Excerpts from 2024 graduation

On the first Sunday in October, we gathered in the Chapel at the BA to celebrate the 2024 graduates of the Christian Science Nursing Arts Training Program. We’re so grateful to everyone who attended, and to Kari Mashos, C.S.B., who delivered the keynote address. While this was an in-person only event, we’re grateful to share excerpts from the graduation ceremony.

Excerpts from opening remarks given by Carol Worley, CEO of the Benevolent Association.

Thank you for joining us to recognize the graduating class of 2024 — Christian Science nurses answering the call to work closely with the Comforter, divine Science, as they go to their fellow-man and minister to his needs with the full assurance of Christ healing today.

What brings us together today is the By-law titled “Christian Science Nurse,” revealed to Mrs. Eddy and which she placed in the Manual of The Mother Church under “Guidance of Members,” setting a standard, and lovingly showing the way to a right practice and right representation.

This is a By-law for all members of The Mother Church (as all the Rules and By-laws in the Church Manual are). Not every member needs to represent this By-law, but all members need to embrace, understand, and support its place and the great need for Christian Science nursing. And all members need to understand what this By-law has to do with the Science of Christianity.

This By-law gives a beautiful standard to meet for the individual member who represents himself or herself as a Christian Science nurse.

Christian Science nurses training provides a wonderful avenue of support to members as they rise to meet the requirements of this By-law and demonstrate a prepared and proven practice.

Christian Science nursing is not just a trade for a humanitarian service, but a divine idea to be understood and brought out in practice for that wonderful coincidence of the human and divine that we see coming together in Christian Science nursing.

How important it is to never lose sight of the spiritual idea revealed by the divine Mind that brought this ministry forth and is needed to bring it out for our Church and all mankind.

We are so grateful for the refuge provided by the Benevolent Association and like organizations for a place of study and prayer for demonstrating what is required for a prepared and proven practice of Christian Science nursing.

I love how the ministry of Christian Science nursing, and all that takes place within the Christian Science refuge, bring evidence that the kingdom of heaven is at hand and ever present.

In our Leader’s words from her poem, Mother’s Evening Prayer, “His habitation high is here and nigh” (Christian Science Hymnal, pp. 207-212, 539-540)!

Excerpts from remarks given to the graduates by Heather Worley, Director of Christian Science Nurses Training at the Benevolent Association.

In The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, our Leader has some words that are so applicable to the demands of our work and they speak to the selflessness that enables the demands to be a privilege, not a burden.

She says, “Human reason becomes tired and calls for rest. It has a relapse into the common hope. Goodness and benevolence never tire. They maintain themselves and others and never stop from exhaustion. He who is afraid of being too generous has lost the power of being magnanimous. The best man or woman is the most unselfed” (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 165:23-28).

It’s this unselfishness that also allows us to rely on—and be receptive to—the revelation of divine Science in our work which reveals what’s really going on instead of believing the material senses. Selfless love brings the natural love for God above all else, and so we rely on His messages and nothing can interfere with that—we experience something of what Mrs. Eddy describes Moses experiencing, when she says “… the inward voice became to him the voice of God, …” (Science and Health p. 321: 25-26). The thoughts that become familiar are God’s messages, the true sense of God and His idea man, instead of the false sense of man that the so-called mortal mind would try to fill us with. Stay so close to your pastor—the Bible and Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures.

Keep close to the By-law “Christian Science Nurse”. This is the true model for Christian Science nursing. Discover the depth and breadth of it as you continue to ponder it, pray with it, and demonstrate along with it.

It was unselfed love that revealed this By-law to our Leader and allowed her to bring it forth. And the only way to have a true sense of all that the By-law involves is to be in accord with that unselfed love.

Excerpts from remarks by class speaker, Oreoluwa O. Ajayi, Christian Science nurse at Arden Wood.

This journey, for me, was born out of a desperate cry to God for guidance and with not-so-subtle angel messages I got my answers. I felt drawn to Christian Science nursing at a time when I was in desperate need of direction from God. Like most soon-to-be undergraduates, I was almost frantic about what my next steps were. As is typical for anyone in their last year of college, I had numerous conversations with curious professors, excited juniors, and anxious family members — all wondering what the next steps were. In most of those conversations however, there seemed to be a pattern of Christian Science nursing coming up at least once — almost like a repeated whisper of God’s still small voice. At first, I couldn’t take it seriously as it had never crossed my mind before. Moreover, ‘I love art, I have to express myself with art in some way’, — this is what I kept telling myself. Well, eventually I listened and yielded to the angel messages. I submitted applications to some facilities I had heard about and waited patiently for what God was preparing me for. And almost as if they had been waiting for me, the responses came flooding in, far quicker than I ever expected. Somehow, I knew I had found it, and it had found me. 

Throughout our training, we have learned that the work of a Christian Science nurse goes far beyond the physical acts of caring for another, as important as that is. We have been trained to bear witness to the spiritual perfection of each individual—to see past the material picture and to affirm the unchanging truth of man’s unwavering spiritual identity. This understanding has deepened our practice, enriched our compassion, and strengthened our resolve to serve selflessly. 

We have been taught the ethics and the art of Christian Science nursing that guides us in our practice, but more than that, we have been nurtured in the understanding that our true role as Christian Science nurses is to witness to the ever-present healing power of divine Love. We learned that more than anything, our pastor (The Bible and Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures) as well as our spiritual intuition are the best resources for any given situation. We learned to hone our spiritual intuition with meticulous practice and guidance from our wonderful instructors. 

To my fellow graduates: Congratulations! We have been prepared for this work in ways we may not yet fully understand, but we can trust that we are equipped with everything we need to serve effectively and faithfully as Christian Science nurses. Whether for a day or 100 years, whether in a home or facility, whether for one or for many, let us go forth with joy, confidence, and a deep sense of purpose, knowing that we are fulfilling a divine mission. As Christ Jesus said, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16).