I’ve taught English to students in St. Louis, China, Pakistan, and, most recently, in public high school and middle school in Los Angeles. And I’ve noticed something interesting: Even though we don’t teach specific religious points of view in classrooms, students everywhere have a deep desire for strong, clear moral and spiritual foundations to stand on. They’re hungry to understand their unique relationship with God and to find out how they can bless the world through this relationship.

As I’ve thought more about this, I’ve come to think of the Bible and Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy, as textbooks for real education—healing, blessing, and allowing us to understand God’s creation in a deep and fundamental way. They enable a kind of practical spirituality that everyone, young people especially, are hungry for. You don’t have to have a specialized education to understand the spiritual ideas contained in these books—anyone can experience their healing power at work in their lives. The Bible and Science and Health enable us to understand reality and demonstrate God as the divine Principle of healing and spiritual power, just as Christ Jesus did.

Recently, I had an insight into students’ hunger for practical spirituality when I was asked to visit a local Christian middle school and speak about Christian Science alongside panel members from the Sikh and Jewish faiths. The students excitedly asked us deep and stirring questions about what we believed and why we believed it. 

I prepared for this panel by asking God to let His spirit lead my answers, to let the Christ “walk” in front of me so to speak, and, in the words of that week’s Golden Text from the Bible Lesson, to “glorify God in [my] body, and in [my] spirit, which are God’s” (I Corinthians 6:20). 

In this setting, as a guest rather than a teacher, I felt comfortable in using Science and Health to answer their questions.

The students excitedly asked us deep and stirring questions about what we believed and why we believed it.

One student asked, “What is the meaning of life in a few words?” Wow—these young people did not pull punches! I certainly don’t have all the answers, but I responded as best I could with the definition of salvation from Science and Health: “Salvation: Life, Truth, and Love understood and demonstrated as supreme over all; sin, sickness, and death destroyed” (p. 593). They nodded approvingly.

Another question was: “Is it important to take care of the earth? Will everything pass away in the end or is there a reason to conserve?” I explained to them how I’d come to see mother nature as an expression of God’s beauty. I told them how, while I was reading the chapter in Science and Health titled “Genesis,” I suddenly had an overwhelming wave of love come over me for what we call mother nature. I realized that I wanted to spend more time appreciating and respecting nature and less time involved in the repetition of social networks and digital media. This inspiration led me to quit my job and to make myself available to others as a full-time Christian Science practitioner.

That’s when things really got interesting.

One of the students asked what “practitioner” meant and I told them that I pray for people to help them find healing through understanding their relationship with God. One student, who had been fairly disinterested before then, suddenly perked up and asked, “So have you seen healings like Jesus did?” I told him, “Yes. And I’ve been a part of some of them, too.” Another student asked if I could help him get rid of a bad cold that he had. I smiled and asked him to speak with me after the panel.

Scientific Christianity transcends culture, dogma, and politics—and we are all teaching through our healing.

The conversation continued and I shared some additional points of Christian Science, supported by examples from the Bible. The students were enamored with the explanations and ideas. I was even able to share some copies of Science and Health after the panel concluded.

In the chapter titled “Christian Science Practice” (very practical!), Mary Baker Eddy wrote, “The Bible contains the recipe for all healing. ‘The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.’ Sin and sickness are both healed by the same Principle.” And she added, “Sin will submit to Christian Science when, in place of modes and forms, the power of God is understood and demonstrated in the healing of mortals, both mind and body” (p. 406). To me, that passage illustrates the very essence of practical education: meeting students’ and young people’s need to feel an authentic connection with and understanding of God. Scientific Christianity transcends culture, dogma, and politics—and we are all teaching through our healing. I’m so grateful to see evidence of how Christian Science is meeting educational needs in a deep and relevant way! 

My classroom experiences with students give me boundless faith in the world’s future. Yet, I’m convinced that the key to religious and educational reform lies in this statement from James: “Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works” (2:18, New King James Version). While I’m certainly not advocating proselytizing in classrooms, I do see this divinely good Science speaking to students and young people everywhere through works, not just words. Children want to understand God, and to learn to heal. Let’s show them that they can do these works, too.