The Bible Speaks To You July 19, 1969 Issue

[The above is an abbreviated, postproduction text of the program released for broadcast the week of July 11-17 in the radio series, "The Bible Speaks to You." Heard internationally over more than 1,000 stations, the weekly programs are prepared and produced by theChristian Science Committee on Publication, 107 Falmouth Street, Boston, Massachusetts U.S.A. 02115.]

RADIO PROGRAM NO. 380 - Your Community Needs You

with contributions from Robert McKinnon, Florence Ludgate

[The speaker is Florence Ludgate. The questioner is Robert McKinnon.]

Questioner: Many people today complain not only about the mess communities are in, including apathy, neglect, and corruption, but they're also actively trying to do something about it all. Unfortunately this can be very frustrating. Many times it looks as if the community isn't as nice as it used to be and is going downhill.
Speaker: It's wonderful to see honest concern and real desire for useful action, but our basis and attitude are tremendously important. Christ Jesus' Sermon on the Mount shows that it's the thought behind everything we do that really counts.

Sometimes you see a street lined with run-down, uncared-for houses, and yet there'll be an oasis in it—a house or two cared for and kept in repair, perhaps with window boxes and freshly painted steps. This indicates how attitudes shape where we live, and even the community itself.
Questioner: There may be a few oases in the community, but what real difference will they make? Isn't a community by definition the collective attitudes of all the people living in it?
Speaker: Yes, but the community we see with our eyes isn't unchangeable. There's something deeper than that. There's something behind that. I have a friend, a Christian Scientist, who is a member of a troubled black community, and he has spoken feelingly on this very point. He says he thinks that the main thing to do in helping a community is to "unsee" the way it looks and "resee" theway it really is in its true light, and then to help it to see itself that way.