The Christian Science church stands with outstretched arms calling to mankind as the prophet called of old, "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters." It promises rest to the weary, reform to the sinner, health to the suffering, peace to the troubled, comfort to the sorrowing. It is the only church whose sermons are not restricted by personal preaching. The impersonal, inspiring Lesson-Sermon in the Christian Science Quarterly is fulfilling its mission of uplifting the human race. Our one Sermon engirdles the world each Sunday, for it is being read continuously during the twenty-four hours, as the earth revolves on its axis. With the dawn of another day of a new week the study of a new Lesson-Sermon is begun, and it continues to unfold its healing message throughout the week wherever an earnest student of Christian Science is turning to the Bible and Science and Health for enlightenment.
Some years ago a young divinity student occasionally attended the Wednesday evening meeting in one of our branch churches. During a conversation at the close of one of these meetings he remarked how Mrs. Eddy's plan for the use of the Lesson-Sermons had impressed him. With reverence he said, in substance, "I often think of the tremendous power for good of the Lesson-Sermon, because of the earnest study given to the awakening and healing passages of Truth each day by a great throng of eager and grateful Christian Scientists the world over—it is a force that will gather momentum from year to year as the church membership increases in numbers." As his words were pondered, it became evident how Christian Science will leaven and mold the thought of the ages through these Sermons.
In the Manual of The Mother Church (Art. VIII, Sect. 5), our beloved Leader has given us the following By-Law: "The prayers in Christian Science churches shall be offered for the congregations collectively and exclusively." And on page 189 of "The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany," she writes: "The silent prayers of our churches, resounding through the dim corridors of time, go forth in waves of sound, a diapason of heart-beats, vibrating from one pulpit to another and from one heart to another, till truth and love, commingling in one righteous prayer, shall encircle and cement the human race." Obedience to our Leader's command for selflessness in connection with our church prayers, should also naturally put world interest instead of self-interest into the study of the Lesson-Sermon, and mankind as a whole should then be immeasurably blessed through the realization of Truth going out to the congregations and to the world in general through the daily study by students of Christian Science.
