Sunday, June 15th, 2025 Roundtable
Health is a Condition of Mind
This week’s Lesson Sermon Subject: God The Preserver Of Man
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Morning Prayer
WATCH PRAYER FOR THE WHOLE HOUSEHOLD
All is love, peace and harmony. Heaven is right here. Truth reigns. There is no strife. Love has destroyed all hate. All is peace, love and joy. Run and not be weary. The need of the hour is simplicity, meekness and obedience. Beloved Father-Mother God, give me wisdom to meet all the problems that may have to be met today; give me understanding to rebuke error and moral courage to speak the truth. Give me grace to remain silent when not necessary to speak.
from Collectanea, by Mary Baker Eddy, page 110
Daily Watch
328 — WATCH that you hold as your goal giving your patient an “embodiment” rather than a “staff” healing. This contrast is drawn from II Kings 4, where Elisha’s servant was told to place the latter’s staff upon the face of the dead son of the Shunammite woman, to no avail. Then Elisha threw himself on the boy and restored him. Had the servant learned the letter of truth from Elisha, without embodying it for himself? The fact that the servant used Elisha’s staff would indicate that he was leaning on Elisha’s demonstration.
Elisha’s throwing himself on the child, mouth to mouth, eye to eye, etc., calls to mind the way a fire is put out with a blanket. The blanket completely cuts off the supply of oxygen that enables it to keep burning. A blanket or “embodiment” treatment, therefore would appear to be one that did more than attempt to destroy the one error from which the patient is suffering. It must symbolize the effort to spiritualize the entire picture, by releasing the patient from the sense of matter, or the belief in a material mind.
Discussion points
In proportion as matter loses to human sense all entity as man, in that proportion does man become its master. He enters into a diviner sense of the facts, and comprehends the theology of Jesus as demonstrated in healing the sick, raising the dead, and walking over the wave. All these deeds manifested Jesus’ control over the belief that matter is substance, that it can be the arbiter of life or the constructor of any form of existence.
from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy, page 369
Shunem
1. Allotment to Issachar:
In the division of the Promised Land among the tribes of Israel, Shunem is listed as one of the towns within the inheritance of the tribe of Issachar. Joshua 19:18 states, “Their territory included Jezreel, Chesulloth, Shunem.”
2. The Shunammite Woman and Elisha:
One of the most notable accounts involving Shunem is the account of the Shunammite woman and the prophet Elisha. This narrative is found in 2 Kings 4:8-37. The Shunammite woman is described as a wealthy and hospitable individual who provided a room for Elisha whenever he passed through the area. In gratitude, Elisha prophesied that she would have a son, despite her previous barrenness. The child was later miraculously revived by Elisha after falling ill and dying. This account highlights themes of faith, hospitality, and divine intervention.
Theological Themes:
The accounts involving Shunem emphasize themes of divine providence, the power of prophetic ministry, and the faithfulness of God’s promises. The Shunammite woman’s interactions with Elisha demonstrate the blessings that come from faith and hospitality, while the revival of her son serves as a testament to God’s power over life and death…
Shunem, therefore, stands as a testament to the intertwining of everyday life with divine purpose, showcasing how God works through ordinary people and places to fulfill His plans.
Topical Encyclopedia
“The secret place of the most High” by Henrietta Marcus
To enter into the heart of prayer, the door of the erring senses must be closed. Lips must be mute and materialism silent, that man may have audience with Spirit, the divine Principle, Love, which destroys all error.
from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy, page 15
Never hold error long enough to let it affect you. — Mary Baker Eddy
7. Genesis 16 : 13 (Thou) (to : )
Thou God seest me
The God Who Sees Me by Dr. James Meritt
“Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be.” Psalm 139:16
Throughout Scripture, God is called by various names. People in the Bible gave some of these names to Him, while others are names that He first called Himself. Each name describes a part of His character. A woman named Hagar first used one of these names. When God met her in her distress, she said, “You are the God who sees me…I have now seen the One who sees me” (Genesis 16:13). This phrase, “The God Who Sees Me,” is translated as “El Roi” in Hebrew.
El Roi is the God who numbers the hairs on our heads and counts our every tear. He knows every detail of our circumstances. When we pray to El Roi, we are praying to the God who knows everything about us. Even the most attentive parent must sleep, but our Heavenly Father never closes His eyes to us. El Roi never misses a detail of what is happening. He sees everything.
King David also knew God as El Roi, according to Psalm 139:16. He understood just how all-seeing God is, noting that God sees not only what is, but also what will be. It is mind-boggling to think of El Roi seeing us in His mind’s eye…imagining just how He will form and fashion every detail of our being. He not only sees us. He also sees every one of our days, which are pre-ordained and written in His book. Yes, Hagar, He is the God who sees!
How could we not trust such a God? How can we doubt Him if we know Him as El Roi? How much time and energy do we spend seeking to be seen and known, when we already have this need fully met in Jesus? When we trust Christ and our eyes are opened in faith, for the first time we clearly see God. Like Hagar, we cry, “I have now seen the One who sees me!”
Do you know God as El Roi?
Dear God, thank You for seeing me, just as I am, and loving me fully and completely. Thank You for also seeing what I can be in Christ, and transforming me into the image of Your Son. It is such a comfort to know that no matter what has happened, is happening, or will happen, You see it all and You are in control. Help me to trust You more and more each day. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Lamentations 3:24-26. The Lord is my portion, saith my soul — An interest in the favour and love of God, and his presence with me, my heart tells me, is the best inheritance. And, possessing these, I have that which is sufficient to balance all my troubles, and make up all my losses. For, while portions on earth are empty and perishing things, God is an all-sufficient and durable portion, a portion for ever. Therefore will I hope in him — I will stay myself upon him, and encourage myself in him, when all other supports and encouragements fail me. Observe, reader, it is our duty and interest to make God the portion of our souls, and then to enjoy and take comfort in him as such, in the midst of afflictions and lamentations. The Lord is good unto them that wait for him — To them that patiently wait his time; when he shall judge it a proper season to afford them comfort and deliverance; and who, in the mean while, apply themselves to him by prayer and humiliation. It is good — It is our duty, and will be our unspeakable comfort and satisfaction; that a man should hope and quietly wait, &c. — To hope that it will come, though the difficulties that lie in the way of it seem insuperable; to wait till it does come, though it be long delayed; and while we wait to be quiet and silent, not quarrelling with God, or making ourselves uneasy, but acquiescing in the divine disposal.
Benson Commentary
Preserve: To keep or save from injury or destruction; to defend from evil. To uphold; to sustain. To save from decay; to keep in a sound state;
GOD — NOT HUMAN DEVICES — THE PRESERVER OF MAN
God, Spirit, is indeed the preserver of man. Then, in the words of the Hebrew singer, “Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise Him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God. … Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases.” This being the case, what need have we of drugs, hygiene, and medical therapeutics, if these are not man’s preservers? … Can a single quality of God, Spirit, be discovered in matter? The Scriptures plainly declare, “The Word was God;” and “all things were made by Him,” — the Word. What, then, can matter create, or how can it exist?
from Christian Science versus Pantheism by Mary Baker Eddy, pages 4 to 5
Be not afraid. You may be a law unto yourself, a law to your recovery from disease, a law to your business, a law of harmony to your welfare and your own household, and all things of your life, because God gave man dominion and you are entitled to it. In this very hour, you are entitled to be a law of recovery to your own self.
from Lectures and Articles by Edward Kimball
Encouraging Ourselves in God by Ella W. Hoag
Maintain
1. To hold, preserve or keep in any particular state or condition; to support; to sustain; not to suffer to fail or decline; as, to maintain a certain degree of heat in a furnace; to maintain the digestive process or powers of the stomach; to maintain the fertility of soil; to maintain present character or reputation.
2. To hold; to keep; not to lose or surrender; as, to maintain a place or post.
3. To continue; not to suffer to cease; as, to maintain a conversation.
4. To keep up; to uphold; to support the expense of; as, to maintain state or equipage.
5. To support with food, clothing and other conveniences; as, to maintain a family by trade or labor.
6. To support by intellectual powers, or by force of reason; as, to maintain an argument.
7. To support; to defend; to vindicate; to justify; to prove to be just; as, to maintain one’s right or cause.
8. To support by assertion or argument; to affirm.
from the 1828 Webster’s Dicitonary
When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hold on.
from 1937 College by Bicknell Young
Christian Science: The Promised Comforter
The Practice of Christian Science by Bicknell Young
“man’s extremity is God’s opportunity.”.
from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy, page 266
TREASURES
I said to my heart, “Go out and find
the richest treasures of the mind.”
It answered me, “You have them there:
a joyous song, a humble prayer.”
Triumph and other poems by Max Dunaway, page 85
ATTITUDE
Lord, if this peace should fail, this pleasant land
Become a place where only vultures could exist,
Let me be found holding my brother’s hand,
Not facing him—with clenched and icy fist.
Triumph and other poems by Max Dunaway, page 116