Article March 4, 1972 Issue

What Communicates?

JOHN G. JOSTYN

Many people, in this age of the mass media, long to communicate with others heart to heart. For example, if a person has been helped by Bible insights, he wants to share them with individuals in his family and in his community.

He may try to find the right time to talk over experiences with a friend or a stranger. If he is a Christian Scientist, he has the special additional opportunity of speaking at a Wednesday testimony meeting at his church. Also he may be asked by his church to contact those at an institution in his community who are interested in Christian Science. He may be appointed by the Christian Science Committee on Publication to give a talk to a group of people from another denomination who want to learn more about their neighbors' religions, to speak on a local radio or television station's early morning thought-for-the-day program, or to take part in an interview, panel discussion, or open phone line "talk show." He could also be asked to share an experience on the weekly radio series produced by The Mother Church at the Christian Science Center in Boston.

But whatever a person's religion and its channels of communication, many an individual may feel that he does not communicate easily with others. Even though he has something in his heart that is meaningful to him, he doesn't feel sure of himself when the chance comes to share it. Perhaps he hesitates, falters, even freezes up. Whether speaking to one person, to a large group of listeners, or perhaps to an unseen radio or television audience, he feels that he has bungled his efforts, that he simply is not a good communicator.

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