Article March 3, 2014 ISSUE

Beyond keeping score

Walter Rodgers

It looked as though it was going to be a long night for my favorite pro football team. They were losing 0–24 at half-time, and clearly not playing well.

I tried to imagine what their coach could say in the locker room at the half-time break that would reverse their foundering fortunes. Could they regroup quickly enough to save their reputation?

Then it occurred to me to ask what I would say if I were a Christian Science practitioner confronted with a similar disheartening situation—a patient struggling with an unyielding disease, perhaps.