Russ Gerber, a Christian Science practitioner and teacher, makes it clear that we don’t have to go along with thought processes that conclude we have to be sick. God, Truth, tells us we’re not guilty, bringing spiritual causation and all its goodness to the rescue.]]> Jeffrey Hildner | from The Christian Science Journal

Understanding God and that He causes only good is a powerful antidote to conclusions that people have to be sick.

Russ, you head up the media work in the Committee on Publication office at The Mother Church here in Boston. Thumbnail what you do.

Sure. We have a mandate from our Church Manual “to correct in a Christian manner impositions on the public in regard to Christian Science …” (Church Manual, p. 97). And we do that primarily through the media. We meet people in the media, talk with them about Christian Science, and clear up any misconceptions about the religion and its practice. Hopefully, I’m helping to accomplish that.

Hopefully, you are. [laughter] Let me jump right to a question that’s been on my mind for some time. And I suspect it relates to your work in the Committee office as much as to your work as a healer. I’d like to ask you what it takes to be of real service to others. Here’s what got me thinking about this question. Irving Tomlinson, one of Mary Baker Eddy’s students, recalled this exchange: “On another occasion she spoke of the great possibilities which lay before us in our work as Christian Scientists. She said we should be instruments of much good to the world. One student replied, ‘Yes, if we have love enough.’ She responded, ‘Love alone is not sufficient. You must also manifest divine wisdom if you would be of real service to others’” (Twelve Years with Mary Baker Eddy, amplified edition, p. 98). Now I’m going to assume that among “the great possibilities” that lie before us as Christian Scientists we would count healing. And if divine wisdom, no less than love, is crucial to being “of real service to others,” then we need to be not only as harmless as doves, but also wiser than serpents, to use a Bible metaphor—wiser than serpents in the handling of malpractice and the stubborn illusion that evil has power.

It’s seeing only one side of the coin if you think the practice of this religion is only about love. Mrs. Eddy talked about how “the mild forms of animal magnetism are disappearing, and its aggressive features are coming to the front” (Science and Health, p. 102). What does that mean? What are those aggressive features?

If you think of “aggressive” as being more complicated and subtle, terms she uses, you see how wise it is to resist whatever would lull us into a false sense of contentment and security and have us believe we can live quietly in solitude, not help others, not lift society’s fears, not face the range of opposition to spirituality. There’s plenty of that to face down.

Status quo with the world isn’t OK.

My point is that status quo with the world isn’t OK. It simply isn’t. That kind of mind-set plays right into an aggressive hypnotic thought that argues that we should resign ourselves to “as is” conditions or to thinking that, for reasons that are too complicated or too subtle, we can’t grow spiritually and can’t heal spiritually.

So these complicated and subtle forms of aggression—these opposing forces—they operate mentally?

That’s right. They take the form of any adversarial thought that would keep you from hearing alarm bells go off and hearing God saying, “There’s work to be done! Be wise!” I don’t want to undervalue or underestimate love, obviously. It’s ultimately the only nature there is. But I think you’ve got to keep both eyes open to the spectrum of mental forces at work in the world.

Love is one eye, and wisdom’s the other eye.

There you go. And we should be watchful that we’re not taking it for granted that there isn’t any opposition to the practice of Christian Science merely because no one is standing in front of us with a mallet saying, “You can’t go forward!” That doesn’t mean there aren’t more subtle forms of opposition to contend with.

Apathy and indifference are adversaries to growth and to spiritual healing. So is timidity. So is selfishness.

Are we accomplishing all the good that can be accomplished? Are we aware of everything that those around us need? Are we alert to people who are feeling victimized by the world around them? Do we care? Do we care enough to do something about that? If the answers are “No,” then I think we have fallen prey to this hypnotic, adversarial thought that argues, “The status quo is OK. No need to push.” Then we’re just drifting off. That, to me, is a crisis in the making.

What I hear you describing is a form of opposition that we might also call naiveté, right? A kind of “one eye open and one eye closed” rosy view of the human landscape that ignores the subtext of daily experience. You say that this half-blind frame of mind renders us vulnerable to a crisis in the making. What do you mean?

It can come in the form of confusion and despair, frustration, anger, or weakness and ineffectiveness. It would have us stop cold in our tracks, believing that there are unconquerable roadblocks to progress and success in any area—physical and mental health, employment and opportunity, talent and creativity, adequate supply and provision.

What are some of the other kinds of opposition we encounter, some of those other aggressive features of hypnotism? And how do we confront them? Your work with the Committee office has probably opened your eyes to some of these things.

Well, look at the subtle aspect. The biggest surprise to me when I started this job was the number of times I ran into media people who had never heard of Christian Science—never heard of it. It’s not that they didn’t know very much about it; they had never heard of the religion, period.

Now you can come to something like that, shrug your shoulders, and think, “Well, I’ll just tell them about it. Problem solved.” And that’s fine—until you find out that they don’t want to know anything about it. A fair number of people don’t care to know. How’s that for opposition?

Opposition in the form of indifference, right?

Yes, indifference. It’s one thing if somebody says, “Would you tell me more?” It’s another to say, “No, I’ve never heard of it. Hey—who won the game last night?”

There’s another facet to the adversarial mentality when it includes ‘I don’t care.’

We might think of adversaries only in sort of a menacing way—“I’m going to stop you at all costs.” Of course that is an adversary. But there’s another facet to the adversarial mentality when it includes “I don’t care.”

What happens if we all begin to think, “Well, nobody cares, and you know, that’s a shame. Oh well.” Off go the lights. We shut down. What if the great accomplishment of what Mrs. Eddy termed animal magnetism is that everyone gradually shuts off the lights and quits? What if that was all that animal magnetism, or the hypnotism of mortality, needed to do? Think about that.

Let me tell you a story, because as we’re talking it occurs to me that it might tie into this. When I was growing up and probably into my high school days, like any other kid, I had a fascination with how things work. You know, a car engine, a magic trick, whatever. In fact, when I was a teenager that very question got me interested in wanting to be in radio.

I was on vacation in San Diego, and after dinner one evening with my family we were walking through a mall where they had a live radio station with a glass window. I stopped and stared at the guy on the radio, because I suddenly saw how they do what they do. I grew up listening to the radio and hearing someone talk over the music and read commercials and comment and so forth, and I was curious how that technically works. Then one day, here I am actually at a radio station sort of pulling back the curtain, and I’m watching it. And I found it satisfying my curiosity.

That’s something I thought I might have lost as a kid, a natural curiosity for things you don’t yet understand. But it stayed with me all my life: How does it work? And it wasn’t any different with my study of Christian Science.

It was curiosity that drew me to a deeper study of the religion.

More than just a theological interest, it was curiosity that drew me to a deeper study of the religion. One day I realized I’m still asking that question! And, of course, it’s a good way to keep on the learning side of things. I found that to be a very useful desire—to always be curious how something works.

Then one time—I don’t remember what the circumstances were—I started thinking about how this religion would apply in other people’s lives, how it might help someone else, and this thought came to me, “You wanted to know how. Now I’m going to show you why.”

It was funny because it wasn’t a question I was naturally asking myself: “OK, why do I do this?” It was as though God was saying, “Wait a minute, Russ; there’s more to this story. I’m happy to answer your question how. Now I’m also going to show you why.”

Long story short: It’s the why that I find the most compelling part of practicing this religion, because I now see apathy or indifference or flat-out opposition—even hostility—and that thought recurs: “Don’t walk away. That’s why you’re here.” That has suddenly clicked with greater importance. Not to say I don’t ask the question “How?” anymore. I do! But coupled with that is the reminder, “Don’t forget why.”

Unpack that “why” some more, Russ. No doubt it applies to your life on at least three levels. Why your responsibilities with Committee work are so important. Why you teach Christian Science. Why you have a practice for healing. Just fill in the picture a little more.

I think the first level of that, which is probably rather obvious, is that you can do good for yourself and you can do good for others. It certainly is right to do good for others, and if others need help, if others are frightened, if others are in pain, and you have some way to help them—there’s a big fat “why” right there. You have this gift freely given to you, so you can freely give.

But when I saw the necessity of doing good for others in a more big-picture way, that’s when I started to realize the larger dimensions of “Why?”

For example, when I moved into a house in Massachusetts during the winter months, many years ago, everybody’s homes and lawns were covered with snow, and you couldn’t really assess the neighborhood. But we found our house and moved in. Well, come the summer months, and we found out the neighbor across the street was—well, both the parents were alcoholics, and the teenagers were pretty wild. Night after night throughout the summer there were loud parties in the front yard, and the neighbors were calling the police almost every night. This went on for an entire summer.

I was driving home from work one day, and I thought, “Why on earth am I living in this house?” I thought we had found an answer to our desire for a good home. We try to keep our home neat, clean, trimmed, and so forth—make it a lovely place. So as I was driving home I was opening my heart to God, saying, “Why on earth am I here, across the street from that family?” And the response came almost like a voice in my thought, “Because I love them enough to give them a good example.”

I saw the possibility of showing somebody an alternative.

That’s when I saw the possibility of showing somebody an alternative. So I took that literally and went across the street and asked them if I could help them clean up their yard and mow their lawn. I’d say about a week or two later the partying subsided, and the remainder of the year the neighborhood was fine. It was maybe a year later that we moved on. But, again, I had seen there was a “why” to my situation. There’s nothing random about what you’re learning. It serves a purpose.

Let’s segue to physical healing, because Christian Science says that no matter what situation you’re in, “good is not helpless” (Science and Health, p. 207). That phrase means everything, I think. It means, for example, that divine Truth can rescue anyone, not only in emotional and psychological ways—or from a bad neighborhood scene!—but also in physical ways.

I got a call from the father of a newborn last year. He said the birth went fine, no problem, all is well. But later I got a call from him saying that the attending nurses came by and said, “Your baby boy is having severe respiratory problems. We’re calling the doctor back from home immediately. We think this is urgent.”

So the doctor came back and conducted some tests. There was enough in the results to suggest they needed to do more tests. The problem was quite serious, and he or the nurse explained the severity to the father, and the father called me.

To me, this relates to good not being helpless. It took me a second to get past the momentary thought, “Here’s this newborn in a hospital under a skilled physician’s care.” Be that as it may, it feels like there’s no choice in this matter. What the doctor believes is the problem is where the course of action will go. So, for a second, it felt like this couldn’t be a more difficult environment for spiritual healing. So I’m feeling, well, a little sidelined. What would the tests show? What would the medical staff go ahead and do?

Talk about the Truth breaking through—the Truth that was always there. A moment later I recalled a sentence from Science and Health as if someone read it to me: “Spiritual causation is the one question to be considered, for more than all others spiritual causation relates to human progress” (Science and Health, p. 170).

I realized at that moment that I didn’t have to be weighed down by what the doctor might find, or what the tests might show, or what the nurses would think. That baby is in fact God’s child. I don’t have to answer those questions to see progress, but I do have to come to grips with “the one question to be considered”—spiritual causation. That relates to human progress.

What we needed to understand was spiritual causation.

We all wanted to see this child back to normal. But my role and the dad’s role—he was also praying for this newborn—wasn’t to get into a complex physical analysis—pursuing that, wondering about it, worrying about it, fearing it. What we needed to understand was spiritual causation.

Shortly I got a call. The father said, “They came in with the second set of tests, and they couldn’t find anything wrong.” The nurse came in the next morning and said to the father, “Your kid’s OK?” He said, “Well, sure.” The nurse said, “I thought I’d find him in the incubator in the nursery under supervision, instead of in the mother’s arms healthy and nursing. I was convinced that this was trouble.” The nurses thought that the original tests could mean a serious respiratory infection or even a congenital heart problem. But our reliance on prayer worked.

The lesson was that Truth, or God, is always on the scene, and of being open to that. The opposition was the argument that good is helpless and that there’s something harmful happening besides that good.

And that what’s opposed to good has the upper hand.

Yeah, that this child’s life is biologically based and that something biological went terribly wrong. That the child is a victim, the father’s a victim, and that the authority over all of us doesn’t know what’s going on. The father told me of the very kind and cooperative and compassionate hospital staff. They were doing everything they felt was right and in the baby’s best interest. Still, our role was to understand the ultimate spiritual cause. Today the child is healthy—in fact, I got a picture of him the other day. He’s a bundle of energy!

But, again, it’s the adversarial thought that is either ignorant of Truth or maliciously arguing against Truth—that’s what we need to be alert to.

And in a way, the adversary is a set of false assumptions, isn’t it?

Exactly. Good way to put it.

A set of false assumptions that say we live in a random and nutty world—a kind of material soup—where anything can happen, just a roll of the dice. Where these fake mortal “laws” masquerade as the truth about life.

Yes, and that is the adversary we need to put our finger on and stamp out. The evermore secretive, complicated, subtle state of thought that starts to convince us, “Well, yes, that ugly or scary picture really is true. Maybe good is helpless. Maybe I should give up. Maybe I ought to step back.” And we must learn from experience to spot that enemy, to not be put off or fooled or scared by it. I wish I could say, “Hey, it never fools me.” It’s more accurate to say I’m in on-the-job training all the time!

Well, in that situation, as a metaphysician, a Christian metaphysician—and I add that modifier Christian because, as Mary Baker Eddy concluded, Jesus healed metaphysically, and he was the expression of the Christ, the true nature of God; hence, he himself was a Christian metaphysician, the master Christian Metaphysician, and who we strive to model ourselves after. In that situation with the newborn, you had the wherewithal to challenge a set of assumptions about mortal and material causes, about identity and life itself. Let’s talk a little more about what happened and why, because I can hear people new to the Journal wondering, “Well, what exactly happened there?” What was the connection between your insight that good isn’t helpless and the change with that child?

A change of thought has a larger dimension and can affect more than just yourself.

Obviously, if you figure that thought is confined to what goes on between your ears, it wouldn’t mean anything to others to have a brilliant thought! But if you consider thought to be—as a doctor once described it—nonlocal, then a change of thought has a larger dimension and can affect more than just yourself.

You and that dad tapped into—understood—the same Truth about what was really going on.

That’s right. And so in the mental realm that we call the human mind—which isn’t some grey matter in your head, and doesn’t reside there—a spiritual conviction can come that Truth is powerful beyond what most of us think. Sometimes it takes arguing again and again on behalf of that Truth so this human mentality will finally relinquish its old mistaken beliefs. And if that kind of argument on the side of Truth is what’s needed, then that’s what you do.

But sometimes the insight is so clear, so powerful, so all-encompassing, that you don’t think of someone else as having a different thought! You don’t think, “Well, that’s true with me, but boy that doctor sure wouldn’t think that way.” That’s limiting the effect of that spiritual insight—as if to say, “It’s true for me, but not true for him or her.”

When fear or a misconception of ourselves is eliminated, health is restored.

So when the conviction—and freedom—comes from knowing the Truth, it’s exhilarating and powerful. And it’s corrective. That, to me, is what destroys fear or misconceptions about ourselves or others, and fear or misconceptions are at the root of illness. How do we know that? Well, I for one have seen, as have countless others, that when fear or a misconception of ourselves is eliminated, health is restored.

I’d like to think that most people have seen how a correct view of something can bring about a practical change in their experience. And physical healing is an example of that. There’s that great line in Science and Health that sums it up: “Jesus beheld in Science the perfect man, who appeared to him where sinning mortal man appears to mortals. In this perfect man the Saviour saw God’s own likeness, and this correct view of man healed the sick” (Science and Health, pp. 476–477). Mary Baker Eddy discovered that when we replace a misperception of who we are—that we are sinning mortals made of matter, finite, and subject to trouble and doom—with the scientific view that we are incorporeal and immortal, then we experience tangible realignment in our lives in sync with the correct view of ourselves. We experience transformation.

Yeah, at the core of your being. Like the familiar metaphor of clouds clearing away to reveal the sun that’s always there. The concern about what the doctor might be convinced of, what some X-ray might show—the arsenal of evidence that one might feel is irrefutable and mounted against health—all of that became less of my focus than the question What is Spirit, God, causing right now?

What Truth, God, is causing was for that child to be healthy, at that moment and always.

When my thought was close enough to that idea, when I was receptive enough to Truth, I glimpsed it in such an unobstructed way that it brought with it power. It wasn’t merely something someone said to me. It was something I knew was true. And I knew that what Truth, God, is causing was for that child to be healthy, at that moment and always. And the weight and conviction and power of that idea and the freedom that came with it outweighed anything else. And again, the dad was also praying with just as much conviction.

You all experienced “the sunlight of Truth, which invigorates and purifies,” as Mary Baker Eddy explained, and you saw how the dark “clouds of corporeal sense” (Science and Health, pp. 162, 548) really had no substance. They couldn’t stop that light. Because Truth has power, and error has no actual reality.

Yes, error is a fraud.

And mentally affirming that—which is what prayer does: It mentally dismisses any imposter, intruder, or fraud—helps make a clearing for Truth to appear.

Right, and sometimes it may take us a while to agree with that. I remember one day reading the trial illustration in Science and Health (see pp. 430–442). I have to admit I would sometimes skip past that part because it seemed like a straightforward account that I thought I knew pretty well and didn’t need to study further. Then one day I thought, “This is twelve pages in Science and Health. That’s significant. And it’s the conclusion of the chapter ‘Christian Science Practice.’ There’s got to be more here than I’m seeing.”

So I started to read it again, thinking, “I’ll bet there’s a great lesson for me in healing in this trial.”

So I read it through, several times, and then I got to the end, to the part where it says that the patient realized—spiritually discerned—that he was not guilty. And it was the first time that I realized, “This isn’t the first time that was brought out.”

So I went back and looked, and sure enough right after the patient in this illustration was found guilty, the thought came to him, “You’re not guilty.” Still, at that point the patient didn’t accept that verdict.

And so what follows in the trial are the arguments from Truth on the patient’s behalf. The patient was told right up front that he wasn’t guilty, and yet it took the arguments of Truth through the following pages before he finally got it: “I’m not guilty!” And that’s when the healing took place.

Not guilty.

Not guilty. Not guilty of being a biological being at the mercy of matter. Not guilty of having broken some physical laws and having to pay a penalty.

And therefore, not sentenced to confusion, fear, failure, disease, danger, misery, or sadness.

And we start down the path so often—I include myself in this—thinking, “What’s causing this? What did I do wrong? What don’t I know? How have I failed?” You name it. And maybe we think, “When I can figure out the answers to those things, I’ll have a handle on this, and then I’ll be able to defeat it.”

At the core of our being we’re not guilty.

Why not instead go back to the beginning: You’re not guilty. Let’s work things through from that standpoint. Sure, we need to get our lives right where we need to get them right. But at the core of our being we’re not guilty, and so we don’t have to fear that we’ll have to pay a penalty of illness or pain. This argument begins to build to the point of conviction, and you realize, I really am not guilty. I’m not a prisoner, and don’t deserve to be one.

We all have the wisdom to see this about ourselves and others, and we all have the love for ourselves and others to see this—and to expect proof.

Oh yeah, to demand proof.

To demand proof—not guilty.

Not guilty. And to not stop this line of thought until we’ve seen that proof.

Jeffrey Hildner is a senior writer for the Journal.

Today’s technology has opened the door for communication in unprecedented ways. But we communicate most effectively when we see each other as God’s children and respect and listen to the divine, uplifting ideas that each one of us has to share as God’s expression.]]> Michael Pabst | from The Christian Science Journal

Communication at its core is the inspiration coming to us from God.

Today’s technology has opened the door for communication in unprecedented ways. We talk more to each other than ever before. But is all communication really effective? What is at the heart of communication? People talking to each other? That’s not everything. Talking is, in and of itself, not necessarily communication. A decisive ingredient is listening—with an open heart.

When people focus only on their own interests, communication suffers. The Bible has a potent story to teach that point. Certain people had ambitious plans with a construction site called Babel (see Gen. 11:1–9.) But all of a sudden people stopped understanding each other, and communication and productivity broke down, “and they left off to build the city.”

What had happened? The Bible says that their language was “confounded.” We are not given any circumstantial reasons for that breakdown, but we are informed about the motive of the builders: a desire to make themselves a name. There was an influence at work that turned their focus on themselves, on their own concerns. They might have felt fear or pride. Those states of thought exert a hypnotic influence that turns one’s attention to oneself and leads to misunderstandings. In Babel it resulted in the total breakdown of communication.

We might say, Babel illustrates the language of self-centeredness.

A Bible story shows what’s at the root of effective communication.

There is another Bible story that shows what’s at the root of effective communication. It’s the story of Pentecost in the book of Acts (see Acts 2:1–12). Many people from different parts of the Middle East had come together to listen to what Jesus’ apostles had to say about him: how Jesus Christ had lived God’s laws among them and what the power of God’s love meant to people’s lives.

Jesus had baptized his disciples with the Holy Ghost and with fire. He had profoundly touched his followers; their hearts were on fire. The Holy Ghost—a divine utterance that reveals the deep truths and laws of being—had inspired and uplifted the disciples’ understanding and was manifested in their healing works. And now the Holy Ghost touched the hearts of the disciples’ listeners, brought comfort and transformation.

Where was thought directed in the story of Babel? In and down—toward personality and self. Where was thought directed in the story of Pentecost? Out and up—toward the Holy Ghost. The people were turned away from a sense of self and towards the influx of that divine inspiration.

Pentecost illustrates the language of the Holy Ghost. The effects were remarkable. The listeners discovered to their amazement that each of them understood the message in their native language. And the message touched their hearts and souls to such a degree that many became believers and were baptized. That’s a useful illustration for the part that listening has in effective communication.

Communication in its core is the inspiration coming to us from God, divine Mind, the source of all ideas. We communicate most effectively with each other when we see each other as God’s children, respect and listen to the divine uplifting ideas that each one of us has to share as God’s expression. That way we become more aware of our mutual connection to God and will find that communication is more effortless and more effective.

Let’s learn from Pentecost and be on fire with listening to God’s message.

Let’s learn from Babel and be alert not to fall for hypnotic influences—such as self-will, pride, fear—that want to introduce a hypnotic diversion. Let’s learn from Pentecost and be on fire with listening to God’s message. Mary Baker Eddy put it this way: “The magnitude of Jesus’ work, his material disappearance before their eyes and his reappearance, all enabled the disciples to understand what Jesus had said. Heretofore they had only believed; now they understood. The advent of this understanding is what is meant by the descent of the Holy Ghost,—that influx of divine Science which so illuminated the Pentecostal Day and is now repeating its ancient history” (Science and Health, p. 43)

May every exchange of ideas be characterized by the unifying outflow of divine ideas!

Michael Pabst is a member of the Christian Science Board of Directors and a Trustee of The Christian Science Publishing Society.

Christian Science practitioner and teacher Jane Dickinson-Scott explains that every issue which comes up in parenting comes back to the point that there is one divine Parent, or Father-Mother, that is hands-on and with our children every moment. And this God can keep things running smoothly.]]> Suzanne Smedley | from The Christian Science Journal

Acknowledging God as our Parent is key to parenting.

Jane, I understand that your family came into Christian Science as a result of healing.

Yes. My great uncle was healed of a debilitating illness through reading Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy. It was quite a dramatic and clear-cut healing that changed his life completely—from total incapacity to normal health and activity. This healing happened way back in the early 1900s, and it introduced my family to Christian Science. My mother was a Christian Scientist, and although my father wasn’t, we were raised in it. We didn’t live near a Christian Science church, so my sister and I very rarely attended Sunday School or met another Christian Scientist.

At some point you obviously made Christian Science your own and felt it made sense to you. When did that happen?

When I was seventeen, I spent three months as an au pair in Switzerland, which was a great experience. It was a serious growing time for me, and I had a healing that was a turning point in my life. I was away in the mountains, looking after children while their parents skied. I became quite unwell with flu. I felt absolutely dreadful. I couldn’t even stand up. But I felt even more awful because I wasn’t able to care for the children, and I thought I was letting down the family for whom I worked.

I was truly feeling that embracing love of God.

I remember one night I was unable to rest and feeling seriously sorry for myself. I reached out to God and this thought came: “Look up, you have a choice.” It really spoke to me. And I laughed. (We always seem to get the “angel messages” from God that are tailor-made for us—appropriate angels they are!) That important message encouraged me to (figuratively) look up to God and acknowledge His presence—to “look away from the body into Truth and Love …” (Science and Health, p. 261). Within moments, I was truly feeling that embracing love of God. I had a very short sleep and woke up with energy, ready to take on the day. Until that time my mother had always prayed for me, so this healing, which was a direct result of my own prayer, was a landmark for me.

Soon after my few months in Switzerland I began a two-year training in childcare, and shortly after completing that, I volunteered for work with Save the Children Fund. This took me to Northern India, where I worked with Tibetan refugees for a year. This experience massively increased my ability to stand on my own feet and my confidence in God. It really drew from me such a desire to help people. I had always loved young people and children, but I just ached to help more. And when I returned to the UK from India, I trained in social work. That gave me the opportunity to work with families in need, offenders, and single mums.

Parallel to this, my spiritual sense of things was growing and my understanding of Christian Science, too. At this point, I was finally becoming ready to stand up as a Christian Scientist. I reasoned that if God and my relationship to Him/Her were relevant and practical to my everyday life—and Christian Science certainly shows this to be true—then it was the kind of religion I was keen to be involved with—a way of life that is relevant all day long, not just a Sunday kind of denomination.

As I continued my social work, I found I was increasingly praying over the difficult situations that I was coming across. The seed of my practice of Christian Science was growing. And I realized that Christian Science could meet mankind’s challenges in far deeper ways than any human support system.

Can you elaborate?

Christian Science gets to the core of problems by cutting right through to reality.

I began to realize that more than anything else, Christian Science gets to the core of problems by cutting right through to reality. In other words, Christian Scientists pray from the basis of spiritual reality—of God’s perfection and man’s perfection. Not by thinking we have to patch up a human situation or problem, and make it better.

At the same time, life was changing for me. I got married and started a family, and I took Christian Science class instruction, which answered my many questions, gave me the tools of the practice, and of course, fueled me with the joy of spiritual seeing. That wonderful teaching opened my thought to the realities of being. I remember it was as though a veil had been lifted from my thought, and I was seeing for the first time.

I think my practice really began in earnest from that time, although it was years later before I was listed as a Christian Science practitioner in the Journal. Right alongside the busy occupation of being a full-time mum of a big family, I was learning to watch God at work.

Jane, after you went into the full-time healing practice you served as a visiting Christian Science prison minister for six years in London prisons, including a women’s prison. Do you have an example that would illustrate how this spiritual approach to social work is effective?

I loved my time serving as a visiting Christian Science prison minister. Each time I approached the gates and locked doors of the prison, I found it helpful to pause and pray. I acknowledged that man or woman was in truth never imprisoned—never held in restrictive circumstances—never fettered by matter, but was always upright and free. It was an essential place to keep my thought. I had many opportunities to see the light of the Christ touch a prisoner’s thought.

One experience, which meant a lot to me, really helped me see more of the nature of God’s fathering and mothering, and of God’s individual care for us. I was in the chaplaincy office when a call came through from one of the units asking for a member of the chaplaincy team to come down to the unit to try to help a young teenager who was violent and very distressed. A number of people—officers, ministers, and a nurse—had already been trying to help. I was asked to have a go.

There was no power to prevent either her or me from seeing and feeling the active presence of divine Love.

When I reached the unit, there was another unrelated incident being dealt with, giving me a few minutes to wait before I was allowed to open the hatch into the young woman’s cell. Because of her behavior, I was not allowed to go into the cell, but just speak to her through the narrow hatch in the door. During my wait outside her room I could hear her anguished screaming and violent kicking and hammering on the furniture and the door. As I turned to God, I shut out this noisy, mental picture as best I could. I didn’t shut it out in order to ignore the obvious need, but so that I could pray more effectively about it. I affirmed that our Father-Mother God loved this young girl, and I acknowledged that there was no power to prevent either her or me from seeing and feeling the active presence of divine Love and the wisdom of divine Mind.

I should perhaps comment that it was, of course, not for me to judge her because of the behavior that had brought her to prison, or even to know whether she was guilty or innocent. My job as a visiting prison minister was to give support and to bear witness to the Christlike child of God. I continued to pray with these ideas, until after a few minutes I was allowed to open the hatch and talk to this prisoner.

As soon as she saw me, she screamed abuse and started to throw things at the hatch. Possibly foolishly, I asked her to be quiet and tell me how I could help her. This elicited the angry response, “Get me out of here. You can’t get me out, so I’m not going to talk to you—go away” (the language she used was somewhat more colorful!).

At that moment the situation seemed overwhelming. She was utterly overwhelmed by her imprisonment, and for a split second I felt utterly powerless to help her. But I knew that God was not. Immediately, a paraphrase of one of Mary Baker Eddy’s poems came to thought: “O gentle presence, peace, joy and power &#8230. You keep this, Your precious child, on upward wing tonight, today, this minute.” The full verse reads:

O gentle presence, peace and joy and power;
O Life divine, that owns each waiting hour,

Thou Love that guards the nestling’s faltering flight!
Keep Thou my child on upward wing tonight.

(Poems, p. 4)

Trying to ignore the missiles being thrown at me, I found myself saying, “I know that being in here must be dreadful. But tell me why you need so badly to be out of here?” The young woman stopped yelling and came across to the hatch and continued crying. But they were gentle tears. She said her three young brothers and little sister didn’t know where she was. I suggested to her that we could get in touch with the family and tell them where she was. Then she lowered her voice to a whisper. She said, “You don’t understand. We live on the street. I’m the only mum they’ve got.”

Right there in the cell, this young girl, who was barely more than a child herself, was expressing qualities of commitment, responsibility, care, and love—parenting qualities. Right where that extremely unmanageable, frustrated teenager was, there was actually a caring, concerned single mum. I drew her attention to those qualities, and I assured her—reassured her—that her divine Father-Mother loved her and her brothers and sister, and was caring for them at that very moment. It often comes as a surprise to people to hear that God loves them. But she really listened and accepted these truths just like a thirsty traveler drinking a long, cool glass of water after a difficult, hot, and lonely journey.

It was the Christ that cut through that anguished atmosphere.

I was then able to go into the cell and talk with her, and her thought was gently turned around. Later that day she was able to cooperate with those who could help her and her family. To me, it was such a wonderful example of the Christ—God’s message to us—doing its work, meeting the need, telling us we are loved. And it was the Christ that cut through that anguished atmosphere.

It’s not a personal love—our love—but divine Love that always reaches and transforms human consciousness, especially thought that seems so unreachable. That’s somewhat of a relief, isn’t it, to know you aren’t responsible for making that happen.

Absolutely. God is totally the doer. Our only responsibility is to remember that divine Love is responsible for and caring for every individual and every situation. God is the speaker. God is the connector. God is the only voice to every child, man, and woman. God is Truth and voices the truth about who we are. The Christ, voicing truth, breaks through doubt and fear, lack of confidence, or self-hatred—whatever the mesmeric situation is that claims to cloud our view of reality.

We often hear people say they feel spiritually inadequate to respond to another’s need for that freeing message. But …

… it always gets back to Love. And it’s God that impels that love. It makes me think of Ananias in the Bible when Saul had his conversion on the road to Damascus, and Ananias was asked to meet him and take him into the Christian community. I just love Ananias. He makes me laugh and cry every time I read about him. He is such an obedient servant of God, but even he has a little argument with God.

When God basically tells him, “Go down and meet Saul of Tarsus,” Ananias answers something like, “Do you really mean Saul? Surely not Saul of Tarsus—look what he’s been doing to us! You can’t really want me to go and meet him.” Ananias was so brave because he knew that Saul had permission to take any one of the Christians into captivity. But when God spoke with Ananias and explained that he had work for Saul, later known as Paul, he no longer queried the instruction. He went to meet Saul and didn’t seem to fear the consequences. He was able to call him “Brother Saul” (Acts 9:17).

Ananias just cut right through the human picture.

I find that so moving. Ananias just cut right through the human picture and expectation and let go of any human history he knew about Saul. God’s message to him about Saul’s true nature as His beloved son took precedence. And Ananias responded to that message. We may not be doing dramatic things like him. But each of us, maybe in smaller ways, has the opportunity to be obedient to God and love our brother as Ananias did.

Jane, changing gears, as the mom of six grown children and grandma to five grandchildren, you’ve obviously had loads of experience praying about the many issues facing parents today—one of which is feeling that they have no time, or that they can’t do everything well because they have so much on their plate.

Parents are juggling a huge amount in their lives. So it’s understandable that they sometimes think, “I didn’t do very well,” or “I don’t have time,” or “I wish I could do it differently.” When we have these concerns, it’s helpful to remember Mary Baker Eddy’s spiritual definition of day, which includes the following statement: “The objects of time and sense disappear in the illumination of spiritual understanding, and Mind measures time according to the good that is unfolded” (Science and Health, p. 584). It’s so important, as parents and grandparents—anyone, really—to be grateful for the good we have done, the things we have achieved, and not to dwell on all the things that we haven’t, and let that undermine us.

Every issue that comes up in parenting comes back to the point that there is one divine Parent, or Father-Mother, that is hands-on and with our children every moment.

In my experience as a former high school teacher, I know that the teen years especially can be challenging, not only for the teens, but for their parents or guardians.

Yes, and we pray for our children whether we know quite what they’re up to—or not! And we’re led by divine Principle to do what we think is right and to discipline as needed. Principle, of course, is one of the seven synonyms Mrs. Eddy gave for God, which is so helpful in understanding the breadth of divine parenting. Interestingly, the word discipline and the word disciple come from the same Latin root. Jesus was helping his disciples to be obedient to God, good, and that’s really what we’re doing as parents. Jesus was literally teaching the disciples (and us, too, as modern-day disciples) about their relationship to God, and this is what informed their actions.

There’s only one label, and that is the name and nature of God’s child.

In the same way, we are recognizing in our children their natural obedience to God, as Principle, and their desire to do the right thing. Starting from this spiritual standpoint, it follows that the human labels such so “terrible two’s” or “difficult teenagers” fall away. There’s only one label, and that is the name and nature of God’s child. The name of each of us as an individual idea of God, the immediate reflection of Him/Her.

So many influences seem to undermine the right sort of education, which frees us from burdening human labels. I think Mary Baker Eddy got it right when she wrote, “The entire education of children should be such as to form habits of obedience to the moral and spiritual law, with which the child can meet and master the belief in so-called physical laws, a belief which breeds disease” (Science and Health, p. 62). How do you educate children and young people in this direction?

I love that phrase “habits of obedience.” A habit is something that comes so naturally to us that we almost do it without thinking. Young children know their names and their ages, and where they live, from a very early age. Just as confidently each child can know his or her identity as God’s precious son or daughter.

Then it becomes natural and normal for each one to think and reason from that spiritual identity as the unique and loved and lovable idea of divine Mind.

Being inseparable from God, children are obedient to God.

Being inseparable from God, children are obedient to God, or good. And being Truth’s idea means that it’s natural for them—for all of us—to be loving, truthful, honest. It’s our default position, how we have been designed.

Understanding their spiritual nature and individual worth enables young people to be themselves, to be true to themselves, and to God’s purpose for them. That way they make the choices in thinking and activities that are productive and loving. It enables them to quickly and naturally turn to God for healing.

All of God’s ageless offspring include the tangible qualities of wisdom, maturity, spontaneity, and thoughtfulness.

So an adult doesn’t need to enforce obedience to God, or what they think is good for children.

I remember an experience we had with one of our daughters. She had a lot of tantrums when she was just over two. During the day we would go through four, five, six times when she would fling herself on the floor and have a bellow and a scream about something or another. I was really praying about this—why we were clashing when she didn’t want to do this or that. I prayed to understand that harmony was already established and maintained by divine Principle, Love, and humbly listened to the Father-Mother to tell me—to show me the truth about this precious daughter who is obedient to good, is the happy, satisfied child of God now.

And the thought came very clearly to me that I needed to change my attitude toward her. I needed to respect the fact that she was a DIY (do-it-yourself) girl who knew she was mature! I needed to treat her as though she knew everything, could already do everything. Now she was two, but she had older brothers and sisters.

I discussed it with my husband, and we agreed that we would not say to her, for example, “Let’s put your shoes on now,” or “I’ll help you get dressed,” whatever you might normally do for a two-year-old. We’d just say, “Please put your shoes on,” and so on. “If you need any help, just let us know.” And do you know, by treating that little one as already having all the skills she needed as a mature idea, we didn’t let her down, but she never had another tantrum. She asked for help when she needed it, but her whole attitude changed. We didn’t give in to her but we were respecting her.

As parents, we have to be ready to change. Sometimes we have to be ready to stand firm—with teenagers, for example. To be consistent and calm and hold up that standard of good that we feel is necessary in the home. At other times, it may be right to be more flexible. Mind will give each parent what they need to know as they listen.

What qualities make any parent or adult approachable, would you say?

Hmm, good question!

Unconditional love is the core quality.

I’m sure there are so many ways of answering that. For me, unconditional love is the core quality. That includes a nonjudgmental attitude and sincere respect, and recognition of, the spiritual nature of each of God’s sons and daughters. Also, to have patience and to give them time.

Listening is important; really listening to someone doesn’t give the impression that you’ve already made up your mind before they speak. And a gentle sense of authority—not arrogance. Jesus spoke with authority because he expressed the Christ. Young people—all people—are attracted to that quality of firm but gentle confidence. They don’t want life to be wavering. They want the ground to be solid, and they’re looking for that solid ground. But more than anything, unconditional love is needed.

All of these qualities, and so many more, are ours by reflection from our divine Parent. Whether we have children or not, we show those God-given qualities—in the office, the shopping mall, at church, and on the sports field.

That addresses any concern that we might not have natural parenting abilities.

We might not always feel that we’re “natural” parents, but we are! We don’t have a separate identity from God, who includes every quality necessary for good parenting. So although parenting may be new to us (and for most of us, it is a steep learning curve), it’s not new to God. We have all the ideas we need to grow in our fathering and mothering day by day. We’re lovingly parented by our divine Parent, even as we parent our own children, and the world’s.

What if, despite a parent’s best efforts, they feel they’ve failed in some way, and they follow their child “off the rails” as you once put it to me, perhaps into worry, or anger, or self-condemnation.

My heart goes out to any parent feeling that they have failed; we all do feel that way at times. But we have to be firm with ourselves and not buy into this, or to lay blame. Hanging on to self-condemnation or guilt undermines our natural confidence and authority—not arrogance, but authority—as the expression of God’s mothering and fathering nature. But it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be alert to learning or changing.

To want to serve God and do our best is a ‘true’ motive.

Examining our motives in parenting is so important. Mrs. Eddy wrote, “Working and praying with true motives, your Father will open the way” (Science and Health, p. 326). To want to serve God and do our best is a “true” motive. With that right motive we can forgive ourselves for things we’ve done wrong, just as we would anybody else. I think that’s quite important.

You know, we are not our children’s creator. Nor are we the creator of our children’s happiness, or their careers, or their schooling, or their friendships. God is the Creator, so as human parents we watch how God is working all of these things out in their lives. How God has the very best in store for them.

As my children have grown, I’ve tried to pray more and say less [laughter]. I am still working on that!

Understanding that God is Creator takes care of any temptation a parent might have to live through their children, or to push an agenda, or plan for them.

Yes, or to think they must be going down the wrong road. You know, we don’t know … but if a young person goes off the rails, or chooses a path that we are not happy about, we still maintain our understanding of who is with them, who is caring for them, who is protecting them, and what is guiding them. We know that there is only one influence in their lives—a divine influence that is “ever present in human consciousness” (Science and Health, p. xi).

That applies to all of us as members of the same family, parented by the same loving Mother-Father.

As members of God’s family, we can each feel the tender, powerful presence of the divine Parent embracing, guiding, and protecting us. Mrs. Eddy gave this wonderful promise: “With one Father, even God, the whole family of man would be brethren; …” (Science and Health, pp. 469–470).

In our prayers for the world, we can acknowledge that each of us is inseparable from this Father and from His universal family. We are truly one family, “held in the gospel of Love” (Science and Health, p. 577).

Suzanne Smedley is a senior staff editor at the Journal.

Confidence in human abilities and talents isn’t bad, but it can’t get beyond the limits inherent in mortal existence. Understanding and having confidence in who we are as God’s idea, however, propels us toward endless good possibilities no matter what situation we face.]]> Suzanne Biggs | from The Christian Science Journal

Understanding who we are as God’s idea gives us confidence.

With confidence? Or with fear? Two very different ways to step into the next moment. When I am faced with issues in my life—from the most dramatic to the most mundane—I like to think I can go forward with confidence rather than fear. However, I want something more than just confidence in my human abilities and talents. When I rely on my personal store of skills, the only thing I can be “confident” of is having to accept the limitations that are inherent in mortal existence.

Instead of limitation, I want the confidence that comes with a deeper understanding of who I am as the idea of God. As I daily learn more about God and therefore more about my identity as His idea, my reality-based confidence grows, inexorably pushing out human doubts and fears. Each time I reject the limits of mere human confidence, my life is filled with the endless possibilities of infinite failure-proof, fearless action. God is All and He is good. These are the absolute facts that take my desire for reality-based confidence out of the realm of wishful thinking. I no longer have to “hope” I have what it takes to be fearless. I know I do.

To me, Jesus is the perfect example of reality-based confidence. His awareness of his spiritual, God-given identity allowed him to be absolutely fearless—and it was this confidence that encouraged those around him to be unafraid. There was nothing with which he was faced that he did not see from God’s view of perfection. And therefore whatever was needed was provided. Those who were sick were made whole, those who sinned were redeemed, those who lacked discovered abundance at their fingertips. Through the laws of Christian Science, each of us has continual access to the same fearless confidence that exemplified Jesus’ life. No matter how afraid, sick, hurt, confused, or helpless we might seem to be, the truth is that right now God is imbuing each of His ideas—you, me, and everyone else—with confidence in His power. What He is, we have by reflection.

I have my own ‘specialist’ available 24/7.

A few years ago I had an excellent opportunity to put my reality-based confidence into practice. I was thrown off a horse while riding and was found unconscious by neighbors, who called for help. The first time I regained consciousness was when the paramedics were getting ready to put me in the ambulance after immobilizing me with a neck brace and special board to keep my head in place. I lost consciousness again and woke up in the emergency room of the local hospital. X-rays had been taken, my husband and some friends had arrived, and the doctor, having studied the X-rays, was warning that the slightest wrong movement could precipitate paralysis—or even death. The doctor explained that I needed to be taken immediately to a larger metropolitan hospital where specialists could care for me. This is where that reality-based confidence first kicked in. Instantly I thought, “I don’t need to go anywhere for that. I have my own ‘specialist’ available 24/7. Who could possibly know more about me than my Creator?”

Although it might seem that I should have been fearfully weighing my options as I lay there on that gurney, in fact I saw only one possibility—healing. So as the doctor kindly but forcefully explained my (to his view) limited options, I told him I wanted to go to a Christian Science nursing facility, where I could rely exclusively on spiritual healing. Discussion ensued, and although he continued to issue dire warnings about movement, the doctor finally, with reluctance, released me. Although he didn’t really understand where my confidence came from, I felt that he respected it.

This sincere doctor had offered me limited choices, but I knew I had another option—complete healing, complete freedom. I was lying in a hospital corridor in what seemed to be a frightening, dangerous situation and yet my confidence was unshaken. Relying on God’s total, effective care has always been my first, safest, and most sensible approach to any situation. This reality-based confidence—which includes looking fear in the face and seeing it as unreal—always destroys any power that fear tries to have.

Once I was at the facility, I had one goal: to be free of the fear that if I moved wrongly I’d be paralyzed or die. It’s fair to say that at the time my “confidence” was that I could overcome my fears, not that I had yet done so. While a loving Christian Science practitioner supported me through prayer, and equally loving Christian Science nurses provided care, I spent nearly every conscious moment thinking and praying about one verse from Isaiah: “Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness” (Isa. 41:10).

Supposed material conditions in no way defined, restricted, or imposed on my God-supported actions.

“Fear thou not” was the gentle, loving voice of my beloved Parent whispering, “Hush now. There is nothing to be afraid of. I am here. All is well.” It was His bold promise to me, “There is nothing to fear because I am all-powerful.” I was being commanded, “Stop fearing. Stop believing in anything but Me.” “I will uphold thee” informed me that bones and muscles don’t make up my structure. Rather, my structure is made of spiritual qualities that reflect Truth and Love. “I am thy God” told me that whatever needed doing, He had already done. Supposed material conditions in no way defined, restricted, or imposed on my God-supported actions. I was not a poor mortal who had been completely fine one moment, completely helpless the next. I knew that God’s view of me was the only one with any significance. So I looked only to God to find inspiration for what I should do each moment.

Based on the reality of who God is and therefore who I am, my fears began to disappear, and I moved around more and more. Within ten days of arriving at the facility, I walked out to the car and my husband drove me home. I continued to make rapid, prayerful progress, and was totally free within a few weeks.

Science and Health says, “Mentally insist that harmony is the fact …” (Science and Health, p. 412). Taking that to heart, I know that I can insist—absolutely, moment by moment insist—that I am fearless and free, whole and well, because this is the reality of being for each one of us. Knowing that we are untouched by anything but God’s infinite greatness allows us to be confident of complete healing, because God is our “primitive and ultimate source” (Science and Health, p. 63). To me this means that God is where we came from, where we are, and where we will always be.

Right in the midst of what appears to be a dreadful experience, right where fear seems foremost—right there is the reality of our oneness with God. No matter how potent fear seems, or how firmly entrenched it is in our human sense of what is “real,” it is in fact, nothing. God’s allness leaves no room for anything ungodlike.

There is nothing higher or safer than the God-centered understanding that allows us to take each step in our lives fearlessly forward. To step into each moment with confidence, clarity, and freedom.

Suzanne Biggs lives on the central coast of Oregon.

Why do we care about Jesus? Many of the physical side effects of the spiritual precepts he taught are great, but they’re really not the point. It’s the spiritual wake-up call he provided that really counts—the call to love spiritually and unconditionally, even when the going gets tough.]]> Shirley Paulson | from The Christian Science Journal

Christ Jesus provided a vital spiritual wake-up call—one we all can answer.

Christmas reminds me of a question I often ask myself: Why do I care so much about Jesus? Would I have been in those crowds who followed him when he lived in Galilee? What would have convinced me to follow him? His kindness and grace? His power to heal sick people? Would I have recognized my own calling to participate in his mission—destroying oppression, injustice, and self-absorption? Would I have been willing to bind up the brokenhearted?

A lot of people thought it was amazing that Jesus could provide food for thousands. That he could turn water into wine. And that he even had the divine authority to raise his friend Lazarus from the dead. They showed up to see these extraordinary exhibits of spiritual power. But most of them didn’t stay around to find out how he did those things. It’s likely they were content to be fed when they were hungry (see Matt. 14:15–21), delighted with the wine at the wedding, (see John 2:1–11), and grateful for Lazarus to return to them from the grave (see John 11). But these earthly successes were side effects—not the goals—of Jesus’ spiritual mastery. Searching for material comforts and accomplishments, most of them missed the spiritual wake-up call. In today’s world, I wonder: Do our Christmas distractions keep us, too, from the spiritual wake-up call?

Jesus’ guidance to the pearl of great price

I hope if I’d made the rounds with Jesus and heard him talking in parables about the kingdom of God, I would have caught the idea that this kingdom is far more valuable than getting bread and fish, wine, or even relief from physical ailments. The kingdom Jesus was teaching about was a “pearl of great price” (Matt. 13:46). It’s something to cherish—but it costs something. Another of his parables, now known as “The Prodigal Son,” sheds more light on this kingdom as it feels like a guide home to a safe and loving Parent after a long nightmare. Like so many who were in the crowds following Jesus, the prodigal was much more interested in worldly excitement and success than learning the lessons of spiritual maturity. But the pain of his suffering jogged his memory of the pearl he’d left at home—the unconditional love of his father.

Jesus explained how permanent joy comes from replacing earthly longings with God’s treasures.

Many of us might have wanted to linger longer when Jesus taught the basic principle of happiness and its connection with this kingdom. In one of his major lessons now called the Sermon on the Mount (see Matthew 5–7), Jesus explained how permanent joy comes from replacing earthly longings with God’s treasures. But these promises are followed by some of his most challenging teachings. “Love your enemies,” he said. I ask myself from time to time how ready I am for that assignment! And there is more in that sermon, such as not even secretly wanting recognition for my good deeds, or not even thinking sensuous or angry thoughts. Again, the message for today could mean that our motivation for doing good has nothing to do with personal contentment or world success. It has everything to do with how much we love.

Leaving behind comfort and discomfort zones

It’s clear that getting close to Jesus and his teachings also requires the courage of getting close to our own thoughts. While we may never need to admit our secret motivations, rage, or lust to others, the Christ exposes them in our hearts. We can’t hide from them. But the most comforting part about honestly looking at our shortcomings is the way Jesus’ teachings inspire us to turn our lives around and to even forsake a comfortable life in order to live the life of love that Jesus taught. And he taught this lesson wherever he went.

The Master’s presence and unequivocal love caused Zacchaeus to abandon greed for generosity.

For instance, Zacchaeus was a tax collector and known as a “sinner,” but when Jesus came to town the force of the Master’s presence and unequivocal love caused Zacchaeus to abandon greed for generosity (see Luke 19). A woman whose adulterous relationship was made into a public spectacle was protected by Jesus and guided to a safer and more productive way of living. Watching her accusers drop their stones moments after they were ready to kill her made her a witness to the power of the love that transforms, which surely must have transformed her life as well (see John 8). And a man suffering from a paralyzing disease felt the impact of Jesus’ forgiveness when he was lowered through an open roof to hear Jesus speak to the throng. Jesus “said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee” (Mark 2:5), and the man was healed. Evidently the man knew his own mistakes well enough to experience the impact of Jesus’ forgiveness and its power to restore his innocence and his health.

The heart of Christmas lies in stories such as these because they illustrate what we’re truly drawn to. Each one is a rebuke to greed, sensuality, or some form of self-centered life. And it’s an affirmation of living for the purpose of loving.

God’s gift of “another Comforter”

Jesus told his closest followers during his final meal with them that there was a greater gift yet to follow. How surprised they must have been to hear him say that the best thing he could do for them was to leave them! He promised that God, his Father and ours, would send “another Comforter” (John 14:16)—but that it couldn’t happen until he left them. If I’d heard those words alongside the disciples, I might have wondered what good it would do for Jesus to leave, when he was accomplishing so much good. But this new Comforter would not come until Jesus left. After a brutal trial and crucifixion, his triumph over the grave and his resurrection provided even further incentive for people to strive to follow him. Soon he was lifted up from earth altogether, in what has since been called the ascension.

Who would point the way to the pearl of great price?

His absence made very clear to everyone who had been drawn to him that now it was their turn. Who else was going to console others and rebuke earthly attractions? Who would point the way to the pearl of great price, making plain the fact that sacrifice would be necessary, and shortcomings could no longer remain hidden? Who would bind up the brokenhearted and heal the sick? Who would face the opposition of the world’s hatred against all that Jesus taught concerning his Father’s kingdom? Those who learned to love—as Jesus taught.

The Comforter is here

Would I still have been there? I hope the meaning of the new Comforter would have come alive for me! All the men and women who were prepared to give their lives to the task before them knew they could not take a single step without the guidance, encouragement, rebuke, and inspiration of the Comforter. Jesus would not do their work for them. Mary Baker Eddy, one of those followers who took on the full responsibility of discipleship some 1900 years later, identified the Comforter as that which is “… revealing the divine Principle, Love, and leading into all truth” (Science and Health, p. 332). Clearly, this Comforter is still calling on us to live as disciples, finding truth in that spiritual realm of harmony that Jesus guides us to.

Christmas is a quiet reminder that we live for the purpose of loving and that Jesus sent us the Comforter we need. I pray once again to guard against the self-satisfying side effects of Jesus’ mission and to renew my commitment to the love-motivated life of discipleship.

Shirley Paulson is a Christian Science practitioner based in Glenview, Illinois. She is also a member of the Christian Science Board of Lectureship.

Her boyfriend’s spiritual healing of a deep cut scares a young woman, but then she starts to look into Christian Science. Her life changes forever as she understands biblical passages she had heard for years but never grasped.]]> Rebecca Coughtry | from The Christian Science Journal

Christian Science changes a young woman’s life.

When I first looked into Christian Science it was to “save” my boyfriend. We had been dating for two years, and periodically he’d invite me to attend a Christian Science lecture, go to church with him, or read this book or that magazine about Christian Science. But I was active in the Sunday School and choir at my own church, where I had been baptized and which I later joined. I felt no need to know about another church and knew almost nothing about Christian Science.

Then, my boyfriend had an experience that changed everything.

One winter afternoon during our senior year in high school, while making a snow fort together in my folks’ backyard, a friend accidentally hit my boyfriend forcibly in the face with the edge of a snow shovel—cutting him deeply in the forehead. It was a terrible thing to witness. As we took him into my folks’ house, he said he had to realize “the unreality of this.” I had no clue what that meant and thought he was in a state of shock. He refused any medical help. Our neighbor, a medical nurse, strongly urged a visit to the emergency room for treatment and stitches. Instead, he accepted a wet washcloth and drove himself home.

Three hours later, my boyfriend appeared at my parents’ back door for our skiing date— completely healed.

Three hours later, my boyfriend appeared at my parents’ back door for our skiing date—completely healed. The gashes had closed. There was no bruising or swelling. I saw only a thin, red line on his forehead. To have experienced such dramatic physical improvement in such a short time seemed almost creepy to me. My boyfriend explained that when he got home, he had gone to his room to pray for himself. He didn’t ask anyone to help him, not a Christian Science practitioner, not even his parents. He simply prayed to God. This healing solidified my boyfriend’s faith, and he began to practice Christian Science in earnest. He became more sincere about church and wanted me to understand and take part in what he was learning and discovering in Christian Science, but I just couldn’t—and wouldn’t. As a result we grew apart, which broke my heart.

That incident with the shovel disturbed me. I thought it was dangerous not to go to doctors, and I worried about my boyfriend. I tried hard to change his mind—to make him see the danger of following this path of spiritual healing. He wouldn’t listen to me, and we broke up. It devastated me.

I blamed our breakup on Christian Science. My then ex-boyfriend began to date a girl from his church, and I began a personal campaign to learn about his religion so I could refute its teachings. I decided to visit a Christian Science church located a few blocks away from the church I belonged to. Their services began just as ours were ending. So, one Sunday I went directly from my church to the Christian Science service and arrived late, during the silent prayer. I was warmly welcomed. Moments later, the congregation began to say out loud the Lord’s Prayer with its spiritual interpretation from Science and Health. I was astonished. Everyone said the prayer so slowly that I got lost and couldn’t say it with them. I remember thinking that these people had to truly know that prayer in order to say it so slowly. They had to pray that prayer. It was an awakening to me.

I used the Christian Science Quarterly to say the Responsive Reading and then listened as the two Readers read that week’s Bible Lesson-Sermon. I don’t recall the subject that Sunday, and I didn’t understand everything I was hearing, but I got a great idea. I could borrow the Quarterly and read the following week’s Bible Lesson so I’d understand it a little better; then I’d bring the Quarterly back. I had a Revised Standard Bible and a copy of Science and Health (a gift from my ex-boyfriend).

This Lesson was the next and greatest awakening for me. It changed my life.

Shortly after, I read another Lesson called “Adam and Fallen Man.” This Lesson was the next and greatest awakening for me. It changed my life. The Lesson included both accounts of creation in Genesis—the spiritual account in the first chapter, which states that God created man and woman in His likeness, and the Adam and Eve story in chapter two. Mary Baker Eddy’s explanation of creation in Science and Health shocked me. It brought out that the first biblical account was true, and the other was unreal—a “dream-narrative.” The brilliance of this insight was almost blinding. I can still remember sitting in my bedroom, looking at the words in the Bible, reading what I had read and heard all my life, but understanding them for the very first time. It was a great relief to know that we are not created from matter, but by divine Spirit, to be entirely spiritual. But what struck me even more in the Lesson was the idea that God was infinite, omnipresent Love and loving.

Then I remembered an experience when I was perhaps seven or eight. My mother had been ill. She was often sick when I was growing up, and it was scary for us kids. This particular time I was awakened in the night by sirens. The ambulance had come to take my mom to the hospital. My dad went with her, and we were left at home with a neighbor. I was terrified. I tried to pray as I was taught in Sunday School—to let Jesus come into my heart. I could never figure out what that meant, or how to do it. So I decided to go right to God and ask Him to take care of my mom. But I felt no reassurance or peace. So, I went to the window in my bedroom and opened it thinking I’d be closer to God in heaven. I knelt and prayed again. Still, no answer. It dawned on me that perhaps God’s ear was turned away from me, toward other prayers from around the world—that there were other people whose need was more immediate, more important than mine. I shut the window and went back to bed, still scared and sad.

Mom got better, but I didn’t. I could never grasp exactly what was troubling me. I don’t remember dwelling on it, but I did worry about my not being able to pray “correctly.”

The questions I had so many years ago were finally being answered.

This memory came flooding back to me as I read that Lesson on “Adam and Fallen Man.” The omnipresence and omnipotence of God were described so clearly, and the questions I had so many years ago were finally being answered. In the Lesson was this passage from Science and Health: “Should we implore a corporeal God to heal the sick out of His personal volition, or should we understand the infinite divine Principle which heals?” (Science and Health, p. 167). I wanted to understand this divine Principle, and I began to seriously study Christian Science. I started to attend the local Christian Science church exclusively and was able to go to the Sunday School for a few months—until I turned twenty.

A year after this life-changing experience, my ex-boyfriend showed up out of the blue at my college apartment. We married a few years after that, and today—33 years later—we’re still living and loving Christian Science together. Through the years I’ve been healed through prayer of a medically diagnosed tumor, an enlarged mole, financial problems, headaches, and day-to-day frustrations and complications. My husband, Dean, and I have raised two boys and found Christian Science to be the most reliable means of health care. I have seen so clearly that our loving Father-Mother maintains our health and speeds our spiritual progress.

Rebecca Coughtry and her husband live in Schoharie, New York.

“Acting is doing,” said a famous acting teacher. When this college student discovers that “prayer is doing,” he lives his prayers and overcomes anxiety and depression while living thousands of miles from family.]]> Tyler Neale | from The Christian Science Journal

Living our prayers leads to healing.

The Dutch called her “New Amsterdam,” Washington Irving dubbed her “Gotham,” and Frank Sinatra sang she’s “that city that doesn’t sleep.” And on my first visit to New York City at age seven, I called her a dream. Through my impressionable young eyes, the city was a surreal place where more happened in one minute than during the entire year in my second grade classroom back in Orange County, California. I absorbed every taste, scent, sight, and sound, from the skyward soaring concrete and glass on Sixth Avenue to the earthbound trees and grass in Central Park, and left with a new dream—to come back and stay.

Twelve years later, my dream was fulfilled. Only problem, it felt more like a nightmare than a dream. After spring semester of college in New York City, I stayed to take summer classes while my friends all went home. All alone and thousands of miles from my family, I began feeling anxious and depressed. Even simple activities, like getting out of bed in the morning, became intimidating trials.

My first instinct was to pray for myself.

My first instinct was to pray for myself. While reading the weekly Christian Science Bible Lessons I connected especially with a statement in Science and Health. It said, “Hold thought steadfastly to the enduring, the good, and the true, and you will bring these into your experience proportionably to their occupancy of your thoughts” (Science and Health, p. 261). In my prayer I held to the thought that God is all good, and since I’m His reflection I am all good, without a shred of anxiety. That, to me, was an example of an enduring, good, and true thought.

I called this my “swing” prayer—a variation of the golf term “swing thought,” which is a simple, clear thought a golfer might use to focus his or her attention while swinging the club. So whenever I needed to “swing the club” in my daily life (getting up in the morning, going to class, going to work, etc.), I focused on my swing prayer.

After a trying month and lots of prayer, the anxiety dissipated, but only a few days later it returned with heightened intensity. Paradoxically, the reasons I thought had caused my anxiety before were completely reversed—my friends were back, I had left my rotten job, and I had great roommates. Still, I felt awful and began to think that I had an anxious condition that would simply be a part of me from then on, and that I’d soon need therapy. Even when I didn’t feel the anxiety, I agonized over its inevitable resurgence, as it seemed to ebb and flow on a day-to-day basis.

I told a Christian Science practitioner whom I’d asked to pray for me during this period that I often found myself searching for reasons to justify my anxiety, which led my thought in a downward spiral: “If I could just be back home everything would be fine,” or “If I were more talented I would be happy and successful.” As you can see, these thoughts were self-centered and driven by fear. In response, the practitioner supplied a prayer in the form of an extended metaphor, which I’ve loved ever since:

A door-to-door salesman (anxiety) knocks on the door of my house (my thought) and says he wants to talk about my problems. “I’ll tell you how and why you’re not good enough. Let me in.” I comply, but soon realize all he talks about is hopelessness and despair, and he tricks me into thinking the same way he does—so I kick him out. The next day the salesman returns and knocks again. This time I don’t answer because I have no desire to sit down with a desperate, deceptive salesman. (I recognize anxiety for what it is, deception, and shut the door.) He knocks the next day, and the next, and the next, but I continue to ignore him. Eventually the salesman quits (anxiety dissipates) because what salesman keeps knocking on a door where no one answers.

This metaphor reminded me of a wonderful passage from Science and Health: “Stand porter at the door of thought. Admitting only such conclusions as you wish realized in bodily results, you will control yourself harmoniously” (Science and Health, p. 392).

I decided I wouldn’t let a scam idea about myself into my thought.

Just as I wouldn’t let a scam salesman into my house, I decided I wouldn’t let a scam idea about myself into my thought. Instead, I only opened the door to what I knew was real about me—that I reflected Life, Truth, and Love, my true identity as a child of God. I’ll buy that!

The practitioner’s prayer-metaphor helped to lift my thought out of the muck, and although the anxiety persisted, I knew I was on to something. Around this time my dad took a new job that required him and my mom to relocate across the country. One day he told me over the phone that, amidst the uncertainties of a new career in a new city, he too wrestled with a sense of anxiety. It hit me like a ton of bricks: the same scam salesman that persisted at my front door was visiting my dad as well. Surprisingly, this didn’t discourage my prayers; it enlivened them. I felt more confident than ever to take prayerful action.

That same day, on my way to class, I walked past the iconic rose-red doors of The Neighborhood Playhouse, a famous acting school in New York City. Inscribed beside the front door I found a quote from the great acting teacher Sanford Meisner: “Acting is doing.” As I considered Meisner’s profoundly simple statement, I realized that the same could be said about prayer—prayer is doing.

So how do you “do” prayer? For me the answer was to express each day the qualities of God that are innately mine. Before every activity, I thought of God-given qualities I would be privileged and entitled to express, or do—in acting class, creativity; in rehearsal, self-forgetfulness; hanging out with friends, kindness and love. Best of all, I knew that my doings were prayers in and of themselves, not only for myself, but for my dad, my family, even all humanity.

When I realized that I could live my prayer, I gained a newfound dominion over my thinking.

When I realized that I could live my prayer, I gained a newfound dominion over my thinking. Soon the anxiety stopped knocking, and on top of that, I had no fear of it returning. I called my dad and could barely get the good news out before he told me that his anxiety had vanished as well. We both rejoiced. This was a wonderful proof to me that Christian Science is a shared practice: prayer for myself is prayer for others, just as prayer for others is prayer for myself.

My parents love their new life, and I still live in my favorite place on earth, New York City. Since this experience four years ago I’ve been visited now and then by other down-pulling thoughts, such as jealousy and impatience, that the scam salesman wants to peddle. But now I’m able to recognize such thoughts as powerless and dismiss them faster than a New York minute—in no time at all.

Tyler Neale lives in the Spanish Harlem neighborhood of New York City.

A child learns that sunflowers always follow the sun’s path, basking in the rays. Facing discouragement years later as an adult, she remembers this lesson and realizes that she can accept moment by moment the good that God is pouring forth.]]> Laura Remmerde | from The Christian Science Journal

Everyone can enjoy ongoing goodness.

As a young child, I spent many hours in my grandmother’s garden. Grandma loved her flowers, and I loved them, too. She had stately deep-hued irises, fragrant sweet peas, willowy snapdragons, colorful dahlias, and, rising above all the others, tall, sturdy sunflowers. There were also many birds among the flowers. I felt at home there.

Grandma told me a story about the sunflowers. She said that if I watched closely, I would notice that they always turned their faces to the sun. This intrigued me. I watched the sunflowers’ devotion as they followed the sun’s path through the day, and I tucked this memory away for future reference.

This sweet time from my childhood came to thought recently when I was struggling with discouragement. I’d lost my job because of the economic downturn. Through the year, I had worked to deepen my “spiritual root system.” As a result, I’d had many moments of fresh spiritual insight. Opportunities to help others through volunteer work unfolded, both in our local Christian Science Reading Room and in the community. These opportunities brought a sense of satisfaction and fulfillment. At times, I felt inspired to share with friends what I was learning. I began to pursue a lifetime love of writing. Occasional substitute teaching jobs came along, as well as some opportunities to score written exams. However, I also sent out many applications and went to an occasional interview, with no job offers as a result. That, coupled with the continuing news about the economy, was why I was feeling depressed.

I turned to God in prayer.

As I sat on the couch one morning, I turned to God in prayer. I tried, in all sincerity, to be still and listen for divine Mind’s leading, knowing that my heavenly Father would meet my need for meaningful activity. I prayed, and waited silently and expectantly for some time. Then it was as if a cloud began to lift, as an inspired idea for that day’s activity came to mind. A school where I’d been volunteering and substitute teaching was having a camping adventure at a park in our town. I felt led to go out and see the teachers and children enjoying this wonderful activity. At first, I wondered if I would be a blessing there, considering how I’d been feeling, but as I left for the park, I decided God knew better how to bless me and others, and He would make that blessing evident.

As it turned out, it was the very best thing I could have done. It was a pure delight to see the children’s enjoyment of that day. From building forts under the trees, to painting palm-sized rocks, to “fishing” off the wooden bridge with long sticks, they made full use of every opportunity for joyful activity. Their fresh, buoyant love of all the good available to them lifted me above any believing that good could be absent. I remembered the encouragement in Science and Health to “… improve material belief by thought tending spiritually upward …” (Science and Health, p. 545). The children reminded me, through their innocence and joy, to attend to the task of cultivating thought so it would reach for and follow the light of divine Love and Truth.

My God-given, spiritual capacity to understand and benefit from this light of Truth could never be taken from me.

I realized that developing my spiritual root system, while necessary, was only one part of my spiritual growth. Another indispensable part was to acknowledge and follow the spiritual light that always streams forth from God to bless us. My God-given, spiritual capacity to understand and benefit from this light of Truth could never be taken from me. I couldn’t be divorced from it anymore than the sunflower could be separated from its natural capacity to follow the light and absorb its goodness and care.

These rejuvenating ideas warmed me. It was as if the children were my “garden of flowers,” turning naturally to the light and showing me that the light of good was mine to enjoy, too.

This gentle but clear lesson has continued to bless me. The pure nature of spiritual man and woman, made in the image and likeness of God, was more evident to me than before. I found that it was not only desirable, but imperative, to reject error—the lie that we can be separated from infinite good—and that this was made possible by faithfully recognizing God’s love for me and everyone.

One wonderful outcome of all the prayer throughout the year was that in addition to getting free of discouragement, I was offered a temporary job right at the school where I had been volunteering. I am filled with gratitude for it. The “lesson of the flowers” is teaching me to accept moment by moment the good that God is pouring forth. And that He is the powerful, gentle, warming presence in my life that will continue to bless me and others in just the right way, now and always.

Laura Remmerde is a teacher and freelance writer in Bend, Oregon.

Robert Ennemoser found in Christian Science a force deeper and more potent than everything he had witnessed as a trained natural scientist. He chose to dive into the big river of Life. Everyone else can too.]]> Joan Taylor | from The Christian Science Journal

Each of us can feel the force of the river of Life and its healing presence.

First, let’s talk about your background as a natural scientist, Robert. In Science and Health Mary Baker Eddy referred to “the bias of education” as enforcing “slavery” (Science and Health, p. 381). As a biologist you were obviously highly educated in the workings of the physical body—and in a world composed of matter. When you came into Christian Science and became a healer, did you find this a hindrance at first? Did you have to “uneducate” yourself?

I began to understand Life as all-power, an indestructible power.

Well, it was an immeasurable privilege to learn about a much deeper concept of life. In the natural sciences, one sees life as a power—but a limited and fragile one, subject to destruction. When I was first introduced to Christian Science, I was struck by its ability to prove healing powers that were not yet known to me—healing accomplished by opening the mind to infinite Life. I began to understand Life as all-power, an indestructible power, reflecting itself gracefully and continuously, as I gave way to it.

Boy, I was really eager to learn more about that and to prove its validity for myself. Biological knowledge wasn’t a hindrance once I understood that everything I experienced could be translated into thought.

This new idea—my life being rooted in divine Life—didn’t interest me so much from a theoretical basis. Far more from a practical basis. When I started to read and hear about healings in Christian Science, I was very much alerted to the depth of these healings—the power of God behind them. As a natural scientist I was used to asking the question “What is really going on here?” So as a scientist, I was impelled to go deeper.

It’s interesting that both you and Mrs. Eddy got involved in homeopathy. She said, “Homœopathy takes mental symptoms largely into consideration in its diagnosis of disease” (Science and Health, p. 156), and this helped lead her eventually to the understanding that all is Mind.

In spiritual healing we only apply the ‘information’ that divine Love and Life provide.

Yes, homeopathy was a bridge for me, too, because it is “information medicine,” intending to stimulate an individual’s life force with specific remedies. Christian Science takes the direct route—by using the “Christ remedy” only. In spiritual healing we only apply the “information” that divine Love and Life provide and which the Christ communicates to us.

In that same passage Mrs. Eddy goes on to say Christian Science “succeeds where homœopathy fails, solely because its one recognized Principle of healing is Mind …” (Science and Health, p. 157).

Exactly. At the time I was practicing classic homeopathy, it was my sincere interest to heal better. I was trying to understand the basic ideas of Christian Science healing and I put it to the practical test. I applied it to my own needs and also for my wife, Inge, who had joined me on this spiritual adventure. I also experienced a number of substantial and striking healings in patients whom I hadn’t been able to help with classic homeopathy. For instance, I had a patient who had suffered for 15 years with deformative arthritis and was in severe pain. She was healed permanently within three months with Christian Science treatment alone.

In Christian Science I was touching a force deeper and more potent than everything I had witnessed before as a trained natural scientist.

As you know, our cover theme for this issue of the Journal is “The Science of Love.” I’m wondering how you see the link between the two. The way the world perceives science is one thing—proof, reliability, foundation—whereas, love, on the human level at least, is seen as changeable, unreliable, sometimes good, sometimes painful. How do you see that in Christian Science they come together as one?

‘Science’ and ‘Love’ are inseparable.

God, Love, is the creator. Love is giving us everything in abundance—all of our faculties, abilities, and eternal senses. It is living us—guarding and guiding us. This is an all-reliable, all-available, and therefore, scientific, Love. “Science” and “Love” are inseparable. Jesus, the master metaphysician, taught us to always listen to what the Word of Love is saying. It is telling us: “I am Love embracing you and supporting you with infallible certainty. I unfold every aspect of your being fully—and forever.”

So do you see Love at the heart of every healing?

Absolutely. I had an experience with a woman who had a very bad wound on the face. It was growing deeper and deeper and broader and broader. Her neighbor was a physician and said to her, “You need immediate help with that. This looks very serious and could even be life-threatening.”

She had worked in Christian Science for a while, but it seemed to get worse. Even the dentist refused to clean her teeth because of what he saw on her face. When she called me for treatment, we began to listen to what divine Love was telling both of us about this. One of the most important elements in Christian Science healing is that we never begin with using human-mind power to overcome challenges. Our need is a spiritual one—and our goal is a purified concept of being. To be receptive, to be accepting of the power of absolute Love carrying us. We are not floating around as separate, vulnerable entities in the universe. There is a source of our being, “the sustaining infinite” (Science and Health, p. vii). And therefore we fit like flowers on a tree. We are nourished by the tree—by God. Life is carrying us and supporting us.

So these are some of the ideas this woman and I worked with—that she was supported by Love and that Love was touching her already perfect face. So she got a deeper understanding of how divine Love loves. She didn’t just “think good thoughts” in trying to produce healing—she felt Life’s presence. The whole thing melted away into nothingness within a few months, and she was healed permanently.

That’s a wonderful healing, Robert. As we rejoice in every healing, how do we nurture our expectancy for immediate healing? Do you think when we call a practitioner for help with a difficulty that we often fall into the trap of thinking we are about to embark on a “healing journey” with the practitioner?

Yes, and we have to be careful about that. Healing is never a process, and with that in mind, we begin with the metaphysical standard—immediacy and completeness—here and now. We do not start with a problem and set about approaching a healing. We start with reality, with the truth of being. Right then, we dive into the big river of Life! It is flowing with love, and it is caring for its creation. And it is here now. Not tomorrow, not in two weeks’ time, but now.

This isn’t the “now” in terms of how most people perceive of it—as a mortal sense of time, separate from the past and the future. Can you describe what this “now” is in Christian Science?

It transcends time. It is the fullness and completeness of good as the one and only reality. Jesus referred to it when he said, “Before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:58). It is being with God as a quality of existence, not of time. A glimpse of it reveals itself. It can often result in immediate healing, cutting short or eliminating any so-called time process.

As an example, once I got a phone call from a girl of about twelve years old. She had her parents’ permission to call me herself. She wasn’t able to eat—couldn’t hold any food down—and it had been going on for several days. Her father, who wasn’t a Christian Scientist, had sent her to a doctor, and she got medication. But it didn’t get better; it got worse. They were about to go back to the doctor when her mother asked her, “Wouldn’t you like to call a Christian Science practitioner?” So she called me. And right into the phone I said to her, “You know what we do? We just open our mind to divine Love, which is all around you, just like the air you breathe. We just have to be attentive to it. It’s there. It’s a fact. It’s not something we talk ourselves into. We just cooperate with this fact as a present reality, and we let this Love care for you completely. We relax completely in Love’s arms.” So then I said to her, “Just do that. No more than that. And call me again as soon as you would like to.”

The ailment was completely gone in that moment.

It was a quick call, only a few minutes, and we ended our conversation. And what was related to me afterward is that when she put down the phone her mother called the family for dinner, and she very naturally sat down at the table and ate a complete meal. The ailment was completely gone in that moment.

When you spoke about both those healings, you talked about going directly to the truth of being. As we understand in Science, the absolute truth needs no denial/affirmation because truth is just true; it’s complete affirmation. So when you work with a patient, is it spiritual intuition that leads you to stay with what’s true or to know when to address the thoughts of the individual that might need to be denied in prayer treatment?

The qualities of divine Love need to be understood and felt on a deep level.

Of course we never try to diagnose a case on the human plane. Spiritual diagnosis turns to the spiritual need of the client. What specific divine quality is needed here to spiritualize thought and to meet the so-called crisis? The qualities of divine Love need to be understood and felt on a deep level. It may be in one case the very basic and comforting reassurance of divine Love saying, “Do not fear; I [God] am with you. I support you fully, I strengthen you, and I stand behind you—one hundred percent!” Or in another case it may be Truth as a bright light: “I am Truth, the light of inspiration, eliminating every form of shadow, falsity, or failure, by revealing all good—the only reality. I ground you firmly on the highway of holiness, safeguarded with every single step, in My presence.”

To understand the divine message in a given case and to listen to it closely is one of the most important skills of a healer. We mentally respond to it as a “spiritual doer.” And the patient responds as one, too.

Can you talk a bit more about being a “spiritual doer”? It seems to go hand in hand with what you said about diving into the big river of Life.

To me, it means not just stating—or clinging to—a divine promise but dynamically stepping into this promise by performing a spiritual act: “I accept divine Truth as the light of Mind and align with this Mind, consciously and with all my soul, all my heart, and all my might! I abide in the perfect order that Truth is creating and sustaining. I let Truth nullify what appears to be wrong and I walk on the highway of good now and forever.”

Thus we take a mental position in accordance with Love. This is diving into the river of Life. It is Christian Science practice, with the word act right there in the word practice. When we read in Science and Health, “Rise in the strength of Spirit …” (Science and Health, p. 393), it should not just remain a good idea. We have to put it into action: “I rise above limitation, I surrender to divine Love alone, and I do it with all my heart.” This is a spiritual act!

So you are joining with the patient to act on what’s true—not being held back or hindered or intimidated by the beliefs that aren’t true.

Yes. In the end what we always need is to meet whatever tries to implant the concept of “I am not complete … I am somehow lost now” in one’s thought. The cloud of human thought must give way to the brightness of the full daylight of being. And then what goes on mentally is reflected in healing. “Dis-ease” of any kind fades away. Because it was never a fact—only a mental cloud.

We can look into the full light of divine presence and listen to what Love is telling us.

Divine Love’s message sustains and supports—always—and the more someone feels anxious or fearful, the more one needs to feel this strength and comfort of divine Love. The human “information”—the human suggestion—gives way to divine grace. We have to see that “no, this challenge is not a fact that we are being told here, but a suggestion.” Then we can look into the full light of divine presence and listen to what Love is telling us. The book of Isaiah in the Bible has marvelous examples of divine Love speaking to man. “Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine” (Isa. 43:1), and “Awake, awake; put on thy strength … put on thy beautiful garments” (Isa. 52:1). This is Love talking to its creation.

And it’s a conversation for all eternity. Divine Love speaking to each one of us. And our business in healing is just to listen to that voice and to nothing else.

So when we call a practitioner, we’re really asking a practitioner to help us listen to what divine Love is telling us, about this loving, present “presence” in our lives?

Yes, practitioners are never really healers themselves, though sometimes people think we are. Instead, the patient and I are going, hand in hand, to look for and listen to the divine Love that is already right here.

I was reading an interview with you in our sister publication, the Christian Science Sentinel (March 11, 2002, p. 10), and in it you described a healing. Next you were asked, “Would you have been able to explain this to a colleague from a biological perspective …?” And you answered, “I would have explained it the same way I did just now, and counted on his ability to think about things he did not yet know about.” I loved that! How do you think that statement can guide the rest of us in how we share Christian Science?

Life is living us.

When Mary Baker Eddy introduced the seven synonyms for God—Truth, Life, Love, Principle, Soul, Spirit, Mind—she helped us in a priceless way. The synonyms are a universal language—everybody, no matter what cultural background, can relate to them in a very real way. I especially love to work with the synonym Life. It is so obvious to everybody, not only to a natural scientist, that Life is living us. It is an undeniable presence, a power, unfolding us and caring for us in a multitude of ways. We do not even breathe voluntarily; Life is making us breathe—it breathes us! This tells us that there is something so much greater than “us.”

It is a stunning experiment for every seeker to feel, moment by moment, Life taking over again and again. I surely need to invite my neighbor to that freedom in a way he or she is able to understand. Talking about Life in its divine dimension is a wonderful door opener, as long as we do not overstrain someone’s receptivity. I’ve always found that sharing specific healing ideas of Christian Science is so much better than trying to sell it as a whole.

Do you find that newcomers in your practice or at your lectures are more responsive to Christian Science when it is communicated as a system of universal laws of divine Love rather than as a religion?

Christian Science stands beyond the landscape and borders of denominations and healing systems.

People are often fed up with hierarchy or others telling them how to live spirituality. But they are open-minded, if we meet on a same level of communication—sharing experiences and insights. Christian Science is defined as nothing other than the “divine laws of Life, Truth, and Love” by its founder, Mary Baker Eddy (Science and Health, p. 107). So we find elements of these laws everywhere in science and religion. Thus Christian Science stands beyond the landscape and borders of denominations and healing systems. It is universal truth, and as experience has taught me, it is best communicated in a universal language.

When an individual calls you for physical healing, they want something healed, let’s say their body. How do you move them beyond wanting the “result” of that physical healing to this wider spiritual context of diving into that big river of Life that you’re talking about?

Nearly every client who calls is willing to grant, at least to some degree, that the mind plays an important role in health and other life issues. So our approach in Christian Science is to strengthen one’s thought, to gently elevate one’s concept of being. We rise to understand the patient as an outcome of Life itself—all-powerful Life. And we deepen this position in thought, and it’s thought that we judge our progress by. We do not look at the body or other challenges to judge progress. “Are you coming closer, nearer, to divine Love as being your supporter, your all-powerful supporter? Do you come closer to that?” Those are the questions we ask.

So as medical doctors might be working with patients and a new day comes, and they might say, “How are we doing today?” as a practitioner, you’re seeing “How is thought doing today?”

Yes, I frequently ask clients that question, because it’s always about thought. For example, it’s not “How is your foot today?” but “What is the concept you are holding in mind? Do you stay with a higher idea about life today?”

Our task is to adopt the highest concept of being, that it may be reflected in our lives.

But I don’t think body should ever be denied. If you deny body, you cannot heal body. We move beyond the physical elements, to a body of concepts. And we manifest in body what we understand about Love and Life. Our task is to adopt the highest concept of being, that it may be reflected in our lives. I think it’s very important not to reject or “tabooize” body, but to elevate it—to lay down concepts of limitation. This enables us to manifest more and more true body, the pure qualities of God, good.

I’m sure in Austria the media blitz about the medical industry is just as widespread as it is here in the United States—the daily blanket of information about disease, drugs, health scares, etc. When an individual calls you with a physical challenge, and they’re new to Science, how do you begin to educate them out of the idea that medicine is a viable solution?

I am aware of the great need of humanity to be protected from the mesmerism of the medical establishment. It would have us be at the mercy of molecules and genes. At the same time I sense a reluctance and disgust rising in more and more people against the aggressive suggestion that we are victims of a matter-based world—vulnerable and helpless. People are on the road to really understanding that dominion has to come via consciousness. After all, the governing authority of the universe is Mind, and it includes man.

The physical body is not who we are.

One has to learn as an early lesson that the physical body is not who we are. Think about it: Whenever an individual passes on, the body begins to decompose within minutes. Body is not matter. Matter does not exist. Body cannot sustain itself, since it is a manifestation of the human mind. Spirit is what is the living essence. Man is a spiritual being. And Spirit governs completely, not partially. It creates, unfolds, restores, and sustains man.

As we close, Robert, that phrase of yours, “dive into the big river of Life,” keeps resonating for me, and I bet it does for others, too. It’s such a buoyant invitation to leave human thinking and doubting behind.

The greatest need and the greatest power is always the spiritual one. Realizing that, I am infinitely grateful to be drawn into this holy work of healing, by understanding that we are supplied fully by the river of Life. John writes about it so powerfully in the Bible, “And on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations” (Rev. 22:2).

When we are rooted deeply in God, we meet up directly with Love. And to open up to it is a spiritual act!

Joan Taylor is a senior writer for the Journal.

Divine Love is the key to healing. The Science of Love—the divine laws of good underlying Christly compassion—heal sickness and sin reliably, quickly, and completely.]]> Michelle Nanouche | from the Christian Science Sentinel

A Love-based, spiritually scientific perspective heals even the most difficult case.

Several years ago I got a call from a father for help. His young son had fallen from a tree house, injuring his ankle, and he asked if I would pray for the boy. He was in pain and couldn’t walk. As his mother comforted him, I assured the father I would pray for his son immediately. My own daughter, who had once been healed of what appeared to be a dislocated bone in her leg, had learned that whenever she had a problem she could trust that God would help. Nothing was too hard for divine Love.

Moved by a sense of compassion for the boy, I knew without a doubt that not only the boy, but also his parents, were being comforted by this same Love. Because Love does not delay, we could expect to witness a quick healing.

I had been studying Science and Health just before the call, so it was open on my desk. As I looked down at the open page, my eyes fell on a quotation of Jesus’ words to his astonished disciples when he reappeared to them after his resurrection. “Spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have,” he told them (Science and Health, p. 45). Looking up from the page (on which Mary Baker Eddy explained the spiritual significance of that Bible verse), I thought, “Don’t be fooled by the mental image of the boy as flesh and bones. That is not what man—this boy—really is, as the disciples discovered when they saw Jesus again. The boy’s substance is Spirit, God, and he is spiritual.” I felt totally convinced of this fact. To me, this was a moment of spiritual discernment, enabling me to see clearly his true nature.

As I prayed with this idea, realizing that divine Love created this child whole—unbroken, invulnerable, and unfallen—this spiritual perspective began replacing in my thought the fearful perception that the child was injured and at risk. I also knew that the Christ, the spirit of Love that moved Jesus to have compassion on the sick and sinning—and enabled him to heal instantly—was with the boy’s father and mother and me. At this moment I intuitively knew the boy was well.

Matter had no bearing on the child’s well-being as Spirit’s reflection.

But then, I had a fearful thought. My prayer seemed too simple. I asked myself, “Is that it? What about the ankle? Don’t I have to pray about that?” Looking down once again at Science and Health, I read, “The Master said plainly that physique was not Spirit …” (Science and Health, p. 46). The text seemed bold and imperative. I realized that I didn’t have to give any further consideration to the condition of matter since it had no bearing on the child’s well-being as Spirit’s reflection. Now completely satisfied with what had come to me in prayer, I was filled with an awareness of the powerful love of God that permits no exception or interruption to Love’s law of perfect, spiritual being. The entire prayer lasted less than two minutes.

The mother soon called to say that shortly after her husband’s call, she and her son heard a series of noises come from his ankle. It sounded to her like he was being “zipped up.” She said he stopped crying immediately, sat up, and began talking about his adventures for the day without referring to the leg again. Soon, she added, he stood right up and walked. The healing was quick, complete, and permanent.

Long before her discovery of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy learned that divine Love could heal. Through her mother’s early encouragement to pray, she was healed of a fever. She wrote, “My mother, as she bathed my burning temples, bade me lean on God’s love, which would give me rest, if I went to Him in prayer, as I was wont to do, seeking His guidance. I prayed; and a soft glow of ineffable joy came over me. The fever was gone, and I rose and dressed myself, in a normal condition of health” (Retrospection and Introspection, p. 13).

Later, Mrs. Eddy understood that Love was, in fact, the key to healing. She discerned the Science of Love—the divine laws of good underlying the Christly compassion that healed sickness and sin. She explained in Science and Health, “If the Scientist reaches his patient through divine Love, the healing work will be accomplished at one visit, and the disease will vanish into its native nothingness like dew before the morning sunshine” (Science and Health, p. 365).

What does it mean to reach our patient through divine Love? Christ Jesus, who made a practice of healing in one visit, is the example. The Scriptures relate numerous healings that resulted from his being “moved with compassion.” He fed multitudes of hungry people (see Matt. 15:32–38), healed blindness (see Matt. 20:30–34), leprosy (see Mark 1:40–45), and seizures (see Mark 9:17–27), and raised the dead (see Luke 7:11–15).

A Love-based, spiritually scientific perspective heals even the most difficult case.

The account of Jesus healing the man with an “unclean spirit” is particularly interesting. To me, it illustrates how a Love-based, spiritually scientific perspective heals even the most difficult case. According to Mark’s account, Jesus’ “patient” had a history of self-destructive, violent fits that had made news throughout his community. He was an outcast, living in tombs, and bound up with chains. But after only a brief conversation with Jesus, the man was suddenly and completely well (see Mark 5:1–20). Jesus’ compassion for his neighbor’s situation moved him to heal the man. It enabled Jesus to love his neighbor in a holy and lawful way and to see beyond appearances to who he truly was—God’s own likeness, whole, and in his right mind. The man immediately felt the effect of Jesus the Scientist reaching his patient through Love. Jesus’ spiritual affection and perspective restored the man to mental health. Science and Health counsels, “Not having this spiritual affection, the physician lacks faith in the divine Mind and has not that recognition of infinite Love which alone confers the healing power” (Science and Health, p. 366).

In Mark’s account, no one but Jesus seemed to have had genuine love for the troubled man, a love that enabled Jesus to be unimpressed by the man’s frightening behavior. Some swine-herders living and working in the vicinity had probably long witnessed the severity of the man’s condition, and that could be a reason they weren’t quick to accept that the healing occurred so easily. According to some Bible commentaries, many who had known the man’s history spread their fearful stories about him. An agitated mob even forced Jesus out of town, and the man asked permission to go with him.

Jesus’ understanding of divine Love’s supremacy wiped out fear and its disturbing effects on mind and body.

But fear could neither stop the man’s healing, nor prevent him from telling others about it. Jesus’ understanding of divine Love’s supremacy over a limited, material view of life wiped out fear and its disturbing effects on the mind and body. This understanding of spiritual being is the Science of Love Jesus practiced so effectively. He told the man, “Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee.”

Today, we, too, can expect great things from our prayers. The reach of God’s love, mothering, comforting, and guiding, has no limits in time or space. God is Love yesterday, today, and forever. We all have access to this infinite Love and so can accomplish its healing work in one visit.

Michelle Nanouche is a Christian Science practitioner in Saint Germain en Laye, France.