Sacrament

This is #17 in a series of posts looking at the 26 Christian Science Weekly Bible Lesson subjects, chosen by Mary Baker Eddy, and rotated twice per year. These lessons are the sermon at each Christian Science church worldwide, and are read by Christian Scientists daily. Today’s subject is “Sacrament”. Look for other posts in the category Lesson Sermon Subjects. 

Unreality & Reality

This is #s 15 & 16 in a series of posts looking at the 26 Christian Science Weekly Bible Lesson subjects, chosen by Mary Baker Eddy, and rotated twice per year. These lessons are the sermon at each Christian Science church worldwide, and are read by Christian Scientists daily. Today’s subjects are “Unreality” and “Reality”. Look for other posts in the category Lesson Sermon Subjects. 

Man

This is #14 in a series of posts looking at the 26 Christian Science Weekly Bible Lesson subjects, chosen by Mary Baker Eddy, and rotated twice per year. These lessons are the sermon at each Christian Science church worldwide, and are read by Christian Scientists daily. Today’s subject is “Man”. Look for other posts in the category Lesson Sermon Subjects. 

Christ Jesus

This is #13 in a series of posts looking at the 26 Christian Science Weekly Bible Lesson subjects, chosen by Mary Baker Eddy, and rotated twice per year. These lessons are the sermon at each Christian Science church worldwide, and are read by Christian Scientists daily. Today’s subject is “Christ Jesus”. Look for other posts in the category Lesson Sermon Subjects. 

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Life

This is #12 in a series of posts looking at the 26 Christian Science Weekly Bible Lesson subjects, chosen by Mary Baker Eddy, and rotated twice per year. These lessons are the sermon at each Christian Science church worldwide, and are read by Christian Scientists daily. Today’s subject is ‘Life’. Look for other posts in the category “Lesson Sermon Subjects“.

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Life in the context of today’s subject, is one of Mary Baker Eddy’s seven ‘synonyms’ for God (the word is capitalized when used in this context–see ‘Christian Science Grammar’ in my glossary of terms for more on this), and one of the six of these that is a Lesson Sermon topic (Principle seems not to get a nod for some reason). So, what is this thing called ‘Life’?

Truth

This is #11 in a series of posts looking at the 26 Christian Science Weekly Bible Lesson subjects, chosen by Mary Baker Eddy, and rotated twice per year. These lessons are the sermon at each Christian Science church worldwide, and are read by Christian Scientists daily. Today’s subject is “Truth”. Look for other posts in the category “Lesson Sermon Subjects“. 

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Today’s post, girls and boys, is brought to you by the synonym Truth. With my views on Christian Science now, as an ex-Christian Scientist, Truth is a bit of a loaded subject. Truth (capitalized) is one of the seven “synonyms” for God, as given by Mary Baker Eddy in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures (pp. 465 & 587). Six of these seven synonyms are also Lesson subjects. The only one that didn’t make the cut was Principle. I’m not sure why. If anyone wants to research and report back, please feel free to do so.

So, what is Truth to the Christian Scientist?

Love

This is #10 in a series of posts looking at the 26 Christian Science Weekly Bible Lesson subjects, chosen by Mary Baker Eddy, and rotated twice per year. These lessons are the sermon at each Christian Science church worldwide, and are read by Christian Scientists daily. Today’s subject is “Love”. Look for other posts in the category “Lesson Sermon Subjects“. 

Love…another big subject, sort of like “God”, but not quite so big. Everyone wants and needs it, and there are many different ideas of what “love” exactly is. In reference to the Lesson Sermon subject of the same name, “Love” is a synonym for God (hence my capitalization of the word in keeping with what I call “Christian Science Grammar”). I’ll try to keep this focused on Love, and maybe touch a bit on the Christian Science take on love.

Ancient and Modern Necromancy, alias Mesmerism and Hypnotism Denounced

This is #9 in a series of posts looking at the 26 Christian Science Weekly Bible Lesson subjects, chosen by Mary Baker Eddy, and rotated twice per year. These lessons are the sermon at each Christian Science church worldwide, and are read by Christian Scientists daily. Today’s subject is ‘Ancient and Modern Necromancy, alias Mesmerism and Hypnotism Denounced’. Look for other posts in the category ‘Lesson Sermon Subjects‘. 

This one is a mouthful. As a kid in Sunday School, these were big words I didn’t understand let alone try to pronounce, despite my Sunday School teacher’s best efforts. I mean, how many kids even think or care about this stuff? Mary Baker Eddy seemed to think so, after all, lessons in Sunday School were supposed to derive largely from the Bible Lessons, so twice per year, I got to wrap my tongue around some big words for a usually boredom-filled hour. I always remember the Sunday School superintendent would emphasize the word ‘denounced’ whenever she spoke this subject, almost as if she was pounding a wooden stake though the heart of a vampire.

Spirit

This is #8 in a series of posts looking at the 26 Christian Science Weekly Bible Lesson subjects, chosen by Mary Baker Eddy, and rotated twice per year. These lessons are the sermon at each Christian Science church worldwide, and are read by Christian Scientists daily. Today’s subject is “Spirit”. Look for other posts in the category “Lesson Sermon Subjects“. 

Spirit is another of the seven “synonyms” of God as listed by Mary Baker Eddy. When used in this context, and as the Lesson Sermon subject, it is capitalized in what I call “Christian Science grammar”. The concept of “Spirit” is similar in many ways to the concept of “Soul” in Christian Science–a topic I addressed in last week’s post. So, what is “Spirit” to the Christian Scientist?

Soul

This is #7 in a series of posts looking at the 26 Christian Science Weekly Bible Lesson subjects, chosen by Mary Baker Eddy, and rotated twice per year. These lessons are the sermon at each Christian Science church worldwide, and are read by Christian Scientists daily. Today’s subject is “Soul”. Look for other posts in the category “Lesson Sermon Subjects“. 

For reasons beyond my knowledge, I think of a TV show that was popular back in the 1970s called “Soul Train” when I think of this topic. The “soul” I speak of here, is quite different, however. As a child, my parents loved seafood, and we ate it often. A favourite fish was sole. I used to joke (to the annoyance of both my parents and Sunday School teachers) about how this was the “fish” subject. Yeah, I was sometimes an annoying kid.