SITTING IN A CHURCH SERVICE ONE Sunday morning, feeling drowsy and unengaged, I was jolted awake when these questions grabbed my attention: "Which church are you attending? Are you attending the church of dull material routine, or are you worshipping in the church of spiritual inspiration?"

It was not the only time my attention had wandered during a church service, but it was the first time I'd glimpsed church attendance purely in terms of where my thinking rested, as opposed to where my body was propped.

I decided that if I was waiting to be entertained through the material senses, then I was essentially worshipping in what I labeled the "church of matter"—a frame of mind that was asleep to the realities of Spirit. I knew that Christian Science church services are not designed to stimulate material sense. They are intended to engage spiritual sense and lift thought to the heights of Spirit, God, through reason, revelation, and divine inspiration.

I saw it was time to quit daydreaming in the church of material sense and to get mentally active in the Church of Spirit, where spiritual sense, which witnesses to the true understanding of being, informs our perspective. I focused on realizing more clearly the spiritual truths being read in the service. It came alive and was an inspired event. Nothing had changed except my point of view.

When I had wrestled with my lack of interest, I considered ways to change the physical environment in order to improve my experience—for instance, by attending services across town at the megachurch of another denomination. Their multimedia presentations, plentiful music, and thousands of worshippers would surely hold my attention better, the suggestion argued. But I quickly disagreed! I had attended other churches before, and had benefited. But I always came back to the Church of Christ Scientist, because of its pure theology.

To remind myself of what I valued most of all, I listened closer to the Lesson-Sermon that was being read that morning. I felt incredible calm in being told that I was a beloved and cherished child of God and not a sinful descendant of Adam. I rejoiced in hearing that I was spiritual, replete with God's goodness. I sat in awe of the intelligent logic Christian Science uses to explain the omnipresence of Spirit and good, the unreality of evil and matter. I was grateful to hear that Jesus Christ taught that he was not God, but the Son of God.

There were other Biblically based, fundamental truths unique to Christian Science theology that I wouldn't hear preached at a different church. The Lesson-Sermon read on Sunday, and which I studied during the week, took me right to the absolute truth of all things, to the core of my being—to the allness of Spirit—and it showed me how to demonstrate spiritual truth practically. My opportunity to learn truth was not going to be improved elsewhere. I was convinced.

Mary Baker Eddy had a very large concept of Church when she defined it in spiritual terms as "the structure of Truth and Love; whatever rests upon and proceeds from divine Principle" (Science and Health, p.583). This divine structure is an all-encompassing, yet borderless, cosmos that includes all of reality. It's a spiritual place that's permeated with the power and presence of divine Mind, the atmosphere of Love, and the almightiness of Truth. It's not entered through aural or visual stimulation or through emotional highs. It's not a resting place in matter. It is the realm of Spirit, discerned through spiritual sense.

While I'd been sitting through the church service that Sunday, struggling for a better experience, I strove to see Church in its true light—as a metaphysical sanctuary to occupy mentally, where no material conditions exist to be fascinated with or depressed about. In the Church of Spirit there are no relics of days gone by, cavernous tombs, empty seats, time-dated decor, or ailing congregations to notice. Spirit's Church does not age. It's not stale or outdated. It's not a place that harbors anger, hate, resentment, complaint, or sentimental attachment to the way things used to be.

God's sacred space is a heavenly home filled with truth and love, generosity, care and compassion, open-mindedness, receptivity, vitality, and cheer. Attendance at this venue is more than a physical commitment. It's a mental and spiritual devotion. The Church of Spirit is not experienced through long-established routine but through enlightened spiritual thinking. It is an enjoyable, liberating, and inspiring place to worship God, and it is found through consecrated prayer.

Mrs. Eddy established the Church of Christ, Scientist, with its many activities and services, for the purpose of giving humanity a means of demonstrating the divine ideal of Church. It's not enough to stay at home and study and pray in private to experience the fullness and depth of Church. Church is not practiced in solitude. It is a heavenly society that is fulfilled on earth through active public ministry, people working to help people, healing one another of troubles, inspiring each other with truth, and collectively demonstrating heaven on earth. No one has exclusive rights to God's Church, nor does anyone find it alone. People grow into it through increased unity with divine Love and the proved love of one's neighbor.

We can learn about the promise and potential of a church service from studying the day of Pentecost as recorded in the book of Acts.

Before Jesus ascended, he instructed the apostles to wait and pray together in Jerusalem until they were baptized by the Holy Ghost (see Acts 1:1-5). Obediently, they stuck together and prayed as a tightknit family, until one day the Holy Ghost flooded their consciousness with a supercharged sense of the Christ's immediate presence. This overwhelming Pentecostal power ushered them out into the public arena, and thousands of people were shortly converted to Christianity through the faithful students' preaching and works (see Acts, chap. 2).

The same Pentecostal power that surged through the apostles and began a worldwide movement is present now. It is the power of Spirit's Church. It has not disappeared or weakened. It is not locked up under layers of material conservatism, robbed of vitality by disinterest, or held back by malice or tradition. It is found in Spirit. We find it when we get out of a material sense of things and log in to the Christ. The influx of inspiration is guaranteed to come to the sincere heart and devoted thought.

So, when you go to church this week, don't wait to see what you're going to find when you get there. Don't falter into complaint about less than ideal physical, social, economic, or political conditions. Agitating over earthly conditions is worshipping in the church of matter. It's a discouraging place to be. Demonstrate Church while attending church. Mentally ascend to Spirit! Attend to the realities of divine Mind preached and sung during the service, and let the elevating might of God lift your thought to the place of absolute Truth. Worship in the Church of Spirit and radiate the inspiration you find. Your congregation will be revitalized, and you will too. CSS