Article August 24, 1998 Issue

LOVE AND PRAYER FOR GOVERNMENT

Karen S. James

In praying about government, I've often been led back to Christ Jesus' example. His message to his followers, including us today, was the importance of loving God and one's fellow beings—each one. Love for the widow and fatherless, neighbor and stranger, family and enemy. Paul urged prayers for those in power, "that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty" (I Tim. 2:2). From my own experience, which includes years of service as a chaplain, along with ministers of other faiths, in both houses of our state legislature, I know that prayer helps us see the love that is there.

Mary Baker Eddy knew the power of love for others and urged people everywhere to love one another as Jesus did. In The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, she writes, "Love lived in a court or cot is God exemplified, governing governments, industries, human rights, liberty, life" (p. 287).

In another book she speaks of the importance of praying daily for one's country. She says, "Pray that the divine presence may still guide and bless our chief magistrate, those associated with his executive trust, and our national judiciary; give to our congress wisdom, and uphold our nation with the right arm of His righteousness" (Christian Science versus Pantheism, p. 14).

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