Week Three: First Church of Christ, Scientist

Christian Science

Yesterday I attended a service at the local Christian Science church in town. Christian Science teaches that the material world is an illusion. God, being spirit, only created spiritual things. Because God is good, all of God's creation is therefore good. Negative things, such as illness, are therefore illusions. When we fix our thinking these illusions can be overcome and we can be healed. This has obviously caused problems. Christian Science followers may choose not use medical treatment, for themselves or their children. People (including children) have died from preventable causes because medical treatment wasn't sought.

Christian Science was founded by Mary Baker Eddy in the 19th century. Her book, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures is considered central to the faith. Both the Bible and Science and Health are considered to be the Pastor of the modern church. Because of this, sermons are simply passages read straight from both books.

A few other interesting beliefs and practices of Christian Science that I've been able to find-

• Neither Jesus nor the Holy Spirit are considered to be God.
• There are no paid clergy, at least at the local level. Two readers are elected from the congregation who read the passages from scripture and Science and Health.
• There are no rituals, ordinances, or sacraments practiced. The words baptism and communion are used in a spiritual sense, and don't correspond to physical rituals.
• The church is the publisher of the well-known Christian Science Moniter. I remember that newspaper being in our high school library.
• Christian Science members can take classes to be certified as a "Christian Science Practitioner." For a small fee they "provide spiritual help that results in healing of all types of difficulties—physical, emotional, relationship, financial." (Source)

The Church (First Church of Christ, Scientist, Cedar Rapids, Iowa)

*Note: I was one of only 13 people at the church service. I chose not to take pictures because I already stood out like a sore thumb. I didn't take notes for the same reason*

The church building itself is adorable. After going to large, auditorium like services the past two weeks, it was nice to be in a church that actually looked like a church.  The sanctuary had about five rows of padded pews in three sections around a raised platform. The platform had two chairs and two podiums on it, one each for the First and Second readers.

When I entered the church an elderly gentleman greeted me and handed me a booklet with the "Bible Lesson" in it. The Bible lesson was basically an outline of most of what was read at the service.

The Service

The service began with a song. Something I found odd was that before each song was sung, the First Reader would read the entire first verse to the congregation. I can't think of a reason for doing this. There was an organist and a lead singer/cantor, which I thought was impressive for such a small congregation. 

Except for more hymns and a collection, the majority of the service was dedicated to the Bible lesson/sermon. Like I said above, these passages are considered to be the sermon itself, so there was no one to explain or give meaning to them. The week's lesson was on "Everlasting Punishment." The Second Reader would read different verses of the Bible, and the First reader would follow with verses read from Science and Health. This was repeated five times with different verses. I had a bit of a hard time following along. It was a lot of information to retain without being able to read along with them. I remember some of the following from the passages read from Science and Health. There was mention of God creating only spiritual things, because God is Spirit. God, being good, wouldn't create anything like hell. The effects of sin on a person are the punishment of sin. There was more, some of which I didn't feel had much to do with the subject at all. Without a subscription to the Bible lesson I don't have a way to refresh my memory.

We also said a version of the Lord's Prayer written by Mary Baker Eddy in Science and Health. The congregation would read the prayer itself, and the first reader would interject with the words written in italics.

"Our Father which art in heaven,

Our Father-Mother God, all-harmonious,

Hallowed be Thy name.

Adorable One

Thy kingdom come.

Thy kingdom is come; Thou art ever-present

Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

Enable us to know, — as in heaven, so on earth, —

God is omnipotent, supreme

Give us this day our daily bread;

Give us grace for to-day; feed the famished affections;

And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

And Love is reflected in love

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil;

And God leadeth us not into temptation, but delivereth 

us from sin, disease, and death.

For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever.

For God is infinite, all-power, all Life, Truth, Love,

over all, and All." (Source)

After the service, I went with the First Reader to the "Reading Room." I think each Christian Science church is expected to have a Reading Room associated with it. It included copies of books for sale or to borrow, and some past-dated issues of magazines that people were welcome to take. The church has a lot of regular publications. Besides the Christian Science Monitor and the Bible Lesson, they publish a weekly Christian Science Sentinal and monthly Christian Science Journal. I was able to pick up a couple of back-issues. 

I was able talk with some of the members after the service. One woman asked me if I had been "practicing Science long." It was such an odd phrase that it threw me off-guard. After looking it up it seems to be a common phrase used by people who follow the religion. One woman mentioned that their congregation used to be much larger, but the younger generation simply didn't gravitate towards it as much. 

Final Thoughts

The local congregation was very kind and welcoming. The service was...odd, but I did appreciate the silence and emphasis placed on listening and quiet as opposed loudness of the previous weeks. The religion as a whole I find to be dangerous. It's one thing to use spiritual practices in addition to medical care. It's another thing entirely to encourage people to avoid medical care altogether. It's not really surprising to me that this religion flourished when modern medical care was in its infancy.  It appears to be experiencing a pretty steep decline, both here in Cedar Rapids and worldwide.