Article April 13, 1957 Issue

HEALING AND THE WEDNESDAY TESTIMONY MEETING

WILLIAM C. BREEN

The services and meetings of a Church of Christ, Scientist, were established by divine inspiration. As we carry on these activities through inspiration, we shall fulfill the purpose which was designated for each one. The Bible and "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy were ordained as the Christian Science pastor. Consequently, all who attend our services on Sunday or Thanksgiving Day hear "a sermon undivorced from truth, uncontaminated and unfettered by human hypotheses, and divinely authorized," as the Explanatory Note in the Christian Science Quarterly says. At the Wednesday testimony meetings the congregation hears a message from the same pastor.

In our recognition of the divine authority of these two textbooks, the Bible and Science and Health, we are lifted above the feeling of attending an ordinary meeting to the realization that we are bringing ourselves into the very presence of God's Word. We must understand that at our church services, as in days of old, the place whereon we stand is truly holy ground. In this uplifted state of thought we are prepared to receive the Christ, Truth, and at the same time to close the door on the sense of material personality in God and in man. If we are alert, we go to our church services neither to extol nor to criticize personality, but to praise God and to bear witness to Him as His reflection.

It should be noted that in our Wednesday meetings our contribution is not a financial one. Our Leader has wisely provided that no collection is to be taken at these meetings. Our offering is to be one of gratitude. At each meeting every one of us is privileged to come prepared to contribute. While there may not be time at any one meeting for all of us to stand on our feet and testify, the fact that we have come prepared to do so will fill our hymns and our prayers for the church with a higher, spiritual sense. Spiritual preparation enables us to be more attentive listeners to the readings from the desk and to our neighbors' testimonies. Attentive listening is an important contribution.

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