“Somewhere over the rainbow way up high
There’s a land that I heard of once in a lullaby
Somewhere over the rainbow skies are blue
And the dreams that you dare to dream really do come true.”
~From the movie “The Wizard of Oz” (music by Harold Arlen, lyrics by E. Y. Harburg)
Praying for a healing in Christian Science is sort of like chasing a rainbow. You feel like you can almost touch it, get close to it, but it remains ever elusive. So often, during the last seven or so years of my Dad’s life, as I watched his health slowly decline due to what was later diagnosed as heart failure, I heard him proclaim that his healing was “just around the corner”, or something to that effect. I’ve heard that expression from many Christian Scientists in reference to physical issues they or those they know are dealing with.
So many of us who’ve been Christian Scientists have witnessed the slow “19th century” deaths of those close to us who steadfastly rely radically on Christian Science for healing of whatever physical ailment is ravaging their bodies. I saw this in my own family. I was spared some of the emotional agony other former Christian Scientists endure because I was still somewhat swimming in the Christian Science Krazy Sauce when my parents were dying. It was their deaths that made me see the light and leave Christian Science behind. I suppose I’m grateful in a weird sort of way for that, and it’s about the only thing I can now say I’m grateful to Christian Science for. It numbed me emotionally to the upheaval that was going on in my family and my life.
People don’t have to suffer and die the way they do, ever chasing the elusive “great healing” that’s “just around the corner”. Modern medicine can heal and treat many things, and what it can’t heal and treat, it can at least mitigate the suffering somewhat. Would my Dad still be alive had he sought medical treatment for his heart condition? Maybe. But, he at least would not have suffered as he did had he sought medical treatment. As for my Mom, thanks to her misguided reliance on Christian Science, nobody knows what killed her, but whatever it was, it put her through some very excruciating pain.
You can chase the healing that’s just around the corner all you want. The problem is, just like the rainbow that you never reach, you never get around that corner. Christian Science promises that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, that wonderful state of nirvana where everything is perfect and the skies are always blue, but you never really get it. It’s always just out of reach…just around the corner.
Emerging Gently 