Protected in the midst of a protest

In thinking about the unrest happening in many of our communities, it is easy to feel fearful and concerned about our personal well-being and safety. At times like this, I turn to the Lord’s Prayer from Christ Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount and its spiritual interpretation given by Mary Baker Eddy in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures (see pp. 16–17), where she calls the Lord’s Prayer “that prayer which covers all human needs.”

A few years ago, I was able to apply the truths of this prayer to my own life while traveling with my family in another country. A situation had erupted that caused many people to begin striking and demonstrating in the streets. We needed to get to the airport to catch a flight to another city, but because of the protests, most of the major roads to the airport were closed. 

Our hotel staff arranged for us to leave in a small private bus early in the morning and to avoid the demonstrations by traveling on less populated roads. As we began our drive, I could hear the driver speaking on his cellphone about the dangerous situation that lay ahead. I was scared and turned to God in prayer. What came to me was the Lord’s Prayer. As I prayed verse by verse, I silently affirmed the following truths: that there is only one creator; that we are all God’s children—one harmonious family; that one child of God could not harm another; and that there was only one Mind, God, governing all, not a bunch of individual minds fighting each other. I prayed to see that no one could be left out of or separated from God’s goodness and that divine Spirit was meeting every need. And I prayed to see God’s creation as the ever-present reality—perfect, upright, and free.