Whosoever believeth that wrath is righteous or that divinity is appeased by human suffering, does not understand God. (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy p22:27)
God is Love. (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy p2:23)
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.”
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.
A Daily Lift by Janet Clements
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In this brief podcast Janet describes how her prayers about the current conflict in the Middle East helped her bring calm and healing to a young woman in the mids of protests and disturbance.
Holding to the spiritual fact of everyone’s unbreakable unity, safety, and life in God brings hope, and strength to go forward.
An article by Suzanne Smedley posted in the Christian Science Sentinel, 13 October 2023.
In light of the brutal attack on Israel and its punishing response, many are seeking comfort in prayer. More than anyone, those still anxiously waiting for news about their loved ones’ safety and whereabouts, and those grieving their loss, need to feel God’s loving presence and almighty protection.
I thought of a Jewish family that my tour group crossed paths with several months ago in Israel. The family had fled from their home to escape sporadic rocket fire and was unsure if their home would still be there when they returned. I wondered, too, about a Palestinian friend who had essentially been stateless his whole life. All were gentle, peaceful individuals caught up in a cycle of fear, misunderstanding, and hatred. Were they safe?
During grievous times, prayers may sometimes seem futile and words hollow. But there are beautiful promises in the Bible that unburden the heavy heart and wing it with hope. For instance, in the book of the prophet Isaiah: “For thus saith the Lord…. As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you” (66:12, 13).
And in Psalms: “Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me” (139:7–11).
What could be more comforting than to feel in the deepest recesses of our heart that not a single one of God’s children can be separated from Her love and saving power? … Continue reading …
A Sentinel Watch interview with Joan Bernard Bradley
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In this interview Joan talks about how she overcame resentment over incidents of racial abuse and discrimination. She goes on to tell how through prayer and effort she has been able build respectful relationships in racially diverse settings.
A podcast interview with Joan Bernard Bradley
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Embracing Diversity – Can prayer really have an effect on the world? Joan Bernard Bradley discovered that learning to pray for herself taught her how to pray for her family and even her community.
Image by rawpixel.com on Freepik
A new podcast is broadcast each week. To listen click on the podcast tab in the top menu.
Dear Friend,
We don’t know each other, but my heart goes out to you as reports continue to emerge about the invasion and attack of your homeland. Things may look very dark right now; perhaps your plans for the life you hoped to live seem shattered. I and many others are praying earnestly that you feel the palpable presence of God, good, bringing you strength, hope, and inspiration.
These prayers are inspired by the presence of God made evident throughout the Bible. In Psalms, we read, “Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?… If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me” (139:7, 11). God does know you and care for you, for everyone. God has not abandoned you. Even in the depths of despair, when we turn our hearts to God, we feel the light and grace of God’s presence and love right here to protect us.
My father experienced the power of this divine light after the start of World War II. When his homeland, Japan, declared war on the United States – the country that he had been preparing to go to throughout his education – his hopes and dreams were shattered. As war continued, he felt alone and completely isolated.
Yet one thing did carry him through those dark days. It was his faith in God, who is omnipresent good. The ideas contained in two books – the Bible and “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures” by Mary Baker Eddy, the discoverer of Christian Science – helped him understand that God’s goodness is always present, even in the midst of devastation and war. During the firebombing of Tokyo, as my father ran around dousing the burning embers that were falling on his family’s home, he felt a powerful sense that he actually lived in the kingdom of God, that it was within him, flooding his consciousness with light.
That’s always true for each of us as God’s creation. As God’s spiritual likeness we have a relation to God that is, as my father put it, “as inseparable and unseverable as that of a sunbeam to the sun” (Takashi Oka, “No enemies in the kingdom,” Christian Science Sentinel, April 28, 2003). That he was able to feel this in the midst of such destruction has been proof to me that the “still, small voice” of God can be heard even in the darkest moments.
This is the Christ, God’s communication of divine Love’s power and presence. Mary Baker Eddy expresses it this way: “Christ is the true idea voicing good, the divine message from God to men speaking to the human consciousness” (Science and Health, p. 332). The Christ continues to communicate to each of us right now, empowering us to feel the healing, guiding light of God even in the midst of the anger, fear, and destruction of war. It is in God’s very nature as divine Love to constantly communicate and express tender care and compassion for each of us, and to enable us to know our spiritual nature as His children.
This is a powerful and effective basis for prayer for all of humanity. Its truth encircles the globe, and I and so many others worldwide are wrapping you in our prayers to see that, truly, “no power can withstand divine Love” (Science and Health, p. 224).
With love and hope,
Mimi Oka
This article appeared in the March 09, 2022 edition of the Monitor Daily.
Nothing is gained by fighting, but much is lost.
Peace is the promise and reward of rightness. …
War is in itself an evil, barbarous, devilish. Victory in error is defeat in Truth. War is not in the domain of good; war weakens power and must finally fall, pierced by its own sword.
(The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany by Mary Baker Eddy p278: 21)
A Daily Lift by Tony Lobl
In this 3minute podcast Tony challenges us to think about how we identify ourselves … are we right-wing, left-wing, moderate? Or do we identify ourselves in more spiritual terms. How we see ourselves has an impact on the quality of our lives.
A new 3 minute inspirational talk is shared each day Monday-Friday. To listen to more click on the Daily Lift tab in the menu above.
Christian Science Canberra 