UPFRONT December 4, 2006 Issue

The blessing triad

WARREN BOLON, SENIOR WRITER

When I began my current Sunday School teaching assignment, one of the first things the teachers discussed in our monthly staff meeting was how to make the Commandments, the Sermon on the Mount, and the Lord's Prayer even more central to our teaching. We agreed that one way to make these "first lessons" primary to our students was to first make them primary in our own lives. Then, we would be teaching less by talking and more by doing. So, along with many readers, I welcomed the Sentinel's spotlight on "The Commandments—Ten Life-Guides" (November 6, 2006).

As the Sentinel staff put together that issue, we also posted on our planning boards two related cover subjects—this one, on the Beatitudes as highways to lasting happiness; and the New Year's Day 2007 issue, which will be on "The Lord's Prayer—The Prayer of Promise."

The spiritual truths embodied in these three Biblical provisions are so central to Christianity and Christian Science that Mary Baker Eddy required that they be taught as the "first lessons" in Christian Science Sunday School classes (see Church Manual, pp. 62–63). Every major social issue, every personal to global crisis that writers prayerfully address in this magazine, has its solution in humanity's deeper understanding and practice of these spiritual laws of life. And it's self-evident that following Christ Jesus and practicing Christian healing means pursuing a life-long adventure in studying the Scriptures, a continuing self-education in the Bible's inspired and practical meanings.

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