Christian Scientists who have a sense of the spiritual completeness of The Mother Church feel secure in its embrace wherever they may be. Those who attend the services of this Church and listen to the reports of the Annual Meeting often mention that they feel the motherhood and fatherhood of God animating each activity, giving tenderness as well as strength to its ministrations. This is quite natural because, as Mary Baker Eddy writes in "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" (p. 514), "Tenderness accompanies all the might imparted by Spirit."

In the first verse of the seventeenth chapter of Genesis is recorded the Lord's declaration to Abraham, "I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect." Since, according to our Leader, that which is almighty must be tender as well as strong, the Almighty God must include the qualities usually associated with both motherhood and fatherhood.

In general thought, however, the term "mother" is often applied to nature rather than to Deity. As a result, men and women have been inclined to think of themselves more in terms of natural processes than of spiritual laws, or else they imagine some sort of partnership between God and nature, sometimes even deifying nature. In so doing, they lose sight of man's spiritual identity as a child of God.

It is confusing to speak of mother nature as copartner with God, the Father, as the source of our being. When we do, we believe ourselves to be both material and spiritual. Writing on this point, Mrs. Eddy states in Science and Health (p. 170), "The description of man as purely physical, or as both material and spiritual,—but in either case dependent upon his physical organization,—is the Pandora box,from which all ills have gone forth, especially despair."

Believing that we are a mixture of matter and Spirit, we are apt to think that although sometime in the future we shall be completely spiritual, our needs in this world are primarily material. This is not what Christ Jesus taught. He said (Matt. 6:33), "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you."

Spiritual laws apply to us here and now, not in the future only. When this is recognized, we shall see that God's will (divine law) is supreme on earth as well as in heaven. As we understand and obey His will, the peace and harmony that we might think of as being ours hereafter are brought into every phase of our human experience today.

In founding the Christian Science movement, Mrs. Eddy depended upon these spiritual laws to govern her every step. She undertook and carried out her stupendous task under divine impulsion. This required of her outstanding abilities as both organizer and administrator. No businessman, regardless of his abilities and experience, could have done better. But it is in the gentle, yet mighty, qualities of motherhood that she is best remembered by those who knew her and worked with her. Hers was more than personal dedication to an important task; it was the expression of the motherhood of God embracing universal humanity in Truth and Love.

Mrs. Eddy mothered her infant Church, nourished it with the divine Love with which she was nourished, strengthened it with the disciplined, with which she was disciplined, and wisely protected it with God-inspired Rules and By-Laws, contained in the Manual of The Mother Church, each one of which elucidates some basic spiritual law.

The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts, and its branches throughout the world, will always stand as a testimonial to her wholehearted obedience to divine Truth and Love. Members coming to The Mother Church from near and far often speak of feeling the love which impelled Mrs. Eddy to establish this Church and of finding themselves comforted and inspired by their visit—enriched, strengthened, and nourished.

The enfolding love of The Mother Church is broad enough and mighty enough to cover all its members and, in the degree of their loyalty to it, to spiritually protect them from the ungodliness of materialism and its destructive influence.

The Lesson-Sermons, outlined in the Christian Science Quarterly, the authorized periodicals and lectures, the radio programs, the healing work of Christian Science practitioners, all draw their inspiration, substance, and effectiveness from the Father-Mother God. A clear perception of this enables us to see the spiritual completeness of Church; and this in turn makes it possible for us to experience in ever-increasing measure the kingdom of heaven, the reign of divine Principle, Love, on earth.

The Psalmist declared, "How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings" (Ps. 36:7). The motherhood of God is becoming more universally recognized. As a result, women are being accorded, and will continue to be accorded, a status comparable to that claimed by men—socially, economically, politically. This important unfoldment reveals, in a measure at least, the completeness of man as both male and female, and eventually it will be seen that, as Mrs. Eddy says (Science and Health, p. 516), "Man and woman as coexistent and eternal with God forever reflect, in glorified quality, the infinite Father-Mother God."

Ralph E. Wagers