On November 25, 2013 the idea was introduced to have a “Practice Club” for our guests to pray specifically for the world, our local communities & Broadview. The group meets in our Practice Room every other Tuesday after lunch, reads an article from The Christian Science Monitor and afterwards gives the situation a Christian Science treatment. We often list the errors or beliefs we identify within the article and then apply specific truths to each one. Tracy, our Activities Director, types up the treatments, and we share them with those who didn’t attend the meetings. We also keep a notebook of the notes in the Practice Room (should you ever want to stop by and peruse!).
We read the September 21,2015 article “Seeking Refuge: Five lessons from the migrant crisis” from The Christian Science Monitor, stating that the European Union faces its greatest challenge concerning the largest movement of people across Europe’s borders since WWII. We decided to use their list, here underlined, as our springboard for prayer.
1) Migrants keep coming: Even with hundreds of reported deaths and dangers en route to places that may be unwelcoming, to people fleeing violence and severe poverty in their home countries, life is still seen as better in Europe.
We prayed to know the bad conditions of the migrants’ homelands could be resolved, that, spiritually, home is heaven where everyone truly lives in complete harmony. We prayed to see that divine Mind is inspiring transformation in these places. We mentally took a stand that divine Love is meeting all needs manifested tangibly in enough food, shelter, and principled government everywhere; that evil is powerless and cannot win; that continued crisis is not the reality of God’s kingdom, therefore fleeing will become unnecessary. A fitting prayer is “there is no spot where God is not.” One participant declared, “When we realize with the certainty of Truth that a false belief has not the power of Truth, then it will not produce the slightest effect.”
2) Much of Europe sees the migrants as “the other guy’s’ problem”:
God created all mankind in His image and likeness. With one Father-Mother God, we are all family, and it is natural to share, to express compassion and brotherly kindness toward each other. Selfishness, insensitivity and detachment are not from God and these errors must yield to the promptings of infinite Love.
3) Europe’s migration system is not working: The article stated: “This summer has put stress on EU laws on movement.” Laws meant to be mandatory are nearly impossible to enforce and others are being ignored to have immigrants move quickly through one country on to the next, causing disorder in elements such as processing asylum applications.
We affirmed that: Divine Mind gives fresh inspiration and ideas to solve and correct every situation including this one. People are listening and obedient to God’s direction and divine will, exemplifying holy discipline as Jesus prayed “not my will, but Thine be done.”(Luke 22:42) There must be a loving, wise solution. God’s government is harmonious in every detail. God is not overwhelmed! God doesn’t have too many children! In fact, He delights in each one of His ideas!
4) Some Europeans have been magnanimous: The article stated: “For all the xenophobia that’s been unleashed, there are thousands of European citizens who are trying to rise above the fear.” One group waited for the migrants with supplies.
We saw this positive example as the little bit of leaven that could “leaven the whole lump” as Mary Baker Eddy refers to in Science & Health, page 329. Only good is permanent, and we must expect good to expand and love to be universally expressed.
5) The “migrant crisis’ is a human crisis: The Monitor pointed out that “each person is a person” often with family and friends back home who they wish to help.
We affirmed that each one – migrant, family, and friends – is an individual expression of God and cannot be ignored. No one can mistakenly perceive their brother or sister as dispensable or disposable. As God’s child, each one comes complete with everything he or she needs, including a sense of home and safety – reflecting God’s being, which Mrs. Eddy tells us is “infinity, freedom, harmony, and boundless bliss.” (Science and Health 481:3)
We closed our meeting by reading Hymn 65 from the Christian Science Hymnal, verses 1 & 2, praying during the reading to trust that everyone involved in this migrant situation is moving “from glory unto glory,” while being shown “the fullness of His love.”
Hymn 65: verses 1 & 2
From glory unto glory,
‘Tis Love that leads us on;
As wider yet and wider,
The rising splendors glow,
What wisdom is revealed to us,
What freedom we may know.
The fullness of His blessing
Encompasseth our way;
The fullness of His promise
Crowns every dawning day;
The fullness of His glory
Is shining from above,
While more and more we learn to know
The fullness of His love.