The Thanksgiving Day service is the only ‘special’ service the Christian Science church offers. The readings from the desk include the Presidential proclamation for Thanksgiving, as well as a few passages from The Bible and Science and Health. The service is then opened to the congregation for them to share ‘testimonies of healing and sharing of experiences in Christian Science.’
The following are testimonies from Ex-Christian Scientists, as they give thanks for having left Christian Science. Thank you all for your contributions!
We at The Ex-Christian Scientist offer no readings, or lengthy proclamations, merely our sincerest thanks for everyone who has contributed to our efforts. We do not advocate any one particular path but acknowledge that there are many legitimate pathways that can be personally and spiritually fulfilling.
I am grateful that I don’t have to be grateful. That, for me, is freedom.
– Mike L
This is the only service I attend every year, and it’s the best! I love that there are no readings, there’s no Presidential Proclamation, and I don’t have to listen to people spewing love for Eddy and Christian Science from their mouth.
I am thankful for my new life I am starting. I divorced a year ago, I moved 1/2 way across the country and I am making friends and finding family here.
I am grateful it’s okay to grieve when I lose a dog, too. I am not supposed to be mad at myself for being sad when my dog dies. I can just be sad as much as I want or need to be. No more guilt or admonishing myself when I am sad!
I am grateful for x-rays and MRIs I had of my matter-based-body this year. It’s giving me answers to pain and I’m finding solutions that help.
I no longer pray, but if I did, I would pray that the United States of America will find its way to government-based GOOD healthcare for its citizens. Doctors, MRIs, radiography stuff, “all the things” are expensive. Paying for healthcare, health insurance, copays, procedures, medicines – it adds up and means I have no discretionary money.
I am thankful to have food – when I was little & growing up in Christian Science, I had food insecurity, so this is something I have to work on now – not being afraid I will run out of food.
I am grateful to be diagnosed with ADHD so I know what’s wrong with my brain now. And this is also why my testimony is jumping around. That that’s okay – I am imperfect and thankful that it’s okay to be an imperfect human! Maybe it makes me endearing instead of having to try to fix myself and berate myself for being imperfect.
Thank you for doing this blog & the annual Thanksgiving testimony service.
I’ll be watching the Macy’s Day Parade today and eating my annual nachos instead of cooking for a whole week then cleaning up for another week and stressing out about having to attend 4 church services during those weeks, too.
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
– Just Jodi
It’s that time of year again, and as I look back on this past year, there’s been a lot of change for me. I’ve moved to a new community, as my wife and I wanted to live in a smaller community, closer to family, and she was able to transfer to a new job here. Just today, after a long search, I was offered a job, which I will be starting in about a week. All of this has happened because we took steps to make it happen. God, Christian Science, and Mary Baker Eddy had nothing to do with it. I give credit where credit is due: it was my wife, my family, and me that got things done. I am also grateful that we were able to find a wonderful, skilled, thorough, and patient family doctor here in our new community. And, I am also grateful for some of the little things that maybe aren’t so little: antibiotics. I am often grateful for antibiotics, and as a friend of mine has said, “antibiotics, responsibly prescribed, are a wonderful thing.” Antibiotics helped me though a few things this year: an eye infection, ear infection, and a bout of cellulitis in my leg. I went to the hospital for the leg infection, and they administered IV antibiotics. I was there for quite a while, as the ER was busy. As I was leaving, even though I had been there for a very long time, I thought, “this is so much better than Christian Science!” I actually dread the thought of facing any of this as a Christian Scientist. Infections are not something to ever take lightly, or worse yet, do nothing about.
– Jeremy
I’m appreciative that when both my little kids were really sick and having issues breathing I went to a hospital, they got incredible care and they ended up being okay.
– Jimmy
I’m grateful for those who came before us in recovery. Recovery from being raised by alcoholics, who have many characteristics in common with people raised in cults. Recovery from neglect– emotional, physical, medical, and more. Recovery from CPTSD caused by that neglect and by the unnecessarily early and unnecessarily painful deaths of our loved ones. Those in recovery from being raised by emotionally immature people, who taught us how to identify and interact with our emotions. Those who recognized and learned how to deal with inter-generational trauma, and taught us how to do our best to keep from passing it down. It’s these people who we lean on, and their message that we as people, our bodies, our thoughts, our emotions, our voices, matter. For them I am grateful.
– Todd Van Horne, 3rd generation, Lake Oswego church
Since leaving Christian Science I am so grateful for the opportunities I have had to learn about my matter-filled body, how it’s supposed to work, and how to ask for help when it’s not working. I’m so thankful for the medical profession and my professional field of healthcare simulation where we make sure learners in health professions know and practice what they need to help us all. I’m thankful for medicine that makes my life livable, and thankful I’m no longer expected to just “work on it” when I am unwell. Amen!!
– Becca
We are thankful for the Ex-Christian Science communities, and that there is now a Leaving Christian Science podcast! (https://www.youtube.com/@LeavingChristianSciencePodcast/)
Thank you everyone for your Thanksgiving Testimony contributions, this concludes our post. Should inspiration strike, the comment section will remain open for 30 days.
We wish you a wonderful holiday season. The ExCS Admin Team
This site offers support resources to help individuals negotiate a transition in a manner that best fits their needs and convictions. We do not advocate any one particular path but acknowledge that there are many legitimate pathways that can be personally and spiritually fulfilling.
I am grateful that since leaving CS I am able to see people as they are. I can be with them, observe them, listen to them, interact with them as other human beings. I don’t have to see them as “God’s perfect child.” I was taught in CS to constantly project this view onto other people: This person is a child of God, this person is good, this person is complete, this person is whole and well. This person is perfect!
… How exhausting it was, to always be trying to think this way. It kept me blind to who people actually ARE. Maybe somebody isn’t whole and well, and needs help. Maybe somebody isn’t good for me to be around, and I need to draw boundaries. Maybe somebody is flawed and weird but I love them for all their weirdness. There are so many possibilities, and I’m learning to be open to them all.
Now I can be imperfect and see imperfection and live in the world and feel so much more connected. I can be more fully, genuinely myself, too.
I so much appreciate the ex-CS community and all the testimonies this year. You have all helped me along my path.