Individual Service and Love

From Addresses by




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Read by Gary Singleterry

Read by Carol Conroy




The Essential Elements of Christianity

I heartily welcome you one and all, on this occasion. Our Association Day should be not only a joyous experience, but a very sacred one. This day should be made holy by our association with our own divine Mind, as well as by our association with each other. And we should remember that those we call “others” are our own divine Mind expressed. The thought of each individual student should be kept inviolate, free from any hurt on this day.

The First Association Meeting

The first association of students, Jesus with his disciples, was held in a little upper room in Jerusalem. It was there that Jesus taught his disciples the essential elements of Christianity: service and love. And after the test of centuries, service and love are still the essential elements of Christianity.

At this first association meeting, Jesus washed the disciples’ feet and said, “I am among you as one that serveth” (Luke 22:27). He also said, “A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another” (John 13:34, 35), then he explained to them that they were not to love according to the personal sense of love, but “As I have loved you, ye also (are to) love one another.” Jesus impressed upon the thought of his disciples, that individually they were to love all others, as all others are in Truth.

To love others as Jesus loved them, is to be that conscious Love that is so mighty in power that it heals the sick, forgives sin, and raises the dead.

Changed Natures

The students at this first association meeting needed to be changed in their natures in order to serve and love as did the Master. At this meeting, the power of Truth was so irresistible that the natures of these students were changed, and they gladly obeyed the command, and went forth to teach and to heal, and to establish the Christian Church.

The Second Association Day

Centuries later, another Association of Students was held, a few students with their teacher, Mary Baker Eddy. Again the same essential elements of Christianity, service and love, were given to this little group of students. And likewise, the nature of these students was changed, and the spirit of Truth which wrought these changed natures, involved the divine Power that enabled these students to go forth to teach, to heal, to forgive sin, to raise the dead, and to establish in the world Divine Science, or the Church of Christian Science.

The Significance of Our Association Day

On that first Association Day, Christianity, through its elements of service and love, was given to the world. On the second Association Day, the same Christianity, still expressed as service and love, was revealed to the world in a higher degree, as Divine Science. And today, this same Christianity, through service and love, is culminating in the demonstration of Divine Science, which is the coming of the Son of Man, both individually and universally.

Our Relation to This Unfolding Event

We may ask, what is our relation to this unfolding event, the coming of the Son of Man? There would be no such event today, were it not for the individual student of Christian Science. Individually, we are the coming of the Son of Man. The demonstration of Divine Science, or the coming of the Son of Man, is the appearing of higher, truer, qualities of service and love within the individual mentality. The coming of the Son of Man is a higher spiritual evaluation of the infinite Good that already constitutes our individual consciousness.

All Nations Are of One Blood

The time is at hand when we, as adherents of Divine Science, must demonstrate and give proof to the world that all nations are of one blood (Acts 17:26), that is, all nations and all peoples, when correctly understood, are of the one divine Mind. God is their Maker. All nations and all peoples are the one divine Mind expressed, and we as individuals, must be that conscious Love that sees all nations and all peoples as they are in Truth.

Workers Needed

When this seeming great mental conflict, called war, has spent itself, and we have given to the world the proof of the supremacy of mental and spiritual power over so-called physical power, there will be present a great need for prepared workers, workers who can teach, and heal, and help others to gain an understanding of Divine Science, the truth of their individual Being.

Responsiveness to Truth

How does this spiritual power come to the individual student? Spiritual power comes through our individual responsiveness to Truth. In the proportion that we are responsive to Truth and let Truth be present in us and as us, there is also present active, spiritual power. And all material resistance will disappear from our consciousness in the proportion that we free ourselves from the false claims of error.

Our Pentecostal Day

Today should be our Pentecostal Day, the day on which we are filled with spiritual Power, or filled with the Holy Ghost. If there is any feeling of disturbance in our thought this morning; if there is any bitterness, or dislike, or aversion to anyone, or to anything in all the world; if there is a clouded past or an anxiety for the future, let it all vanish into its native nothingness. And let us breathe in silent prayer the words of our beloved Leader, “Fill us today, with all Thou art, be Thou our stay, alway.” What are the vital points in this prayer? Not only service and love for mankind, but the great need of being responsive to Truth only. In this way, material resistance to Truth is made nothing, and we are free to reflect spiritual power.




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Love is the liberator.