Editorial May 18, 1992 Issue

Praiseworthy work, and workers

Russ Gerber

We all have wish lists. Close to the top of mine is a wish to give special recognition to the unselfish labor of people throughout the world who have devoted their lives to Christian healing.

The incomparable work of spiritual healing through prayer, as taught in Christian Science, is done without fanfare and in quiet solitude. One of the greatest Christian healers of modern time, Mary Baker Eddy, drew from her own experience when she wrote, "The silent intercession and unvoiced imploring is an honest and potent prayer to heal and save" (No and Yes). The world may see and feel the results of this prayerful healing and saving work, but few are aware that it goes on through the tireless, unselfish devotion of men, women, and children everywhere. These people are doers. Christ Jesus made an important distinction between doers of God's Word and hearers only, the difference being that doers consistently use what they hear and, as Jesus characterized it, they "bring forth fruit with patience."

It's touching to read about one of these doers. It was the brief experience of William P. McKenzie, a very devoted worker in the early days of the Church of Christ, Scientist. Some years after his passing, his wife Daisette wrote how she and her husband had just begun a vocation in New Hampshire when he received a telegram from Boston, requesting him to attend to some important business there. She wrote, "In order to get the very first train, Mr. McKenzie rose at four o'clock in the morning and walked three miles, on the possibility of flagging a train which would get him into Boston when the office opened." It was then that he learned that The Christian Science Monitor was to be started, and he became instrumental in its establishment (quoted in Commitment to Freedom by Erwin D. Canham).

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