Upfront September 10, 2012 Issue

Compassionate 'covering'

Maike Byrd, Staff Editor

I remember the feeling of discomfort as a child when at a family celebration a favorite aunt, who had a bit too much to drink, started talking loudly and behaving in a way that seemed out of place. Years later, in my study of Christian Science and the Bible, I came across a little gem of a story that has helped me ever since. The story tells how the patriarch Noah got drunk and passed out naked on the floor of his tent (see Genesis 9:20–27). This doesn’t quite seem to fit the image of a God-fearing man who was able to save himself and his family from a big flood because of his receptivity to God, good. In this embarrassing situation, however, his two younger sons cared for him lovingly and compassionately. Without glancing at him, they backed into the tent and covered their father with a garment, thereby respecting him as the man he really was.  

To help put someone on the path of recovery and healing, we, too, can refuse to “glance” at, or harshly judge, a vulnerable individual who has fallen victim to alcohol or drugs, and instead see what is spiritually actual about him or her as the upright, beloved child of God. We can “cover” them compassionately, seeing them ever-controlled by God’s love. 

This is the spiritual approach Victoria Butler (p. 7) took when she helped her daughter gain dominion over drug use. Similarly, Joseph Ndunda (p. 11) was freed from a drug habit through prayer. 

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