Article December 8, 1997 Issue

Two Christmases?

Henry G. Rutledge, Jr.

"No way! One Christmas is enough," I thought as I contemplated attending a second family gathering. I was trying not to become depressed over too much gift giving. Then I reread a little volume of selected statements by Mary Baker Eddy entitled What Christmas Means to Me. Afterward, I felt so inspired that I didn't care how many Christmas events I had to attend! Every one would have its own special kindness and love. And that proved true; I enjoyed both Christmas events as I had never enjoyed them before.

But then I began thinking, "Yes, in one sense there are two Christmases." One recognizes the birth of Jesus. The second acknowledges the coming of Christian Science in the late nineteenth century. Christian Science was revealed to Mary Baker Eddy's receptive thought in 1866. It sets forth the method of healing Christ Jesus practiced and is the Comforter he promised (see John 16:1–15). In an article entitled "Christmas, 1900" Mrs. Eddy wrote, "To-day the watchful shepherd shouts his welcome over the new cradle of an old truth" (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 257). This "new cradle" holds the second advent, or second coming, of the "old truth" of spiritual healing as taught by the Master, Jesus Christ.

One day I purchased a small Bible at a local Christian bookstore. When the clerk put the book in a bag with the receipt, she said, "Won't it be wonderful when our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ comes back someday?" I simply said, "Yes," but I thought to myself that that event occurred over one hundred years ago with the discovery of Christian Science.

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Article

In next week's SENTINEL