Report from our Christian Science Nurse

Hello, friends! I’ve been appreciating how this Annual Meeting is perfectly perched between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year, or if you will, between Gratitude and Gift – the great Gift we commemorate on Christmas.

So, I’ll begin here with gratitude. For all the opportunities to bear witness to truth that have presented themselves since I became a Christian Science nurse 14 years ago. For all the moments of working together with fellow Christian Science nurses, in quiet harmony to support patients radically relying on Christian Science for healing. For the opportunities to be in the presence of earnest seekers of Truth. For the many inspired ideas that have been shared with me by patients when they have so recently and so suddenly come into thought (right after the Eureka moments, sometimes) that they are fresh and alive in my recollection as if the person had just this moment exultantly shared them. For the cards and notes we receive from patients and their family members, grateful that the Service is here, and available. For the financial contributions from the field sustaining and making possible 24/7 Christian Science nursing coverage for the whole state of New Hampshire and the bordering towns in Maine, Vermont and Massachusetts. In an age when ‘short- sta]ed’ seems to apply to every service-based endeavor, look at what New Hampshire Christian Scientists have all wrought together. From the early 90s the Service has o]ered Christian Science care, beginning with home aids, and progressing through o]ering a part- time Christian Science nurse, to increasing to the full time Christian Science nurse, to the present day when we’ve had one full time and one part time Christian Science nurse.

My regular days off have been covered by Michelle Ponder since she joined the Service in 2022. This year, we had vacation coverage provided for both of us by Journal-listed Christian Science nurses Lynda Fulkerson of Vermont, and Katherine Lundberg Napper of California.

But the Service would not be complete with only Christian Science nurses involved. We’re supported by the Board of Directors, metaphysically and financially. They take turns being on call to offer metaphysical support for any issue affecting the Service that the Christian Science nurse on duty becomes aware of. Of course, we each pray in “the heat of the moment,” all the time, but it’s nice to have continued backup as we move about our days, visiting patients and doing the work that is Christian Science nursing. And as you’ve heard from Kelly, the Board hasn’t been sitting on its hands all year! I’m looking forward to taking on new responsibilities to support and facilitate both the Christian Science nurses and the Board members in pointing their e]orts directly in support of the Service’s mission to provide “Helpful, uplifting assistance that promotes healing.” I’ll still maintain my listing in the Christian Science Journal and work on cases in the field occasionally, but I’ll mainly be nursing the organization itself towards a sustainable future.

Let’s just get some statistics about the work the Service does, now. A report wouldn’t be a report without a few numbers, right? Since we last met in September of 2023, I’ll give data for all of 2023, and for 2024 up through November. We made 433 home visits in 2023, and 150 in 2024. Total Christian Science nursing time was 1,004 hours in 2023, and 287 in 2024. Travel time was 1,306 hours in 2023, and 261 in 2024. We collectively drove 52,792 miles in 2023 and 12,175 in 2024. Administrative work by the Christian Science nurses was 564 hours in 2023, and 410 in 2024. We cared for 13 individuals in 2023, and 16 in 2024, thus far.

The demand was lighter this year than last. We could calculate how much availability the Christian Science nurses working for our Service have in a typical day, but it’s simple: these numbers make it obvious that we’re not so busy we can’t come to your aid. If you’re in need of care and getting the idea that you shouldn’t bother us, or that you should leave us available for someone who needs us more, pick up the phone. Remember you’re calling on the manual bylaw titled “Christian Science nurse”— not on a potentially over-extended person. If an individual Christian Science nurse can’t come soon enough or can’t stay as long as you might need, we’ll help you connect with someone who can meet the need.

Now that we’ve got the numbers and what they mean out of the way, let’s return to gratitude for the great gift alluded to a moment ago. When the wakeful shepherds watching the approaching star, and the Magi following it, found what they had been told they would find and recognized the innocuous scene for the significant event it was, this great dawning began the enlightenment of all mankind to the Truth of being. The gift of Christ-healing, expressed in Jesus’ healing ministry, and then in the record of healing by his disciples, and continuing in Christian Science healings, as documented and demonstrated by Mary Baker Eddy and her dedication to this cause is what we’re celebrating here today. Christian Science nurses work expresses this line from Hymn 12 that served as our theme “In love and healing ministry, show forth the Truth that makes man free.” (Hymn 12.)

Within the great gift are many evidences of the covenant between God and man, that commitment conferring perfection, protection, love, and tender mercy on His child, marked by the “bow of promise on the cloud.” (poem Love, by our beloved Leader) Mrs. Eddy taught how to heal, and made it clear the experience leading to healing needn’t be lonely, miserable, painful, lengthy. She gave us the gift of close Christian Science fellowship through branch church or society membership, the instruction to call on one another for help — and to do so “early,” which shows that struggling alone was not part of her idea of what the healing experience should be. She said, “If students do not readily heal themselves, they should early call an experienced Christian Scientist to aid them. If they are unwilling to do this for themselves, they need only to know that error cannot produce this unnatural reluctance. (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 420:4) I hope we don’t need to define when early is, but just in case, Webster’s 1828 dictionary says “Soon; in good season, betimes.” (Kind of sounds like “maybe now,” doesn’t it?)

In addition to the suggestion to call on each other for help with Christian Science treatment, we also know she got really specific about some practical help, as well. In the Manual of The Mother Church, there’s a sweet gift to all relying on Christian Science for healing. It is the provision of a tangible expression of the Comforter, which Christian Science patients and their Christian Science practitioners can call upon. Found in Article 8, which is titled Discipline, the final section of that article reads:

“Christian Science Nurse. Article 8 Section 31. A member of The Mother Church who represents himself or herself as a Christian Science nurse shall be one who has a demonstrable knowledge of Christian Science practice, who thoroughly understands the practical wisdom necessary in a sick room, and who can take proper care of the sick.

The cards of such persons may be inserted in The Christian Science Journal under rules established by the publishers.” (Manual of The Mother Church, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 49:7–16)

This provision is a tenderhearted gift to each of us. It is the evidence, in black and white, that Mrs. Eddy did not expect us to be martyrs, struggling alone.

She’s quite specific about how those individuals are to conduct themselves – expressing the qualities listed on page 395 of Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures under the marginal heading “Aids in sickness.” Christian Science nurses live them by heart. She says “An ill-tempered, complaining, or deceitful person should not be a nurse. The nurse should be cheerful, orderly, punctual, patient, full of faith, — receptive to Truth and Love.” So those qualities and the demonstrable knowledge of Christian Science practice, the thorough understanding of the practical wisdom necessary in a sick room, and taking proper care of the sick,” — THAT is what we are asking you to call on “early.” What are you waiting for?

One of the qualities mentioned is “punctual,” defined by Webster’s 1828 as “done at the exact time.”

I was delighted to learn it didn’t mean that I was failing to be punctual, if another patient’s care kept me longer than I’d expected when planning my day. I’ve realized I was doing good at the exact time where I already was. Many times, I found on arrival at the place I thought I was being late to, that I arrived at the exact time, there, too.

Your Christian Science nurses are always seeking to express punctuality, along with those other essential qualities but YOU really need to understand when the “early” call should be.

I say this because I have noticed that many, in their unceasing e]orts to be good Christian Scientists and be looking away from the body, and towards Truth, struggle with difficult physical problems, and sometimes go without any care because they don’t quite know what the right care is. This can sometimes give you more to meet in Science than if you’d called for some help sooner. If it seems that any of the normal activities of daily living such as washing, dressing, hair care, eating normally, moving about freely at your typical level of activity, sleeping, and keeping your surroundings habitable are hampered to a point that if you saw this in someone else’s experience you’d recognize that help would be such a loving blessing for them, please call and enlist that loving blessing for yourself.

When you’re talking with a Christian Science Practitioner, tell them what’s going on. In the Manual section about Testimonials in the Article on Discipline, Mrs. Eddy describes testimony and its purpose as “illustrates the demonstration of Christ, ‘who healeth all thy diseases.’” … and goes on to say it “…shall not include a description of symptoms or su]ering…” but this applies to testimony, not to the request for help from the experienced Christian Scientists you’re calling for aid. Call a Christian Science practitioner and state your situation. Call on a Christian Science nurse and tell us in as much basic detail as you can, what your needs are. This is so that we know what to bring with us, because New Hampshire is a big state full of rural areas where it might be hard to come up with an item we walked right by on the way to the car, and didn’t know we should bring. It lets us stop to purchase appropriate easy-to-consume nourishment on our way if that’s a need. After that, you need not rehearse it all again, but initially we do need to hear what the needs are.

We’re looking forward to the opportunity to witness your healing and join with you in the walking and leaping and praising God that your gratitude for healing brings. And we’re looking forward to hearing your testimony in church or seeing it in the Sentinel or Journal, too! I’ll close by reminding you that we are grateful for the opportunity to be of service, to be useful in responding to your call, as you press on toward the mark of the high calling of God, and that you, God’s precious reflection, are worthy of receiving this aid. Indeed, “God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” (Phil 4:19) 

Gratitude and Giving: Christian Science Nursing Report to the Field for 2023 (and 2024) delivered on 12/8/24 at the Annual Meeting of CSNSNH by Paula Brensinger