In 1895 Mrs. Eddy stopped having individuals serve as pastors in branch Churches of Christ, Scientist, and ordained the Bible and her book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures as the only pastor of Christian Science churches. And the sermon each Sunday consists of readings from these two books on one of a series of twenty-six topics established by Mrs. Eddy. This pastor is given voice by two Readers elected from the branch church membership. One Reader reads the Bible citations, and the other conducts the service and reads the citations from Science and Health.
The Reader's job is more than simply reading the Lesson-Sermon Found in the Christian Science Quarterly aloud to the congregation. It includes letting the pastor preach. Preaching is not just the speaking of words; to preach can also mean "to urge" or "to advocate earnestly." The Christian Science pastor has a radical and vital message for humanity, one that can stir, persuade, comfort, and heal. Mrs. Eddy said of this pastor: "True, I have made the Bible, and 'Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,' the pastor for all the churches of the Christian Science denomination, but that does not make it impossible for this pastor of ours to preach!... The Word of God is a powerful preacher, and it is not too spiritual to be practical, nor too transcendental to be heard and understood. Whosoever saith there is no sermon without personal preaching, forgets what Christian Scientists do not, namely, that God is a Person, and that he should be willing to hear a sermon from his personal God!" Message to The Mother Church for 1901, p. 11
A sermon from God. This is what the Christian Science pastor waits to preach each Sunday. The sermon comes in the form of citations from the Bible and Science and Health, but these are not random citations. The citations are carefully chosen and ordered to show us what the pastor has to say on the designated topic for the week. Although the twenty-six topics are used twice every year, each Bible Lesson develops the subject individually and brings out specific points in an organized form. In this way, the pastor leads human thought to a deeper, more meaningful understanding of the subject. This new spiritual understanding, replacing old beliefs, brings healing, including the healing of physical ills. To deliver such a sermon as this adequately, the Readers must find a way of reading that brings to the congregation the preaching of their "personal God!"
