Article October 20, 1997 Issue

CHRISTIAN SCIENCE SENTINEL

1898—A Hundred Years of Watching and Holding Guard—1998

The Editors

Do you have any old photo albums? It's fun to revisit the people and events of years ago. We've been looking at a photo album of sorts lately, one documenting the evolution of this weekly magazine.

There are things about the Sentinel that have changed dramatically year to year, decade to decade. Relevance is vital for a magazine that helps people watch and pray about news and trends. No wonder the Sentinel's founder, Mary Baker Eddy, required "that these periodicals are ably edited and kept abreast of the times" (Manual of The Mother Church, Art. VIII, Sect. 14). There are other elements that haven't changed. On September 1, 1898, the world saw the first issue of this magazine, named by Mary Baker Eddy The Christian Science Weekly. Soon after, she renamed it the Christian Science Sentinel.

Two things that haven't changed during the past one hundred years—and it is well that they shouldn't—are the Sentinel's mission and motto. You'll notice how closely related they are to each other. The motto that Mrs. Eddy provided for the Sentinel is Jesus' admonition "What I say unto you I say unto all, Watch" (Mark 13:37). And when Mrs. Eddy wrote of the missions for each of the publications she founded, she said of the Sentinel that it was "to hold guard over Truth, Life, and Love" (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 353).