Articles

IT WAS 1963. I was living in an apartment in New York City.

What I love most about Christian Science nursing is what I love most about Christian Science: listening to the "still smallvoice" of God ( I Kings 19:12 ). I won't say that I've always listened, but I love knowing that the answers are always there and that I'm always being divinely guided, whether it's a little step or a big step I need to take.

The day I walked into a Christian Science Reading Room for the first time, I had no idea what a wonderful spiritual journey lay ahead. Five years before, I had come to London from Ghana (West Africa) to become a medical nurse.

Christian Science nursing often begins when one individual nurtures the spirit of the By-Law "Christian Science Nurse" in his or her own heart. As this prayer expands into expression, the practice of Christian Science nursing emerges in new ways and places around the world.

CHRISTIAN SCIENTISTS AROUND THE WORLD have benefited from the selfless, tender care of Christian Science nurses for the last 100 years. November 2008 marks the centennial of the By-Law in the Manual of The Mother Church that officially established Christian Science nursing as part of the Church's healing activities.

MUCH OF THE WORLD today seems obsessed with aging and loss. Advertising focuses almost exclusively on the value of youthfulness, promoting everything from unrealistic body images to botox.

WHAT NEVER BEGINS, NEVER ENDS, never breaks down, never ages, never hurts, rusts, corrodes, or falls apart, but always exists, thrives, progresses, and—like the pink bunny in the battery ad—just keeps on going .

A LEGEND FROM THE TIME OF THE EARLY CHRISTIAN CHURCH relates that the Apostle John, well into his 90s, announced that he would give a public speech. We can imagine the stir that must have taken place among those early followers to actually have the opportunity to hear from the last surviving apostle and learn directly from him.

HAVE YOU HEARD THE ANECDOTE about the monkey who found a hole in a coconut just big enough to put his hand in? As he did, he discovered something inside and wrapped his fingers around it. But then he couldn't get his hand out, because holding onto the treasure, his hand became a fist—too large to remove from the hole.

The author points out that Christian Science is not an alternative but an alterative—because it moves us away "from the belief that matter constitutes our substance, faculties, or functions."