Sunday, March 23rd, 2025 Roundtable
The Pitfalls of Human Comfort
This week’s Lesson Sermon Subject: Matter
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Morning Prayer
“GOD is a Spirit” (or, more accurately translated, “God is Spirit”), declares the Scripture (John iv. 24), “and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.”
If God is Spirit, and God is All, surely there can be no matter; for the divine All must be Spirit.
from Unity of Good, by Mary Baker Eddy, page 31
Do not look to matter to tell you your success but look up, for your harvest is right at hand. You know the Father’s love, trust it. Then when you hear a whisper, ‘Now you are a sinner and so and so is your punishment, this suffering is the consequence,’ put it out; put it out. …
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
Daily Watch
232 — WATCH lest you feel rebellious instead of grateful, when God gives you a call to prove your understanding in demonstration. When you have a problem and you feel that you are being unjustly treated, it shows that you do not perceive the wholesome purpose back of material discomfort.
Fishermen find it difficult to skin eels, because the smooth surface gives them nothing to grab hold of. This belief of matter must be stripped off, and human harmony offers nothing to lay hold of for this purpose. Discord furnishes us with a handle that we may hold to, that makes the stripping process more efficacious. An alert metaphysician never tries to get rid of sickness as such. He uses it as a handle by means of which to strip away his belief in the reality of matter. Then he fulfills Science and Health, 574:19-30.
Discussion points
Earth’s preparatory school must be improved to the utmost.
from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy, page 486
Chapter Nine, from Mary Baker Eddy, Her Spiritual Footsteps by Gilbert Carpenter
Golden Text: I Corinthians 2 : 12
“Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.”
Definition of “receive” from the 1828 Webster’s Dictionary
Gill’s Exposition on I Corinthians 2 : 12
Christian Science Protective Work by Bicknell Young
Responsive Reading: Proverbs 16 : 1-3, 9, 11, 16, 20-22
1. The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the Lord.
2. All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes; but the Lord weigheth the spirits.
3. Commit thy works unto the Lord, and thy thoughts shall be established.
9. A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the Lord directeth his steps.
11. A just weight and balance are the Lord’s:
16. How much better is it to get wisdom than gold! and to get understanding rather to be chosen than silver!
20. He that handleth a matter wisely shall find good: and whoso trusteth in the Lord, happy is he.
21. The wise in heart shall be called prudent: and the sweetness of the lips increaseth learning.
22. Understanding is a wellspring of life unto him that hath it.
Augusta E. Stetson, Apostle to the World by Gail M. Weatherbe
A Letter From Mrs. Eddy
In the Sentinel of July 31, 1909, there appeared under the heading “None good but one,” a number of quotations from a composite letter, dated July 19, which had been written to Mrs. Augusta E. Stetson by twenty-four of her students who then occupied offices in the building of First Church of Christ, Scientist, of New York, and were known as “the practitioners.” This letter was forwarded to Mrs. Eddy by Mrs. Stetson with the latter’s unqualified approval. Upon receipt of this letter Mrs. Eddy wrote to Mrs. Stetson as follows: —
My Dear Student: — Awake and arise from this temptation produced by animal magnetism upon yourself, allowing your students to deify you and me. Treat yourself for it and get your students to help you rise out of it.
It will be your destruction if you do not do this. Answer this letter immediately.
As ever, lovingly your teacher,
Mary Baker Eddy
from Miscellany, by Mary Baker Eddy, pages 359 to 360
Final Readings
Not a single blade of grass, a leaf, or a flower, is material, when viewed correctly. It is Spirit, Mind, which conceives, outlines and forms these ideas, which multiply and replenish the earth.
Mrs. Eddy says (S&H 191:21), “By its own volition, not a blade of grass springs up, not a spray buds within the vale, not a leaf unfolds its fair outlines, not a flower starts from its cloistered cell.” All natural beauty and grandeur, from the freshness of the morning, to the calm of the evening and the starry heavens at night, are the presence of the one Spirit, and are, therefore, spiritual.
All natural activities, such as eating, and walking and resting, and hearing, and seeing, and thinking, and feeling, ARE NOT IN NOR OF MATTER, but are the conscious functionings of the one Spirit, and are therefore spiritual. All natural love, and affection, and gladness, and happiness, and joy, and peace, and harmony are not in nor of person, but are the one conscious Life or Spirit in Being, and are therefore spiritual and unceasing. All things pertaining to, and essential to, our normal state of living, from a pin to a palace, when rightly viewed, are not matter, but are spiritual ideas at hand.