ONLY A FRACTION of Kenyans have engaged in the violence surrounding the disputed presidential election last December. Nevertheless, hundreds were killed, some 300,000 displaced, and many homes and shops destroyed. While much healing has taken place, tensions remain.

An agreement to share power holds hope for peace. But current reports suggest that the agreement may be unraveling as President Mwai Kibaki, widely accused of rigging his reelection, and his opponent, Raila Odinga, have yet to settle on terms. But rather than giving in to discouragement, we can stand firm and redouble our prayers for peace.

My wife, Betty, and I were on vacation in Kenya when the violence broke out in late December, and we stayed there two more weeks. Part of the time, we were in the Muslim coastal town of Lamu, which remained peaceful. There, a Swahili-speaking resident told me, Muslims were praying in the mosques for peace. I asked permission to join in prayer in a small local mosque and was welcomed as a Christian.

In praying silently among all those devout people, I was acknowledging the unity of all humanity as the family of one divine Creator. And I felt a measure of real peace in that moment.

Kenyans of all faiths prayed for peace and reconciliation during the disturbances, and are continuing to do so. The National Council of Churches of Kenya has been active nationally in arranging meetings and workshops for people to discuss strategies for peace. "This is not a time for arrogance and hardlined positions," said one speaker at an interdenominational prayer meeting. "Let neighborhoods extend hands of fellowship to their neighbors, whatever their tribe," the speaker added, cautioning that "without justice there can be no love."

There are solid reasons for hope. The image of Kenya as a peaceful and stable nation is not just a false veneer. There have long been deep spiritual strengths across the population, as well as a hunger for education and progress. In Kenya, as with many other countries, the poor and the rich—neighbors, brothers, and sisters—have much more that unites them than divides them. Kenyans yearn for peace, prosperity, and happiness. They value the education of their children.

Divisions that interfere with those goals do no one any good. Ethnicity—the history, language, and traditions of people—need not divide them. There is unity in goodness. Fear and hatred, jealousy and lack of justice, are divisive mental elements. If we see our brothers and sisters as innately good—as loving, caring children of God with concerns and goals like those we value—then we can be alert to words or actions that attempt to divide people into factions.

Healing in Kenya must involve a sense of brotherhood among citizens, of common goals and dreams. At a recent community peace meeting, Aggrey Omondi, who heads a group called Ugunja Community Resource Center, said, "What we have witnessed [in the post-election violence] was more than tribal animosity. It was about [social] classes and resources."

He was referring to material resources. But another useful way to think of resources is as the beneficial ideas that come to willing and seeking hearts, and that include everyone. Fresh insights, innovations, more compassionate views of "the others," new ways of living together, cooperating, sharing and conserving Earth's resources, all result from such openness. These are spiritual resources. They help restore peace. And they don't run out, because they have their origin in one good, infinite God.

The urgent need for healing in Kenya, and elsewhere, gives fresh impetus to Jesus' words "Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God" (Matt. 5:9). I also think of a statement by the founder of this magazine, Mary Baker Eddy: "God has built a higher platform of human rights, and He has built it on diviner claims. These claims are not made through code or creed, but in demonstration of 'on earth peace, good-will toward men' " (Science and Health, p. 226).

I've been encouraged to see that in Kenya, as in many other African countries, people have crossed ethnic lines for years through informal associations, intermarriage, friendship, sports, and to some extent by worshipping together. Today, as during politically manipulated ethnic clashes in the early 1990s, some areas of Kenya have remained calm, where local leaders have refused to be swept up into deadly rivalries among mixed populations.

Prayers from around the world that affirm the innate goodness of people and the power of God's love for all creation—and which deny habitat to rivalry and the urge for revenge—can help Kenyans emerge with a nation more unified, peaceful, and just than ever before. css