Editorial March 4, 1996 Issue

In the presence of God

Mark Swinney

The masthead of this magazine says Christian Science Sentinel. If those words, Christian Science, aren't familiar to you, it may only be because you've never had occasion to visit a Christian Science church or Reading Room, hear a Christian Science lecture, or even meet someone who is a Christian Scientist. Christian Science, however, isn't primarily about church activities or about organization, as important as these things are.

Christian Science is the law of God and reveals His allness, His ever-presence. The presence and allness of God, when understood, can mean more than anything else. Knowing the all-presence of God, the Psalmist of the Old Testament asked, "Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?" (Ps. 139:7). Spirit is a Biblical term for God. Divine Spirit, God, is not a bodily presence; Spirit is not finite, not bound by matter or time in any way. Yet, God is present—always. Spirit supersedes mortality and is timeless, or eternal—and is infinite good. Realizing and accepting the presence of God's goodness is what makes us feel the tremendous meaning of the allness of God, divine Spirit.

"The fruit of the Spirit," the Bible instructs, "is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance" (Gal. 5:22, 23). You begin to prove the presence of limitless good—of Spirit—and your genuine, spiritual nature, inseparable from good, by expressing "the fruit of the Spirit." This spirituality is not just some function of the human mind, not just the exercise of human goodness; it is the actual reflection of God. Man—spiritual man—is God's creation. God's conception, spiritual man, expresses divine Spirit. Expressing the spiritual qualities that are naturally a part of you as God's creation accomplishes what nothing else can. It enables you to demonstrate more reality, and consistently, the power of divine law.

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