True forgiveness – is it possible? If someone has really hurt you in ways that seem impossible to ignore, is it necessary to forgive them? Is it actually possible?
Jesus is quoted as saying (Matt 5: 38,44) Ye have heard that it hat been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: … But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; Why did he say this? Is it realistic? Is it wisdom?
We don’t ever have to condone or excuse unacceptable behaviour. It is only right that laws and courts deal with unlawful behaviour but world events tell us that ‘an eye for an eye’ thinking does not bring peace.
In this same passage, Jesus goes on to say that we are the children of God – God who is Love. Our true nature then is loving. This gives us the strength to move beyond hurts. When you truly know who you are, it is possible to find your freedom from negative, limiting feelings. Hurt and resentment fall away in the knowledge that you are the loved and loving child of God.
We should remember that the world is wide; that there are a thousand million different human wills, opinions, ambitions, tastes, and loves; that each person has a different history, constitution, culture, character, from all the rest; … we should go forth into life with the smallest expectations, but with the largest patience; with a keen relish for and appreciation of everything beautiful, great, and good, but with a temper so genial that the friction of the world shall not wear upon our sensibilities; … determined not to be offended when no wrong is meant, nor even when it is, unless the offense be against God. (Miscellaneous Writings p223)
This is how we find our peace.
This article was contributed by a member of the Christian Science community in Canberra.
When the media report a tragedy that has happened somewhere across the world, far from us, or even in a town nearby, we may yearn to help those involved, but we may also at times feel helpless. A few years ago Margaret Powell, a Christian Scientist, found herself propelled from being an “ordinary person” into the midst of a world news event. And what she learned of the power of prayer and of forgiveness offers a concrete answer to that question “What can I do?” The following is based on a talk she gave to the North Pomfret Congregational Church in Pomfret, Vermont. The church was presenting a series of sermons on forgiveness, and because of her experience the minister invited her to speak.
This recording is of the readings on the topic: Laws That Bring Peace.
“Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” (Exodus xx. 3.) … One infinite God, good, unifies men and nations; constitutes the brotherhood of man; ends wars; fulfils the Scripture, “Love thy neighbor as thyself;” annihilates pagan and Christian idolatry, — whatever is wrong in social, civil, criminal, political, and religious codes; equalizes the sexes; annuls the curse on man, and leaves nothing that can sin, suffer, be punished or destroyed.
Hate no one; for hatred is a plague-spot that spreads its virus and kills at last. If indulged, it masters us; brings suffering upon suffering to its possessor, through‐out time and beyond the grave. If you have been badly wronged, forgive and forget: God will recompense this wrong, and punish, more severely than you could, him who has striven to injure you. Never return evil for evil; and, above all, do not fancy that you have been wronged when you have not been.
(Miscellaneous Writings – Love Your Enemies p12 by Mary Baker Eddy)
Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom.
But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth.
This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.
For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.
But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.
And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.
This article was originally published in the Christian Science Monitor Daily 28 December 2023 issue. It is by Stephen Humphries a Monitor staff editor.
Is peace an attainable ideal? In a poem later adapted for the carol “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day,” Henry Wadsworth Longfellow lamented:
And in despair I bowed my head; “There is no peace on earth,” I said; “For hate is strong, And mocks the song Of peace on earth, good-will to men!”
I’m sometimes tempted to feel that way when I read the news. But when I recently interviewed Jeremy Arnold, author of “Christmas in the Movies,” he recommended a 2005 release that illustrates how peace can unexpectedly materialize.
In “Joyeux Noël,” set during World War I, soldiers shiver inside snowy trenches on a battlefield in France. It’s Christmas Eve. When a German soldier starts singing “Silent Night,” French and Scottish battalions across enemy lines perk their ears to listen. A Scottish bagpiper starts to accompany the German singer, who boldly clambers over the parapet and walks into no man’s land. Soldiers from each of the trenches cautiously follow. After negotiating a cease-fire, the soldiers show each other pictures of their spouses, share food, and play soccer.
“Joyeux Noël,” which is French for “Merry Christmas,” not only dramatizes the famous temporary truce of 1914, but also examines its aftermath.
“When the governments and the military establishments of … all three countries heard about this truce, they were livid,” Mr. Arnold says. “A lot of these soldiers were rotated out because now their enemies were humanized and they didn’t want to kill them anymore.”
The film movingly shows how thousands of men were transformed by the Christmas spirit, says the author.
When Longfellow wrote his aforementioned poem during the American Civil War, he acknowledged how easy it is to feel helpless about peace. But he countered it with a message of hope about how we may one day sing together.
Till ringing, singing on its way, The world revolved from night to day, A voice, a chime, A chant sublime Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
… Then pealed the bells more loud and deep: “God is not dead, nor doth He sleep; The Wrong shall fail, The Right prevail, With peace on earth, good-will to men.”
This recording is of the readings on the topic: To Listenand Obey
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Shepherd, show me how to go O’er the hillside steep, How to gather, how to sow, — How to feed Thy sheep; I will listen for Thy voice, Lest my footsteps stray; I will follow and rejoice All the rugged way.
(Feed My Sheep – Hymn 304 V1 from the Christian Science Hymnal – words by Mary Baker Eddy)
When asked how she was praying about the war in the Middle East Bethany Taylor responded by penning this letter to a young mother:
I was watching the news about Israel and Hamas. You came on talking about trying to keep your baby quiet so you wouldn’t be detected by the attackers and how your husband had been taken as a hostage. My heart went out to you, and in a sincere desire to help, I humbly reached out to God and asked how I could help, how I could pray right then. The answer came in the form of a hymn written by the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy.
I began singing and praying the words: “O gentle presence, peace and joy and power; / O Life divine, that owns each waiting hour” (Christian Science Hymnal, No. 207). I felt assured of God’s ever-present peace, joy, and omnipotent power right then and there for you and all who are feeling alone and afraid, even when in the midst of terror and war.
As a young mother, I was widowed and found myself raising my three-year-old son on my own. I leaned on God’s mothering and fathering my son and me, and I know we can confidently rely on that same love here and now. As a recent Sentinel Watch podcast put it, “Love hasn’t left this home” (Tony Lobl, “Love hasn’t left this home,” cssentinel.com, September 11, 2023).
Love hasn’t left Israel, or Gaza, or Ukraine, or any other area experiencing war and conflict. Even though I am just one individual in a country far removed from these places, I actively pray to know that God’s love is always present, dependable, steadfast, all-powerful. “Thou Love that guards the nestling’s faltering flight! / Keep Thou my child on upward wing tonight,” that hymn says. We are each God’s nestlings, whether struggling with a small problem or the horror of war. We can feel and reflect God’s mothering love here and now.
Another line in this hymn, which I have known and loved for decades, is “Love is our refuge; only with mine eye / Can I behold the snare, the pit, the fall.” But as long as I have been singing this hymn, this was the first time I understood that Mrs. Eddy was saying that we can stay conscious of the spiritual fact that divine Love, God, is our—and everyone’s—ever-present refuge. When, instead, we begin to examine the snares, pits, falls, or material circumstances, that is when we feel immobilized by fear, and illness, conflict, hatred, and evil seem so much larger than Love’s ability to handle them. But that isn’t so. As we learn in Christian Science, God is All-in-all.
“His habitation high is here, and nigh, / His arm encircles me, and mine, and all,” the hymn assures. And I am thinking, in quiet prayer, just how it embraces you and all the mothers in the region.
Love, Bethany Taylor
This response to the war was originally published in the October 19, 2023 issue of the Christian Science Sentinel.
Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work.
(The Bible – II Corintians 9: 7, 8)
Giving does not impoverish us in the service of our Maker, neither does withholding enrich us.
Christian Science Canberra 