Sunday November 7th, 2021 Roundtable
Shake Thyself From the Dust
This week’s Lesson Sermon Subject: Adam and Fallen Man
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Morning Prayers
No shadow of mortal mind can touch me; there is nothing to fear. God works in me to will and to do, and I shall perform my work. No cloud can touch me or my patients.All that is within me is the spirit of victory. … We must not fear for the struggles that come, for they must be met. All that is within me is the spirit of victory. Awake, spirit of Truth; cast off these shackles of mortal fear and distress. Come forth and be manifest in me. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. …When we turn for power from matter to Spirit, we can move mountains, surmount obstacles, and achieve every success and overcome fear and sin. The claiming of our rightful heritage as God’s children is the true mental culture and spiritual education.
— from Divinity Course and General Collectanea, (the “Blue Book”),
by Mary Baker Eddy, page 230-231
Discussion points
389 — WATCH in stressing mental causation, lest you forget that the belief in physical effect is as unreal as is its cause. The whole phenomenon of human cause and effect is a dream. Furthermore in an article called Dreams, Mrs. Eddy once wrote, “Admitting that mortal life is a dream is admitting that it is something, when the fact remains that it is nothing, since there is no mortal life.” Thus when you begin to see that the seeming effects of mortal mind are as mental as is mortal mind, you must not stop until you see that mortal mind is nothing, since God is All.
— from 500 Watching Points by Gilbert Carpenter
GOLDEN TEXT: Ephesians 5 : 14
“Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.”
If we live a life of prayer,
God is present everywhere.
Hymn 341 —from The Christian Science Hymnal, 1932 edition
Never absent from your post, never off guard, never ill-humored, never unready to work for God, — is obedience; being “faithful over a few things.”
— from Miscellaneous Writings by Mary Baker Eddy, page 116
Once, when a student was about to travel, Mrs. Eddy wrote, “Remember, that unless you travel mentally, that if you don’t traverse new lands spiritually, if you don’t cross metaphysical waters, that is, and reach shores hitherto unvisited in Soul, you have wasted your time, money and effort, and you will get nothing out of it. Don’t do less Science but more. May God enfold you in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake, where no evil, no accident, no allurements, no blame lies, claiming some world more dazzlingly beautiful than the radiance of divine Love, for straight is the gate and narrow the way thereto.”
— from Watch 214 in, 500 Watching Points by Gilbert Carpenter
She asked the practitioner if he should stop treatment. He replied, “Give me one more day in which to know you never had it!”
— from Watch 246 in, 500 Watching Points by Gilbert Carpenter
Article — “Body” Attributed to Mary Baker G. Eddy, January 19th, 1886
Article — “One Cause And Effect” from Miscellaneous Writings by Mary Baker Eddy, page 21
A few years ago I used to drive about 40 minutes to work. At the time, one of my enslaving fears was being in a car on the road, whether I was driving or someone else was. Many negative thoughts would come which made me very fearful. Large cargo trucks, that would come so close sometimes and pass by so fast, had me on edge most of the time.
One rainy day there were many huge trucks along the way, and they were driving very fast and passing me on both sides. I decided to use what I knew in Christian Science. It was a bit snowy and the road scene was tricky, so I prayed for all the drivers, for the planes, and anything moving that day. I kept clear in my thinking that God is at the wheel of my car, and everyone else’s car. I stopped focusing on the messy road and repeated to myself that God is keeping everyone safe in their right lane. I kept working this way throughout my drive, and the result was the most harmonious 40-minute drive ever. A beautiful sense of peace came over me and has left me free from that awful sense of doom when driving. Learning to discipline my thinking with the spiritual fact of God’s omnipresence, I learned to always pray before I got into a car. This practice of praying before going any where has helped me overcome this false sense; but even more effective has been the surrendering to God’s care.
A couple of simple prayers are now part of my mental preparation before going anywhere. I pray that, “The Christ goes before me and the way is prepared.” I also trustingly declare that, “God makes a way,” when I have to make a turn while in traffic, and have found that the way opens for a harmonious turn each time. I have a different feeling when I drive now. I think correctly! I think of God’s Omnipotence, Omnipresence, Omniscience and Omni-action and surrender to His unfailing care. This has enabled me to appreciate the wonderful sceneries along the way and keep my focus on holding others in God’s love. Truly, when we love God and love to live His Truth, nothing can take away our joy. What a powerful Truth this is from Psalm 34:4, that: “I sought the Lord and He delivered me from all my fears.”
— “Surrender to God’s Care” by Florence Roberts
Forum posts — Adam and Fallen Man — November 7th, 2021
“The disbelief of the existence of a God, or Supreme Being. Atheism is a ferocious system that leaves nothing above us to excite awe, nor around us, to awaken tenderness.”- Rob Hall.
— from 1828 Webster’s Dictionary
Poem — “Genesis 1 or Genesis 2?” by J. Woodruff Smith
“Rectifications”, from Unity of Good by Mary Baker Eddy, page 20
Is it possible to know why we are put into this condition of mortality?
It is quite as possible to know wherefore man is thus conditioned, as to be certain that he is in a state of mortality.
“Questions And Answers” from Miscellaneous Writings by Mary Baker Eddy, page 64
Final Readings
A story is told of a wealthy man, whom I will call Ah Haveit. The story, very much abridged, runs something like this: The man was rich in flocks, in herds, in money, in family ties, in respect, and honor; in all things that seem to make for comfort and happiness in this mortal life. One day a priest came, telling of a wonderful find of diamonds in a certain place. The rich man went to bed poor, for he had found discontent. He too must find diamonds. He sold his flocks and herds, and took his departure. He would not seek near home, he would go afar, and he spent all in his vain search, and was finally swallowed up by a tidal wave, a poor, outcast vagabond.
Not long after Ah Haveit left home, the man who lived on his place found in a little pool back of the house a shining piece of stone. It was a poor, shallow pool, hollowed out for the water to fill, and covered with pebbles on the bottom. No doubt it was muddy,—one had to wait sometimes for the spring to re-fill it after the camels had been watered. The man, attracted by the stone shining in the pool, picked it up and, pleased with its glitter, took it into the house and placed it on a shelf where he could often see it. It lay there some time, but finally the priest who had visited Ah Haveit and who had told him about the diamond mine, chanced to visit the place again. He was at once attracted to the shining stone. “Where was it found?” “Out in the little pool.” “Any more?” “Probably;” the owner had not noticed much, being given to other things. The priest, interested, began looking about and it was discovered that diamonds were there in plenty, for the shining stone was nothing else. The domain that Ah Haveit had left to search for diamonds in other lands was literally sown with the precious stones. It is said that this was the site of the Golconda mines.
“To point a moral and adorn a tale” so pertinent as this is hardly needful. We all overlook the things near us, and think that the desirable things are afar off. “The kingdom of God [good], is within you.” Look within and find it. The pool may be shallow, perchance nearly empty, but there may be found the precious gems of truth, the truth that makes free. “Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.” The glory, — the character of the Lord, as some quaintly translate it,—is upon thee; not shall be when you have become sufficiently good, but it is here, now and forever. Why this struggle for the very things we now have? It is not place, power, rank, or display that makes life worth living. It is Life itself, and this we ever have, and that “abundantly.”
“The Dream of Mortal Life” from Christian Science Sentinel, June 4, 1904, by R. S. M.