Editorial June 22, 1974 Issue

Association Meetings: Source of Strength

Naomi Price

It is not at all unusual for one who has had class instruction from an authorized teacher of Christian Science to travel several thousand miles every year to attend the one-day meetings of the association of the pupils of his teacher. Christian Scientists consider class teaching so important that if they feel divinely led to take it with a particular teacher, even if it entails crossing an ocean, they will often do so, knowing that they will wish to attend every annual association meeting thereafter, often at considerable cost in time and money.

One Englishman, for instance, has made the round trip over the Atlantic thirty-six times for this very purpose. Since taking class instruction he has allowed nothing but a wartime travel ban to prevent him being in his place. Like others, he considers the experience well worthwhile. "And," he says, "it gets easier each year."

These meetings were instituted by Mrs. Eddy—as was Christian Science class teaching itself. She writes in Retrospection and Introspection, "Teachers of Christian Science will find it advisable to band together their students into associations...."^{Ret., p. 85;} Experience shows that alert students of Christian Science likewise find it advisable for their own spiritual progress and for the benefit of their churches and the world to make every effort to be present at all the annual meetings of the association of the pupils of their teachers. They find these meetings sources of strength and encouragement; occasions for the development of understanding that will lead them to heal more effectively; deeply worthwhile events beautified by the joy of knowing that their own visions of Truth and spiritual triumphs do much to inspire fellow association members and awaken them to the immense possibilities of Christian Science practice.