"Raising his eyes and seeing a large crowd coming towards him, Jesus said to Philip, 'Where are we to buy bread to feed these people?'" (The New English Bible, John 6:5)
In the feeding of the crowd gathered to hear Jesus' words, a boy's lunch was ready to be multiplied into ample food for all, including the disciples. Like the boy who came prepared for whatever the day might demand, a lecturer's role is to come prepared with a message ready to be multiplied by the touch of Christ, Truth. Every disciple, every church member, takes part in distributing the baskets, then partakes as well—"and they did all eat, and were filled." The members host the meal, serve it, and eat with the guests. Afterward they continue to help their guests with the same care they took in preparing for them.
Christian Science lectures are intended to be introductions to a vast subject—what Mary Baker Eddy herself calls "the great subject of Christian Science." The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 339. Whatever their individual style or theme, these lectures can help us introduce our neighbors to the same deep spiritual resources that are bringing healing and new life to us as members: Science and Health and the Bible. And whether we take the lecture to our guests or they come to us, we're all fed by the one and only bread of Truth and renewed by the same water of Life!
