How do we get things done together?
When we’re humble enough to let God – rather than a personal agenda or willfulness – guide us, we’re paving the way for productive and harmonious teamwork.
Francis Kéré, who recently won the prestigious Pritzker Prize in architecture, proved the value of strong teamwork when he mobilized his whole village in Burkina Faso to build an energy-efficient school. As Mr. Kéré told Dutch magazine De Groene Amsterdammer, “Everyone can contribute to tackling the major issues of our time.”
In our efforts to support a good cause, we might ask what leads to the best results. The high achievers in the Bible looked to God, the source of all good, for guidance as they took on challenges. David, a gifted leader and king of Israel, prayed, “Teach me to do thy will; for thou art my God: thy spirit is good; lead me into the land of uprightness” (Psalms 143:10).
Successful teamwork, whether a team of two or 20, depends on a humble willingness to do what’s best for a shared good purpose – or as the Bible terms it, to do God’s will. When Christ Jesus described his unparalleled healing work for humanity, he said, “I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me” (John 6:38).
The God that Jesus worshiped and obeyed is infinite Spirit, whose irresistible will, or law, governs Spirit’s whole creation. Jesus was doing the will of God when he fed crowds of more than 5,000 with little food at hand, healed the sick, and raised the dead. Through these acts Jesus brought out the heavenly harmony and power of divine Love, God. It was part of his mission to show us that we can also experience God’s wisdom and all-power in the healing works and tasks we undertake. He taught us to pray in the Lord’s Prayer: “Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10).
Obedience to God’s will is an acknowledgment that God is all-powerful good, the one divine Mind, wherever we are and whatever we are doing. Mary Baker Eddy, who discovered Christian Science, spiritually interpreted the above line in the Lord’s Prayer as, “Enable us to know, – as in heaven, so on earth, – God is omnipotent, supreme” (“Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” p. 17).
With even a small understanding of the fact that God is the one true Mind, we learn of each person’s right to know the powerful, intelligent direction of God. Our spiritual and real nature is the reflection of this divine Mind, which makes us capable of intelligent decisions and harmonious teamwork. Unity, love, and patience are the presence and action of Christ in human consciousness, lighting the way for all. At the same time, the Christ alerts us to action that is mistaken and unproductive because unlike the goodness of the Mind that is God.
The practice of Christian Science doesn’t try to force cooperation but gives each person room to respond to the Mind of Christ as their real Mind, who knows, loves, and directs the individual, perfect idea He created – spiritual man. This true identity of each of us becomes clearer to all as we pray to do God’s will, which unifies action as the roadblock of personal willfulness is dissolved by divine Love.
Because there is one true Mind, having even a single person on a team who believes in and yields to God’s supremacy and wisdom as Christ Jesus did benefits the whole group. There is a spiritual fact behind one individual’s listening to God – the fact that there is no possible insubordination to the will of God. Mind’s idea or reflection, which we all are in truth, cannot disobey or stray from its source.
We may be working in one little space, but our contribution is part of the larger, invincible good that forwards humanity’s progress. Science and Health describes our inevitable part in God’s purpose: “The scientific unity which exists between God and man must be wrought out in life-practice, and God’s will must be universally done” (p. 202).
What a joy it is to see God’s will in action as we work with others in realizing our dedication to accomplishing good.
Adapted from an editorial published in the June 20, 2022, issue of the Christian Science Sentinel.