Sunday, December 22nd, 2024 Roundtable
How to obtain Peace Within
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 Prayer
(12/27/03) My beloved Students: May this dear Christmas season be to you a risen Christ, a morn, the break of day. There is nothing jubilant attached to the birth of a mortal – that suffers and pays the penalty of his parents’ misconception of man and of God’s creation. But there is a joy unutterable in knowing that Christ had no birth, no death, and that we may find in Christ, in the true sense of being, life apart from birth, sorrow, sin and death. O may your eyes not be holden, but may you discern spiritually what is our Redeemer.
… May you watch and pray that you keep the Commandments, and live the Sermon in the Mount this coming year.
from Divinity Course and General Collectanea, (the “Blue Book”), by Mary Baker Eddy, page 128
Daily Watch
186 — WATCH that you maintain the proper sequence — first, establishing the humility which enables you to hear the still, small voice; then using that spiritual authority and dominion thus gained, to amplify that voice to all creation.
If, when attacked by error, a student believes that all that is expected of him is to kneel in humility, seeking God’s help and power, he is mistaken. In order to vanquish error he must exercise spiritual dominion, and stand with authority. His sense of the infinite power he reflects must overawe and overcome the illusion which claims to oppose reality.
When the battle is over and he is more than a conqueror — since he knew in advance that victory was always on the side of Truth — in the peace that follows he can again ascend the mount of humility to receive inspiration from God.
When a problem confronts you, that is not the time to go up on the mount, leaving an unfought battle behind you. It is not the time to seek the absolute, when a battle is on and you are needed in the valley. If you are ever tempted to believe that it is your own power that heals, you need to kneel in humility, in order to acknowledge God as the only power; then you have your part to do which you cannot neglect, namely, to apply divine power with authority and understanding to the human problem.
If a student takes an absolute stand, refusing first to admit the claim of error, this shows that he forgets that in Science and Health Mrs. Eddy writes, “A knowledge of error and of its operations must precede that understanding of Truth which destroys error …” Demonstration means taking what is true and compelling mortal mind, or material sense, to acknowledge it. In this process the truth about the lie must precede the truth about Truth, just as humility must precede authority.
Discussion points
“And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” — John 1:14
The Word Made Flesh, from Addresses by Martha Wilcox
“[Mary Baker Eddy] usually asked an incoming student: ‘How much Christian Science do you know?’ They soon learned the answer, which was: ‘Only what I can demonstrate.'”
Foreword to Watches, Prayers, and Arguments Given to Students by Mary Baker Eddy
Golden Text: Psalm 119 : 165
“Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them.”
Psalm 119:165. Great peace have they which love thy law — Hebrew, great peace is, or shall be, to the lovers of thy law, that is, great inward peace, satisfaction, and tranquillity of mind, arising from the sense of thy love to them, and of thy watchful care over them. In other words: “amidst the storms and tempests of the world, there is a perfect calm in the breasts of those who not only do the will of God, but love to do it. They are at peace with God by the blood of reconciliation; at peace with themselves by the answer of a good conscience and the subjection of those desires which war against the soul; at peace with all men by the spirit of charity; and the whole creation is so at peace with them, that all things work together for their good.” And nothing shall offend them — Hebrew, ואין למו מכשׁול, to them is no stumbling-block, namely, such as they shall stumble at, and fall by, into sin and misery. “No external troubles can rob them of this great peace, no offences or stumbling-blocks, which are thrown in their way by persecution or temptation, by the malice of enemies, or the apostacy of friends, by any thing which they see, hear of, or feel, can detain or divert them from their course. Heavenly love surmounts every obstacle, and runs with delight the way of God’s commandments.” — Horne.
Benson commentary on Psalm 119 : 165
“Jesus’ life, outwardly, was one of the most troubled lives that was ever lived. Tempest and tumult, tumult and tempest, — the waves breaking over it all the time. But the inner life was a sea of glass. The great calm was always there. At any moment you might have gone to Him and found rest.” — Henry Drummond.
As found in Dominion Within by Rev. G. A. Kratzer
Taking Offence by Mary Baker Eddy
The Law of Right Feeling by Rev. G. A. Kratzer
They don’t know what they don’t know.
“…your joy no man taketh from you.” — Christ Jesus (John 16:22)
“Joy is not a mental trimming to be put on or take off at will.” — Mildred LeBlond, from her 1939 Association Address
Christian Scientists, be a law to yourselves that mental malpractice cannot harm you either when asleep or when awake.
from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy, page 442
The Sermon on the Mount, from the Book of Matthew, chapters 5 through 7
Daily Prayer
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!
from the Daily Duties by Mary Baker Eddy, as found in the Church Manual, Article VIII, Sect. 4
Unity with God by Flora R. Tschopik
Radiation and Absorption by A. Learner
“Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.” Psalm 46:10
STILL: To stop, as motion or agitation; to check or restrain; to make quiet;
KNOW:To perceive with certainty; to understand clearly; to have a clear and certain perception of truth.
EXALTED: Raised to a lofty highth; elevated; honored, magnify; to praise; to extol. (Webster 1828)
“What a blessed comfort this verse has been to multitudes of believers in Christ, down through the ages, who have rested on these words of the Psalmist and had their hearts stilled in the presence of the Lord.
But in context, we see another component to these words of reassurance. We see a plan to glorify His Name and exult His Person among the nations of the world who rage against the God of heaven and His anointed King. He is our Defence and our Defender against the enemies of our soul, and all who rest in Him find courage and strength. He is our refuge from the storms of life and our shelter in the midst of oppression, and we are called to be still and to know that He is God, for His purposes will never fail and He will be glorified throughout the whole earth… We are to rest confidently in the knowledge that He is our faithful God; the supreme Creator of all, and Commander of the armies of heaven… We are to rest peacefully in the truth of His Word and be still in His holy presence. We are to know in our heart, by faith with thanksgiving, that He is the Lord our God Who pardons all our iniquities and heals all our diseases, Who redeems our life, and Who crowns us with loving kindness and compassion… Although the nations rage like the billows of the sea and the people imagine a vain thing against the Lord God Almighty, we are called to be still in the presence of the Lord and to know Him in our heart by faith, with thanksgiving. May we be still in His presence, cease from all our strivings, and be at peace in His company Whom to know is life eternal.”
Responsive Reading: Psalm 46
10. Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.
Jeremiah 31:33
But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
“Be still” by Priscilla W. Okie
God Is Individual Consciousness by Bicknell Young
“Never breathe an immoral atmosphere, unless in the attempt to purify it.”
from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy, page 452
“If you convince me we’re both sunk.”
“Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee.” — Job 22:21
Daily Prayer for All Mankind by Robert S. Van Atta
3. Job 5 : 8, 9, 12, 13, 19-24 (to ; )
8 I would seek unto God, and unto God would I commit my cause:
9 Which doeth great things and unsearchable; marvellous things without number:
12 He disappointeth the devices of the crafty, so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise.
13 He taketh the wise in their own craftiness: and the counsel of the froward is carried headlong.
19 He shall deliver thee in six troubles: yea, in seven there shall no evil touch thee.
20 In famine he shall redeem thee from death: and in war from the power of the sword.
21 Thou shalt be hid from the scourge of the tongue: neither shalt thou be afraid of destruction when it cometh.
22 At destruction and famine thou shalt laugh: neither shalt thou be afraid of the beasts of the earth.
23 For thou shalt be in league with the stones of the field: and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee.
24 And thou shalt know that thy tabernacle shall be in peace;