"The giver of all good"The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 15. is one way that Mrs. Eddy has described God. What an abundant blessing these words imply! Through prayer, we, our families, our church, and our neighbors can receive from God this unlimited good in our daily lives.
Let us express the warmth of love to each one
and welcome all wholeheartedly. Let us make sure
the atmosphere of our church is so warm and loving
that barriers melt away.
Sometimes though, we make the mistake of believing that we ourselves are the real givers and that other people mostly receive from us. This might be due to human will, self-righteousness or self-satisfaction, and it seems to put up an invisible barrier that could thwart the very good that we want to do. To remove this barrier, humility is needed, and removing it brings healing.
Let's look at some church problems and see how this can be done. For instance, do you have people who often doze through the services that the Readers have worked so hard to prepare? Are there young Sunday School pupils who are fidgety and inattentive? And what about all those people in your town with their many problems who don't make it into your Reading Room when you have so much to offer?
Well, let's tackle the first problem. For example, if the Readers are thought to be the ones who are giving the services and those in the congregation are thought to be receiving them, there is what we might call a mental space to cross—a barrier that would seem to obstruct inspiration while allowing into thought boredom, criticism, and sleepiness. Isn't this because of the mistaken belief that it is human Readers who give inspiration, when of course it is God, Soul, who is its source? So it is better for us to see that the blessing of each service comes directly from God, whose qualities are expressed by each one of us—Readers and congregation alike.
Understanding God as the source of all good helped a church member who had just been elected First Reader. Because she had a soft voice she was worried that she might not be heard at the back of the rather large church, which had no amplification system. When she realized that she was not personally the communicator but that God's Christ speaks directly to each one in the congregation, she lost her fear and found that she could be heard plainly throughout the church.
"The intercommunication is always from God to His idea, man,"Science and Health, p. 284. Science and Health explains. Reflecting this spiritual activity of Mind, Readers and congregation receive this communication together. By removing a barrier in this way we open the path to real spiritual growth, which will be evidenced in better reading and better participation by the congregation. This will mean truly inspiring services.
Let's remove another barrier! Suppose the teachers in Sunday School think of themselves as giving the teaching and of the pupils as receiving it. There is a barrier that might limit the flow of ideas and lead to lack of attention, unruly behavior, spasmodic attendance, or even falling numbers on the roll. Why? Because it suggests that fallible human beings are the source of the teaching, and so the need for right ideas may not be met.
How much better for teachers to be humble enough to see themselves and the students as receiving those ideas from Christ, Truth, which is always active in consciousness. "Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them,"Matt. 18:20. said Christ Jesus. What an unlimited flow of ideas must result from prayerful devotion to the Christ! The outcome will certainly be inspired teaching and spiritual growth for both teachers and students.
Now, how about that mental barrier between youth and age? If allowed to remain in thought, it could keep young people away from our churches and Sunday Schools. It could also make older people feel a lack of joy, freshness, and flexibility. We gain a spiritual basis for prayer on this subject from the Christian Science textbook. It says, "Man in Science is neither young nor old."Science and Health, p. 244. When we truly accept this spiritual fact, another barrier is removed. We see that we are all the children of our Father-Mother God, and we cherish the childlike thought of everyone, including ourselves. The evidence of this could be great spiritual growth for us, our church, and our Sunday School.
Do Reading Room workers feel they are the ones who could give the truth to the folks in their community if only people would come into the Reading Room to receive it? This approach might even act as a barrier to keep people out. We can remove it by knowing that both workers and community receive the abundant good being poured out by divine Love. Each individual, being actually spiritual, is already complete and so has all he or she needs, including the understanding of Christ, Truth. Acknowledging the spiritual facts in this way is really loving the community and can open the way for the evidence of these facts to be seen in our own and others' lives. It may also bring more visitors into the Reading Room.
Again, do we think that our church is the one giving a lecture and the community is the one receiving it? Here is another barrier that may prevent us from seeing the fruition of our lecture preparation. Let's remove it by knowing that God is "the Giver of all good" and that we, together with the community, are the receivers of the blessing expressed in the lecture's message.
None of us would want to put up barriers against newcomers in church. But it's so easy to think of ourselves as the ones who are privileged to have Christian Science and to believe that newcomers have come to us to get it. That, of course, makes a mental barrier. So let's eliminate it by remembering that we are all God's perfect ideas, whether or not we are Christian Scientists. Let us therefore express the warmth of love to each one and welcome all wholeheartedly, even if they are not dressed as we are or if they don't speak as we do or if they seem unfamiliar with what we consider proper "church" behavior. Whatever their human distinctiveness, let us make sure the atmosphere of our church is so warm and loving that barriers melt away. Anyone coming to a service will then feel drawn to the Christ, Truth, welcomed by those who feel the same attraction.
Removing barriers can improve our healing work, too. If we are putting truth to work in our lives, we are Christian Science practitioners, whether or not we are listed in The Christian Science Journal. We must be sure not to slip into thinking of ourselves as personal healers who give treatment and into thinking of the patients as those who receive it from us. This would create a false mental barrier that could impede healing.
We have to remain humble enough to remember that God is the true source of healing. Mind's healing effect comes directly to both practitioner and patient. Therefore treatment is spontaneous, divinely impelled, and complete for each individual.
Barriers are removed by the expression of humility and receptiveness to God's direction, by communion with God and by seeing each individual and ourselves as in truth forever at one with Him, acknowledging Him as the source of all good to us and to everyone. This opens the way for real spiritual growth.
Like Christ Jesus we can put this quality of humility into practice in all we do. The results will be wonderful.
