DELIGHTED! That was my immediate response to a call from Fourth Church of Christ, Scientist, Jacksonville, Florida, to provide a lecture for hospital personnel on Christian Science healing. The members of this church have been actively involved in ecumenical work and prayer for their community for many years, and they had been asked to provide a Christian Science speaker for a continuing education course on spirituality and healing.
How much different this feels since I've been praying about an unnatural reluctance to go into a hospital. It was almost as though I thought God stopped at the door. But the answer came in honoring the compassion and brotherly love that motivates doctors, nurses, and staff to serve often long hours at great personal sacrifice. Those Christly qualities bind us in love for our fellow men and women. It was so touching to see that love in the pastoral-care chaplains who organized this event. Their foot washing (see John 13:4–14) of their fellow workers was so thoughtful: having the event in the hospital at lunch time, providing a free lunch, and offering continuing education credit.
Greeting people as they entered, I found only welcoming smiles and genuine interest in the topic. Later, the best questions came from nurses. It seems that nurses have always known that healing is different from curing, and the question/answer period confirmed that. The questions weren't about creed or doctrine, but about how to apply these spiritual concepts.
