Testimony of Healing July 8, 2013 Issue

Sore throat 'dismissed'

Harry C. Sheridan with contributions from Walter S. Sheridan

I was working in my office in the basement of our home when our then five-year-old son entered the room and said: “I have a sore throat. It hurts a lot, and I want to be healed!” Wally was a regular attendee of the Sunday School at the Christian Science branch church we attended. I was grateful for this opportunity to demonstrate the healing mission of Christian Science.

My immediate thought was that anything opposed to God, divine Mind, who is wholly good, is a fable and needs to be rejected from thinking. Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, states in Miscellaneous Writings 1883–1896, “Let us obey St. Paul’s injunction to reject fables, and accept the Scriptures in their broader, more spiritual and practical sense” (pp. 191–192). I tried to see my son as God’s perfect reflection of good and to reject all erroneous suggestions that man could express anything else. But how was I going to get across the meaning of the word rejection to this young lad? That’s a pretty big word for a five-year-old to understand.

In front of me on my desk were the Holy Bible and the Christian Science books Mary Baker Eddy wrote. Then I noticed one of these books, the Manual of The Mother Church. Among other things, this volume contains the By-Laws of the Church and an appendix on page 127 that sets forth the order of service for the Christian Science Sunday School. I recalled that the last item in the list is “School dismissed.” I told my son that he must reject sore throat from his thinking, and I asked him, “What is the last thing in the order of the Sunday School service?” He answered, “I see—sore throat is dismissed!” Then he looked at me and declared, “I feel good, and the sore throat is gone!”

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