Sunday, June 21st, 2020 Roundtable
Christian Science Denounces Racism
This week’s Lesson Sermon Subject: Is the Universe, Including Man, Evolved by Atomic Force?
Click here to play the audio as you read:
Morning Prayers
Jesus acknowledged no ties of the flesh. He said: “Call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.” Again he asked: “Who is my mother, and who are my brethren,” implying that it is they who do the will of his Father. We have no record of his calling any man by the name of father. He recognized Spirit, God, as the only creator, and therefore as the Father of all.
— from Miscellaneous Writings by Mary Baker Eddy, page 31
O! May you feel the touch of the spiritual idea that is the light in your path!
— from Divinity Course and General Collectanea, the “Blue Book,” by Mary Baker Eddy, page 204
Discussion points
368 — WATCH lest you take human baggage with you, when you retreat into the Holiest of Holies. On page 32 of Science and Health we read, “Jesus prayed; he withdrew from the material senses to refresh his heart with brighter, with spiritual views.” One notable fact about this withdrawal was that Jesus was not striving to solve some human problem; he just wanted to refresh his heart.
Usually when we seek to withdraw from the material senses, we take human problems with us, so that they may be solved; but if we take a hint from the Master, we will retreat into the Holiest of Holies without human baggage. Then when our heart is refreshed with brighter views, we may return to our problems, and solve them more easily — or find them already solved.
Mrs. Eddy once said, “The Scientists should make error unreal to themselves, that they may make it unreal to others; and sometimes they can do more for others by going by themselves and meditating on spiritual realities.”
— from 500 Watching Points by Gilbert Carpenter
Golden Text — “And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven. — Christ Jesus” — Matthew 23 : 9
And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.
— 2 Corinthians 6: 18 from the King James Bible
And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine.
— Luke 15: 31 from the King James Bible
And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.
— 2 Corinthians 6: 18 from the King James Bible
Claim your inheritence from God.
— Roundtable
Testimony — My Daddy says, My Mommy says. by Florence Roberts
She (Melba Beals) mentioned having acid thrown in her eyes, burning paper towels dropped on her in the bathroom, and having to escape from angry violent crowds threatening to kill her. Her grandmother had a copy of Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy and a resulting unshakable conviction that there could never be a day or a circumstance without evidence of God’s love, and she helped her granddaughter survive the ordeal of physical and verbal attacks that were part of her daily education at Little Rock Central High. … she explained, “ …(Science and Health) speaks of God’s seeing us each as equal, and of God’s constant presence for us. It doesn’t say that God is present only for someone of a particular color, shape, height, weight. It’s quite clear on the point that we are ever in the presence of Love. … You must see God expressed in everyone.
— The story of Melba Beals and “The Little Rock Nine”Christian Science Sentinel, March 31, 2003 by Bettie Gray
Melba Pattillo Beals was a high school Junior when she became one of the first black students there, a member of a group dubbed Little Rock Nine, almost overnight becoming a famous civil rights figure because of publicity surrounding the event and extreme threats she faced for being a pioneer. Four decades later she received the highest Congressional award for her role in the civil rights movement. She told her personal story in a best-selling award-winning book called Warriors Don’t Cry.
Mindfulness: The practice of maintaining a nonjudgmental state of heightened or complete awareness of one’s thoughts, emotions, or experiences on a moment – to – moment basis.
— from 1828 Webster’s Dictionary
And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish?
And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.
And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?
And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?
— Mark 4: 38-41 from the King James Bible
Jesus stills the storm:
First Jesus addressed the fear. Then he rebuked the wind – (error). Last he claimed the Truth (brought in “peace be still”). This is not human will. It cannot be done in a willful manner. You have to get yourself out of the way. It is letting the Spirit of God work. Jesus was meek, he could do nothing of himself. Everything he did was as the Father directed.
— from the Roundtable
In order to gain the wisdom of God, we must keep our mental slate clear, free from the deceptive distractions of the world. It requires humility to acknowledge God’s angel thoughts.
— the Roundtable
Article — An excerpt from “Dedication — Building the Seattle Branches of Mary Baker Eddy’s Church” by Cindy Safronoff
Articles — History, of the Christian Science Movement
Final Readings
One Sunday morning a year ago last August, while seated in church, and my head bowed in silent prayer, I had a presentment of my home being in danger of fire. I took in the situation in a second; we had not had any rain since the early spring, and the excessive heat of the summer had made everything very dry. For a moment I thought what a terrible loss it would be if such were the case. Then fear began to creep upon me, when suddenly I was confronted with Truth, which said, “I am applicable not only in the treatment of diseases, but in all the difficulties and trying places of life.” I at once began to demonstrate the Truth. Sweet peace stole over me, and when the silent prayer was ended, and we were repeating the Lord’s Prayer with the spiritual interpretation, I forgot my presentment for the time being.
When I arrived home from church the first thing that met my sight were signs of fire. Two of my neighbors who had rushed in to assist my husband in putting out the fire met me with frightened looks on their faces, and exclaimed with uplifted hands, “O Mrs. Webb! I don’t know what saved your home, or your husband! Aren’t you frightened ?” To their amazement, and my husband’s, who had his hands and arms bandaged, I calmly answered, no. I then went on to explain why I was not alarmed or even surprised; and they marveled at it, although I had often spoken to them about the wonders that God’s truth will perform. I did not look at the burns that my husband had received, nor did I bandage them, and in a day or so they were all healed. The fire was caused by the explosion of a bottle of gasoline, which had been left standing in the hot sun.
At first there was a slight explosion which sent the cork flying out, followed by a little flame, which instantly ignited a curtain, and this attracted by husband’s attention. In grabbing the bottle to throw it out of doors it exploded and went to pieces in his hands, the fire from it running up his arms and also igniting the woodwork at his feet. The damage to our home was very slight. Surely “The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them.”
The Bible and “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures” are my daily guides, the heavenly manna on which I feast and live. O, glorious Truth that makes us free; that guides us into all the avenues and through all the vicissitudes of life; that is a healing balm for all human complaints; and that protects us from all evil; and which I verily believe is to be the only salvation of my race, the Afro-American, and that it will abolish the prejudice which exists throughout these United States; for, go where we will, we are made to feel our color. But with the wide and rapid spread of Christian Science man is not only learning what the true love of God is, by loving all mankind; but he is getting out of his old prejudiced self, into the spiritual sense of man’s union with God.
— The Protecting Power of TruthChristian Science Sentinel Nov. 23, 1899, By Marietta T. Webb