"... a lesson on which the prosperity of Christian Science largely depends"
One lesson for each week. The same lesson for every student. Translated into over a dozen languages. Studied daily in cities and towns, rural areas and remote outposts all over the world. A lesson designed to address the individual needs of young and old, male and female, the unschooled and the highly educated. A lesson conceived as a sermon that preaches salvation for all mankind. Such is the Christian Science Bible Lesson, a lesson on which, Mary Baker Eddy says, "the prosperity of Christian Science largely depends." See Manual of The Mother Church, Art. III, Sect. 1
Since its establishment in the 1890s by Mrs. Eddy, the Lesson-Sermon through its healing effect on individual lives, has been a powerful force in the progress of Christian Science. At this crucial period in our Church's history, Christian Science, teaching the pure spiritual healing practiced by Christ Jesus, faces vigorous challenge. The carnal mind, through aggressive materialism, aims to dilute, hinder, and ultimately stop the spiritual healing being done today. In these times it is clearer than ever that the prosperity of Christian Science is linked to the Lesson-Sermon.
To appreciate why this is true, we need to understand that the impetus for the healthy growth of Christian Science is essentially spiritual. The prosperity of Christian Science is manifest in the regenerating and healing effect of its teachings on the lives of individuals.
To the degree that students grow spiritually through their study and demonstration of Christian Science, to that degree the Christian Science movement progresses. This is why the Lesson-Sermon is so important. It's an indispensable tool in our spiritual growth, in our study of the truth and our practice of spiritual healing. The lesson provides a focus for our study and establishes a sense of discipline, order, and consistency about our growth.
Addressing the specific concerns of the individual, the lessons speak to the broader issues confronting mankind as well. The twenty-six lesson subjects were established by Mrs. Eddy. At one time a committee of church members wanted to increase the number. Feeling that there should be a different subject for every week of the year, they submitted to Mrs. Eddy a list of twenty-six additional topics. Her response was emphatic: "Tell the committee the original subjects were given of God — they are sufficient, and they will remain forever." Irving C. Tomlinson, Twelve Years with Mary Baker Eddy (Boston: The Christian Science Publishing Society, 1966), p. 145
The twenty-six subjects established by our Leader embrace the fullness of Christianity in its clearest enunciation, Christian Science. In their depth and breadth they present the reality and substance of God, man, and the universe and teach the pure theology of Christ Jesus and the Comforter. They expose the unreality of matter and sin and denounce evil in all its forms, both old and new. Within the scope of these subjects lies the answer to every question, the solution to every problem, the healing of every ill.
Regular, thorough, prayer-based study of these subjects enables each person to view the world from a deeper spiritual perspective and to pray more effectively for mankind.
Content and structure
The Lesson-Sermon is not personal preaching but is the message of the unique and permanent Christian Science pastor. Mrs. Eddy writes, "Your dual and impersonal pastor, the Bible, and 'Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,' is with you; and the Life these give, the Truth they illustrate, the Love they demonstrate, is the great Shepherd that feedeth my flock, and leadeth them 'beside the still waters.'" Miscellaneous Writings, p. 322
The lessons are prepared by a committee of practitioners, some of whom are also teachers of Christian Science. They are appointed by the Board of Trustees of The Christian Science Publishing Society with the concurrence of The Christian Science Board of Directors.
The cornerstone of the lesson's content is the Bible. The Golden Text is a brief Bible passage, chosen to establish the direction or tone of the lesson. The Responsive Reading, a longer selection of Scripture, aims to prepare thought for the development of the lesson subject in the six sections that follow. In the body of the lesson, the spiritual and practical import of Scriptural passages is developed through correlative selections from Science and Health. These passages both corroborate and explain the Bible texts, as Mrs. Eddy's Explanatory Note in the Christian Science Quarterly brings out.
While the lesson subjects are repeated every six months, each is handled from a fresh perspective every time, although some of the same material may be used. For example, take the two lessons on "Mind" during the past year. Both included Romans 11:33 and portions of Mrs. Eddy's answer to the question "What is Mind?" in Science and Health. See Science and Health, pp. 469-471 However, the context in each lesson was entirely individual. One lesson presented various aspects of divine Mind's healing power, while the other thoroughly developed ideas related to the oneness of Mind.
The structure of each lesson is unique. Some lessons are built around a distinct and obvious theme, perhaps a single word or phrase from the Bible or Science and Health that becomes thematic for the whole. In other lessons the structure evolves not so much from a word or phrase as from a particular spiritual tone that colors the entire message. Sometimes a discernible line of spiritual logic, as distinct from a thematic phrase or tone, binds ideas together and moves them to a clear conclusion.
While a student may find it intellectually satisfying to identify the key to the lesson's structure, it's good to remember that structure is never an end in itself. The purpose of the lesson's structure is the meaningful presentation of ideas. Spiritual ideas and their healing application —these are what the serious student looks for in his study. These are what prosper both the student and the Cause of Christian Science!
How I study the Lesson-Sermon—from a woman who began studying the Lesson-Sermon in Nigeria
Very early in the morning, before anyone else has awakened, I get up with the joyful anticipation that I will be learning something new from studying the Lesson-Sermon. I particularly like that time of day because it is so peaceful. I become aware of the quiet power of God's love and the harmony of His universe.
I often take a moment to be grateful for communion with my Father-Mother God without any human interferences. I pray to know more deeply that nothing can prevent my understanding of the Word in the lesson, and then, to be honest, I sometimes handle the suggestion of tiredness! In this regard I love the verse from the Bible "Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law" (Ps. 119:18). Then I begin my study.
The various subjects in the Christian Science Quarterly have become familiar over the years, so the Golden Text gives me an indication of the new thought on the subject for the week. The Golden Text is a concise introduction from the Bible and, for me, a summary also of what the six sections from both the Bible and Science and Health by Mary Baker Eddy will be unfolding to thought. The Responsive Reading from the Bible gives me a broader idea of what the Golden Text states.
When the Responsive Reading is clear in my understanding, especially as it applies to the Golden Text and ultimately the subject, I go to the main body of the Lesson-Sermon and study each of the six sections from the Bible and Science and Health. I have found Science and Health to be truly the key to the Scriptures throughout my years of studying the Lesson-Sermon. It opens up the Bible to my thought in a way that aids my spiritual growth and meets my human needs. My daily study of the Lesson-Sermon always brings the healing of some erroneous thought, either seemingly forgotten or very present in my consciousness.
Even though the words of the Lesson-Sermon are the same every day for a week, they are always new because each day they unfold fresh spiritual views and bring healing— sometimes physical, sometimes moral. The lesson always brings growth and the putting off of "the old man"! (See Col. 3:9.)
With joyful anticipation, therefore, I face a brand new day, assured that my "morning meal" will lead consciousness to divine heights and sustain me through the day.
Application
The Lesson-Sermon is a lesson to be studied by individuals, as well as a sermon to be read to congregations. The application of the lesson is as broad as the needs that are brought to it. Mrs. Eddy writes, "Love is impartial and universal in its adaptation and bestowals." Ibid., p. 13 Being born of Love, the truths in our Lesson-Sermons address the concerns of individual hearts and embrace at the same time the larger needs of mankind.
The application of the lesson is not really a case of the student "applying the lesson, as though the lesson's truth over here must somehow be brought into contact with human experience over there. To speak of "applying the lesson" may suggest a gap between the lesson and its relevance to human needs.
Probably it's more accurate to say that the lesson applies. It is relevant to our experience. That's its purpose, its design and nature. Looking at it this way, we see that there is no gap between the lesson and its application.
Our consistent, heart-deep daily work with the lesson enriches us as nothing else can. As we work with the lesson, it heals us, and it teaches us how to heal. As we increase our spiritual understanding, Christian Science prospers. And through Christian Science our world is being changed.
FOR FURTHER STUDY
from Mrs. Eddy's writings
Miscellaneous Writings 114:1-6.
The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany 178:1-6.
Manual of The Mother Church, Article III, Section 1, and Article XIV, Section 2.
How I study the Lesson Sermon—from a practitioner in Australia
My study of the Lesson Sermon is motivated by a constant search for ideas—spiritual ideas, the inspiration that wells up from infinite Mind. Putting it another way, this is a search for the pure Word of God, the original spiritual meaning of the Bible. As John puts it: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (John 1:1).
I feel that, more than anything else, this daily activity with the Bible and Science and Health gives meaning and substance to my work for the day.
Looking back to the time when I first used to study the Lesson-Sermon I remember that I tended not to distinguish very clearly between a merely intellectual or surface face grasp of the meaning of the Word and the deep spiritual sense of the Word which actually transforms one's character, roots out deep-seated traits of the carnal mind, and brings healing. Understanding the letter of the Word is helpful, and in fact necessary, but I find that this is not of itself sufficient.
I don't find gaining the inner spiritual meaning of the World easy, but the struggle to do so is strengthening, and the results are deeply satisfying and worthwhile. More than this, gaining this higher spiritual meaning of the Bible leads to a constant unfoldment of new views of creation and progress in one's daily life and work. Literally it it keeps one alive!
I find a passage by Mrs. Eddy very helpful in dealing with the struggle for spiritual understanding. After quoting a passage in which Paul states "The carnal mind is enmity against God," she writes: "There will be greater mental opposition to the spiritual, scientific meaning of the Scriptures than there has ever been since the Christian era began. The serpent, material sense, will bite the heel of the woman,—will struggle to destroy the spiritual idea of Love; and the woman, this idea, will bruise the head of lust" (Science and Health, p. 534).
Having identified any mental opposition to the study of the lesson as rooted in material sense, we can use our study of the lesson as an opportunity to root out and destroy material sense in its various guises. Thus the lesson becomes to us a mighty weapon to be wielded against materiality in our individual spiritual progress and the progress of mankind.
How I study the Lesson-Sermon—from a Sunday School teacher
I don't think of myself as a conventional reader of the Bible Lesson. I'm studying it or parts of it all the time!
The lesson is sometimes read early in the morning, at other times in the car sometimes during my lunch hour, sometimes at night. Sometimes I read it straight through at other times I can spend an hour studying one or two sections. But as I look back over a sizable number of years, I can't remember a week when I wasn't working with it, turning back to it again and again.
I learned long ago that the Bible Lesson feeds. It will give us as much as we're willing to accept. And if it feeds us, it surely makes a difference in the scene around us. But unlike our morning cereal, this is food we have to think about. Reading as a ritual or superstition doesn't do it. But prayerfully listening for spiritual ideas will lead us to what we need.
What about a week when you feel the selections from the Bible and Science and Health don't quite speak to you? Once when I was having such a week, something occurred that brought an urgent and immediate desire for strong spiritual truths in my experience. At that point I reread the citations without prejudging them. Because of my honest need, I found statements that stood out like beacons to me. Instead of wondering why I hadn't seen them before, I was quietly grateful that the spiritual truths were there when I needed them.
I use the Study Edition of the Christian Science Quarterly because I love the extra white space. As the week goes by I make notations by particular citations that I want to remember. I find Bible commentaries can be useful, and I often use a dictionary to find new meanings for familiar words. Sometimes the notations I've made are so helpful that I carry the Quarterly around with me.
In studying the Bible references, I must admit that I often read the full story in cases when the Bible Lesson Committee was only able to include a portion (I'm a Sunday School teacher!)
Sometimes I think the best thing about the lessons is that they are there for us. They come every week with fresh, new inspiration, but we learn new things about these friends each time they come around.
I've found my understanding of the twenty-six subjects grows gradually The lessons on "Matter," for insights into our dominion over it. Every lesson on "Man" shows me something new about my relationship to God. Our understanding builds as we grow ourselves.
