Every day all over the world, thousands of people read a weekly Bible Lesson from the Christian Science Quarterly. Each Lesson is focused on a specific subject, and consists of Bible passages relating to it, along with correlative ones explaining the Bible texts from Science and Health, by Mary Baker Eddy.
Anyone who regularly and thoughtfully studies these Lessons can’t help but have increased understanding of God and His laws, and experience their healing effect. The Bible Lessons nurture the spirituality of the reader; they enlighten thought and satisfy the hungering heart; they feed the soul. And, like with anything else, the more you put into this study—dedication, interest, prayer, reflection, love—the more you get out of it.
Some who study these Lessons refer to this daily self-instruction as “doing the Lesson.” I did. Years ago, shortly after I’d committed to this daily Bible study, as I was “doing the Lesson,” my husband walked into the room, saw what I was doing, and asked ever so honestly, “Just what is it you ‘do’ when you ‘do’ your Lesson?” Good question! It was one I hadn’t given much thought to. I responded, “I want to do and be better.” That was honest, but it didn’t answer his question. But what a wake-up call it was for me! I, too, needed to know the answer.
I must have sat there well over an hour thinking about it, questioning myself. What was I doing? And how was I doing it? Was I just doing “what I was supposed to” because my parents did? Was it mere ritual? Habit? Going through the motions? Superstition? Was I afraid something bad would happen if I didn’t? Or was I doing it with my whole heart—expectantly, attentively, earnestly, sincerely, joyfully, prayerfully?
Being honest with myself, I had to admit my “doing the Lesson” that day was more page turning than anything. I was nearly at the end of the Lesson when my husband walked in, yet I couldn’t tell you what I’d read. During my reading time, I’d also entertained worry, some hurt feelings, made a phone call, daydreamed a little, even scribbled three grocery list items on a nearby notepad. I had finally concluded that my “doing the Lesson” had been only “vain repetitions” (see Matt. 6:7), to use Christ Jesus’ own words.
Right then and there, I resolved never to let it be a vain repetition again. I would not miss out on its meaningfulness. Certainly my reason for reading the Lesson—wanting to be better and do better—was pure. No doubt that’s why this resolution was welling up inside me now. It was strong, natural. I was certain that God, who inspires both the purpose and content of these Lessons, would show me their importance, not only for me but for the world, and what my “doing” of them was all about.
Later that same day, I ran across an item quoted in the Clerk’s Report of the Annual Meeting of The Mother Church in 1906 that gave me my first glimpse of the momentousness of these Bible Lessons. It was a glowing acknowledgment—by the son of a Methodist minister, and published in the Methodist Review—of the great import and impact of what Mary Baker Eddy had provided her followers. It began, “ ‘Mrs. Eddy . . . in her insistence upon the constant daily reading of the Bible and her own writings, . . . has given to her disciples a means of spiritual development which . . . will certainly build such truth as they do gain into the marrow of their characters.’ ” He talked about the results he’d seen in the faces and behavior of her followers. Then he ended with this assessment: “ ‘The religious body which can direct, and control, in no arbitrary sense, but through sane counsel, the reading of its membership, stands a great chance of sweeping the world within a generation’ ” (Miscellany, pp. 48–49).
I was awestruck. At first, shame was what I felt for not realizing what that man recognized and appreciated so quickly and clearly. But this shame was soon replaced by a sweet feeling of being washed by Love. I knew this was God answering my prayer, awakening me. I was genuinely grateful.
Then I noticed the paragraph above the quoted remarks: “With the reading of her textbook, ‘Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,’ Mrs. Eddy insisted that her students make, every day, a prayerful study of the Bible, and obtain the spiritual understanding of its promises.” That spoke volumes to me about how to study the Lesson. “Prayerful study,” it said—not scholarly, not with an agenda, not dutifully or habitually, just full of prayer. And I vowed right then that was how I would “do” the Lesson. To “obtain the spiritual understanding of its promises” to me constituted my “doing” of it. This was substantial! And I vowed to do exactly that—with each study, to spiritually understand them at a deeper level and prove them at a higher level.
Each day I found myself applying what I was learning of God’s attentive care to everything that came to my attention all day—in the news, as well as in my own experience.
I was beginning to see the hugeness of what Mrs. Eddy, at God’s directing, had established for each truth seeker. More than a study method, this self-instruction is a divine event! A precious one-to-one communion with our loving Father-Mother God—a standing appointment with Him to receive our daily bread (the very God thoughts we need for this day). From that day forward, I paused to acknowledge that this date with God is the most important time of my day.
What a difference this made in my spiritual growth. Almost immediately, my Lesson study time found me more alert, focused, grateful, receptive. And each day I found myself applying what I was learning of God’s attentive care to everything that came to my attention all day—in the news, as well as in my own experience.
One morning this Bible verse stood out to me: “The king’s daughter is all glorious within: her clothing is of wrought gold” (Ps. 45:13). I thought about that all day. Here’s how it spoke to me: The first half was to me the spiritual fact that all God’s daughters (and sons, too) are just as perfect as He is—in character, motive, substance, form, every way. “Clothing of wrought gold” to me signified the application of this fact to meet the human need. It assured me we’re all wrapped in God’s angels—messages of His loving care. And since gold is a pure metal, it assured me that God’s thoughts are the surest protection there is.
After school that afternoon, our second-grade daughter showed me her arm (it was covered with red welts). “The school nurse said I’ve got hives—something is wrong in my system. Mommy, what’s a system?” she asked. That verse in Psalms had so inspired me all day that I was not impressed by the welts, so much greater was her spiritual perfection to me. As a child, I’d experienced this same recurring difficulty, but now I knew God, good, was both cause and effect. Our daughter bounded off to play. When I called her for dinner the welts were gone, and they never returned.
My spiritual growth and love of God continued, and soon led to my desire to take primary class instruction in Christian Science. Not knowing how exactly to go about it, yet not wanting human opinions, I prayed for God’s direction. That week’s Bible Lesson included this passage from Science and Health: “Spirit, God, gathers unformed thoughts into their proper channels, and unfolds these thoughts, even as He opens the petals of a holy purpose in order that the purpose may appear” (p. 506). I took that as His promise to me, trusted it, and found He did direct me and opened the way for me to take the 12-day class that year.
Class instruction made my self-instruction in the Bible Lessons even more precious, important, and practical. My appreciation of Eddy’s provision for these Lessons increased a hundredfold, and I began to glimpse how immense her vision for them was. The July 1, 1916, Christian Science Sentinel included this: “Mrs. Eddy once said to a student that she longed for the day to come when no one could enter a Christian Science church, no matter how sick or how sorrowing that one might be, without being healed, and that this day can come only when every member of the church studies and demonstrates the truth contained in the Lesson-Sermon, and takes with him to the service the consciousness thus prepared” (Florence Clerihew Boyd, “Healing the Multitudes, p. 866).
Since reading this, my desire to do my part in this fulfillment further impels and enriches my study and application of the truths in these God-ordained, God-inspired Lessons. Each is grounded in and winged with Truth and Love.
As I’m writing this article, the subject of this week’s Bible Lesson is “Love.” It causes me to pause and rejoice. Just think, throughout this day and night, somewhere in the world, someone is reading—being fed and healed by—this Bible Lesson on God’s unstoppable love.
Judith Hardy Olson is a Christian Science practitioner and teacher in Westport, Connecticut.
