Article January 11, 1936 Issue

Sacrament

WILLIAM H. M. ADAMS

As we approach the semiannual communion service in the Christian Science branch churches, we may well consider the deep meaning of sacrament, and be grateful for that higher understanding of Truth which is received through the study of Christian Science, and which enables us to drop the material symbols so long associated with this observance.

A Christian Scientist recalled his childhood experience of attending, with his parents, the communion service. He also recalled how his parents, gaining in understanding, later joined the Christian Science church, and were willing thereafter to leave the material emblems for the spiritual communion. Many others, turning to Christian Science, as did those devout church members, have interpreted a line from the much-loved hymn by Horatius Bonar, "And as we rise, the symbols disappear," perhaps in a larger sense than the author intended. As we rise into the realm of holy communion with God, outward memorials are left behind.

In so-called orthodox churches it is considered very essential that those who are to partake of the material emblems of the sacrament should do so only after careful preparation. While Christian Scientists do not use bread and wine in a communion service, they may well consider the value of a proper preparation of thought for entering into the true spirit of the occasion known as the communion service. What better preparation can the Scientist make than by the daily study, during the preceding week, of the Lesson-Sermon in the Christian Science Quarterly on "Sacrament," made up as it is of selections from our textbooks, the Bible and "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy, which together get at the very heart of the subject? And helpful to the same end will be attendance upon, and prayerful participation in, the Wednesday evening meeting, where gratitude is abundantly poured forth for the Christ, Truth, proved to be practically helpful through the healing ministry of Christian Science.

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