Several summers ago, I was a counselor at a summer camp for young Christian Scientists. Before the campers arrived, I suffered a blow to the face playing soccer, and it appeared that I had broken my nose.
In the moment, some of my fellow counselors surrounded me, and as we walked calmly over to see the Christian Science nurse, they began to share spiritual truths. All along the way I heard assurances of my spiritual perfection, and I was quietly praying with a passage about man in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy. It begins: “Man is not matter; he is not made up of brain, blood, bones, and other material elements. The Scriptures inform us that man is made in the image and likeness of God” (p. 475).
The Christian Science nurse received me immediately, and tended to the physical needs. She covered my nose with a bandage and let me borrow her phone so I could call a Christian Science practitioner, who began to give me Christian Science treatment right away. This practitioner had prayed with me while I was getting my lifeguard instructor certification. She reminded me of what we had done spiritually to handle the challenges I’d faced during that time, and that God was always the “first responder” in any moment of need. I also notified home, and together my parents and I decided that I would see a medical specialist in order to get the bones set.
