Martin Luther King, Jr., wrote of the revolutionary civil-rights movement he led as an action fully grounded in love, the pure love, or agape, of the New Testament. Dr. King affirmed: "From the beginning a basic philosophy guided the movement. This guiding principle has since been referred to variously as nonviolent resistance, noncooperation, and passive resistance. But in the first days of the protest none of these expressions was mentioned: the phrase most often heard was 'Christian love.'" A Testament of Hope, ed. James M. Washington (New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 1991), p. 16. Dr. King went on to define what was, for him, the essential power of that love which Christ Jesus called his followers to express toward every man and woman, and especially toward one's oppressors or enemies. "Agape," King said, "means understanding, redeeming good will for all men. It is an overflowing love which is purely spontaneous .... It is not set in motion by any quality or function of its object. It is the love of God operating in the human heart." Dr. King also maintained, "Agape is not a weak, passive love. It is love in action. Agape is love seeking to preserve and create community. ... to forgive, not seven times, but seventy times seven to restore community." Ibid., pp. 19,20.
In a world where so much "community" spirit appears broken or on the verge of breaking, such love is sorely needed. Whether it's in the inner cities or suburban neighborhoods; in war-torn Bosnia or the Middle East; in families, workplaces, or even churches—the "community" must discover spiritual love to find renewal and to thrive. It's clear, though, that this love isn't something people can simply manufacture. The pure love for our fellow men and women that is fully capable even to "bless them that curse you" has first to grow out of our love for God and our understanding, through grace, of God's unfailing, impartial love for each of us.
In her work Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, has observed: "'God is Love.' More than this we cannot ask, higher we cannot look, farther we cannot go." Science and Health, p. 6. Divine Love, the one infinite God, is nothing more nor less than All-in-all. Divine Love is all-power, and all-presence. Nothing has any genuine substance, reality, meaning, or activity that is not impelled by infinite Love. This is why man—our true selfhood—must reflect divine Love. That is the very nature of our identity and individuality as God's creation. We are in fact Love's spiritual expression, Love's eternal manifestation. And the power of the creator's pure love—the power to heal, to reform, to redeem, to vanquish hate—is realized in human experience only as we understand and accept its true source in God, its universality embracing all of God's children, and its demands to live the Father's love selflessly, humbly, and willingly. In other words, to feel it and to express it in all that we think, say, expect, plan, and do. As we begin to accomplish this, we actually do see the healing and transforming effects taking place in our own lives and in the world around us. And this helps us to comprehend why Mrs. Eddy could also write, " 'Love one another' (I John, iii. 23), is the most simple and profound counsel of the inspired writer." Ibid., p. 572.
