Article February 14, 1953 Issue

THE VALUE OF THE LESSON-SERMON

GERTRUDE E. VELGUTH

Among her numerous God-insprired activities, Mary Baker Eddy provided for the Lesson-Sermons, which are contained in the Christian Science Quarterly and are read daily by all devoted students of this religion. As stated in the Explanatory Note in the Quarterly, these Lessons contain "Scriptural texts, and their correlative passages from our denominational textbook," which is "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy. They are the Sermons exclusively used in all Christian Science churches throughout the world.

Our Leader evaluates the importance of the Lesson-Sermon when she thus refers to it in Article III, Section 1, of the Manual of The Mother Church: "The Readers of The Mother Church and of all its branch churches must devote a suitable portion of their time to preparation for the reading of the Sunday lesson,—a lesson on which the prosperity of Christian Science largely depends." The topics which Mrs. Eddy selected as the subjects of these Lessons might be said to constitute a spiritual sequence, expressing in their completeness the divine order—Spirit. God, the sole creator, and the spiritual universe, including man, forever preserved in its original perfection. Each synonym for God, except Principle, is dealt with as a text in itself and is the title for the Lesson. We may to some extent, however, find God revealed as Principle in every Lesson, and especially in the Lesson on "God the Only Cause and Creator."

A list of the Lesson-Sermons for each quarter and the quarter to come, which shows the scope of the material covered, is given in the front of the Quarterly. One needs only to note the title "Is the Universe, Including Man, Evolved by Atomic Force?" to realize Mrs. Eddy's gift of prophecy, since it was in the year 1898 that she named this list. Truly we see that these Lessons are applicable "to all ages, past, present, and future" (Explanatory Note).

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Article

JESUS' RIGHTEOUS SCORN