How I Found Christian Science December 28, 2015 Issue

Made new

James Dylan Held

I was raised in a Christian home, but one that did not take religion very seriously. When I was about 18, my stepdad suggested that it would make my grandma—his mother—very happy if I would accompany her to church once in a while. My grandmother was a Christian Scientist, and on one of her visits I did take her to church, the local branch Church of Christ, Scientist. I do not recall being particularly inspired at the time, but since I really loved this grandma, I continued to go with her when she visited. And after a while, when I was in my first year of community college, I began attending the Sunday School, in the college-age class.

I started asking my Sunday School teacher lots of questions about Christian Science. Questions such as, “Why would anyone rely only on God for healing?” And comments such as, “I’m as dumb as a post, and don’t know how I can ever expect to get through college.” (That was a big thing with me because no one had expected me to even go to college.) But this dear woman would not hear of my being dumb! A transformation gradually began to take place in my thinking.

Week after week she encouraged me to know that I expressed God, divine Mind, and to learn all I could learn—digging deep into all the academic subjects I was learning at school, and to know, not just wish, that I was God’s perfect spiritual man, fully capable of mastering college because my God-given intelligence was always shining forth. I remember that we worked with a statement on page 248 of Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy. It’s become a favorite of mine and reads, “We are all sculptors, working at various forms, moulding and chiseling thought.” This is a wonderful metaphor. In my case, it initially felt as if I had to take a lump of clay (me) and remold myself into the image and likeness of God! In reality, I needed to wake up to the fact that I was already made fully capable and complete, because I was God’s spiritual reflection.