Weekly Lesson-Sermon

For many people, the subject of spirituality is so encompassing it's hard to know where to start. The Study Guide feature provides a focused approach that organizes the subject into manageable pieces, but allows you to proceed at your own pace.

The weekly guide is made up of twenty-six broad subjects, or lessons. Each subject is examined in the light of the Bible, and then those Bible excerpts are made practical for today by excerpts from Science and Health. Though the lesson topics are repeated twice a year, they are examined differently each time. People who do regular study of this lesson tell how it leads to personal discoveries that bring peace and well-being to daily life.  The text version Weekly Lesson may be purchased and viewed by clicking here.

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"Your dual and impersonal pastor, the Bible, and Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, is with you; and the Life these give, the Truth they illustrate, the Love they demonstrate, is the great Shepherd that feedeth my flock, and leadeth them 'beside the still waters.'"

Mary Baker Eddy

Alexander Cruden explains in his Complete Concordance to the Old and New Testaments that the Biblical word pastor is sometimes used to describe a person who is ". . . given charge of a church of Christ, to care for spiritual interests of the people and feed their souls with spiritual food" (London: Lutterworth Press, 1985). It's in this sense that many churches still use the term pastor today.

When Mary Baker Eddy founded the Church of Christ, Scientist, she at first accepted this kind of traditional role. She later described her experience this way: "When I was its pastor, and in the pulpit every Sunday, my church increased in members, and its spiritual growth kept pace with its increasing popularity; but when obliged, because of accumulating work in the College [Massachusetts Metaphysical College in Boston], to preach only occasionally, no student, at that time, was found able to maintain the church in its previous harmony and prosperity" (Retrospection and Introspection, p. 44).

Through prayer, Mrs. Eddy found an answer to this need. In 1894 she appointed a new and unique pastor for The Mother Church, one that didn't depend on personality at all. Instead, it was an impersonal pastor consisting of two books-the ones to which she'd dedicated her whole life. First, the Bible, the book she'd turned to since childhood as her guide for living and worshiping God. Second, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, the fruit of her lifelong study of the Bible and the complete statement of the Science of Christianity that she'd found there.

Then, in April of 1895, Mrs. Eddy made these books the pastor not only of The Mother Church but also of all its branch churches. As she wrote later to The Mother Church, "Your dual and impersonal pastor, the Bible, and `Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,' is with you; and the Life these give, the Truth they illustrate, the Love they demonstrate, is the great Shepherd that feedeth my flock, and leadeth them `beside the still waters' " (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 322).

In 1903, Mrs. Eddy extended the authority of "The Christian Science Pastor" to the whole world. She wrote in the Manual of The Mother Church, "I, Mary Baker Eddy, ordain the Bible, and Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Pastor over The Mother Church,- The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Mass.,-and they will continue to preach for this Church and the world" (Manual, Art. XIV, Sect. 1).

Why two books? Doesn't the Bible alone show us the way to eternal life? Yes, it does. But humanity had the Bible for close to two millenniums without fully understanding how to use its truths in a scientifically provable way to heal and regenerate people like Christ Jesus did. To arrive at that kind of understanding, humanity needed to comprehend the Bible on a deeper level. They needed to "unlock" the Bible, so to speak. It was the specific mission of Science and Health to give the world this "key" to the Scriptures-to open up their treasures and enable everyone to use them.

But would Science and Health alone be a fully sufficient pastor for the world? No. Having the Christian Science textbook without the Bible would be sort of like having a key without a door, a house without a foundation. Science and Health was built on Scriptural truth. It was in the Bible that Mrs. Eddy discovered the laws of God, the Science that undergirded Jesus' healing ministry. As she explained in the textbook, "The Bible has been my only authority" (Science and Health, p. 126).

The pastor of the world belongs to everyone. Its Word is ever ready to help all of humanity, twenty-four hours of every day. Its truth knows no national or cultural or geographic boundaries. From Nairobi to New York, the pastor brings peace and healing to every heart that's humble enough to follow its message.

Excerpted from Mary Metzner Trammell, "A pastor for the world," The Christian Science Journal, May 1994.

Last Updated:  09/25/2006

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