A Christian Science practitioner and a Christian Science nurse, working together in their respective roles, have the joy of bearing witness to the oneness and allness—the wholeness—of God in a manner that enfolds their patient in the seamless garment of Christian healing.
Wholeness is what healing is all about. In fact, the very words "heal" and "whole" have a common root. Healing is the establishment of a patient's moral and physical wholeness, or health. It is a scientific, Christian process that rests on and flows from the wholeness of God.
Mrs. Eddy writes, "We must learn that God is infinitely more than a person, or finite form, can contain; that God is a divine Whole, and All, an all-pervading intelligence and Love, a divine, infinite Principle; and that Christianity is a divine Science." Miscellaneous Writings, p. 16.
God's wholeness is perfectly and eternally reflected in His creation, man. As the compound idea of God, man includes in the wholeness of his being all Godlike ideas, which cannot be divided or separated in any way. Nothing relating to man can be touched by disunion, disintegration, or dissension. Man is a whole, an individual—indivisible—being in the likeness of the divine Whole.
These fundamental facts form the warp and woof of Christian healing. Wholeness embraces every aspect of the work—from the patient's specific physical and moral needs right down to the least detail of his care while restoration is taking place. The garment of healing is truly a seamless, holy garment.
When a practitioner and a nurse are working together on behalf of a patient, they have a unique opportunity to demonstrate the undivided wholeness of the garment of healing. They are partners in the work, and the harmony of their relationship is very important to their patient's well-being.
The By-Laws of the Manual of The Mother Church by our Leader, Mrs. Eddy, authorize, govern, and protect both practitioner and nurse. Their roles are complementary but distinct. Each one has clearly defined duties.
As the practitioner works one-to-one with the patient and for him, his or her prayers treat the specific errors of the case through Christly acknowledgment of Love's ability to meet all human needs. The practitioner-patient relationship is a sacred, private one that neither invites nor admits any intrusion.
The practitioner looks solely to divine Love for all he needs to know in order to handle the case successfully. When a nurse is engaged, this in no way relieves the practitioner of metaphysical responsibility for the case. He has the same obligation to his patient after a nurse is employed as before.
While the patient's healing is taking place, the nurse gives him needed care. He or she brings to the sickroom a pure Christliness that is totally supportive of the patient and of the prayerful treatment being given him by the practitioner. The nurse understands and respects the special practitioner-patient relationship and is unwilling to trespass upon it in any way. He prays for himself—to keep his vision clear and focused on the truth of being as related to his own experience with the case—but he does not pray for the patient.
The nurse is on the case to bear witness to the truth. He knows that he is not there to judge the patient, to educate or discipline him, to diagnose the problem or uncover the error. His compassionate attitude helps to maintain an atmosphere of expectancy and trust, joy and gratitude.
As partners in the healing work, practitioner and nurse find regular communication desirable and helpful. Its purpose is to aid the patient's progress. With this in mind, both practitioner and nurse pray about their contacts with each other. Each listens spiritually to be led to share information and insight that will be supportive of their endeavors.
Contact between the nurse and practitioner does not take the place of direct communication with the patient. There may be rare occasions when a patient is temporarily unable to communicate. The practitioner may find it desirable in such instances to make more frequent visits to the patient. Practitioner and nurse cooperate fully in finding mutually convenient times for these visits.
The love that impels extra effort on behalf of the patient reflects the divine Love that heals him. Their pure, selfless desire to help the patient unites the practitioner and nurse in their efforts.
How important it is for both practitioner and nurse to cherish and defend their unity in this work! The so-called carnal mind, or animal magnetism, would seek to divide the garment of Christian healing, sometimes by suggesting misunderstanding, distrust, lack of appreciation, between practitioner and nurse.
This state of affairs is really more subtle than surface attitudes held by the nurse or the practitioner. The real issue involves the impersonal carnal mind and should be so seen. Mortal mind would always tear apart the garment of healing and leave the patient exposed to the noxious atmosphere of error, where healing is inhibited.
"But we have the mind of Christ," I Cor. 2:16. the Bible assures us. Christ is the Saviour to the situation, the defender of unity. "Christ is the true idea voicing good," our Leader writes, "the divine message from God to men speaking to the human consciousness." Science and Health, p. 332. Christ brings to human consciousness the message of oneness and wholeness. It declares that the divine Mind is the only Mind and that in reality there is no carnal mind.
Christian qualities such as humility, honesty, patience, selflessness, defeat divisiveness. And forgiveness—forgiveness that is deep, broad, and discerning enough to recognize that error is never personal—is vital. Error is never nurse, never practitioner. It has no person — and no reality!
Healing work makes great demands on those engaged in it. For both practitioner and nurse there are often long hours on the job, errors to be challenged along the way, fearsome suggestions to be denied, a demand for constant alertness and endless persistence. How welcome is the compassionate understanding and quiet support of one's fellow worker! Christliness—the exercise of genuine Christianity—on the part of both practitioner and nurse eliminates any suggestion of disunity and keeps whole the garment of healing.
I've found it helpful to think of the practitioner-nurse relationship in a way that Mrs. Eddy writes of marriage partners: "Fulfilling the different demands of their united spheres, their sympathies should blend in sweet confidence and cheer, each partner sustaining the other,—thus hallowing the union of interests and affections, in which the heart finds peace and home." Ibid, p. 59.
The practitioner and nurse do indeed have a union of interests in which the patient can come home to health and wholeness. Fulfilling the demands of their respective roles—each bearing witness to the oneness and allness of God—practitioner and nurse blend their sympathies in Christian cooperation, thus preserving the garment of healing in its undivided wholeness for their patient.
