Just after I left high school, my understanding of Christian Science was rather sketchy. A childhood spent in rural parts of Africa, followed by years at boarding school in England, had allowed me to attend Sunday School on only a handful of occasions. But the opportunity arose to attend a members’ meeting in Boston of Christian Science college organizations (CSO’s) worldwide. To be honest, my reason for applying for Mother Church membership was to allow me to attend the meeting, which was a requirement at that time. When I applied, my sponsor made clear to me something I had frankly up to that point neglected—the importance of daily study of the weekly Christian Science Bible Lesson-Sermon.
The CSO meeting was inspired and inspiring. I realized for the first time that Christian Science was much more than an “alternative therapy.” I already knew that it was effective in the healing of physical conditions, as I had learned through the prayers of my mother when I was a child. But now I began to see that problems of relationships, identity, academic study, and decision-making could all be solved through scientific prayer. And membership in The Mother Church gave a sense of purpose to my life at that time, not to mention a reason for giving up the intermittent use of alcohol.
Shortly afterward, during my first few weeks at college, I had to run out of a lecture theater with a severe nosebleed. I went round to the medical center, but they could only provide temporary bandaging. When it happened again the next day, I was frightened. I asked myself, “If I were a Christian Scientist, what would I do?” (note the word if). Standing in the October drizzle of an Edinburgh back street, I thought: “I’d say right here, right now, that I am in the kingdom of heaven. And there are no nosebleeds in the kingdom of heaven!” It turned off like a tap. My knowledge of Christian Science seemed so small that I was genuinely amazed when I found it actually worked! After witnessing that healing, which has been permanent, I knew no matter how much it contradicted the physics which I was studying, Christian Science was the truth.
