Sharing the hope within you
What joy there is in sharing Christian Science with people in one’s community, especially among those of different race and culture. This has been my experience in Kloof, South Africa, where I have often been guided by this passage from First Peter 3:15: “Be ready at any time to give a quiet and reverent answer to any man who wants a reason for the hope that you have within you” (The New Testament in Modern English, J.B. Phillips).
One of the questions visitors often ask is, “What do you have about Christian Science in Zulu?” This has prompted me to give a great deal of thought to how to overcome language barriers so as to conduct meaningful dialogue with such spiritual seekers. I’ve also been nudged into action by some words written by Mary Baker Eddy. Although she was speaking primarily of ways in which medicine and Christianity can best “thrive together,” I feel the implications are broad: “A genuine Christian Scientist … loves all who love God, good; ….” And, “… Mind-power is good will towards men” (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 4 ).
One thing that’s become clear to me is that many people in our community genuinely love God—and love for God is the basis on which we get along so well. For example, an office colleague whose first language is Zulu, but who has a good command of English, has been most helpful to me in improving my Zulu and helping me explain Christian Science to people who visit our Reading Room or our church services.
At first she said that translating sentences from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy (and other articles about Christian Science) had been a means of improving her English. Now she tells me that she’s begun to understand the significance of the synonyms for God given on page 587
. She’s been happy to read copies of the Sentinel I have given her, and she was delighted when a Sentinel article enabled her to explain to
a friend the concept of God as Mind.
Many people in our community genuinely love God.
During such interactions with my colleague, we both give as much as we receive, and a genuine love of the Bible underpins all our exchanges. When we are translating passages together, I focus first on clearly understanding the English, sometimes turning to the definitions given in “Word Highlights” in the my Bible Lesson edition of the Christian Science Quarterly. And in our discussions, I always try to show her how Science and Health gives a really helpful understanding of the Bible.
As the two of us talk and work together, I continue to marvel at Mrs. Eddy’s precise use of words. Before finalizing our translation of one of her passages into Zulu, I have found it uplifting to examine more closely words and phrases in Science and Health such as “an unselfed love,” as used in the first sentence of the chapter titled “Prayer”: “The prayer that reforms the sinner and heals the sick is an absolute faith that all things are possible to God,—a spiritual understanding of Him, an unselfed love” (p. 1 ).
An encouraging example of “unselfed love” can be seen in the way another Zulu friend is providing a warm, loving home for abandoned children. A while back she attended a Christian Science lecture, so she knew where I stood as we shared thoughts as fellow Christians. When I asked what really motivated her, she held her hand to her breast and said, “Uthando [love].” Then she added, “You might say I have an aptitude for love.” And as she said that, I thought, “Isn’t that a helpful way of viewing ‘unselfed love’?”
Recently, my business colleague and fellow translator invited me to join her group of between 10 and 15 Sunday School children in the 12–15 age group to study the Beatitudes together. You can imagine how grateful I was to be able to reread the nine-part series of articles in The Christian Science Journal from 2005 before making my contribution to the meeting.
These experiences have confirmed that there is untold joy in sharing ideas freely, and without prejudice, with “all who love God, good.”
