Mary Baker Eddy ordained the Bible and the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, to serve as pastor for the Church of Christ, Scientist, in 1895. At the time, it was a bold change to the structure of the church. How could Mrs. Eddy have put the preaching, teaching, comforting, guiding, and mentoring role of the pastor into the hands of two books? Quite simply: She believed in the power of the Word of God.
Mrs. Eddy trusted the weekly Christian Science Bible Lesson-Sermon, which is comprised of citations from the Bible and Science and Health, to uplift, transform, and sustain all who would read it and hear it spoken at church services. She expected church services to be healing services—that they would deeply touch those who attended and change their thinking to a more spiritual standpoint, because she knew that to listen to the Lesson-Sermon is to hear a sermon from God.
She asks in one of her poems, “Felt ye the power of the Word?” (Poems, p. 75). I have, as have many who have attended a Christian Science church service. As a child, I attended and joined another Christian church. I sang in its choir, attended its Sunday School, and participated in its services. I loved my church, its pastor, and everyone in the congregation, and I benefitted from being a member. But when I sat in church services listening to the personal sermons, I felt as if time stood still—my mind wandered elsewhere.
