I must confess, I have a pile of instruction manuals I rarely read hidden away in a bottom drawer in my kitchen. There are manuals for appliances and even a fish tank filter. They offer essential practical information, but admittedly, I only read these manuals when an appliance stops working.
However, I own one manual that has earned a bedside location for weekly nighttime reading. Why? Because the instruction and wise guidance I follow from this manual heals.
I’m referring to the Manual of The Mother Church by the Founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy. This slim book stands as the foundation and pillar of government for The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts, and it includes essential instructions for branch churches and members worldwide.
Sometime in the middle of that busy Sunday School hour,
I realized I was utterly pain-free.
A cursory reading of this book’s contents offers information about the history and organization of The Mother Church, as well as instruction for membership, services, outreach activities, and conduct of members. However, one Sunday many years ago, I had an eye-opening experience with the Manual that transformed how I think about this book.
I was a Sunday School teacher, teaching the youngest class at our church. I taught these three- and four-year-olds about God through fun games, songs, and playacting. One Sunday morning, though, I awoke with a terrible earache. I did not feel I could manage the high-level energy of my class, nor did I think I could comfortably be in church, because of the pain. I considered calling the Sunday School superintendent and asking for a substitute. But as I thought about staying home and praying for myself, I remembered something from the Church Manual. In a chapter entitled “Discipline,” we read: “The prayers in Christian Science churches shall be offered for the congregations collectively and exclusively” (p. 42).
I had read this provision many times but hadn’t thought about its ramifications. I suddenly realized those attending church that morning would be praying “collectively and exclusively” for the congregation, and that included me. I decided to go to church, teach Sunday School, and know that the congregation would be praying along with me, and that I could expect healing. I also strongly felt that God was guiding my decision to go, and that I would be cared for while teaching.
Sometime in the middle of that busy Sunday School hour, I realized I was utterly pain-free; the earache was gone! I was deeply touched, realizing that the attendees’ Christly love for their fellow man and willingness to be obedient to the Church Manual’s provision had resulted in the healing. I saw that this Manual provision helps to fulfill the healing mission of The Church of Christ, Scientist. This experience was a foundational building block in my growing understanding of and love for the Manual.
The Manual is a powerful book that inspires more Christly living and more healing in our churches.
Mrs. Eddy knew the Church Manual’s transformational influence on individual spiritual growth, when members follow and apply its rules. She writes: “Of this I am sure, that each Rule and By-law in this Manual will increase the spirituality of him who obeys it, invigorate his capacity to heal the sick, to comfort such as mourn, and to awaken the sinner” (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 230). There are rich spiritual blessings for those who read and follow the Manual’s provisions.
Since that Sunday, I have placed the Manual on my nightstand with the Bible and Mrs. Eddy’s Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. Mrs. Eddy recommends studying these three books, saying, “Adhere to the teachings of the Bible, Science and Health, and our Manual, and you will obey the law and gospel” (Miscellany, pp. 251–252). I like to think of these books as a triad for Christian Science practice—the Bible as the foundation for Christianity, Science and Health as the revelation of Christianly scientific practice, and the Manual as the divinely inspired governing rules for The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and its members.
I no longer think of the Manual as merely a printed document of rules for church administrators—a document that might get filed away and rarely read. It is a powerful book that, read in conjunction with the Bible and the Christian Science textbook, inspires more Christly living and more healing in our churches, as I joyfully discovered.
