The Church Manual by Mary Baker Eddy is in a sense the constitution of The First Church of Christ, Scientist, The Mother Church of Christian Science, setting out the responsibilities of members, Church officers, The Mother Church, branch churches, etc. But what if, in addition to viewing the Manual as a set of Church rules, we saw it especially as a guidebook for living, a conceptual framework for everything we do?—from relationships to family to career.
Some aspects of the lifestyle that the Church Manual defines include following Jesus, living as a healer, filling your heart with gratitude and love, making peace, using your time productively, expressing practical wisdom, exercising wisdom, economy, and brotherly love (see 92:3–11; 41:1–5; 60:15–17; 45:4–13; 49:7–13; 77:18–22; 60:9–11).
The Manual indicates that the Bible and the published writings of Mary Baker Eddy are to be used as the members’ “only textbooks for self-instruction in Christian Science, and for teaching and practising metaphysical healing” (34:12–16). The Manual says that the Bible is our “sufficient guide to eternal Life” (15:3–5). And taken together, the Bible and Mary Baker Eddy’s writings show how to express a higher, more permanent sense of health–how to show a divine compassion that calls on the healing power of God. They teach morality and ethics that are based not on changing, external standards, but on infinite Love, just waiting to be discovered in every human heart. But if you only did what the Manual inspired you to do, wouldn’t that be boring and make you a bore? Wouldn’t that make you talk Christian Science all the time?
