Praying with Atlanta

Hurt and saddened by the growing list of Atlanta's unsolved murders of children, the congregations of churches are turning to Deity for the solution that so far has eluded law-enforcement agencies. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of other compassionate individuals all over the world are joining in this swelling voice of prayer. But what about those who feel unsure how to pray?

Christian Science shows that healing prayer includes an affirmation of God's omnipotent goodness. In this situation an unknown evil needs to be exposed and eradicated; deep grief needs the comfort of the Christ, Truth. So our prayers may first of all have to acknowledge God's omniscience. He is eternal Mind. Having created all, Deity intelligently governs all. This creation, or manifestation of God, must be good, for He is Love. In infinite Love, evil finds no hiding place. "The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth." n1 And since Love is divine Principle, evil lacks a legitimate source or base.

n1 II Chronicles 16:9;

Establishing these truths in thought --praying -- and then letting this prayer take form in our own life, we bring to bear on dark events the healing light of God. With absolute certainty we can trust the unrelenting goodness of the Lord to ferret out, in ways higher than ours but with very practical results , that which evades the best of human detection.

The eternal function of man, Love's spiritual image, is to express Love. Man's real being is never the pawn of evil. In prayer we can firmly reject the false image of man as a victimizer, driven by fear or hate. That picture is an extreme condition of the limited mortal concept of existence -- the belief that life is in matter and not in God, Spirit. Prayer lets the truth of God-created spiritual reality replace the tormenting lies of material sense. The sense that perceives God --spiritual sense -- says, in the inspired words of the Bible, "God hath not given [man] the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." n2

n2 II Timothy 1:7;

In his healing career, Christ Jesus cast devils out of many people and commanded others to forsake sin. Jesus' words and works unequivocally imply a condemnation of the sin while helping awaken the sinner to the wrongness of his acts. Our Christlike prayer excludes loathing the one or ones guilty.

Seeing, through prayer, more of God's man not only sharpens and softens our thinking but also greatly strengthens those beleaguered by hate or fear to struggle free from carnal beliefs about man. Such prayer brings the Christ, the true manifestation of God, to deliver individuals from evil's grasp. The precise method of deliverance -- the process of rebirth itself -- comes into view as we more fully realize that the true nature of man is in fact beyond evil , safe with Christ in God. And the practical effect of such prayer is to overpower the criminal -- to bring justice to the human circumstances.

What of the bereaved families? The sorrow and loss may seem almost unhealable. But affirming man's unbreakable relationship to God brings healing rivers of balm from a divine source. Infinite Love, more than time, heals. Our Father's capacity to heal all things can never be depleted. Mary Baker Eddy n3 writes: "Divine Love always has met and always will meet every human need." n4

n3 Mrs. Eddy is the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science;

n4 Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,m p. 494;

Being All-in-all, God hears before we call, and He knows our need. In the words of Jesus, "There is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed." n5

n5 Matthew 10:26.

Let us pray with Atlanta tonight. DAILY BIBLE VERSE Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will shew to you to d ay. Exodus 14:13