Even to pray, to realize healing seemed to be daunting. But how big is my understanding of God? Is it bigger than a tsunami? An earthquake? a hurricane? It was beyond my experience to answer.
I prayed with the help of two books. One is the Bible: story after story of the experience of mankind's evolving understanding of God and how we relate to God. The other is Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy: illuminating the spiritual laws that undergird the Bible and explaining the operation of those same spiritual laws today. The backbone of both books is the illustration of divine law operating throughout millennia, through wars, famines, political successes and failures, celebrations and the drama of ongoing life.
I was pondering over Christ Jesus' resurrection. Although he is given different offices by different religions, one thing that can possibly be agreed on is that he stood for hope, for a way out of the mire of sin, sickness and finally out of death and into peace and fulfillment. The events surrounding his crucifixion were ominous and unrelenting, even up to the time he was on the cross. And yet, right in that noise of horror, hopelessness and torture, he loved. He forgave his persecutors. He made sure his mother was cared for. And three days later, he was resurrected, which also resurrected the hope of those he taught and ultimately the hope of all those who believe in his teachings.
He not only taught that God was bigger than a hurricane, tsunami or earthquake, but he walked his understanding of the bigness, the allness and omnipotence of God every day. The result? No sin or disease could ever even be real to him. He restored all whom he met back to their normal physical and mental state of health and awakened the understanding of their relationship to God. His persecutors tried to stop, then to torture, then to kill, and finally to bury this hope of healing and reconciliation. But it simply couldn't happen.
The lively hope that Life is of God, good and that we are one with God was too powerful. In Science and Health it says,
"The persecutors had failed to hide immortal Truth and Love in a sepulchre."
Our present day persecutors -- natural disasters, terrorism, war -- would try to hide the hope that Life is eternal, Truth is omnipotent and Love is ever-present. But that is impossible. God is too powerful. It takes a determined stepping away from the human picture to see the persistence of Love in these situations. But to do so is to play a part in a resurrection.
- To let the human sense of grief yield to the warm embrace of Love.
- To let the human sense of loss yield to the divine sense of eternal Life.
- To let the human sense of fear and distrust yield to the strong arms of everlasting Truth.
This is what Jesus Christ resurrected for us.
So back to South Asia. I look at all the pictures from my news source online. I am mentally walking in the pictures of the devastation, testing if my understanding is sufficient. Looking for glimmers of hope and life. My prayer connects. I understand this:
Christ hath rolled away the stone from the door of human hope and faith, and through the revelation and demonstration of life in God, hath elevated them to
possible at-one-ment with the spiritual idea of man and his divine Principle, Love" (from Science and Health)
What the pictures show is unending care, and connection to one another. Diligent prayer. Reconciliation. Cooperation. Differences dissolve in the persistence of life. The children, the fathers, and mothers, men and women are all children of one God. They are wrapped up in one Love. There is great hope. I am putting this prayer out into cyber-space, knowing it will join the millions of other prayers. These prayers contribute to that atmosphere of thought and are renewing hope, resting those tired from helping others and strengthening the strong insistence that Life can never be buried.
News articles
Remember the children in Asia's quake: Christian Science Monitor story
A glimmer of good news in Pakistan: yahoo news
Earthquake to be treated as a national calamity: The Times of India
Healing article:
No earthquake can loosen Love's embrace by Neera Kapur: spirituality.com
Peace, Kim
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