The prayer that can calm political discord

Robin Hoagland | from the Christian Science Sentinel

Politics can be cordial and progressive when we base our prayers and actions on God.

Politics. It was playing out right in front of me.

No. Not the debates for the US presidential election, or the ongoing turmoil from Zimbabwe’s contested elections, or the rising tension between tribal leaders and the government in Afghanistan—all of which I’d been actively following, thinking, and praying about.

This was something closer to home. In fact, in my home. So it got my attention.

It had begun a few days before, when our college-age daughter came home with a half-grown kitten named Folsom that she had rescued and raised herself. It was just a temporary stopover with us until she moved into her new apartment at the end of the week.

Try explaining that to our resident dog and cat.

First I watched the subtle cat-versus-cat politics. Then came the more explosive cat-versus-dog politics. And for the first 24 hours Folsom was with us, I was intervening in a lot of growling, yowling, hissing, and barking.

The noise was intolerable.

That’s the way it is with political discord. Sometimes you have to get involved because you can no longer ignore it.

People yearn for a tangible sense of harmony in their homes, communities, and countries.

All I wanted was harmony reestablished in my home. But I think that’s really what everyone wants in the global household. No matter which candidates they support, which policies and programs are closest to their hearts, after all the votes are cast, people yearn for a tangible sense of harmony in their homes, communities, and countries.

Is that an unachievable ideal? Can it be established among those who belong to different groups with disparate or entrenched points of view? What if they don’t speak the same language, have the same background, or share the same ideology? What if when they do speak, it just escalates into a shouting match full of invective and accusation?

Is harmony really a practical expectation for a household, let alone a national electorate or a global community?

Yes. But only if it is understood as a spiritual activity rooted in the fundamental nature of God, divine Love.

A helpful way to think about the rule of harmony is in the context of music. Anyone who has hummed a tune understands intuitively when something produces a pleasing sound. And when the notes are so jarring, it’s no longer called music but discord. But when the principle of harmonics governs, many voices and many instruments can blend even different strands of the same tune into gorgeous, dynamic chorales. Adding more voices and instruments simply enhances the sound, so long as the harmonies are maintained.

With technology today, a concert can be broadcast worldwide with audiences on different continents participating simultaneously in a single song. It’s a glimpse of what’s possible when we let one unifying principle govern our thoughts and actions.

Jesus knew all about politics.

That profound sense of harmony expresses the essence of Jesus’ ministry. He knew all about politics. He was identified with the Christ—the Jewish Messiah who was prophesied to reestablish the kingdom of God’s chosen people as in the days of King David. For the Zealots—an extreme nationalistic group within Judea at the time—this meant ridding their land of Roman occupation through whatever means necessary, including violence. And any Jews who supported Rome in any way—such as tax collectors administering the Empire’s bureaucracy—were considered as bad or worse than the Romans themselves.

Yet, right within Jesus’ closest circle of 12 students were Matthew the tax collector and Simon the Zealot. Theologian William Barclay observed, “The plain truth is that, if Simon had met Matthew under any other circumstances, he would have murdered him …. If Matthew and Simon could live at peace within the apostolic band, then there is no breach between men which cannot be healed when men love Christ” (Barclay, The Master’s Men, 1980 edition, p. 97).

Jesus understood his mission was not political in the narrow sense, but it was revolutionary all the same. It was to reorient humanity away from a material concept of life, substance, and intelligence—all the things that bring inevitable discords within individuals and between them—and to restore a spiritual perspective that harmonizes each of us with God. Gaining a right relationship with the Divine brings into view the kingdom of heaven, the best government imaginable. It isn’t a kingdom won by force, coercion, or partisan politics, but found right within us through the heart of prayer.

Jesus taught his disciples—including Simon and Matthew—a comprehensive prayer that expresses the Christ ideal, the spiritual relationship with God that redeems humanity. The familiar words of it are known as the Lord’s Prayer, but it’s fresh inspiration behind those words that brings healing. Mary Baker Eddy presented the spiritual essence of it, line by line, in her textbook on healing, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures (see pp. 16–17). It begins by directing us right to God:

Our Father which art in heaven,

Our Father-Mother God, all-harmonious,

Our Father-Mother. Ours. Yours and mine, and that person on the other side of the issues, as well as the anonymous writer of an antagonistic blog. Radical, isn’t it, to begin acknowledging we have the same Parent? And wouldn’t an infinitely wise and loving Parent uphold every member of His/Her universal family with justice, fairness, and impartiality? Wouldn’t there be a place within the harmonies of Love for each child?

Later in the prayer we encounter:

Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

Enable us to know,—as in heaven, so on earth,—God is omnipotent, supreme.

Spiritual power is the only true power.

Spiritual power, prevailing both in heaven and on earth, is the only true power. As we recognize the wise, just government of Spirit, we find it’s also the source of wise and just governing in human affairs, allowing harmony to prevail.

“Harmony in man,” wrote Mrs. Eddy, “is as beautiful as in music, and discord is unnatural, unreal …. A discontented, discordant mortal is no more a man than discord is music” (Science and Health, pp. 304–305).

That’s a wake-up call. The media and Internet seem filled with bitter discontent and malicious gossip. And it helps to ask ourselves if we’re also being swept up in that swirl of anonymous hostility. An honest appraisal of our own thoughts reveals the level of harmony—or discord—we’re engaging in and contributing to.

Whatever is selfish or self-interested is at the expense of the whole. It’s an expression of what Christian Science terms animal magnetism, which can take form as a willful determination to dominate others and have one’s own way whatever the cost. This animalistic impulse would tear apart families, communities, and nations.

What corrects this destructive impulse is again found right in the Lord’s Prayer:

And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

And Love is reflected in love;

God’s love enhances our ability, through prayer, to reach out of comfort zones and into combat zones.

The strength and peace of forgiveness is inextricable from divine Love. Acknowledging such profound love begins to ameliorate the partisan politics that tend to divide the citizen-family and poison the atmosphere. More than that, God’s love enhances our ability, through prayer, to reach out of comfort zones and into combat zones. It is the spiritual impulse behind our most unselfish thoughts and actions that initiates dialogue and nurtures agreement. Love builds up strong and enduring relationships within groups and between groups.

The final line of this well-loved prayer reminds us that all human politics ultimately will yield to the divine government. Nothing can overturn or countermand its rule.

For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever.

For God is infinite, all-power, all Life, Truth, Love, over all, and All.

Through such praying, we begin to realize that the true nature of the universe is, like its causative Principle, profoundly spiritual, without the limits of matter and the conflicts they inevitably bring. And if we’re willing to listen to the insights and ideas revealed by our prayer—no matter how different they might be from what we expected to hear—we find ourselves getting back in tune with God.

Some years ago, my husband ran for public office. We were living in the small town he grew up in, and he was interested in serving on the regional school committee. We had children in the school system and wanted to support its activity. His nomination pitted him against a local woman with a great deal of experience serving the community, but who no longer had children in the schools.

Suddenly, this quiet, little town of about 3,800 registered voters had a hotly contested election. Op-ed pieces ran in the local paper on the issues. In one edition, a couple we knew well and considered among our friends had written a lengthy letter to the editor endorsing my husband’s opponent. It wasn’t easy for us to read. It fact, it hurt. In a community where you ran into everyone standing in line at the post office, politics had become very personal.

My husband had been quite thoughtful and deliberate when he decided to run for this post. Now he had to ask himself if it was right to add this level of contention within the community for an unpaid post on a six-person committee. Was his decision principled or personal? For the good of the whole, he knew he had to be willing to drop out if anything other than a true love of his town and an unselfish motive to serve was part of the mix. After prayer and further reflection, he stayed in the race.

When the polls closed and the results were tallied, the town clerk told him that he’d won by seven votes. Seven! That’s how close the election was.

Campaigning on differences immediately gave way to reuniting the townspeople.

So it was a time for more prayer and humility. Campaigning on differences immediately gave way to reuniting the townspeople behind much-needed investments in the schools. And a hand had to be held out in genuine friendship and reconciliation to all those who’d voted against him. After all, this was our home, and these were our neighbors.

Within a very short time of his taking office, it became apparent that a major building project would benefit from the business experience he brought to the table. It was a good fit between what was needed and what he could give. His opponent, who’d graciously conceded the election despite the extremely close returns, was now available for another town project that uniquely suited her ample talents. And the lines at the post office became enjoyable again.

It was just a local election for a school committee. But it gave me some insight on how any community might slide into the dissonance of cynicism, bitterness, and even violence in the wake of close or contested elections.

If political tensions run high in our own community, how will we respond? With more selfish divisiveness? Or with the courage to love. And forgive. And find a new song to blend disparate voices into diviner harmonies.

As I write this, our dog is asleep with his head on my lap. Our cat snoozes contentedly on a nearby chair. And Folsom has shut his kitten eyes for a midmorning nap nestled up against my foot. The hostility of their early politics has given way to the quiet harmony of an undivided household.

Harmony and harmonizing. It’s not only possible, it’s essential. And it’s provable in the smallest communities as well as the largest. Which is a good thing, because Folsom will be visiting again at Thanksgiving.

Robin Hoagland practices and teaches Christian Science healing in Hyannis, Massachusetts. She’s a member of the Christian Science Board of Lectureship.