By now most people are aware of the White House "summit" to defuse the tension between black Harvard professor, Henry Louise Gates and the white Boston policeman, Sergeant James Crowley. What transpired in their meeting isn't really known--at least by me--nor do I know all that the two said to each other on that unfortunate night a couple of weeks ago. But at minimum, there may well have been rude behaviour on the part of both men. And this episode has caused me to think about dealing with such circumstances, with which I've had some practice. I've been on the receiving end of rude comments and actions. And I've certainly have been on the sending end of same. Not to my credit, of course.
But the purpose of this blog is to say how thankful I am to have Christ Jesus' injunctions come to thought at times like these and defuse potentially explosive situations. Replacing a I'm-going-to-settle-this-right-now attitude with peacemaking isn't always easy. Initially satisfying to try to handle things oneself, but that's not what God requires. And for the earnest follower of Jesus' teachings, there is only way to go. No one can say the Christian warfare is not glorious.
One experience comes to mind. When we lived in New England, had to deal with lots of snow. We didn't mind shoveling. But after having cleaned up our long driveway, thinking we were through for the day or the night, our next-door neighbor would finish his driveway by flipping snow at the end of ours! Unnecessary work for us, and a thoughtless thing to do. At first, we tried marching next door and confronting the neighbor. This did not work. It only made things worse and finally got to a stalemate. Both sides were disgruntled. Not that either party was going to have the handcuffs slapped on, but something obviously had to be done since there was going to be plenty more snow to dispose of.
Being students of the Bible and of Christian Science, both my husband and I began doing serious praying about this. Can't say precisely what truths he worked with, but learning over many years my Christian duty to love one's neighbor, and practicing that whenever possible, gave me spiritual strength. Jesus' response to persecution was especially helpful--"Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not" (I Peter 2:23). This kept me from going next door or phoning the man once again.
And in the textbook of Christian Science was this helpful statement: "When we realize that there is one Mind, the divine law of loving our neighbor as ourselves is unfolded; where a belief in many ruling minds hinders man's normal drift towards the one Mind, one God, and leads human thought into opposite channels where selfishness reigns." (Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, page 205)
Praying from the standpoint that the one Mind was governing and loving all, and that this was the intelligence we all reflected, began turning things around. Pleasant words were exchanged when we met. The neighbor stopped piling snow on our property. And believe it or not, we actually found ourselves offering to help him shovel!
In the long--and the short--run, dealing with discord Jesus' way is better. And it works.
