Freshness and spontaneity are qualities we love. For all the revolutionary changes of this century, the world continues to hunger for something new, something fresh. People eagerly await the release of a new film, the publication of a special book, the touring of an area of the globe they have never before seen. And yet, how often in our prayers for the Wednesday evening testimony meeting do we include an expectation that the qualities of freshness and spontaneity will be expressed in the service?
Mrs. Eddy writes in Science and Health, "We cannot fathom the nature and quality of God's creation by diving into the shallows of mortal belief."Science and Health, p. 262. And through her God-given insight into the works and words of Christ Jesus, we have today the Science of his teachings—a Science that replaces the "shallows of mortal belief" with the infinite, ever-fresh, ever-satisfying vistas of spiritual reality. But we need to claim this richness for our church services.
Freshness doesn't necessarily come from reshuffling the established material routine. The format of the Wednesday evening meetings does not vary from week to week. As provided by Mrs. Eddy in the Manual of The Mother Church, the meetings consist of hymns; readings from the Bible and from the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health; silent and audible prayer; announcements; and the sharing of "experiences, testimonies, and remarks on Christian Science."Man., p. 122.
