Article July 16, 1960 Issue

A Continuous Activity

The Manual of The Mother Church by Mary Baker Eddy includes, "The services of The Mother Church shall be continued twelve months each year" (Art. XVII, Sect. 1). It is noteworthy that the provision for the Christian Science Sunday School appears in this book under the same general heading of "Church Services," and has always been interpreted to mean that Sunday School exercises too should be carried on throughout the year.

Not in a single instance does Mrs. Eddy speak of the Sunday School as a service but always as exercises. According to a dictionary, one definition of the word "exercises" refers to that done or prescribed to be done for training or improvement, Teaching the children the moral and spiritual laws found in the Scriptures in the light of Christian Science, through both the first and the next lessons, trains the pupils of the Sunday School, improves their understanding of Christian Science, and thus advances their ability to apply it in daily experience.

If the question is asked, "Should these important exercises be discontinued during the vacation season?" the answer may be found in the following excerpt from a paper given in a membership meeting in a branch church: "While academic schools of learning may follow the policy of suspending their teaching work for the summer months without harmful effect on or any appreciable impairment of the students' progress, such a policy could not be followed by the Christian Science Sunday School because it would tend to interrupt the spiritual progress of the pupils.

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