'To Bless All Mankind' September 21, 2015 Issue

Achieving reconciliation

Liz Butterfield Wallingford

Originally printed in The Christian Science Monitor, June 11, 2015.

Sometimes it can seem that differences are too deep, history is too violent, or harm inflicted has been too great, for harmony to be restored. But we also see that reconciliation, even in the face of dark history, is indeed possible. The German-Israeli relationship is an example. The friendship those nations have today is a “remarkable” one, a model for others struggling with conflict and hate (“Fifty years on, practical lessons from German-Israeli friendship,” CSMonitor.com, May 12, 2015).

Reconciliation, as the editorial pointed out, takes work, and a forward-looking approach—learning from the past, while also progressing.

Mary Baker Eddy understood in a deep, spiritual way the significance of looking in the right direction—to God, which allows us to find peace. Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mrs. Eddy’s seminal work, says, “Jesus aided in reconciling man to God by giving man a truer sense of Love, the divine Principle of Jesus’ teachings, and this truer sense of Love redeems man from the law of matter, sin, and death by the law of Spirit,—the law of divine Love” (p. 19). To me, this gets at the heart of true reconciliation: lifting our thought above material circumstances to God, recognizing that we are all made in the image of divine Love. This transforms thought, bringing a deeper realization of God’s allness and goodness, as Christ Jesus proved. We, too, can demonstrate the practicality of understanding the reconciling power of divine Love.

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