An obstacle we face in loving one another is that we seem so different from each other. Different races, nationalities, religions, customs, languages, talents, interests. Yet the Bible reassuringly asks, "Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us?" ^{Mal. 2:10;}

We do all have one Father, as Christ Jesus continually proved. God is Father-Mother. Man is God's spiritual idea, or creation. Our relationship to each other is planted squarely on the foundation of our relationship to God.

Differences we attribute to geography, language, culture, are subordinated to the fact that, as Mrs. Eddy says in the Christian Science textbook, "God creates and governs the universe, including man." ^{Science and Health, p. 295;} Differences between people become less an obstacle as we discern the true nature of man and his relation to God. We observe differences, but we see them more as evidence of the unthreatening variety of God's creation. The Apostle Paul observed, "There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit." ^{I Cor. 12:4;}

The diversity we see in the human picture hints at the infinite range and diversity of God's being. God's ideas are individual, distinct, eternal. There is no fear nor threat in God's creation. Our recognition of this fact helps dissolve the belief that others must become more like us before our fear or dislike of them disappears; and it helps us drop the burden of thinking that we must become like someone else in order to be accepted.

If confronted by someone we fear or dislike, someone who seems different, we can take the initiative and realize we are both known by God. God knows us as individual expressions, useful reflections, of His being. We must be willing to subordinate and discard pride of position, race, economic status. We can let our love for God and His love for us push aside the curtain of prejudice. We can trust divine Love to care for and direct us and to care for and direct others just as surely and graciously. The Bible says, "There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear." ^{I John 4:18.}

My own capacity for overcoming fear of difference and for loving my neighbor was tested again and again during the several years I served in community relations work in a large city. A turning point came a few months after I began my new work.

On my way back from a community meeting, I was walking the few blocks to my office through a ghettolike neighborhood. In the next block I saw a group of men standing and lounging on the sidewalk. They were dressed in turbans and robes and were holding long carved staffs. The men were black, and I had never felt so white.

My first thought was that it might be wise to cross the street and walk on the other side. Then I asked myself how I expected to "relate to the community" if I crossed the street every time I felt afraid. So I continued on and prayed. This prayer was a prompt recognition of God's fatherhood of all, an acknowledgment that He governs His entire family, and that brotherhood under God is not a restricted concept divided up along racial, ethnic, or religious lines but that it embraces all. I examined my motives for being on that street. I knew I wasn't there as a novice "do-gooder." Novice, maybe, but there was shelter and guidance in the honest Christian purpose for my being there.

As I came abreast of the group and started to pass through, the largest man turned, looked, and reached out his hand toward me. "John," he said, "how great to see you. I want you to meet all my friends."

What I would have missed had I yielded to superficial prudence and crossed the street! The power of spiritual love prompted a celebration of brotherhood within me that day. I had met this man once before when he had come to my office to talk over a community project. Some of my ignorance and fear of difference went away after that experience. I was touched by this simple lesson in which God taught me to love more.