Inspiration brings light everywhere it comes. When inspiration is present, everything springs into life, and everyone is conscious of a lifting up—a transformation from dullness and heaviness to the joy and enthusiasm that are essential elements of all church work. When ushering is performed inspirationally and unselfishly, it becomes an integral part of our churches' healing mission.
Do we always realize that what we permit in consciousness forms part of the mental atmosphere in church—either contributing by the spiritual quality of our thoughts to its healing efficacy or detracting from and materializing it with our worries, inattentiveness, and so on?
In the Glossary of Science and Health Mrs. Eddy defines "oil" as follows: "Consecration; charity; gentleness; prayer; heavenly inspiration." Science and Health, p. 592; When the lamps of our inspiration are filled with this pure oil, we individually express these qualities in our work as ushers.
Consecration in ushering—ushering that is selfless, spiritualized, dedicated—supports and prepares the way for the church services. Metaphysical preparatory work for services is essential if the church is to be full of spiritual light. All who come feel the benefit of this light when this part of the ushering duties has been well and faithfully done.
Preparatory work can include quieting and spiritualizing one's own thought and praying that God will use one for His holy purpose. It can also include knowing that because God is all-powerful and ever present, every detail of the service is governed by His law of harmony, including the testimony period on Wednesdays; therefore no belief of personal sense, inharmony, or disruption can enter. All unfolds according to His holy plan for the healing and regeneration of mankind.
The dedicated usher leaves all personal worries outside, and brings only right thinking into the service.
But someone might say, "That's all very well, but I've got to concentrate on taking the collection, and if I go sailing off on a cloud of metaphysics, I shall probably drop the bag!" The effect of prayer and spiritual sense, however, is to make one more humanly alert, more considerate, helpful, and intelligent. Mrs. Eddy reminds us, "Whatever holds human thought in line with unselfed love, receives directly the divine power." ibid., p. 192; Our every smallest act, then, such as giving out a Christian Science Quarterly or opening a door, if it is impelled by unselfed love, can express the healing power of the Christ.
Webster's dictionary defines "charity" in part as "Christian love ... a disposition to good will, kindliness, and sympathy ... toward minimizing shortcomings." It isn't always easy to maintain a feeling of goodwill or to keep on being kind and patient when others seem to do stupid things. Here charity comes to our rescue. It helps us to remember that what may seem to us to be selfishness or unreasonableness or irresponsibility in others is really a disguise that error would throw over our fellowman to obscure the true view of him as God's spiritual reflection. Charity helps us to persist in seeing him as he spiritually is.
And charity helps us to keep on with this work even when we don't seem to get any response. One never knows what troubles others may have, and sometimes a simple little thing can help to break the mesmerism of their false believing. So many people feel isolated in their problems, and the friendliness expressed in an usher's smile—the kind of smile one gives to a friend, which says "I'm so glad you've come!"—can mean much.
How urgently the quality of gentleness is needed in today's world! Many come to our services feeling mentally battered and bruised. We want them to be able to say that when they step through the doors of a Christian Science church they are immediately conscious of the gentle, healing touch of the Christ.
Of course true gentleness is also strong and dependable. It has nothing to do with flabbiness and weakness. In Psalms we read, "Thy gentleness hath made me great." Ps. 18:35; We need to be great in God's gentleness. We can reflect His gentleness in the way we speak and act and we should watch, too, that the touch even of our thoughts on one another be gentle.
Ushering becomes truly inspirational as we gain an understanding of this. It is satisfying to know that we can dip deep into the wellspring of God's love for us and put that love to work as a healing and comforting influence. Ushering is a wonderful opportunity for learning true prayer. Because it is impersonal, God's love, individually expressed, includes all mankind. Like a ray of sunlight that shines because the sun is causing it to shine, impersonal love sheds the light of Love wherever it comes, and its touch is a healing touch.
This understanding of putting into practice the love with which God loves us leads to a right sense of inspiration. Love gives us the heavenly inspiration that lifts ushering above merely an efficient material function into a radiant healing operation. Inspiration comes to every one of us when we stop listening to the arguments of human opinion and human will and really listen for Truth, for God's voice.
Heavenly inspiration teaches us the right thing to say and do: just a few words, perhaps, which prove to be the very thing to reassure or comfort someone. Inspiration is practical. Inspired thoughts come from outside the problem, from God, so they always promote a full perspective on what needs to be done or said. One can put all one knows of care and dedication into trying to find out humanly the best way to do things, and still one may come up against problems that human reason and good human intention by themselves can't solve.
One usher proved the practicality of inspiration when she was in charge of ventilating the church auditorium. Whatever she did, someone complained it was too hot, or too cold. The climax came when, after the same service, one person accused her of trying to bake the congregation and another of trying to freeze them. It was then really brought home that only inspiration could solve the problem. She stopped concentrating on finding out what was the best thing to do humanly and listened quietly for God's guidance.
It came to her to turn to part of Mrs. Eddy's definition of "Kingdom of Heaven" in the Glossary of Science and Health: "The atmosphere of Spirit, where Soul is supreme." Science and Health, p. 590. She remembered Christ Jesus' teaching that the kingdom of heaven is within us, and in a flash she saw that in reality all must therefore be conscious only of "the atmosphere of Spirit, where Soul is supreme"—neither hot nor cold. She saw that divine Love's care is adapted to everyone's need. After this, there were no more complaints about the temperature of the auditorium.
How reassuring it is to know that when one is appointed to a church duty one doesn't have to produce out of one's own strength or ability the necessary qualities to fulfill it. One needs only to realize that whom God appoints He also anoints with the precious oil of "consecration; charity; gentleness; prayer; heavenly inspiration." Then we feel that joy and freedom that come from serving God, and our church services are blessed with the light of inspiration.
