Counteracting violence and hatred
Recent events have made one thing clear: There’s a ceaseless need for decency, respect, and pursuit of common good. As we let God inspire such qualities in us individually, we’re doing our part to elevate the collective consciousness that yearns for solutions to injustice and hate.
U.S. president Abraham Lincoln stated in his annual message to Congress in 1862: “No personal significance, or insignificance, can spare one or another of us. The fiery trial through which we pass, will light us down, in honor or dishonor, to the latest generation.... The way is plain, peaceful, generous, just – a way which, if followed, the world will forever applaud, and God must forever bless.”
Recent events have made one thing clear: There’s a ceaseless need for the values of honor, decency, respect, and pursuit of the common good that Lincoln’s message commended. Broadminded, selfless acts of individual leaders throughout history have inspired peace and progress. And they have contributed profoundly to the freedoms we cherish today.
In this respect, I’ve been encouraged by the example of Christ Jesus. When facing chaos and anger, Jesus stood with divine Truth. This Truth – this divine, Father-Mother presence, God – was the spiritual power that motivated his every action and established the divine law and spiritual authority that brings about healing. It enabled him to face down ignorance, misunderstanding, and desperation.
The stability and constancy of God’s intelligent goodness is present now and can be seen and demonstrated in every kind of situation. What God is and does as infinite good itself counteracts the chaos, disorder, prejudice, and self-interest that would corrupt individuals and disable governments. As Mark Sappenfield, editor of the Monitor, indicated in his recent podcast “A spiritual response to political division and upheaval,” there is no material solution to division, as we’ve seen over the past few years. But the good news is that the solution is in each of us as children of God.
This highlights the need for daily prayer that affirms the absolute and forever presence of God, divine Love, the foundation on which freedom for all rests. Prayer for government that is inclusive of every citizen begins with the allness of God’s power, the all-encompassing divine goodness and justice, and God’s unity with each individual. It affirms the true nature of each of us as God’s spiritual expression. It negates and nullifies the supposed legitimacy of evil, danger, harm, and discord.
Holding in our own hearts the qualities we want to see exhibited in our government and living them in our lives is effective prayer. This prayer supports and elevates society. It arrests self-seeking, self-interested motivations and embraces the wisdom and goodness of God as divine Principle and unchanging Truth. American Mary Baker Eddy, Discoverer of Christian Science and Founder of the Church of Christ, Scientist, stated in 1900 that among “the most imminent dangers confronting the coming century” were “the claims of politics and of human power, industrial slavery, and insufficient freedom of honest competition; and ritual, creed, and trusts in place of the Golden Rule, ‘Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them’ ” (“The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany,” p. 266).
She recognized that the foundation of universal brother- and sisterhood is spiritual: “namely, one God, one Mind, and ‘Love thy neighbor as thyself,’ the basis on which and by which the infinite God, good, the Father-Mother Love, is ours and we are His in divine Science” (Miscellany, p. 281).
Praying is not about ignoring world events or conflict, but about going up higher – elevating our thinking to recognizing what God is doing, now. We can let peace begin with each of us, right where we are, when we hold a purely spiritual view of all, especially those we feel are at fault. This kind of unselfish action and prayer does not excuse anyone’s wrongdoing or smooth it over; it strengthens the expression of integrity and fosters individual acts of love and peace.
As we live the qualities we want to see exhibited in our nations, we are doing our part to elevate the collective consciousness that yearns for a solution to injustice. This requires holding in our hearts even those with whom we disagree. Living this spirit of Christ and striving to see others the way God sees them takes the life out of fear, turmoil, and hatred. We begin to see our fellow men and women as the direct outcome and expression of divine Love.
The fact is, no division or conflict can disrupt God’s government of all. Nothing can take away God’s eternal gifts of freedom and peace. As we dedicate ourselves to living our prayers, we can each more fully experience this great blessing now.
Adapted from an article published on sentinel.christianscience.com, Jan. 8, 2021.