Editorial November 2, 1963 Issue

The Close of the Sunday Service

Ralph E. Wagers

The close of each Sunday service in Churches of Christ, Scientist, is the climax of an inspiring and healing Lesson-Sermon. The two or three minutes in which members of the congregation remain standing while "the scientific statement of being" from Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy and the correlative Scripture from I John 3:1–3 are read provide a splendid opportunity to contemplate brief statements of spiritual fact which underlie the teachings of Christian Science.

These statements lift thought to the heights of spiritual unfoldment and seal the sermon with a summation of Truth that enlightens and vitalizes thought. The better we understand these statements, the more intelligently we shall listen to the reading of them and identify ourselves with the truths contained therein. This will enable the entire service to contribute to our spiritual growth and well-being and encourage us to carry this true identification of ourselves into all the affairs of the coming week.

In listening to the same closing statements each week, there might be a tendency to allow the procedure to become a ceremony. Mere ceremonial observances can be detrimental to inspiration; and without inspiration the spiritual animus is lacking which stirs human thought to grasp life-giving spiritual ideas and make them our own.

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