Praying for the World January 19, 2026 Issue

Responding to public issues with prayer

I don’t have to be an expert on what human actions should be taken, because my prayer consists of listening to what the divine Mind, God, is communicating to me.

Colin Treworgy

I was in an aisle seat on a cross-country flight. A flight attendant stopped next to me and, speaking to a man sitting in the seat behind me, said, “Sir, we need your help with a medical emergency.” The man, whom the crew apparently knew to be a medical doctor, got up and went forward in the cabin with the attendant.

Although my help had not been requested, I found that I couldn’t simply go back to reading. I put aside my book and contemplated how it would be appropriate for me to pray about the situation. I hadn’t been asked to pray specifically for the person in need, nor did I know who needed help or what the problem was, but that didn’t mean that my prayer couldn’t be helpful.

Prayer in Christian Science isn’t about influencing another human mind or changing a material body. It is about refuting the false report of the physical senses, listening to spiritual sense—to the thoughts that divine Mind, God, is communicating—and being thoroughly persuaded in our own consciousness concerning what is true. In her book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy writes, “. . . be thoroughly persuaded in your own mind concerning the truth which you think or speak, and you will be the victor” (p. 412).

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