seymer

In his parable of the sheep and the goats Jesus represents the King as saying, "I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me." Broadly speaking, this saying of the Master represents a call to bring the truth of spiritual being to those yearning for release from the denudation and discords of materiality.

And because of this, Christian Scientists, in all their efforts to bless mankind, should intuitively feed and foster even the faintest desire for spirituality, and tenderly lead this desire into the recognition of man's blessed spiritual selfhood as God's image. This highest ministry involves unselfed motives, loving patience, courage, insight, and utter reliance on divine guidance in our use, according to the need, of the rod and the staff. These conditions of ministering being fulfilled, the kingdom of heaven will appear to those who, at first sight, may have expected from Christian Science nothing more than physical healing or release from pressing anxieties. It holds this for them, and far more besides.

The ministry of Christian Science, like that of Jesus, is wholly spiritual in intent. Its primal purpose is to purge out materiality and to quicken spirituality; and while it never brushes aside or ignores human needs, this spiritual ministry is far above humanly philanthropic motives and methods. Therefore the Christian Scientist will be on guard lest he find himself impetuously rushing hither and thither in mere kind-heartedness, serving only the lesser needs of mankind and unintentionally centering gratitude on himself. True ministry is designed to lead the released heart to praise God in newborn purity and peace.

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