The Message and the Messenger
Our Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, ordained the Bible and "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" to be the only pastor of the Church of Christ, Scientist (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 313). She designated that the church services should be conducted by Readers (ibid., p. 314). The Readers then are the representatives of the pastor. Christian Scientists everywhere are grateful to the loyal men and women who accept the all-important task of reading from the sacred pages of the Bible and our textbook.
So important is the message of our Lesson-Sermon that the messenger must be alert to see that the message be not obscured through faulty reading, which can be readily corrected. Reading aloud is an art. Humanly speaking, one's manner of reading is often influenced by environment and association. Bad habits of speech can be corrected by learning how, and being willing, to replace the wrong method with the right.
The instrument of vocal expression is the voice; therefore diction and all that pertains to beauty and clarity of speech are important. A musician, whether he be a vocalist or an instrumentalist, must understand his instrument and know how to obtain from it the best results. He knows that there are certain laws of technique which he must master if he would produce beautiful tone. If the instrument is out of tune, the attention of listeners is directed from the music to the instrument.
So it is with one who reads. If the voice is harsh or rasping, if distinctness of utterance is blurred, if there is monotony and lack of variation of tone, if we hear words rather than ideas, then the message is marred. Said Mrs. Eddy (Message to The Mother Church for 1900, p. 11 ). "I want not only quality, quantity, and variation in tone, but the unction of Love."
A noted teacher of the art of speech and oral reading has given a dictum for his students in these words: "Remember as you go before an audience that your thought should be, not 'Behold me,' but 'Behold my message.'" If the messenger is to be properly subordinated to the message, the tone and diction of the one through whom the message is spoken should be correct.
We have heard much about our Leader's beautiful voice. In referring to Mrs. Eddy's presence at a previous Annual Meeting, a speaker said (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p.39 ): "We remember her graciousness and dignity. We recall the harmonious tones of her gentle voice." A reporter on one occasion referred to her "clear voice" (ibid., p. 342).
The Bible gives a comprehensive rule for good reading: "So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading." If the message is to be understood, then distinctness and the giving of the sense become the responsibility of the messenger.
To speak distinctly means enunciating clearly. To bring out the sense the Reader must first have gained, through study and spiritual understanding, the spirit of the Word. Secondly, he needs to use the proper inflection to give due value to the important words and know how to evaluate the less important. Good reading requires proper balance, and this necessitates careful thought and discrimination to make the presentation a harmonious whole. The proper meaning audibly appears when the Reader understands the spiritual import of the message.
In extracts quoted from a sermon by Mrs. Eddy, it was stated (Miscellaneous Writings, p.169 ): "She affirmed that the Scriptures cannot properly be interpreted in a literal way. The truths they teach must be spiritually discerned, before their message can be borne fully to our minds and hearts." The giving out of the inspired meaning depends on spiritual discernment and the correct use of voice in tone and diction to express it.
Surely Love and Truth are not proclaimed in cold, inanimate tones, but in living, spiritual ideas which, as they are declared by the human voice, should bring to the hearer a message replete with wisdom, compassion, and healing. With proper use of the human capacities, together with spiritual discernment of the Word, the spiritual meaning will appear through the reading as light shines through the pane. We listen to the message and realize, "The Word was with God, and the Word was God." Good reading aids the hearers to be spiritually thought-conscious, rather than humanly word-conscious.
We are told something of the effectiveness of Jesus' speech when he spoke to his disciples. In reporting their meeting after his glorious resurrection, one of his followers tells us, "And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?" Could Jesus have touched hearts in such manner had he spoken in a dull, lifeless, monotonous tone? Surely we realize that to call forth such depth of feeling from his hearers, his message must have been reflected to them in tones which were alive with tenderness, compassion, and inspiration.
When the message and the messenger are properly at one, congregations feel the power of the Word and are blessed, and the message of Truth resounds from our pulpits with power to heal and to save.
