Article September 13, 1947 Issue

THOSE HIGHLY IMPORTANT TESTIMONIES

PAUL B. GRUSCHOW

Have you ever gone to a Wednesday evening meeting in a Christian Science church with a few crumbs of gratitude and shared them with the entire congregation? Wasn't it a satisfaction to know that you had fulfilled a highly important duty, and that you had banished those whispering lies which talked of inability, academic insufficiency, inferiority, and fear of facing your brother man?

How important is a testimony? Who can really say just when the word spoken through inspiration of God will stop echoing down the corridors of time and memory? Our beloved Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, has devoted an entire section in the Manual of The Mother Church (Art. VIII, Sect. 24) to this healing activity. She who chose her words so carefully was not satisfied to term this mode of expression merely "important," but tells us that "testimony in regard to the healing of the sick is highly important." Defining the altitude and scope of this work, she says in the next sentence, "More than a mere rehearsal of blessings, it scales the pinnacle of praise and illustrates the demonstration of Christ, 'who healeth all thy diseases' (Psalm 103: 3)." Testimony meetings give us the opportunity to bear witness to the healing Christ. Several pages of this very issue are devoted to testimonies written by people in different walks of life, from many parts of the world, and from various age groups. The Christian Science Journal also has a goodly percentage of space devoted to testimonies.

Mrs. Eddy outlines on page 122 of the Church Manual the order of service for testimony meetings. It expressly provides a place for "experiences, testimonies, and remarks on Christian Science." Usually the period given to this activity is about half the time of the meeting. In other words, half the time is devoted to the reading of citations from the Bible, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy, prayer, and hymns. These set forth the theology of Christian Science. The other half of the meeting is turned over to the congregation for brief illustrations of how this theology has been used in daily living and how it has healed sin, sickness, discomfort, limitation, lack, sorrow, and so forth.

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