Johnny Sheridan

It’s gotten me thinking: Is freedom about doing whatever we want to do? Or is freedom found in accepting what we were made to do?

The Apostle Paul wrote that we are “delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:21). That statement gives us a hint that true freedom is found through accepting something already given to us from our Father—the Father of us all. 

The difference here is between human power and spiritual grace. Freedom for one’s own self-interest is power that will not last. God-given freedom is the gift of grace, bestowed collectively and eternally.

This distinction is important for our prayers for the world. As a world, we are undoubtedly moving forward. Love helps ensure that we are doing so gracefully. But whom are we loving—and how are we loving them? In the unfolding political dramas in the Middle East, Europe, and the United States, public attention is constantly on the extremes: on terrorists and victims; on dominating leaders and careless peoples; on the 1 percent and the 99 percent. It’s easy to buy into a black-and-white model that focuses on conflict between groups with power and groups without. But love—a recognition of God’s embrace of humanity—lets us reject this limiting view, as we remember that our Father-Mother inspires His children: law enforcement members, the civically engaged, religious moderates—everyone. Power that is not divine is a zero-sum game; grace leaves out no one.

Christ Jesus is our paragon for graceful freedom from all kinds of things: from sickness, from religious restrictions, and even from death. He told his disciples: “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33, New International Version). He included everyone in his healing ministry: taxpayers and tax collectors, the political and religious establishment, and people on the street. He didn’t leave anyone out of his prayers, and neither can we.

As a world, we are undoubtedly moving forward. Love helps ensure that we are doing so gracefully.

Each of us has access to the divine intelligence and power that Jesus recognized as the Supreme Ruler governing us all. Through prayer, we make the greatest demonstration of freedom the world has ever known: the understanding that God frees us from oppression, fear, the error in thinking that power is ever out of our Father’s hands. Jesus’ instructions on this point were not formulaic or reliant on ritual. They were simple: “When you pray, don’t be like the play-actors . . . go into your own room, shut your door and pray to your Father privately” (Matthew 6:5, 6, J. B. Phillips New Testament).

In an article titled “Insufficient Freedom” at the turn of the 20th century, Mary Baker Eddy wrote, “To my sense, the most imminent dangers confronting the coming century are: the robbing of people of life and liberty under the warrant of the Scriptures; the claims of politics and of human power, industrial slavery, and insufficient freedom of honest competition; and ritual, creed, and trusts in place of the Golden Rule . . .” (The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and Miscellany, p. 266). These are still issues that must be dealt with today. But Eddy’s basis for prayer was that stillness of thought, that humble trust in our Father’s government, that Jesus required and demonstrated. This kind of prayer throws out fear, doubt, selfishness, and pride to unite factions and opponents in a campaign for the kingdom of heaven, where there is room for everyone.

As we each seek to achieve freedom for all people across the world, let’s remember that it won’t be found only in the popular “Power to the people!” attitude. Instead, freedom must be understood and fulfilled by living this prayer, a line from Mary Baker Eddy’s spiritual interpretation of the Lord’s Prayer: “Give us grace for to-day; . . .” (Science and Health, p. 17).