Recently I became intrigued when a friend shared a dictionary definition of the word shall. Besides meaning "must," shall also implies inevitability" — that the object spoken of is fact. And I related this second meaning to the Church Manual By-Law about Reading Rooms (p. 63): "Section 1. Each church of the Christian Science denomination shall have a Reading Room, though two or more churches may unite in having Reading Rooms, provided these rooms are well located" (emphasis added). Might this not imply that each Christian Science church already has a Reading Room-that it's an assured fact? To me, it means that the idea of Reading Room is already established and ensured by God, the one Mind. And that each branch church simply gets to discover their Reading Room!
In looking back at earlier versions of the By-Law about the establishment of Reading Rooms, l've found that the phrase "two or more churches may unite in having Reading Rooms" likely resulted from abundance rather than limitation—because an area had many churches rather than from a fear that churches couldn't staff or afford "well located" Reading Rooms on their own. For example, in the late 1800's in some metropolitan areas, many branches found themselves in close proximity to one another. Some wanted to have more than one Reading Room. Clearly, there would be advantages in churches not opening more than one Reading Room—thus competing with other area branch churches, Also, by establishing this provision in the By-Law, Mary Baker Eddy may have felt it prudent to have churches in close proximity join together to have fewer but centrally well-located Reading Rooms (see The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 236).
Communications over the years between Mrs. Eddy and church members indicate various interpretations of the Reading Room By-Law. Some letters to certain branches and members seem contradictory, because they were written at different times and to different areas about their unique needs and questions. However, in a letter to a New York City branch church about setting up their Reading Room. Mrs. Eddy spoke to all questions when she encouraged the members to do what "they may deem best suited to the needs of the cause of Christian Science in that city" (L14044, Adam H. Dickey to Anna L. McLellan, December 8, 1908, The Mary Baker Eddy Collection).
