For peace and progress in the Middle East

Having grown up in Iran, Marta Greenwood understands well the importance of prayer in supporting a healing outcome for the situation in Libya and other areas in the Near and Middle East where governments are being challenged. In this chat, she stresses the First Commandment's insistence that there is one God and the importance of accepting God as the only power and only law in one's own life--and in prayer about the turmoil in Libya, Tunisia, Egypt, and other countries. Marta says that our prayers, no matter how little they may seem in the scheme of things, "they count 'big time.' Never underestimate the power of your prayers."

Among the questions asked by site visitors: How can we prayerfully address the situation of the tens of thousands of refugees fleeing the conflict? Please address the fear associated with possible threats to the oil supply. How do you, Marta, pray for the world? What is most important for us to be praying about regarding world leaders and peoples so there can be progress and liberty? Regarding violence toward Christians in the Middle East, how can we pray to protect them?

The transcribed text has been edited for clarity.

Rosalie Dunbar: Hello, everyone. Welcome to a Christian Science Sentinel live question and answer audio event. My name is Rosalie Dunbar, and I’ll be your host for the next hour. Our topic today is “For peace and progress in the Middle East,” and our guest is Marta Greenwood, a practitioner and teacher of Christian Science who lives in London, England, but who’ll be talking to us today from Melbourne, Australia. Marta is a member of the Christian Science Board of Lectureship and has been giving lectures in Australia and New Zealand. Marta grew up in Iran and so has a deep interest in the events in the Middle East. As a child, her one ambition was to free herself and other women from the oppression of family traditions that treated women as less than human. Practicing and teaching in London, Marta has worked with abused women, and with professionals in all walks of life. Marta, do you have some thoughts to get us started?

Marta Greenwood: Hello, Rosalie. It’s such a joy to be always here, and really wonderful. Yes, I do. You know, I’ve been so much praying with, alongside I know many, many people, for this situation for all these countries in the Middle East and Near East. What comes to me again and again is Moses. He was such a reluctant leader to lead his people that were oppressed—the Israelites stuck in Pharaoh’s regime. They were abused, and they couldn’t get out for so long, and how he got them out. God didn’t take them to the short cut to the Promised Land. He directed them through the long way round. It took the Children of Israelites forty years to get to the Promised Land. But that was because they didn’t give up so quickly and run back because things challenged them. And how the Ten Commandments was given while they were going to the Promised Land, to help them. It is relevant for today’s modern-day people, as well—for all of us. And that First Commandment: “I am the Lord thy God. . . . Thou shalt have no other gods before me” (Ex. 20:2, 3 ), is keeping all the time, while we’re doing our spirituality.com chat today, that focus on that First Commandment, will not only help the world and all these people looking for their freedom, but it will also give us comfort. Watching it on our screen—to remember God is in control all the time. God is leading His people.

Rosalie: Well, that’s a very helpful thought, Marta. Now we have quite a few questions here. This one is from Alice in Seattle, Washington. She says: “How do we keep from reacting to the brutality and cruelty inflicted on people in Libya or Iran, and being sucked into simply feeling badly about them?”

Marta: That is really a lovely question. When people ring me as their practitioner of Christian Science healing, sometimes the picture they give is so dire. And it’s really easy—that you could easily jump into their dream. And I know if I did that, I would lose the case. What happens is somebody’s thinking in a bog. You don’t jump in the bog to save them, because you both sink in together. But you stand on the dry land where you are in that safe place, and you throw them a line. And that’s exactly the fact, if people are thinking on those in the free countries, in democracies that are free, and they’re able to pray and think from that position of safety, to help them is to know for them who is in control. Is to know that the government of Truth—of God, Truth—is the real freedom that they’re really under, that divine law. That is guiding them all the time and bringing safety. It’s guiding all aspects, because they’re all children of God. So they all want to have that peaceful demonstration, that peaceful—I mean the revolution—well, not revolution yet, but what was happening in Tunisia was absolutely incredible. In the end, all parties worked together for it to work. And it can happen. It can happen for all five, all parties under God’s government—Truth—to see this real freedom. Because it’s that divine law that guides them right, all the way through, because they are all the children of one infinite God. And we keep that watch for them. We’ll help bring about that law, that order, that government of God, the Truth, always active in that place.

Rosalie: Well, tying in with that, there’s a Seaward in Long Beach, California sent this quotation in from Science and Health, and it is: “One infinite God, good, unifies men and nations; constitutes the brotherhood of man; ends wars; fulfils the Scripture, ‘Love thy neighbor as thyself;’ annihilates pagan and Christian idolatry,—whatever is wrong in social, civil, criminal, political, and religious codes; equalizes the sexes; annuls the curse on man, and leaves nothing that can sin, suffer, be punished or destroyed.” And that’s from Science and Health, page 340 . And that seems like a very unifying quotation, but also one that addresses some of the points you were just making.

Marta: I love that—that is beautiful. That is so good. I’m glad that’s coming right at the beginning—very good.

Rosalie: Sandy, who’s writing from Wainbridge in the United Kingdom, says: “How can we pray to dissolve the apparently completely opposed positions of the Israelis and Palestinians?”

Marta: Oh, yes. That is something that we must really never lose touch on, because so much is going everywhere else, and that is something that’s been striving for that peace for so long. It is that quote that just came in—it really is the answer to it. Every time we see fights, we lose touch that there is only one. And you know Mrs. Eddy, I love what she gave—she gave the name animal magnetism for all evil. That is such an apt way because sometimes situations or claims or things can go on for so long, that you can become magnetized to the distortion of things. And always it works through division. Always, always, it works through division. So that the answer for that is that same focus that there’s only one God both sides are serving. There’s only one God, one Truth that is ever operating. It is that Truth that communicates to both sides in the way that they understand—that one language to go forward, always, always in the way that neither side feels there’s been either oppressed or abused or in any way misunderstood. But there’s always a meeting point.

You know, Rosalie, one day I was driving my children to school, and I was watching—you know, during this month they were building a bridge, alongside the bridge where I was driving, because it was becoming weakened. They were building a stronger bridge on the River Thames, and I had to cross this four times a day to take my children to school and back. And often the traffic was really long queued. I was fascinated to watch how this bridge got build. On either side of the water, they built a strong foundation. Then what the bridge that got built on, one side, one person was waiting, and the other side was waiting to receive—one was waiting to pass a thin, thin wire, and on this thin wire they built the bridge. So, as we pray to know what is really governing, that one Mind and one Truth communicates to both sides, is the foundation that they can pass that thin wire to build the bridge.

Rosalie: That’s a nice thought. Anthony in Geneva says: “How do you overcome the temptation to believe that certain cultures or individuals are too uneducated or backward to gain spiritual understanding?”

Marta: Oh, my goodness. Let me tell you, that ties in. I was in Perth, next to—about a few days ago—next to a hotel with a lovely Persian carpet shop. It had the most amazing Persian carpets, and I went into it to admire it and talk to the Iranian man that owned it. His wife had a hair-dressing business next door. We talked, and she was saying, and the man was saying also, that how many Iranians were coming into Australia as refugees. You know that incident in Christmas Island which was the boat that broke up, and touched so many of our hearts. They said that most of the people that were coming here, they were not even slightly educated, but they were aspiring to that better life. And they said they were so impressed to see how these people—the children of these people are now doctors, dentists, lawyers, and they’re really assimilated into the bone and backbone of the Australian communities as really important contributions for the community. So, even if people are not educated, they have that inspiration, that inspiration, because the source of their intelligence is God, is always that Father-Mother, God, that gives them that divine intelligence that is far beyond any education can bridge it. I mean I could count myself as one of those. Although I was sent to school and I was supposed to have been educated, I never was seen as clever, and I was very dim. And I always thought I was so sick and stupid and everything I had to learn was such a struggle. But when I started to study Mary Baker Eddy’s book, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, I came to discover a God that was my Mind, and I reflected this divine intelligence. It gave me such a confidence to think out from Mind for myself, that I transcended all limitations and I didn’t have the education to get me beyond to learn. I just naturally opened up to learn and assimilate things, and be able to speak in ways that I didn’t feel I was uneducated or I didn’t understand the situations—political, economical, social—all of these things. It was such a strange of things for me, and we can see that today.

I love what Mary Baker Eddy puts it about in this week’s Christian Science Bible Lesson. You know, really, for those of you that are listening that are not familiar with Christian Science, I really encourage you to go and read this week’s Bible Lesson on spirituality.com. The title of it is called, “Man.” And what is so exciting about this Bible Lesson is that the whole of Christian Science Movement reads this Bible Lesson the whole of this week. And each one reads it to heal the world, really. So from every angle, the same truth is being prayed with, for the healing of the world. And the title being “Man” is so appropriate. And in it, there is a quote from Mary Baker Eddy’s Science and Health. It says: “Citizens of the world, accept the ‘glorious liberty of the children of God,’ and be free! This is your divine right” (p. 227 )—which comes right out from God. As the child of God, that we innately, naturally, normally are open to that divine intelligence, that is beyond humanly intellectual gathering or educational thing. It comes right out from that discernment. Iranians are proof going, what they have achieved.

Rosalie: Well, thank you for that, and we’ve got a question from Tootie—it’s kind of a long question, so you and I talked about shortening it. “It seems that zealous groups use these rising protests and the yearnings for these inherit rights to further their own causes in ways that are not always honest, and their purposes may be hidden. How can my friends and I pray about this? I want to feel the power of peace on earth as it is in heaven.”

Marta: That is such an important thing to pray about. It is so important that when these things come to our thought, while we’re praying for a situation, we never ignore it. It comes because it needs prayerful support. It needs protecting. It needs that love showered in that quarter. So we don’t ever, ever give our consent. It’s like watching a little child learning to walk. Although you don’t want to hamper the child walking to learn to exercise its abilities, but you’re standing around and watching that it doesn’t fall down to harm him- or herself. So that is what we have to watch, also, all the time. All the time taking the focus back to that First Commandment that, “I am the Lord thy God. . . . Thou shalt have no other gods before me,” and keeping that focus. I love the example of Christ Jesus. That is truly leadership that taught us. There is a chapter in John 17—it is one of my favorite chapters. And in this, Jesus is giving—it’s eleven tick lists to God about what he did. And it starts, the first one starts in John 17, verse 4: “I have glorified thee on the earth.” And he saw that was his mission. And you know what they used to do in antiquity in Jesus’ time when somebody—when a male child was born, the first male child, the musician would go and serenade outside the house. But he was born in a stable, so he missed out on that serenade. But then the angels—he got the heavenly serenade. And that exactly outlines the mission of Christ. And it’s starting again with glory to God. So when we keep that focus on that glory of God is always seen in all places, with all people, with all leaders, wherever they are, then we get from that place, we can expect to see “Glory to God in the highest,” comes next, peace on earth (see Luke 2:14 ). And from that “. . . on earth peace,” and then from that, “good will toward men.” So we can just keep that light shining in that place, and rejoice that God’s glory is ever-present with these people through that activity of good, through that activity of Christ within each consciousness—ever present.

Rosalie: And that sense of the oneness of God and of glorifying God only, means that we aren’t glorifying anybody who has an agenda behind the scenes, like an evil agenda, because we’re basically saying that all power belongs to God. So even if there is an agenda, there is no power to support that, because God is the one in control?

Marta: That’s excellent—I love that Rosalie! That is so fabulous—exactly. When we see that for them, no agenda can go forward, other than that one which God has, and it’s always good.

Rosalie: Great. Now Julie in Bellevue, Washington, is asking about the refugees. She says: “Please comment on how to prayerfully address the situation of the tens of thousands of refugees in Libya—especially the ones from other countries in Africa, and who are under threat of violence.”

Marta: Yes. I have been so praying with that as well, because it is really—it just seems so off base—not even their fight. When there was the revolution happening in Iran, at that time it was all—people used to say (my parents were stuck there as well) and people used to say, “These people have to go out and fight,” and whatever. And I used to say, “It’s OK,”—I was at that time in the UK, I had just been married for some time, and I used to say, “It is so easy for people to say that.” But the Western refugees always seem to get out, no problem. But it was all the others that got stuck, and they just couldn’t get out. I didn’t know about Christian Science then. And I was so pulled in the picture. But today, when I know about Christian Science, I stand God—it is, again, standing God on that safety net, and throwing the towline to them. It’s to not allow or give permission for evil to work in any guise, in any way, in any form—to just know that God is the only law, the only power, the only presence. Good is ever present with them. Good is always operating there. What you do when you turn on the light, the darkness goes. You don’t pick up the broom to beat the darkness out of the way. It’s natural. As we hold this watch, and know each life is precious—each life is loved, each one is the child of God. As we affirm this, and lift them all to that boundless, infinite Love, in that place they will find the way out, or that safety around them, all the time, all the time. Nobody is left out. Everyone is safe.

I love this Bible passage in John 3:16 . It says: “For God so loved the world . . . .” Now, in English we have one word for love and it’s just love. But in Greek, when you talk about—there are many definitions for love. And the most important one in the New Testament, in connection with that love is agape. Whenever he’s talking about Christ Jesus or God, is always talking about agape love. And agape love is unconditional love. It is boundless, infinite Love. It’s always giving. It’s not a taker. It’s impossible for it to take. It just pours—it’s that consciousness of infinite Love. And in this passage, when you look down to root meaning of the words in the Bible Lesson, always go down to find the root meaning from it. Then you find out the definition of it in Greek in the New Testament and Hebrew in the Old Testament. You find the deeper meaning of those passages, which opens up. And this is what it says: “For God so [agape] loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” And that is the presence of Life, of Love, through Christ—“God so loved the world.” It isn’t that “God so loved Americans or the British or the Australians or the Christians,” but this is the world, and all its people from every walk of life, from every nationality. They are loved of God, and the presence of Christ with each one is that presence of Truth guarding and guiding with that unconditional love of God. We can rejoice in that!

Rosalie: Well, and in response to your question, I think one of the most important things that someone ever said to me was once—and something I’ve prayed with an awful lot over the years—is that there are no godforsaken places. And by definition, because God is omnipresent, there are no godforsaken places. And that means that those refugees are not godforsaken. And they’re not in a godforsaken place. And that the people struggling for freedom are not godforsaken, and all the people trying to figure out what they would like to see happen, are not godforsaken—that each of them has the intelligence and power of divine Mind guiding them, protecting them, and encircling them in such a way that will lead them to the light.

Marta: Oh, I love that! Rosalie, that was so gorgeous! I loved what you said.

Rosalie: Now, meanwhile, back to the questions! Sharon would like to know: “How can we combat the thought that these people have been through too much to forgive, and how can we see that we are all one family?”

Marta: I love Mary Baker Eddy’s quote in her book Science and Health. She says, “Reflecting God’s government, man is self-governed” (p. 125 ). The adjustment—we don’t need to outline what is it that they need to outline for them. It is that resilience of man’s innate ability to be able to transcend the material situation, to be able to connect to that Truth communicating all the time to them. They reflect God’s government. They are able to self-govern themselves in that what needs the balance to be adjusted in order for that process to take place. I love again, going back to the Bible-Lesson this week—the Christian Science Bible Lesson. Incidentally, for those of you who are listening that are not familiar with Christian Science, this Christian Science Bible Lesson is read in its entirety as a Lesson-Sermon in every Christian Science church on Sunday as the sermon. And it’s really exciting because you’ve worked with it all week, and squeezed every juice out of it, but when you go and listen in the congregation in church, all these people that have done the same thing, and you’re sitting and listening to this Lesson collectively—it is worldwide—at that time perhaps lots of people are doing the same. Suddenly you see things and visions and insights and enlightening things in the Lesson which you hadn’t even seen that really brings even more healing for the world, and the congregation that goes there. And it’s often natural to see people leave a Christian Science church service healed because of that focus of prayer and concentrated presence of knowing the ever-presence of Love there, like you said, Rosalie. And I love what she says—Mary Baker Eddy—in this Bible Lesson again, “God has built a higher platform of human rights, and He has built it on diviner claims” (p. 226 ). So we can claim this for them, and know that man has the right to be self-governed, and is free to be able to think right out from God, and reason that right righteousness for themselves, for that safety and salvation.

Rosalie: Ginny from Bellevue, Washington says: “How can we support the President to make the right decisions regarding Libya’s dilemma? How about the other countries’ participation?” And I think no matter what country you’re in, you’re probably, if you’re listening to this chat, you’re praying about your own government, and the surrounding governments in what is going to be the right answer for these situations—not just in Libya, but for other areas that seem to be going through this changeover. Marta, what do you think about that?

Marta: I love that. In the papers in the UK some time ago—ages ago—I read that people were moaning about our underground system and how awful it was. There was somewhere I read that the people in New York City, they all decided to pray for their city and for the people that ran all their subways. Now, supposedly, it was working really well. And that it was saying, we are getting what we deserve because none of us ever do that. I love what Paul said in First Timothy, chapter two starts with—it says this way: “I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men.” Then it goes on to say this: “For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty, for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” So it is taking it—we have a responsibility to pray for our leaders—for the world’s leaders—we all need to do that. And this question brings it up so well, that we need to pray for them. Every day as we pray for our self-government, then we are putting that collectively—that our country is governed by that one Mind. Our leaders are governed by that one Mind. The world is governed by that one Mind—because what happens over there in Libya is going to affect me sitting here in Melbourne. It is one world and we’re all members of one family.

Rosalie: Right. Now speaking of leaders, we’ve got a couple of questions that relate to leadership so I thought maybe we could take them together. The first one is from Pearl in California, who says: “Please explain why the universal Christ is governing and guiding everyone, even those who appear to be a dictator and despot. Many people wonder: Where is God in all this? Why isn’t God doing something? But isn’t it the universal Christ that’s bringing God’s peace and security to light for everyone to feel and see?”

Marta: Yeah, that is a lovely, lovely thing. And that universal Christ taught us the steps for leadership. He showed us how it is to be a leader. In many ways, each one of us is a leader—in small ways we are leaders. A mother is a leader, a father is a leader, a teacher is a leader—each one of us plays that role. And if we play it right, that universal Christ will be more strongly felt in our world, in our communities, in our families. Then its ripples go to the world. And the standard—Christ Jesus set it when the disciples were saying, “Who’s the biggest of us all? Is it me, and is it me?” And he showed them by example. And he went and washed their feet, each one of their feet with such care, with such love, with such humility—so much care was put into it. He showed them what they needed to do. And this is what he said, “Ye call me Master and Lord: (and this is in John 13, verse 13-15) and ye say well; for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.” That’s the example. As we pick up that responsibility in our life, then it is that light that will put out for the rest of the world to pick up that example too, because we’re raising the Christ, we’re raising that universal Christ. Then it is seen everywhere else for that example to follow.

Rosalie: Then Janet, in California, says: “How can we pray to see that Gaddafi can hear what God is saying to him?”

Marta: Because Gaddafi cannot run away from God. He’s God’s child. I mean everyone is God’s child. It will happen. We just have to trust that no man can hurt themselves by hurting God’s children. They’re always receptive to good. The more we see that good, the more that good is released, the more we see that. I love the example that Paul wrote, and this was the letter that he wrote in prison. Now, this isn’t positive thinking. He is just about to be executed, and he knew that, but he wrote this in his very last thing he wrote. And he wrote this: “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things” (Phil. 4:8 ). As we uphold that man, in the image of God, is perfect right now, going back to that first chapter of Genesis that is says, “God made man in his own image.” It says, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them” (Gen. 1:27 ). As we uphold this perfect man, then the balance will get adjusted for good, through that presence of universal Christ, the universal good always operating everywhere. Like you said, Rosalie, there is no place God is not.

Rosalie: Well, and I think one other thing that I’ve often found comforting is the story of Paul’s own life, because in his time he was essentially a tyrant toward Christians because he was opposed to Christianity. And I can’t speak for the early Christians, but I can imagine that some of them may have thought how could this ever be turned around? And well, there he was on the road to Damascus, and he came face to face with the Christ. It just totally transformed his life, and he went on to become a very ardent supporter of Christianity and, as you said, gave his life for it. So that we can’t really outline what’s going on with Mr. Gaddafi or his followers or how it’s all going to come out. We just need to keep praying and trusting that God, the one Mind, is leading and guiding in ways that we may not understand from outside the scene, but which are at work on the scene.

Marta: I love your example of Paul. That is absolutely spot on. I love it, it’s so beautiful, absolutely, absolutely.

Rosalie: Now, Elizabeth from Denmark says: “How can women in the West best support women in the East?” And of course there are women being affected by this whole thing, because other loved ones—husbands and sons and friends—many of them are on the front line, and some women are on the front line too, but not all of them. And so it is not an easy time.

Marta: No, you never, never forget the cause of women, especially in the Middle East and the Eastern countries. Oh, so much, so much prayer has to go with them, too, because they are also standing for their rights, and they’re also standing behind their sons, and fathers, and husbands, as well. They are mothers, they are daughters—all of them are so important. I love whenever, as an Eastern woman, I had to get that balance right, because I had overdeveloped womanhood qualities. I was timid, I was shy, I was scared of my own shadow. I just didn’t take steps in any way. I didn’t think I was clever. And I had to learn that balance. When I studied Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy was such an example to me of true womanhood—that complete balance of fatherhood and motherhood qualities. What she went to achieve as a woman in nineteenth century USA was really an example to me that it is achievable for all of us, you know, Eastern women. And I learned—she gives seven names for God in her book. And they’re really lovely. I will read them. To the question “What is God?” she says: “God is incorporeal, divine, supreme, infinite Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, Love” (p. 465 ). Now, Principle was the one that I learned describes balance, because in her writing, again, she says, “Father-Mother is the name for Deity, which indicates His tender relationship to His spiritual creation” (p. 332 ) —and that Principle is that balance which is Father-Mother. We see that in every Eastern woman—and I used to think that this was related to East, but it is in the West. I was surprised to see that people that are seeing the free West, they just as much have got that mental barriers put around themselves where it’s not there. To know Father-Mother is the name for Deity, so that means in that Motherhood qualities as a woman, I also reflected God’s Fatherhood qualities. That was strength, power of reasoning, confidence, assurance, and being able to take bold steps on my own. And I see that for all the women, everywhere, especially where I saw weak women, I would see those Fatherhood qualities expressed right there. And then, you know what I had to do, I had a father who was so totalitarian and was so strict, I had to see those Motherhood qualities—again getting the balance in my father—those Motherhood qualities, and see that in his Fatherhood qualities that he had this really all these things you saw was so strong, he also expressed the Motherhood qualities that was gentleness, meekness, humility, intuition. And my goodness, I saw this prayer, I’m telling you in two seconds, it took me eighteen months to see it! But I saw my freedom, but moreso with my father. He was such a changed man. And we’ve got to see this balance is ever-operating—that Father-Motherhood qualities with each one, whether it’s in the West, East—everywhere. It’s all the time, that’s divine Principle, operating. It’s law, it’s balanced law, everywhere, omnipresence with each one.

Rosalie: Now, we have a comment from someone who says: “Praying for Gaddafi as a leader in the spiritual sense that you were talking about earlier, could quiet him and change his thought too.” And that seems like a nice comment.

Marta: Yes, lovely comment!

Rosalie: Now, John in Houston, Texas, says: “In talking about one world and one family, it seems impractical to apply this literally to our current world. How can we reconcile the universal, spiritual truth of ‘one family’ with our current world situation of many families and nations with opposing interests?”

Marta: All the time, all the time, we’ve got to keep that focus: What is the true government? It’s not getting bogged down in the problem where we see each other in such diversity, but knowing that the richness is in that diversity that we are. There is nothing to be afraid of, of people that are different to us. To know that we all come from that source of infinite All, and in this richness to embrace each and every one of us in multifarious ways of color, culture, traditions—it’s together it makes it such a rich place to live. I love London. I just adore living in London. I can’t tell you—it is a world city. You can stand in the middle of a London street and you see the whole world goes past you. All the world’s languages go past you. Every nationality seems to live in London, and culture. And it’s such a rich place to be in. It’s to see that good that is around us, and we give gratitude for that all the time. Our diversity is our oneness—that oneness and richness of God’s infinite ideas forever blessed, is to enjoy it and cherish it. What a blessing it is for us to be able to share this. The world is like a small village, a global village now. In one instant we can see what is going on everywhere. To know that we are part of that one whole, and to celebrate our wholeness together, and it’s a very exciting thing.

Rosalie: Cassie, in California, has a kind of a long comment but I think I’ll just read it: “Today in a TED online video, journalist Wadah Khanfar, the head of Al Jazeera, shared ‘a profoundly optimistic view of what’s happening in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya and beyond.’ He spoke of people now seeing and identifying with universal values. Christian Science teaches us universal love and qualities, such as divine wisdom, that inspire and empower humanity to exercise self-government. What other qualities or universal ideas that would be most important for us to acknowledge on behalf of the world’s peoples so that the democratic revolution led by tech-empowered young people sweeping the Arab world and enables them to permanently disarm oppression and establish good as the true, ruling power? Please share what is most important in our prayer for world leaders and peoples, so we confidently can prove what truly blesses one culture, truly blesses all, when the understanding of good is founded on universal values, including respect, safety, integrity, progress, life, and liberty.” So what is the most important thing for us to pray for?

Marta: Wow, that was really good. When I came to study Christian Science, I loved Christian Science. The way students of Christian Science think, it’s always think out from solutions—always from solutions. They say that a definition for a Christian Scientist is when people see the trees are bare, and in the winter, a student of Christian Science sees it already in fruit. And it’s really looking out from solution, rather than checking out from the problem, because the problem always engages us in that darkness. You can never see the way out. But when you look out from light—look out right from God, in and of Spirit, Holy Spirit, then you only see one Mind, one Mind. We hold on where the true government is. Where does it really exist? It always comes the right guidance, keeping that true government, always brings us—when Truth then governs, it compels the power within each individual to bring that enlightened understanding to take the right actions, to obey the harmonious laws of God—and nothing conflicts with that. It comes right out from that place, right out from that wisdom. So important that we all the time keep that focus. I love it—going back to that First Commandment, another thing that says in the Bible—incidentally I’m using the King James’ Bible because it’s so nearest the root translation of Hebrew in the Old Testament and Greek in the New Testament that it brings the biggest and most full version of the meaning of it. And I’m going to read it from King James’s Bible. It says—this is from Isaiah, chapter 45, verse 22—and this is where it says you’ve got to give your focus: “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.” That means the buck stops with Me. It’s what I see is what becomes the reality for the world to experience. It’s what I watch, and what I uphold, and that light I keep turning on, and keeping it on will become the Truth that will save the world.

You know: “For I am God, I am the God of Love and there is no hatred. I am the God that is Mind, so there is no other Mind. There’s no conflict, there is no pull, there is no push. I am the God of good, so there is no evil. There cannot be evil in good. I am God, Spirit, so material laws have no place or stay in this place.” And Jesus proved that through his prayers that he did all the time. And if you look at the Gospel, it says he prayed all the time—all the time he prayed. And when he prayed, what things happened—big things happened. The Bible tells us when he prayed late into the night one night, and it goes like this, Matthew tells us: “And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into the mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone” (14:23 ). What did he do as a result of that prayer? His disciples had gone on ahead. And it was a stormy, choppy sea, being tossed up and down, and they were scared they were going to sink any minute. And this is what the Bible says: “And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea” (verse 25 ). He broke the laws of gravity. He broke the material laws of limitation to walk on the sea. So our prayers, as we see that oneness, staying with that First Commandment, keeping that focus, “I am the Lord thy God,” and “I am the Lord, and there is none else” (Isa. 45:5 ), that one God all the time, will open doors for us to see. I think this stirring is nothing to be afraid of. These stirrings are all proof of man being self-governed, and claiming the self-government for that freedom. And this is an exciting thing to see. Although it seems a struggle to find their liberty, that they’re standing firm for what is their rights, and we can support them by knowing that God is ever present with them. Right back to what you said, Rosalie, I loved what you said, that that presence of good is with them.

Rosalie: Well, thank you, and thank you for that explanation which was very insightful. We have a couple of different kinds of questions here. This one relates to Christians: “Some groups seem to be using the current chaos in Egypt and other Middle-Eastern countries as a cover for further violence against Christians there.” And some of you may not know this, but Christians have been targeted in some of the countries, and have been having a very difficult time. So this individual is asking: “How can we pray specifically to protect the Christians there?” and again, it’s a general question, not just in Libya, and so forth.

Marta: That is such a relevant thing that was brought up. I’m really grateful you sent that in. It’s really important. I was hoping I could bring this up somewhere in our chat today. The Christians of the Middle East are a very important component in that region—really important. The end of dictatorship is the beginning of democracy, but it must bring that freedom of choice for all concerned, and that includes the Christians too. That they can include all religious choices—the Christians, the Jewish people, the Zoroastrians, the Baha’is—all these people that they have a right to be able to practice their religion because it is, again, that richness. We all—if you look at the bicycle spoke—at the rim they’re all tied together, but each spoke is separate, but at the hub of the center, they’re tied in together. And the hub of our center, we’re all tied in to one infinite God, that is good, no matter what ways or walks of spiritual traditions we come, we’ve all got that one universal Truth. And I believe as a Christian, it is Christ that binds us all together. And it cannot be denied that the prayers that are done as a Christian from this standpoint of good, that unifies, and is an important part of any democracy is to have every religion respected. And Christians have got a very important role to play with their prayers too—that they will be safe, and they will be respected, and they will be given their choices and their right to also in a democracy to exercise their freedom.

Rosalie: Thank you. Hazel in Boston says: “Marta, how do you personally pray for the world? I know there is not a pat process, but how do you approach it daily?”

Marta: Oh, I love that question. I could go on for that for hours! But I won’t take hours, we’ve only got minutes! Every morning after I do my own spiritual, devotional prayers, and do my Bible-Lesson from the Bible and its companion, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, I come downstairs to breakfast and the first thing—my husband reads his bits of the paper and I read the main paper, he gives me the main paper, he reads the sports and business news first—and my work for the world begins. I look at the headlines, and I rewrite them. I rewrite them right out from God. I rewrite them in Truth. I rewrite them from that Christian perspective of that universal Christ, that is ever present. For instance, you used to read a lot, “Terrorism is going to hit London.” I used to rewrite that, saying, “No, only Love is ever present in London. And that is all that is seen and expected.” Everything that I read, that is so important part of my daily practice, is that prayer for the world. I don’t think any one of us can ignore it. It’s to rewrite those headlines with the Truth from that one government of God—to see it and put it in its right perspective. And unless we handle this, it will handle us. If I think I keep watching about oppression in some way in the world, and I don’t handle that, at that point to put it in the right place, for sure I’m going to see that oppression in my daily experience somewhere along the line, because I took that in. I can’t afford to take that in. I have to rewrite and re-see it, right out from God, so that I can see things in its right perspective. And that’s the most exciting way to pray for the world. Try it and see what happens. It got me to be listed as a Christian Science healer and practitioner. You become a practitioner for the world—a healer for the world. But you reap the blessing yourself.

Rosalie: All right, well thank you very much. Now we’re on to Bill in Orange, California, who says: “I liked when you guys were talking about praying for our cities. Years ago this person was telling me that in ancient times cities had walls surrounding them. The gates were opened at sunrise and closed at sundown. If you were late, too bad. You had to sleep outside with the possibility of robbers, enemies, and wild animals. So cities were a place of protection. Now our cities are hurting and we do need to pray for them all around the world, and certainly in the areas that have been under attack recently.”

Marta: I love that. How beautiful. And the walls—you know that is an exciting exercise as well, which I try to do often. It’s everything in my house, one day, I started to translate it—reinterpret it—into the spiritual language. The walls I would see are protection, so the thoughts that are all the time in our city or in our homes, are the thoughts that are guiding it. It’s always right out from that divine Mind. So only the thoughts that God thinks is expressed in our cities, in our homes, in our world, in our workplaces, in everywhere that we go, we know they let in the light. So always the windows, the light of Truth, shines into our cities, into our world, into our homes, into our workplaces, into our families. Every aspect, if you translate it into that spiritual language, it is so exciting to see what comes right out from that place. We can only experience that which is good and nothing else. “For God so loved (agape) the world” that we are in this place, in a city that is always safe, and always good.

Rosalie: John in Texas says: “An intelligence bulletin just came out that Iran is actively seeking to take advantage of the social chaos to effect global oil production and supply, putting the world into a major shock, as the report goes. Please help address the fear associated with this threat.”

Marta: We’re just going to “hold crime in check” (see Science and Health, pp. 96-97 ). We’re going to say: No. You know, every time we just say no to human will, and that is so much part of that democracy, is that freedom and justice to all the time know the winds of freedom that is blowing in the Middle East, is always God-governed. It’s always, always God’s will is done for the world and nothing else. Let me tell you the good that there is about Iran. The 21st of March is the Persian New Year. The first day of spring, the equinox. And the present New Year they celebrate the reawakening and the new thing that is coming all the time, in totally God’s will, in harmony with the spring, with nature. And what they do in Iran—he custom is—that they spring clean their houses, they paint and decorate the houses, and on the first day of the New Year they wear new clothes, new everything. It is symbolic of getting rid of the bad and bringing the good. And let’s just know that good is ever present in Iran, as it is everywhere else, because this is the law of God that is ever present, everywhere. We can’t live outside of this law. I love what Philippians, chapter 2, verse 13 says: “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.” We can’t work or live outside of this law—of this will of this Being. When we uphold that rule, is keeping crime in check. And Mary Baker Eddy put it in her book this way: “In Spirit there is no matter, even as in Truth there is no error, and in good no evil” (p. 278 ). So when we hold on that good, then evil has no power to operate as place, as person, people—nothing. It is nothing. It just drops to nothing.

Rosalie: All right. We’re just going to take a short trip back to Israel for this last question. And that’s from Nancy in Kent, Washington: “With all the current focus on Egypt and surrounding countries, while understandable, it seems the Israeli/Palestinian issues are being pushed out of thought for many.” And, of course, with Egypt in a new status—I’m adding this—there’s also some issues about what’s going to happen in terms of Israel and Egyptian relations. “Please share some insights on how best to pray for an area where human justice seems to be more and more uneven.” And that’ll be our last question.

Marta: When there is—I love that the robe that Jesus wore at the Crucifixion day, took down his robe—the quality about this robe was so important. It was written, it was his coat, the Gospel tells us, and it was woven on a single weave. And John tells us, now his robe he wore it, was seamless from top throughout. And that’s that garment, that one seamless garment of Christ. It’s symbolic of how the risen Christ is the whole Christ that everyone is reaching out for that seamless garment, undivided garment. Is to stay—keep that focus—on that oneness, oneness all the time, in that seamless garment, the whole Christ is ever operating with each consciousness, with each nation, with each part of the world—all the time for good. And that in this place there can only be one solution, one direction, one Truth operating. There cannot be two because there’s only one God that each side is worshiping. And from that infinite One, there’s only always one answer, one idea, and that is always good, and it operates right there. And the name for God is good, so it operates everywhere, and we can happily trust that which is working right now, as well. And it’s operating in that unity of oneness. Back to that thing that you read, somebody sent you, Rosalie, “One infinite, God, good . . . ” I love that.

Rosalie: Now, I’m going to be a bad girl, and Hazel has sent in a follow-up question, and this really, truly is the last one folks. She says: “As a follow-up to my question of how to pray for the world, I know someone who chooses not to read the papers or listen to the news so as not to take in bad images of what is happening. Then they won’t have to experience negativity in their daily experience. How do you respond to that?”

Marta: We are “enlisted,” Mary Baker Eddy said, “to lessen evil” (see p. 450 ), so we are enlisted to be healers. How can we pass that opportunity of seeing Christ active in that place? We cannot ignore it. We cannot ignore anything. It’s like saying, “I’m OK, Jack, but the rest of you, I don’t want to know about you.” No way! We’ve got to be in this healing business. Jesus wasn’t afraid to take things on, and confront it and handle it. And how many times God told, when Moses didn’t want to do it, and he kept running away and he said no. He brought him back and He made him handle things. So that he knew his faith got stronger, and he was able then to go out and free the Children of Israelites. How can we refuse this opportunity, this calling, to stand watch, and take that watch? Just rewrite the headlines with the Truth. What better, exciting work can we be in? That’s healing business.

Rosalie: Well, and you know I’m just thinking of what Jesus said about, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15 ). If you’re saying, “Hey, don’t bother me,” is that really obeying Jesus?

Marta: Rosalie, that is beautiful! And what he said when he said, “Go tell them the kingdom of God is at hand, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matt. 10:7 ), means it’s right here and now. So it’s part of that preaching. I love it, Rosalie!

Rosalie: And I think one other aspect of this is, how many times—well, maybe this has never happened to the person we’re asking about—but where someone has said a kind word to you, or something that lifted your heart, that made you feel better in the course of your day. And, in a way, when we pray for the world, we’re saying that kind word to the world.

Marta: Absolutely! That needs it so much, needs each one of our little prayers. We think we’re so little and insignificant, but if everyone shone that torch together we will make a big collective light.

Rosalie: Yes. And one last little comment, and that is, there is a wonderful hymn in the Christian Science Hymnal, and I hope I’m remembering the first line correctly: “Trust all to God, the Father.” And in that hymn there is a line, “Thy helper is omnipotence” (No. 361 ). And I think one of the things that this situation in the Middle East seems so enormous and so complex, and yet, each of our prayers that is affirming, just as Marta has been saying throughout, that there is one God, there’s one Mind, there’s one law, and all those other wonderful things Marta said, that those prayers are empowered by omnipotence. And though we may feel like we’re kind of on the sidelines, in reality, every prayer we offer is right in there with whatever is working for good—whatever is working for good is helped by omnipotence, and our prayers are part of that working for good. So even if they seem small, they have great power, and we can trust them. We must trust them.

Marta: Lovely, lovely. I love that. In I Thessalonians, chapter 5, verse 17, 18, it says: “Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” That’s a demand we can’t afford to avoid as a Christian. We’ve been given a duty. We’ve been given a mandate, and it’s a joy to do it.

Rosalie: Well, Marta, you’ve been just great to be with us, and I just wondered if you had some final comments before we close?

Marta: I was thinking of what you were saying, how individual prayer is so important. And, Rosalie, I loved doing this chat with you, you’ve reflected joy. But yes, I do. I just say, please don’t ever underestimate all our little prayers, no matter how little, it’s big in the scheme of things in God’s universe. It counts big time, because every time we’re upholding that good, good will prevail. All the time, just like Paul said in his thing—“whatsoever things are good, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure . . . ,” if we think on these things all the time, keeping that focus on the good that is ever present, as the only law ever operating, because our God is omnipotent, and our God is good, taking it back to that First Commandment—“I am the Lord thy God . . . Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” What a lovely place to be.

Rosalie: Well, thank you so much, Marta. For those of you who are listening, today’s topic was, “For peace and progress in the Middle East,” and our guest was Marta Greenwood, a practitioner and teacher of Christian Science who lives in London, England in the United Kingdom.