Article February 7, 1953 Issue

USHERING AS A SPIRITUAL ACTIVITY

NOEL D. BRYAN-JONES

Those who are appointed to usher in a branch Church of Christ, Scientist, have an important responsibility. They in a sense link the service and the congregation. Upon them devolves the joyous task of being hosts and hostesses in behalf of their church. This being so, the metaphysical approach to, or preparation for, this work is as important in its degree as is that of the Readers, organist, or soloist, and upon it depend the excellence and harmony of the ushering at each service.

Ushering is not primarily a matter of standing in a church edifice and dealing with people, although the spiritual activity of ushership may be expressed by humanity in this way. Ushering, then, is a conscious sense of true being, a specific manifestation of Truth and Love included in that infinitely beautiful structure which Mary Baker Eddy has designated the only true Church. On page 583 of the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," our Leader defines "Church," in part, as, "The structure of Truth and Love; whatever rests upon and proceeds from divine Principle."

When an usher is fully aware of the truly spiritual nature of his office, of what ushering represents —an activity in "the structure of Truth and Love"—he is proportionably unconscious of the physical actions which necessarily accompany his work. The poised stillness; the quiet, unobtrusive movement when necessary; the gracious gesture; the loving smile—all have their origin in a clear spiritual consciousness of hospitality, in welcoming what truly constitutes God's image and likeness.

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