In difficult times, I’ve been deeply encouraged when I remember the example our Way-shower, Christ Jesus, gave us when he faced the supreme challenge of his ministry as his crucifixion approached. After his agony in the garden of Gethsemane, and his prayer, “O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me” (Matthew 26:39), Jesus’ meek acceptance of what he needed to do and his demeanor during the last supper is hugely significant. He knew the spiritual truth he lived, taught, and demonstrated for humanity’s salvation would triumph.
Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, sheds light on the whole experience in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures: “For this truth of spiritual being, their Master was about to suffer violence and drain to the dregs his cup of sorrow. He must leave them. With the great glory of an everlasting victory overshadowing him, he gave thanks and said, ‘Drink ye all of it.’ ” The page continues, “When the human element in him struggled with the divine, our great Teacher said: ‘Not my will, but Thine, be done!’—that is, Let not the flesh, but the Spirit, be represented in me” (p. 33).
Nothing caused Jesus to lose sight of his true selfhood, the Christ, or his God-appointed healing mission. Seeing his supreme victory over evil, we can take courage and trust the truth he taught. Knowing ourselves to be dear children of God, divine Love, we are healed through the divine influence of the Christ, and are able to press humbly on to victory over the material senses. Science and Health says this: “Christ, as the spiritual or true idea of God, comes now as of old, preaching the gospel to the poor, healing the sick, and casting out evils” (p. 347). Feeling assured that the Christ is always at work establishes such a gentle sense of calm and comfort, outweighing and defeating suggestions of fear, dread, and foreboding.
Feeling assured that the Christ is always at work establishes such a gentle sense of calm and comfort, outweighing and defeating suggestions of fear, dread, and foreboding.
The divine overshadowing and nurturing—so beautifully expressed in the verses of the 91st Psalm in the Bible—uncovers the illusive suggestion that troubling medical, financial, and other limiting prophecies loom inescapably over mankind, and exposes this suggestion’s nothingness. And since a victory over the assertions of mortal mind, through the Christ-message of God’s love for man, is an eternal promise, it cannot be undermined or reversed. Furthermore, doesn’t Jesus’ inspiring example indicate that even in the toughest challenges we can hold to our God-bestowed purpose of imparting “truth, health, and happiness” (Mary Baker Eddy, The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 165)? The full passage reads: “As an active portion of one stupendous whole, goodness identifies man with universal good. Thus may each member of this church rise above the oft-repeated inquiry, What am I? to the scientific response: I am able to impart truth, health, and happiness, and this is my rock of salvation and my reason for existing.”
Over 40 years ago, I was unexpectedly elected as Second Reader of my branch Church of Christ, Scientist. Because of a stuttering problem which had darkened my growing-up years,—although by that time, through much prayer, the condition had improved—I had some trouble reading aloud. I was convinced I was not at all ready for this position. But I resisted the fearful suggestion to withdraw, somehow knowing that if it was right to serve, I would have the freedom and self-forgetful love needed to fulfill the position. I was elected, and I accepted. But later that night in the privacy of my home, tumultuous feelings of foreboding and doubt overwhelmed me. These feelings continued for much of the time before I assumed my reading duties. During this time I prayed earnestly and had the help of a Christian Science practitioner.
Although the foreboding sense continued to be a challenge, I’m happy to say the first few services were completed with very little of the stuttering problem. Then one Sunday morning, early in my term as Reader, as I was praying “importunately” as Mrs. Eddy urges us to do (Miscellaneous Writings 1883–1896, p. 127) and still struggling with an aggressive sense of fear, the breakthrough came.
Just before I walked out to the platform, an angel message (see Science and Health, p. 581) from God burst on my thought with energizing words from an inspiring and loved hymn, “Henceforth my great concern shall be / To love and praise Thee more” (John Ryland, Christian Science Hymnal, No. 224). That was it! I could see the only real objective was simply to love and praise God and let the sacred message of the Lesson-Sermon flow from the ever-presence of divine Love. The service went smoothly with no evidence of the speech difficulty. This was without doubt the turning point in the healing.
Indeed, I glimpsed the victory that comes through Christ, which not only uplifted me, but removed any fearful concerns about any possible distraction from the message of the Lesson-Sermon. Praying with these inspiring thoughts brought the comforting words of another hymn:
Not what I am, O Lord, but what Thou art;
That, that alone can be my soul’s true rest;
Thy love, not mine, bids fear and doubt depart,
And stills the tumult of my troubled breast.
(Horatius Bonar, Christian Science Hymnal, No. 195)
From then on there was steady progress until there was complete victory. The healing has been permanent, enabling me to fulfill the position of Reader in subsequent years with total freedom.
I still cherish that experience, and rejoice that we all can have the assurance that no matter what we face, there is victory through Christ!
