At a neighbour's drop-in Christmas party recently I made a new friend from South Carolina who said that he'd learned two things that evening, and he held up his large hand and counted off his fingers to emphasize:
1. How oil is drilled in Alberta
2. What Christian Science is
An unusual curriculum for sure!
I love chatting with folks about Christian Science. My new acquaintence is a dedicated Anglican church member in his State. He knew little of my religion and wasted no time diving in with some specific questions that he'd always (secretly perhaps) wanted answered.
Backing up a bit, it all started when he asked what I do. I told him that I was a Christian Science nurse.
That combination-
Christian Science, and
Nurse- seemed a contradiction to him- as so often people think of a 'nurse' as being connected to medicine- something he knew that for Christian Scientists constituted prayer of a spiritual means alone.
I described what I did. I said sometimes Christian Scientists- or anyone relying on that kind of prayer alone for healing- needed extra support depending on the kinds of health challenge.
If it involves inhibited mobility, my client or patient may not have enough family support at home to get them to the bathroom up a set of stairs, or if they're bed-bound the family may have no clue how to help them meet the daily needs such as bathing, toileting, food modifications etc.
So then a facility like where I work at comes into play: where a full time round-the-clock staff of Christian Science nurses can properly meet their individual needs while their full-time Christian Science practitioner continues to pray for them and keep in touch, usually by phone.
My Anglican friend wondered- if someone had a serious gash and was bleeding profusely would we tie the arm- kind-of-thing. I said I'd never had that experience, but I had bleeding situations before to a lesser degree but serious, and prayer and affirming God's control and power always proved effective.
I had to insert that facilities basically don't consider themselves as emergency rooms. If someone is in a car crash etc. it's usually a good idea to be taken to the hospital (as ambulances generally would be legally required to do anyways) and once things have calmed down and the patient can ask for legal release forms and requests a transfer to a Christian Science nursing facility.
My friend then wondered if a Christian Scientist gets shunned from church if they choose to rely on medical care- or was there a rule 'against' doing that. I reassured him that was not the case! It's always up to every church member to decide for themselves the kind of health-care they want.
Also he had no difficulty accepting that these kinds of healing happen through relying on prayer to God alone. And he came to the conclusion himself that my job was much more of a calling and ministry than of a medical or even practical nurse. But he sure was impressed with the degree of faith needed to rely on spiritual means alone. I said that for many of us it's a gradual thing- and after a series of healing experiences you just grow more confident in the prayer treatments of professional ministering Christian Science practitioners and of your own practice too.
Mostly he was reassured that we rely on the 'good book' so much. Indeed, our first Tenet includes the statement "we take the inspired Word of the Bible as our sufficient guide to eternal Life.'
Here's a link to a short video testimonial of a woman who had a serious accident and transferred to a Christian Science nursing facility and shortly after recovering had the successful healing medically confirmed (or back broken in 2 places).
HERE.
