Here is a question often directed to Christian Science practitioners by individuals seeking release through spiritual means alone from some form of suffering. Often the request for work to be done is coming from an individual already a student of this religion. Another caller, perhaps making a first contact with a Christian Science practitioner, would be more apt to ask, "Would you pray for me?"
Is prayer work, and is work prayer? Do they mean the same thing? Mrs. Eddy, in addressing her followers, stated, "The song of Christian Science is, 'Work— work—work—watch and pray.'" Message to The Mother Church for 1900, p. 2. As frequently employed in Christian Science, the word "work" surely represents precise spiritual reasoning within the consciousness of the individual. It is specifically knowing and utilizing the truth of the Christ-idea—man's spiritual relationship to God—as revealed through the teachings of Christian Science. Its goal is to produce healing results.
This is not to say, however, that the physical and moral healings that result from work, or prayer, in Christian Science emanate from the mechanism of the human mind. God alone is the healer. He is the Mind that knows all good—His goodness, which is infinite. God's thoughts transform receptive human thought through the eternal sonship of the Christ, thus expunging from human consciousness the material belief or error that produces suffering.
