Members arrived at the LGBT Center for our meeting to find the building under bomb threat. As the police searched, we were given the option to cancel, but remembering Mary Baker Eddy's many lectures delivered under similar threats, we went forward with the meeting.

The readings were strongly supportive. Indeed, we found ourselves wishing world leaders were reading and studying the same texts. Wouldn't they too see how simple and achievable peace and well-being are?

"Maybe they would — maybe they wouldn't," was the reply of one member. He felt the way we were apprehending the quotations was based on the standpoint of a Christian Scientist. Others might see them from a mortal dualistic standpoint, which has its gradations of good and evil.

The Bible and the Koran for instance both have remarkable visions of brotherhood and harmony, and they both have what can be interpreted as exhortations to narrowness and war. One member heard a conservative Christian minister recommend war on Iraq based on Jesus' statement, "I came not to send peace, but a sword." (Matthew 10:34)

While abhorring the prospect of war, most members could see the logic of taking care of problems early and with appropriate force. The dilly-dallying that led to World War II and the overwhelming allied forces in Gulf War I were examples for us to ponder.

Experience may not be a helpful guide. Members were concerned that any warlike moves on our part could set off releases of massively destructive weapons and terrorist incidents, even here at home. However, just as mutually assured destruction (MAD) held the world back from the brink from the 50's to the 90's, perhaps the horrific possibilities of today will restrain everyone. We had a doubter who argued that you can't discount Thanatos or the death wish embedded deep within mortal mind. It would have us go up in a grand conflagration, a blaze of glory. Now isn't that just silly? Well, have a look at popular culture, for instance through its movie imagery, exulting in fiery terminal violence.

We finally got down to the point that what the world most needs is not our speculations and cynicism but a prayerful willingness to reflect God's will in the circumstances. Our prayers cannot be ego-bloated petitions for "our side" but must be deep, utter surrender (the meaning of Islam by the way) — feeling out for the One Mind and letting it hold the reins of power. We need to reach the "range of fetterless Mind" where "one on God's side is a majority." This involves the seemingly paradoxical positions of being nothing and yet being all. "That individual is the best healer who asserts himself the least, and thus becomes a transparency for the divine Mind, who is the only physician; the divine Mind is the scientific healer." (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 59:26)

The great cultural collisions of today brought on by bulging populations and enhanced communications technologies — both symbols of infinity on the human belief level — will lead on to higher standpoints of experience and understanding if we do not let fear of the new and unusual put us into destructive panic. Christian Scientists can assist in this movement by constant prayerful acknowledgment of the perfection at hand. We can help bring the world safely home to the reality that everyone is the allness of the One reflected. Each of us is our own universe, coexistent and coextensive with that of all others. And we're all held in the gospel of Love.

One member arrived near the end of the meeting. He was delayed by an emergency at home when a faulty buzzer system filled his apartment building with smoke. He called the super on his emergency line and sat back to study John, chapter 17, as his remote contribution to the meeting. After the super arrived on the scene and disconnected the system he felt free to leave.

Another member talked of his application of the the phrase "loss is gain" to his shrinking stock portfolio. (The phrase is from a poem by Mrs. Eddy, included as Hymn 207, verse 3, in the Christian Science Hymnal). He saw that he needed to lose a mortal/material/dualistic sense of investments and gain the correct spiritual sense of them.

For next week a member said he'd like to look at the seven synonyms for God from Science and Health (see page 465, line 10) and the so-called seven deadly sins. We decided to take them up in a slightly contrived fashion, one on one — juxtaposing Mind and Pride to start with.