In true brotherhood, Spirit unites us

On the United Nations website, there is this encouraging statement about cultivating brotherhood in our international community: “In 1999, The General-Assembly adopted, by resolution 53/243, the Declaration and Programme of Action on a Culture of Peace, which serves as the universal mandate for the international community, particularly the United Nations system, to promote a culture of peace and non-violence that benefits all of humanity, including future generations.”

Promoting a culture of peace and brotherhood that benefits all of present and future humanity will certainly do much to unite the world. It’s encouraging to see how, in addition to international efforts, this happens individually, thought by thought, prayer by prayer, encounter by encounter.

Once, when traveling by train in Europe, I remember talking with a man who, as a teenager, had been part of the German army, serving in the 12th SS Panzer Division “Hitlerjugend,” or “Hitler Youth.” He told me how his tank was quickly disabled, and he had become a prisoner of war.

I told him of how my German grandfather had been imprisoned by the Nazis and how my American father had served as a teenager in the United States Navy.

All during that week, I’d been traveling on trains through Europe alone, praying and reading through my copy of “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures” – Mary Baker Eddy’s book on spiritual healing. On page 506, she says, “Through divine Science, Spirit, God, unites understanding to eternal harmony. The calm and exalted thought or spiritual apprehension is at peace.”

It’s heartfelt prayer that helps unite our understanding to the spiritual harmony that God is continuously providing. This is the kind of humble, thoughtful prayer that drops preconceptions, stereotypes, and grudges about people and countries, while making room for what Spirit would have us behold instead. Divine Spirit only knows and reveals the brotherhood of all of us, because we each are truly made to exist together gloriously as God’s spiritual image.

Such an exalted, prayerful apprehension draws upon God’s great power and inevitably brings out such goodness and brotherhood in practical ways.

Throughout this interaction with the former Hitlerjugend member, I mentally cherished our brotherhood in God, and soon was bursting with appreciation for how the sense of God’s powerful, loving presence was uniting us. I was so grateful and could tell that my new friend was, too. Christian Science teaches that, more than just personal good wishes, prayer that is inspired by God brings His power to bear on any situation or scene.

My friend told me that he’d never talked with an American about his war experiences and explained, emotionally, how very happy he was that we’d met. To the world, our meeting may seem like a little thing, but to both of us, it was a refreshing and cleansing moment of powerful, solid brotherhood that clearly came about as a result of the loving influence of God.

Jesus certainly taught the world some potent lessons about the importance of reconciliation, peace, love, and true brotherhood. He gave his followers this blessing: “My peace I give unto you” (John 14:27). The brotherly love and peace he was always feeling weren’t just human emotions; these qualities overflowed in Jesus because they are unceasing qualities of God.

The good news is that God’s qualities weren’t only for Jesus; they are here for us too, to express openly and actively. As we do so, we discover that Jesus’ many examples of brotherly love still apply well in our world today. In a time when staunch and blinding hatred and mistrust seem to be more standard behaviors, expressing God’s encompassing love is always a welcome breath of sweet and peaceful fresh air.

Here in our era and beyond, embracing the inclusive, peaceful spirit that Jesus showed us continues to melt animosity, effectively engendering, step by step, a more solid and lasting community of international brotherhood.