While many of us live in an environment full of hope, opportunity, honesty and joy, others in our world face unjust situations every day. But no matter how blatant or subtle the injustice is, an understanding of the love that is God - divine Love - can be a big help toward resolving unjust situations.
A few years ago, my teenage daughter asked, “Mama, will you have lunch with me on Wednesday?” And, over the course of the next few days, she kept asking if I could specifically have lunch on Wednesday. Finally, I realized there was more to this than her desire for take-out food.
Upon further questioning, I discovered she had received a disciplinary “dot” because I had kept her math book home for homework. On Wednesday, students with no “dots” would be permitted to have a special lunch in the classroom. Because of my actions, she would have to eat alone. “It’s not fair!” she insisted. While I kind of agreed, I saw this unintentional mistake as a perfect opportunity to teach her something about healing injustices.
Today, those words “It’s not fair!” ring out around the world - from the war crimes in Darfur, to the poor living conditions in Iraq, to the lack of social rights in Egypt, to women’s inequality in Yemen, to the repression of human rights in North Korea, and even to the ills of poverty in small Appalachian towns in the United States. With such sobering world situations, what caring individual doesn’t yearn to help? We may not have the opportunity for political or social activism in remote parts of the world, but we can play a part in helping to correct human injustices through spiritual activism.
For example, in our prayers, we can affirm the scriptures that say God is Love – and that God is all-powerful. According to Jesus, God never plays favorites, but blesses all equally. When man’s attitude towards his neighbor is loving, it heals because it reflects all-powerful, divine Love.
What better way to be a humanitarian and pray for the correction of human injustices than by starting with actively loving our neighbor?
When asked which was the greatest commandment, Jesus replied, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind” and he continued with the second commandment, which he said was similar: “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” The law of Love is the law of harmony and love to the whole world, and it demands that we love one another. It is this law of divine Love obeyed that replaces injustice and hatred with justice and compassion.
Mary Baker Eddy, who discovered Christian Science, founded a church “to commemorate the word and works of our Master, which should reinstate primitive Christianity and its lost element of healing.” She knew that following Jesus’ commands to love God and one’s neighbor would fulfill the law of Christ and so bring healing.
Eddy writes in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, “Love is the fulfilling of the law: it is grace, mercy, and justice,” exemplifying how God’s law of Love operates to heal the injustices of the world.
This was certainly the case in the situation with my daughter. Our deep discussions which centered around God loving universally and equally helped my daughter to see she was not a victim. When she understood that she should love her neighbor as herself, she was able to forgive me for keeping her book home and was able to stop being angry at her teacher. When I arrived on Wednesday, burritos in hand, the teacher greeted me at the door and told me they would postpone the special classroom lunch day until next week because “something came up.” She was happy to add that by then, my daughter would be on the positive side again and would be able to eat lunch with the class.
In the meantime, my daughter and I enjoyed a lovely lunch together, grateful that there is no injustice too small (or too big) for the law of divine Love to heal!
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Debra Chew writes about the connection between thought, spirituality and wellness from a Christian Science perspective. She has been published in USA Today, chattanoogan.com, Knoxville News Sentinel, Memphis Commercial Appeal, UK Health Triangle Magazine, and the Jackson Sun & JS Health Magazine.