Editorial February 6, 1960 Issue

OUR SUNDAY SERVICES

Ralph E. Wagers

A Christian Science church service has several distinctive characteristics. For one thing, the pastor, instead of being a person, is the Bible and "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy. The sermon is also a weekly lesson, a sermon to be listened to on Sunday and a lesson to be studied during the preceding week. That is why these weekly lessons are often referred to as Lesson-Sermons. The twenty-six subjects for the Lesson-Sermons were chosen by Mrs. Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science. These subjects are so basic, so fundamental, that they will never be changed; but by the use of different references each subject is presented in a new and helpful way twice a year.

The Lesson-Sermons, or Bible Lessons, have proved to be of great value to students of Christian Science. In the Christian Science Quarterly, references from Science and Health are correlative to passages from the Bible. A subject such as "God the Only Cause and Creator," for instance, is presented in six different steps by passages from the Bible and from the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health.

The importance of one particular portion of each service is the reason for this editorial. It has to do with the responsibility of the congregation when the First Reader invites those present to unite in a few moments of silent prayer to be followed by the audible repetition of the Lord's Prayer.

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