Contributing to world peace

Throughout the world there are cries for peace. How can we help halt the violence and strife that are so widespread? For many people the answer is prayer - prayer based on a clear understanding of the supreme power and omnipresence of God, infinite Love. This prayer recognizes God's total control of His creation. It affirms the invariable and impartial nature of God's goodness and love. It recognizes man's actual being as forever Godlike, absolutely incapable of hurting anyone or anything, and exempt from harm itself.

For generations individuals the world over have proved the life-preserving power of prayer in threatening situations. They have found protection in war zones, under riot conditions, and on the streets of crime-plagued cities. The divine power that saves individuals saves nations also, as is illustrated through much of Bible history.

The Bible assures us that ''the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.'' n1 Each of us can make a contribution to world peace through prayer and righteous living. Whatever our age, race, training, or experience in life, we have what it takes to help ourselves and the world if we have a spiritual understanding of God and man.

n1 James 5:16.

Prayer that realizes the perfection of God and the harmony of His creation alters human consciousness. As thought is changed for the better, daily life is transformed, since experience is an expression of thought. And just as individual lives are regenerated through understanding what is true of God and His creation, the world as a whole can be improved.

As we hold steadfastly through prayer to what is spiritually true of man, and identify everyone as being, in reality, God-created and God-governed, we will help uproot hatred and fear and will be contributing to peace on all levels. The violent, destructive elements of the carnal mind, of matter-based thinking, will cease to be manifested as individual thoughts and lives are spiritualized. Greed , selfishness, jealousy, resentment, and so forth will gradually recede at home and abroad.

Christ Jesus, a truly active reformer and peacemaker, loved mankind deeply and proved for all time the radical impact prayer can have in daily living. It's evident he knew without a doubt that God is the source of man's health and well-being. Through his understanding of God he neutralized hate and healed sickness. A clear sense of the Father's ever-presence and complete control enabled him to pass through an angry mob unseen and to still a raging sea. Violent and turbulent events, including the crucifixion, could not truly harm him, because of his higher, spiritual vision, which enabled him to change radically what the material senses saw as real or final.

Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, writes: ''Prayer cannot change the Science of being, but it tends to bring us into harmony with it.'' n2

n2 Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 2.

Through prayer we all can come to see the ''new heaven'' and ''new earth'' envisioned by the Revelator, who wrote: ''Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.'' n 3

n3 Revelation 21: 1, 3, 4.

There is nothing namby-pamby or passive about scientific prayer. It places one in the front lines of world thought and can have direct impact on the course of human events near and far.

Political and organizational activity have their place in establishing peace. But we should never underestimate the power and effectiveness of prayer, or the need for it in dealing with global as well as personal affairs. DAILY BIBLE VERSE Give ear to my words, O Lord consider my meditation. Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King, and my God: for unto thee will I prey. Psalms 5:1, 2