Man

This is #14 in a series of posts looking at the 26 Christian Science Weekly Bible Lesson subjects, chosen by Mary Baker Eddy, and rotated twice per year. These lessons are the sermon at each Christian Science church worldwide, and are read by Christian Scientists daily. Today’s subject is “Man”. Look for other posts in the category Lesson Sermon Subjects. 

So, tell me about your childhood…

 

Isaac Lake – Bowron Lake Provincial Park, British Columbia, Canada. Image credit: Emerging Gently.

I’ve been on a mental health journey for the past few months, and through counselling and therapy, I have been finding out a lot about myself and what literally, on the most basic levels, “makes me tick”. Until recently, I proudly thought that I had exorcised most of the Christian Science “demons” from my life. How wrong I was! All I had done was pick the low-hanging fruit (for me, anyway): conditioning myself to go to the doctor, take painkillers and cold meds, and to reach for antibiotics when I need them, that was all was easy (for some former Christian Scientists, I realize that this is difficult). I do it without even a second thought now, and have done so for several years. I was reveling in the idea that I was a “normal human being” now. But, as I’ve discovered, Christian Science is still engrained in me in a deep way, running in the background, like so-called “running processes”–those little computer programs that are part of the operating system. You’re usually never aware of them–until you are.

Motivations, things I do…

Why do we do the things we do? Why do we act the way we do? Those are some big questions. I’ve been doing a lot of deep exploration on this lately, but I’m not here to share super deep stuff today. My experience as a former Christian Scientist underlies, in large and small ways–often just lurking there in the background, a lot of why/what/how I do stuff; for better, or worse, as I have been discovering.

A little thing called COVID-19

While my blog here was hibernating, the world was hit by a global pandemic. The last time something of this scale happened, as far as I know, was 1918–the Spanish Flu epidemic. Arguably, that one was a bigger deal, but this one was a big deal too. It still is. COVID-19 is a big topic. This post is an overview/thought-spill of how it unfolded for me, and how being a former Christian Scientist has shaped my experience with it.