As a young mother, I often turned to a local Christian Science practitioner for help. We called her “Grandma Helen” because she was like family. I was once bemoaning the fact to her that I must demonstrate, solve and heal, whatever it was I was embroiled in at the moment “in order to prove Christian Science” for everyone.
She said with her no-nonsense affection, “Look, cookie, it’s been proven by others long ago, so don’t worry about it.” She was telling me, and I knew it, that I was not personally responsible for the success of the entire Christian Science movement, that it would stand on its own merit.
I repeat this little story simply because I think students of Christian Science care deeply about Christian Science, and we so want it to be seen and understood and appreciated and accepted and ... grow! That’s good, and we shouldn’t be complacent, but more than that, God truly doesn’t need us to do lots of explaining to the world how it works. Our lives should, instead, show how it works.
A Christian Scientist just emailed me with an example of this. She is someone who radiates joy. She said she had just been to the grocery store and the cashier had asked her if she would please pray for her, as she felt undervalued. That, to me, epitomizes Christian Science. It’s letting your light shine brightly enough so that others see it and are drawn to it. Christ Jesus told us not to hide our light (see Matthew 5:14–16). You don’t have to explain how many watts this light is or whether it’s 30 or 100 watts; you just have to shine with the reflected light of God.
You don’t have to wait to be at church to shine, either. You just shine. “To live so as to keep human consciousness in constant relation with the divine, the spiritual, and the eternal, is to individualize infinite power; and this is Christian Science” (Mary Baker Eddy, The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 160).
Lona Ingwerson
