I didn't know they were the pastor of my Church. I thought they were my Sunday School books—the Bible and Science and Health. They were a matched set in blue cloth, and I carried them to Sunday School each week. And I didn't know that the Bible LessonIn the Christian Science Quarterly. I read during the week (most of the time) was also the pastor's Sunday sermon to the congregation in the church auditorium upstairs from the Sunday School.
Actually, I wasn't interested in how the Church of Christ, Scientist, was structured. (There is no ordained clergy— the Bible and Mrs. Eddy's book Science and Health preach and teach the Word of God.) Friends, schoolwork, and activities and parties kept me busy. It was enough to know that when I got into trouble, those two books had answers for me—answers that healed me physically and also straightened out my life. (The pastor was caring for me, but I didn't know it in those terms yet.)
During my junior year in high school I had an infection on my face. My mother called a Christian Science practitioner to pray for me. I waited impatiently for something to happen. As far as I could see, nothing did. My friends and I were concerned, and after a bit I insisted on calling off the practitioner and calling on a doctor. He gave me some salve to apply to the infected area, saying that if I used it faithfully, the problem would clear up in a week or so.
