A healing tone in the reading at Christian Science services is of primary importance. The thought, the inward view, of the Readers plays a big part in maintaining this tone.
I was aware of the importance of this point during a Wednesday testimony meeting at The Mother Church. The Reader was presenting powerful ideas; my attention was completely held by his attention to them. The reading was compelling and healing.
Later on, I learned how that Reader approached his work. He read for self-instruction in Christian Science. When reading at a service, he was wholly occupied with a spiritual viewpoint concerning both the work and the audience—that is, he was accepting as reality only the spiritual fact of Truth's infinitude and, thus, of man's inseparability from God.
This enabled him to keep out of his thought whatever would deny God's presence. It was an inward acknowledgment of what is divinely true. Mrs. Eddy says of one speaker: "He spake inspired; he touched a tone of Truth that will continue to reverberate and renew its emphasis throughout the entire centuries, into the vast forever." Miscellaneous Writings, p. 312;
The Reader at The Mother Church wasn't trying to change the audience, as if they were discordant mortals needing change. Instead, he was accepting the truth of man's present spiritual perfection, created and maintained by Spirit.
This acceptance, this awareness, of perfection is forwarded by our acknowledgment of man's inseparability from God. In the chapter "Recapitulation" in Science and Health, Mrs. Eddy writes, "Principle and its idea is one, and this one is God, omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent Being, and His reflection is man and the universe."Science and Health, pp. 465-466; This basic fact of reality is embraced in Jesus' statement, "I and my Father are one." John 10:30; We can't really be separated from God; God can't be separated from us.
Divine intelligence is maintaining its idea in perfection forever. Readers can realize man's unfallen perfection and let the truth of this realization do its own healing work. Divine Mind knows its idea, man, to be unfallen; our awareness of this fact improves the human scene, providing a healing tone in our services.
When a newly elected Reader asked an ex-Reader how reading can heal an audience, the response was, "Why, you wouldn't read to fallen man, would you?" Well, perhaps a Reader may have done so at times; but Christian Science heals by the realization of flawless man.
Christian Science shows the unchangeable oneness of all being, making clear that there is one real source of action— God. Acceptance of this truth when we read aloud is a comfort. This truth, that there is only one source of action, permeates and heals. Such realization takes care of both the audience's comprehension and the Reader's expression. Mrs. Eddy puts it arrestingly: "The divine Principle, or Spirit, comprehends and expresses all, and all must therefore be as perfect as the divine Principle is perfect." Science and Health, p. 518;
One sometimes hears a new Reader say he or she doesn't have enough voice—even in this day of electronic amplification. How can such a one cope? With prayer. We can realize that the ability to communicate doesn't derive from a corporeal mechanism that can be weak or inadequate. In reality Truth communicates to man, and this is real communication. Even a small perception of this divine fact gives the voice carrying power, strength, and authority.
"The God of glory thundereth," Ps. 29:3; the Psalmist says. This thought frees from anxiety about an inadequate voice. I was once elected to read in a large branch church that had no amplification. A feeling of depression I was having over a family matter, as well as a naturally quiet voice, presented an obvious problem at the first rehearsal. Another speaking assignment seemed to add to the challenge. But total reliance was placed on the certainty that "the God of glory thundereth." A sense of God's strength came to me; the speaking assignment and those years of reading were completed with adequate voice.
We should realize that the Word is always sufficient, is always powerful, is always heard. Truth is infinite. Then, in reality, it doesn't need to go from one person to another. Truth is universally heard, understood, and loved. This fact topples barriers of physical hearing, impairment, and resistance to acceptance of Truth.
Now, the power in reading these books, the Bible and Science and Health, at church services isn't personal, because this activity represents Truth's utterance. Reading effectively is even more than staying closely with the ideas. It expresses the power of the inward view, the kingdom of heaven within—Truth-power.
During study for one Sunday service, tremendous new insight came to a Reader regarding Christ Jesus' statement, "Before Abraham was, I am." John 8:58. In preparing to read the passage, however, she felt she didn't want to intrude a personal view of her new understanding on another's inspiration at the services. So she deepened her joy that God's omnipotence is felt, that the divine Mind speaks directly to each receptive listener. After the service, she didn't even recall exactly how the passage was read. But she heard that for some in the audience, there was new light; and as far as she knows, no one was bothered over any unusual rendering!
Poring over and cherishing the Bible and Science and Health understandingly keep us close to Truth. We need to be well informed metaphysically to do the reading well. Readers often find fresh insight on Bible passages in the Lesson by using Appendix B, a list of scriptural quotations, in the Concordances to Mrs. Eddy's writings. Science and Health gives us the spiritual significance of the Bible as nothing else does. Its scientific interpretation throws brilliant light on familiar or unfamiliar Bible passages. From this standpoint, the Bible is read effectively—as the healing agent it is.
The Bible is sometimes called the "wisdom of the ages," and that's why it's studied by many people in the assurance of finding its spiritual depths.
Today the revelation of Truth to this age, divine Science or Christian Science, is explained in Science and Health, shedding full light on the Bible. Reading aloud from these two books opens up the might and beauty of the "wisdom of the ages," providing healing for every service.
