Sunday, June 7th, 2019 Roundtable
Morning Prayers
It shall be the duty of every member of this Church to pray each day: “Thy kingdom come;” let the reign of divine Truth, Life, and Love be established in me, and rule out of me all sin; and may Thy Word enrich the affections of all mankind, and govern them!
— “Daily Prayer” from, The Church Manual, 88th Edition by Mary Baker Eddy, page 41
Discussion points
368 — WATCH lest you take human baggage with you, when you retreat into the Holiest of Holies. On page 23 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 — ““It is God that girdeth me with strength, and maketh my way perfect.”” — Psalm 18 : 32
The prayer that reforms the sinner and heals the sick is an absolute faith that all things are possible to God, — a spiritual understanding of Him, an unselfed love.
Thoughts unspoken are not unknown to the divine Mind. Desire is prayer; and no loss can occur from trusting God with our desires, that they may be moulded and exalted before they take form in words and in deeds.
— Citation 11 from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, page 1
Prayer cannot change the Science of being, but it tends to bring us into harmony with it. Goodness attains the demonstration of Truth. A request that God will save us is not all that is required. The mere habit of pleading with the divine Mind, as one pleads with a human being, perpetuates the belief in God as humanly circumscribed, — an error which impedes spiritual growth.
God is Love. Can we ask Him to be more? God is intelligence. Can we inform the infinite Mind of anything He does not already comprehend? Do we expect to change perfection? Shall we plead for more at the open fount, which is pouring forth more than we accept? The unspoken desire does bring us nearer the source of all existence and blessedness.
Asking God to be God is a vain repetition. God is “the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever;” and He who is immutably right will do right without being reminded of His province.
— Citation 12 from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, page 2 – 3
True prayer is not asking God for love; it is learning to love, and to include all mankind in one affection. Prayer is the utilization of the love wherewith He loves us. Prayer begets an awakened desire to be and do good. It makes new and scientific discoveries of God, of His goodness and power. It shows us more clearly than we saw before, what we already have and are and most of all, it shows us what God is.
— No and Yes by Mary Baker Eddy, page 39
Divine Love always has met and always will meet every human need. It is not well to imagine that Jesus demonstrated the divine power to heal only for a select number or for a limited period of time, since to all mankind and in every hour, divine Love supplies all good.
— Citation 4 from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, page 494 : 10-14
4 We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the Lord, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done.
5 For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children:
6 That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children:
7 That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments:
— Psalm 78 from citation 4 in the Bible portion of this week’s lesson
Only as we rise above all material sensuousness and sin, can we reach the heaven-born aspiration and spiritual consciousness, which is indicated in the Lord’s Prayer and which instantaneously heals the sick.
Here let me give what I understand to be the spiritual sense of the Lord’s Prayer:
Our Father which art in heaven,
Our Father-Mother God, all-harmonious,
Hallowed be Thy name.
Adorable One.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy kingdom is come; Thou art ever-present.
Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
Enable us to know, — as in heaven, so on earth, — God is omnipotent, supreme.
Give us this day our daily bread;
Give us grace for to-day; feed the famished affections;
And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
And Love is reflected in love;
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil;
And God leadeth us not into temptation, but delivereth us from sin, disease, and death.
For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever.
For God is infinite, all-power, all Life, Truth, Love, over all, and All.
— Citation 13 from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, page 16 : 20-15
“Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
Enable us to know, — as in heaven, so on earth, — God is omnipotent, supreme.” (Science and Health, page 16)
I once had the most difficult time obeying the First Commandment (and this is an ongoing process!) –really knowing God to be the one and only Power. And it took me awhile to realize this section of the Lord’s Prayer is helping all of us to do just that. I am to pray daily to feel and to acknowledge God’s supreme presence and power. And to pray and to know that God ENABLES us all to know Him! God supplies us all with “the power, ability and adequate means” (definition of enable) to understand and know and feel His Supremacy! And isn’t that wonderful?!
Forum post — by Mary Beth Singleterry
The Scientific Rendering of “Lead Me Not Into Temptation”
(A handwritten letter from Mary Baker Eddy to James Neal, January 28, 1897, regarding the duties of a CS practitioner):
“My beloved Student,
Your letter is my best New Year’s gift. I had felt for some time the fitness you possess for healing. I knew it when you were a member of my College class. It looked a waste of your talents to have you in a counting room. Now, thank God, I have at least one student in Boston that promises to be a Healer such I have long waited and hoped to see. Oh may the Love that looks on you and all guide your every thought and act up to the impersonal, spiritual model that is the only ideal — and constitutes the only scientific Healer.
To this glorious end I ask you to still press on, and have no other ambition or aim. A real scientific Healer is the highest position attainable in this sphere of being. Its altitude is far above a Teacher or preacher; it includes all that is divinely high and holy. Darling James, leave behind all else and strive for this great achievement. Mother sighs to see how much her students need this attainment and longs to live to see one Christian Scientist attain it. Your aid to reach this goal is spiritualization. To achieve this you must have one God, one affection, one way, one Mind. Society, flattery, popularity are temptations in your pursuit of growth spiritual. Avoid them as much as in you lies. Pray daily, never miss praying, no matter how often: “Lead me not into temptation,” — scientifically rendered, — Lead me not to lose sight of strict purity, clean pure thoughts; let all my thoughts and aims be high, unselfish, charitable, meek, — spiritually minded. [Emphasis added.] With this altitude of thought, your mind is losing materiality and gaining spirituality, and this is the state of mind that heals the sick. My new book will do you much good. Do not purchase one, Mother wants to give you one. I welcome you into the sanctum of my fold. God bless you.
Your loving Teacher,
Mary Baker Eddy”
The text of this letter is featured in Lyman P. Powell’s Mary Baker Eddy: A Life Size Portrait.
Forum post — by Parthens
A little more grace, a motive made pure, a few truths tenderly told, a heart softened, a character subdued, a life consecrated, would restore the right action of the mental mechanism, and make manifest the movement of body and soul in accord with God.
— from “Fallibility of Human Concepts” Miscellaneous Writings by Mary Baker Eddy, page 354