Early in my experience in Christian Science I realized how wonderfully the Wednesday testimony meeting bears witness to God's goodness and the healing power of His Word. So I resolved to attend regularly.
But the harder I tried, the stronger the competition seemed to get. Business conferences, favorite sports and TV programs, and special civic events fell mostly on meeting night; more often than not, social invitations were for Wednesday.
"Why," I asked in prayer, "is there such resistance to being in what I feel is my right place?" The answer came, "Because you have not settled the issue in your own thinking."
Continuing in prayer, I reasoned: The testimony meeting is a part of Mrs. Eddy's revelation—a divinely impelled, divinely instituted means of filling the earth with the knowledge of God's glory. Could there be a more important weekly event? Doesn't it deserve top priority from all sincere seekers of Truth? With spiritual conviction I answered Yes, and that was the end of resistance presenting itself as competing events.
Now opposition appeared in a different guise, as the logic of my own thinking. How mortal mind attempted to rationalize, to justify staying away! It suggested: I'm too tired after a hard day; domestic duties need attention; the weather's bad; I've already been to an evening church meeting this week. But the belief that such "I" thoughts were my own was dispelled by Mrs. Eddy's statement: "Unless one's eyes are opened to the modes of mental malpractice, working so subtly that we mistake its suggestions for the impulses of our own thought, the victim will allow himself to drift in the wrong direction without knowing it."
The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 213;
What an awakening! Those weren't my thoughts at all—only error's ignorant opposition to inspired messages of Truth and to audible witnessing to its healing power. Nothing awakens understanding more effectively or silences carnal contentions more conclusively than firsthand accounts of how Truth heals. Proofs, or signs following, are irrefutable.
The mesmerism was broken. I was free to support the meetings and receive the blessings awaiting those who regularly attend. As my gratitude increased, so did the desire to obey the Master's injunction, "Freely ye have received, freely give."
Matt. 10:8; I yearned to bear witness to the truth. What was holding me? I had much to share and acknowledged having the God-bestowed ability to do so. Hadn't I easily addressed all types of audiences? Yet, there I sat— tongue-tied and glued to my chair.
Mortal mind justified those silent testimonies with these thoughts: God knows I'm grateful; besides, those who testify every week will fill up the time. No one's interested in what I'd have to say; it wouldn't be scientific or dramatic enough.
My awakening began with Paul's statement, "I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that by my voice I might teach others also, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue."
I Cor. 14:19; The thought came, Did Christ Jesus bear witness to the Christ in an "unknown tongue"? Indeed not. He taught and demonstrated the deep things of God wisely, honestly, but simply. Then came reassuring words by Mrs. Eddy. Confidence and courage grew as I read, "When the heart speaks, however simple the words, its language is always acceptable to those who have hearts."
Miscellaneous Writings, p. 262;
Two things were now clear. First, it is not oratory but the power of God that heals; and this shines through the speaker's love of God, his conviction of the efficacy of the Christ, Truth. Second, it is essential to recognize and testify to the action of the Christ, operative not only in so-called serious circumstances but also in the minutiae of one's daily experience. The glue was removed from my chair, and my tongue was untied.
What an opportunity audible testimonies afford the testifier to emulate the Master, to become a clear transparency for the simplicity of the Christ message! Ideally, the messenger testifies honestly, accurately, but simply—out of his own experience—using the terminology of Christian Science sparingly. Moreover, he is not tempted to impress the congregation or to enjoy hearing himself talk by doing so overlong.
Admittedly, not everyone takes the same view of Wednesday witnessing. Consequently, metaphysically supporting, attending, testifying or not, and how best and how often to testify, are all matters for individual demonstration. Each one supports the meeting from his highest sense of right. If, however, you yearn to bear witness to the truth but seem to have sealed lips, rest assured divine Love is at hand to unseal them.
The mesmerism was broken very naturally for friends of mine. One related, "To avoid many eyes being on me, I decided to sit alone in the rear. But by meeting time three were beside me, two in front, three behind, several across the aisle. Error argued: 'That does it! Better wait another week. You may get flustered, put a verb in the wrong place. You aren't as educated as most members.' But the angel thought came, 'Moses was slow of speech and look what he did!' So I put down fear, got up, and shared what was in my heart. I heard truths coming out of me I didn't know I could say."
Even as God had been with Moses, He put His words upon this testifier's tongue, gave her the eloquence to reach the hearts of her hearers. She experienced the truth of Mrs. Eddy's assertion, "The influence or action of Soul confers a freedom, which explains the phenomena of improvisation and the fervor of untutored lips."
Science and Health, p. 89;
When members of a budding Christian Science Society decided to have Wednesday meetings, they wondered if the testimonies would be metaphysical enough. My friend said to them, "Our first responsibility is to make sure there are testimonies, even if only to express gratitude for finding space in a parking lot." Later she assured me, "We have never lacked for testimonies—and good ones."
In another membership a few "silent testifiers" took a different approach. They shared testimonies among themselves at home until they destroyed the fear of speaking in public. My friend commented on the first time he spoke in church, "Actually, it wasn't hard. Really now, once the spell is broken, there's nothing to it." He concluded, "We're giving testimonies with so much gratitude there's no room for fear."
What is this fear—the shaky voice and trembling knee? Is it personal weakness, a lack of courage? Indeed not. It is the false belief of mortal mind resisting spiritual growth, both for the speaker and the hearer. It is personal sense, a phase of the general false belief in a mind opposed to God, suggesting inability to express oneself or to do justice to Christian Science—as if entirely on his own the speaker must word the Christ message and "put it over." The opposite is true. When divinely impelled the message practically voices itself, puts itself over, and blesses the messenger in the doing. The message supports the messenger.
Often fear is mere vanity—concern for what fellow members will think. A friend confessed, "I used to think, 'Oh, here he goes again!' Or, 'Not her again!' I didn't want done unto me what I had done unto others."
But all this changed as she prayed the Psalmist's prayer, "Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer."
Ps. 19:14; She saw that the words of the other fellow's mouth need only be acceptable in the Lord's sight. From then on, what others shared helped her, for she realized they were being motivated by unselfish love.
She concluded, "When I saw that, likewise, the words of my mouth need only be acceptable to God, I easily testified, confident that my innermost thoughts were well received and understood. Now I'm not even afraid my neighbor might ask me about Christian Science!"
No longer afraid of an outsider's inquiry—what a bonus! She was free to make practical the meeting's spiritual outreach to the community.
Indeed, bearing witness in church on Wednesday does assure us we can bear witness in other places on other days. When the occasion presents itself, we can safely, confidently share—over the neighbor's back fence, in the office, at home, anywhere—what Christian Science means to us.
Whether witnessing be daily or weekly, in or out of church, it prospers the acceptance of the Science of Christ and hastens the day when "the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea."
Hab. 2:14. Moreover, witnessing richly rewards the witness, for the Master's exhortation "Freely ye have received, freely give" is, in reverse, a promise—freely give, ye shall freely receive. Christly giving results in receiving the Christ.
