Article October 22, 1984 Issue

Church membership—what are you waiting for?

JUDITH ANN HARDY

For three years I had been warming the pew with regularity, listening intently and striving to live as I'd been taught in the Christian Science Sunday School. How I appreciated all the love that dear branch Church of Christ, Scientist, was showing our family! No wonder a sincere desire to serve it kept welling up inside me. Meanwhile, the membership application I'd had for two years still sat on my desk gathering dust. (I had fulfilled its requirements, too, including being free from the use of tobacco, drugs, and alcohol. I studied Christian Science daily and relied on God for healing.) What was I waiting for anyway?

Just when the desire for commitment begins to blossom, excuses have a way of flooding in from all sides, don't they? Ones like "But what do I have to offer?" or "But I don't have the time" or "I'll get around to it someday (when I really need it)." For me it was the old "but what if" syndrome.

Because membership in The Mother Church The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts . and a branch church are important steps, they do deserve honest soul-searching and thoughtful prayer. But when our desire to serve the Cause of Christian Science is genuine and equal to our loving, studying, and living of it, then isn't it time to claim our readiness too?

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