When I was growing up, I attended a mainstream Protestant Sunday School, where we sang a beloved hymn: “My Hope is Built on Nothing Less” by Edward Mote with William B. Bradbury’s melody “Solid Rock.” We belted out this hymn at the end of class every Sunday. Since we were just kids, we didn’t think much at the time about what we were singing. It was just so fun to sing this hymn together. But the lyrics stayed with me, and all through my life I have been grateful for them:

                  My hope is built on nothing less
                  Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;
                  I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
                  But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.
                  On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
                  All other ground is sinking sand,
                  All other ground is sinking sand.

Throughout the Bible, there are many references to “the Rock.” Old Testament writers called God the Rock (see, for example, Deuteronomy 32:3, 4). In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul identified Christ Jesus as the Rock (see I Corinthians 10:4). Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, in her signature work, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, spiritually defines rock as “spiritual foundation; Truth” (p. 593), and Christ as “the divine manifestation of God, which comes to the flesh to destroy incarnate error” (p. 583). So, whether referring to God or Christ, “the Rock” stands for what is divinely true, sound, all-powerful, and eternal.