Rise to Mind's occasion
A Christian Science perspective: The insight and intuition that God, divine Mind, provides will point the way toward healing for individuals and among nations.
In 1862, during the American Civil War, Abraham Lincoln wrote to Congress: “The dogmas of the quiet past, are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise – with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country.”
Just four years later, Mary Baker Eddy discovered Christian Science. This discovery left the “dogmas of the quiet past” to offer a new, inspired view of Jesus’ healing methods. It was the promised Comforter, a demonstrable Science that could empower people struggling with the aftereffects of the war and address any other problem, including the need for physical healing.
Since then, this Science has continued to point the way toward healing for the individual and among nations. Its message is vital for our times.
Tangled as political relationships may seem between NATO and Pakistan, complex as it may be to exit the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and respond to the new leadership in North Korea, Christian Science reveals God, divine Mind, as an ever-present help.
Unraveling the web of financial issues in the global economy is possible through the guidance of the one, divine Shepherd. And for countries like the United States that are – or soon will be – voting for new leaders, the power of divine Principle, Love, will always provide spiritual insight and intuition.
However much frothing may seem to be going on in these and other areas, we can trust that something deeper, something solid and spiritual is present. It is the power of this one Mind to unify all in the cause of good. As Mind reveals each one’s spiritual nature, “the cement of a higher humanity will unite all interests in the one divinity” (Mary Baker Eddy, “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” p. 571).
To see oneself as the child of Spirit empowers each individual to “rise with the occasion.” Diligent prayer can supply the spiritual “lift” that will inspire people to “think anew, and act anew.” It will disenthrall those who are gripped with fear, outrage, ignorance, and other forces that would separate instead of unite.
An agenda for this prayer is outlined beautifully in this letter to the Christians at Colossae. The writer urged them to “put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him.” For this new man “there is neither Greek nor Jew ... Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all” (Colossians 3:10, 11).
Through the love of Christ, historic hatreds, cultural and religious divisions, can be put aside as the material sense of humanity is replaced with the knowledge that we are all sons and daughters of God. Under Christ, forgiveness, mercy, humility, patience, peace are possible. Claiming these powers in our own lives and in the world demands far more than simply papering over differences. It is transformative and inevitably leads to unity.
It sets us free to respond to divine Mind, and our oneness with divine intelligence as its spiritual ideas. Accepting Mind’s government makes it possible to embrace the higher sense of love outlined in the letter to the Colossians: “[A]bove all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness” (Colossians 3:14).
Unselfed love empowered Jesus’ ministry and Mrs. Eddy’s desire to share her discovery with humanity. To whatever degree this love becomes a motivator in small and large negotiations, it opens the door to progress and healing.
That unity is urgently needed today, and our prayers can forward its appearance. Then true solutions will be found, and our hearts will naturally come together in Christ’s “bond of perfectness.”
From an editorial in the Christian Science Sentinel.
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