The religion of Love

The national papers here in Great Britain have been full of accounts of recent gun crime with teenagers. And big debate is going on about the increase of gun and gang warfare with youth in the UK. Another thing that has caused a lot of comment is what is known as “hoodies.” These are youth wearing sweatshirts with hoods on them, but not for their original purpose of keeping warm. The hood hides their faces so that security cameras are not able to catch their image.

If you have a vivid imagination, these news headlines can really play havoc with your peace of mind, especially if you happen to be the only woman traveling late at night on empty trains and along London’s dark streets and alleys, as I often am in my job.

One night not long ago I was going to a meeting with a church to plan for a talk I was giving under their sponsorship. This church is down a residential road where previously they have had problems with aggressive youth, vandalism and drug dealers.

I know for a fact that over the past year this church has been actively embracing the youth in their community in their thought and prayers. They have also made their end of the street, where the church building is located next to dark alleyways, safer for the neighborhood by adding security lights.

As I was walking down this long road that night, I could hear a group of “hoodies” have a row, with some girls screaming and trying to break up the fight. I was miles away mentally, praying for the community where I was going to speak.

Hearing the screams and fighting set off the alarm bells in my head, and I broke off my prayers. I admit honestly that I was scared. And I could not retrieve the peace of mind I’d had just the moment before. I crossed the road to the other side, where lots of cars were parked, and hoped to quietly escape being seen by walking past on the other side.

But the fight seemed to follow me down the road. Then a car turned up. Two women, who looked anything but strong, stepped out of it. One pulled her wheelchair out of the car right in the middle of the fighting youth and sat in it looking completely serene and cozy among them!

The fighting stopped almost immediately, they just milled around her harmlessly. She was totally at peace and at home with them—not at all bothered about their scary looks. I was filled with awe and admiration. I wished I had been able to have stood my place with them as fearlessly when they had come menacingly toward me in the shadows of the church.

Later, at the meeting, the same two women told me how they work with the youth, how much they love them. They are never bothered by them, but win their respect. The church members showed me their newspaper report and how they had been praying for their community. Here was an example of a whole community of healers living their prayers. I came away so thoughtful.

On the train back to London, I had the whole compartment to myself. As I prayed and thought about what the church members had told me, about how much they loved each one of these young people, in walked two young men, completely drunk and noisy. They sat at the end of the carriage, and I was so filled with the evening’s insight I was not frightened of them at first. But then they started to bother a girl who had also come into the carriage. She changed to another carriage, and I automatically put my laptop and mobile phone away.

One of the young men got off at the next stop, and the other one began to make his way toward me with what seemed like a menacing smile. I started to imagine all sorts of scenarios. Then suddenly I heard again in my mind the voices of the two women saying, “Oh we just love them, we want to hug them, and tell them ‘We love you.’”

Well, the picture I was seeing there was anything but huggable. Suddenly a million thoughts and prayers went through my mind while the boy was making his way toward me. Like a movie played in slow motion, everything seemed to stop.

The Bible Lesson for the week (found in the Christian Science Quarterly) happened to be on the subject, “Mind,” one of the synonyms for God. In it, I had studied this passage from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy: “All is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation, for God is All-in-all.”

At that moment I reached out to divine Love and realized all is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation. This man walking toward me was infinite Mind’s manifestation of all that is good and whole and pure. He and I shared this one Mind, God, and we shared this holy moment with our Father-Mother Love.

I perceived that from a spiritual standpoint the only movement right then, was taking place in infinite Mind—that we were moving in total harmony with each other. I could not harm him by thinking he was outside of this Mind and had a separate mind of his own. Nor could I see him moving outside of God, in another creation. We shared the same movement of thought and being.

I was grateful he was there and he was at that very moment a blessing to me, because we both existed in this one infinite Mind, and we both were the infinite manifestation of love, harmony, and peace in this Mind.

Suddenly he stopped in his tracks. He gave me a pleasant smile. The menacing look had left his face. I smiled right back at him. He picked up a newspaper from a seat and started to read it.

When I got home, I opened an e-mail a member of the church had sent me. In our meeting that night they were sharing what lovely results they had had as result of praying for their community that year. This is what their local paper had reported:

“Crime Is Falling

“Violent crime and murder rates are down in Waltham Forest compared to last year, according to the latest Met figures.

“The figures show there were 6,218 violent crimes in the borough in the 12 months until last December—a decrease of 10.5 per cent compared to the same period in 2005.

“Murder is down 42.9 per cent, and there have also been decreases in robbery, burglary and gun crime” (Waltham Forest Guardian, February 8, 2007).

I saw proof of the church’s prayers. Their prayers had protected me from harming myself in that train that night by reminding me to see the perfect man made in God’s image. Their prayers had set me a standard to aspire to, a whole new view of this religion of Love.

I had gone to share insights about the talk I would be giving for their church. Instead, they were my teachers, and I came away having learned what it takes to be community workers practicing the religion of Love.

Safety in Love:

Science and Health
468:10-11

King James Bible
Rom. 13:8