One of the most attractive smells in the world is that of new bread. Can anyone resist a crisp, crusty loaf, freshly baked? How inviting to have such a loaf on our table each morning!
The Bible Lesson in the Christian Science Quarterly is a daily provision of a different sort. It is symbolic of the bread of Truth, like the biblical manna, fresh every morning, feeding and sustaining the children of God. This Lesson-Sermon, read at each Sunday service and studied during the preceding week by students of Christian Science, consists of selected passages from the Bible, and from Science and Health by Mrs. Eddy. She writes, "In 1895 I ordained that the Bible, and 'Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,' the Christian Science textbook, be the pastor, on this planet, of all the churches of the Christian Science denomination." Miscellaneous Writings, pp. 382-383; She appointed the subjects of these lessons as vital to the progress of her followers and to the prosperity of the Church she had founded.
When we read or listen to the Lesson-Sermon, we are communing with God, renewing our understanding of the nature of God and man in His image. We are partaking in some measure of the bread of Truth and the wine of inspiration. This daily communion gives us the truths that meet our every need, whether the need is for physical healing, daily supply, or adjusted human relationships; it gives us the inspiration needed to solve church, business, national, and international problems.
We read in the Gospels how Christ Jesus occasionally went up into a mountain to pray, to commune with God, to refresh himself with spiritual ideas, to uplift his thought above matter to spiritual reality. The spirituality of his vision explained his wonderful healings, such as that of the lunatic boy after the transfiguration (see Matt. 17).
Jesus taught his disciples the importance of having their thought prepared and ready for God's messages, as his consistently was. In one discussion he admonished his disciples: "Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning; and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when he will return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately." Luke 12:35, 36;
In reading this story one day I realized this parable could be applied helpfully to our attitude toward the Lesson-Sermon. When we begin to read it or listen to it, let us ask ourselves these questions: Are we dressed—clothed in a right concept of ourselves, of our spiritual nature as the expression of God, and so ready to labor for God and mankind, ready to put Truth into practice? Are our lights burning? Are our mental lamps filled with the qualities that Mrs. Eddy gives as the spiritual meaning of "oil": "Consecration; charity; gentleness; prayer; heavenly inspiration"? Science and Health, p. 592;
The wedding from which the servants' master was returning might remind us of Mrs. Eddy's definition of "bridegroom" as "spiritual understanding; the pure consciousness that God, the divine Principle, creates man as His own spiritual idea, and that God is the only creative power." ibid., p. 582. The Christ is always present, but the human mind needs to be prepared to receive Christ. Spiritual understanding can come to us through any and every section of the lesson whenever our hearts are open to new revelations of truth.
How important it is then that we should be alert to deny any suggestion that we have not time to study the lesson today, that we can miss a church service on Sunday because we have read the lesson during the week! Or, having gone to church, let us see that our thoughts do not wander off in the contemplation of personal affairs, that we do not accept the adverse influence of weather or the notion that we have had a busy week and so deserve a little time to doze during the reading. Sleep and apathy are thieves. They would break into our house, or mental consciousness, and steal away our treasures of peace, health, and happiness, and so prevent or check spiritual growth.
The faithful servant is always ready to meet his master, always alert and expectant. Every moment of every day is an opportunity to love and appreciate Truth, God, to affirm God's allness, His all-presence and all-power. This can never be tiring or dull but can lift us into an awareness of eternity. I have often proved that time is never saved by not studying the Lesson-Sermon or by not going to a church service. On the contrary, the human activities that seem so pressing are completed more quickly and are more satisfactory when we put God first.
The truths being read from the platforms in Christian Science churches throughout the world will be effective in the community in the degree of our acceptance of them. We should affirm these truths, love and appreciate them, and assert their power to overcome everything unlike God, good. This prepares us for the wedding feast, the spiritual meal of Truth and Love provided by the Christ. The manna of Truth is never stale, never loses its freshness and inspiration, however often it is read or listened to.
So, accept the daily invitation provided by our Bible Lesson. More than anything else, this will spiritualize your thinking and so enable you to do the healing works our Master required of all his followers.
