Testimony of Healing August 4, 2014 Issue

Grateful for childhood healings

Lark Garges Smith

Thinking back over my spiritual education as a child and teenager, there are a number of experiences I could mention. Here, I’d like to express gratitude for my parents, who loved Christian Science, and tell of a few healings I had while we lived in what is now Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Let me start by expressing my gratitude for how practical Mary Baker Eddy’s concept of Church is in its everyday expression (see Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 583). Mrs. Eddy ordained two books—the Bible, and her own major work, Science and Health—as the dual pastor for her Church. Because of this, we don’t need ordained clergy in order to hold a church service. In addition, she provided for Bible Lesson-Sermons to be prepared. These allow for all who study Christian Science to unite in reading citations from their pastor throughout the week and then hear them at church or discuss them in Sunday School.

This accessibility of our pastor met my family’s needs very directly when we were stationed in Bangladesh. We knew of no other Christian Scientists in the country when we arrived, and we were halfway around the world from our branch church in Virginia. Yet we weren’t cut off from Church. My parents read the Lesson throughout the week, and we enjoyed Sunday School classes every Sunday morning. We gathered around the dining room table for the opening and closing exercises—singing hymns, saying the Lord’s Prayer, and so on. In between, we would break into classes to study the Bible Lesson—one parent per child (with my youngest brother, just a baby, sleeping or playing nearby). As our beloved Master, Christ Jesus, said, “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:20).

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