Sunday, April 16th, 2023 Roundtable
The Alabaster Box
This week’s Lesson Sermon Subject: Doctrine Of Atonement
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Morning Prayers
What is the atonement? It is self-sacrifice that finds the way for others through the experience that meets and overcomes error; then shows this way to others who have slept, to save them from a similar experience.
Mentally treat yourself that nothing can govern your actions or come to your thought that is not from divine Mind. Be strong there. So many sinister suggestions come to mind, watch! and each day commit yourself to the care of our one Parent, trust Him, turn to Him in all your ways for light to direct your footsteps and wisdom to enable you to separate the tares from the wheat – so that you can judge well between the human or the evil ‘suggestion’ and the good or divine impulse.
— from Divinity Course and General Collectanea, (the “Blue Book”), by Mary Baker Eddy, page 220
Discussion points
279 — WATCH lest you claim immunity from error, while you still retain a sense of its reality in another. Casting a sense of sin upon another exposes the sin within yourself. Mrs. Eddy once said, “You will be condemned until you refuse to see condemnation.” Also on page 131 of Miscellaneous Writings we read, “Whoever challenges the errors of others and cherishes his own, can neither help himself nor others.”
— from 500 Watching Points by Gilbert Carpenter
GOLDEN TEXT: Matthew 9 : 13
“I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” — Christ Jesus
My dear Students: Guard your tongues. When you see sin in others, know that you have it in yourselves, and become repentant. If you think you are not mortal, you are mistaken. I find my students either in an apathy or a frenzy. I am astonished at your ignorance of the methods of animal magnetism. Your enemies are working incessantly, while you are not working as you should. They do not knock, they come with a rush. They do not take me unawares. I know before they come. Would that my head were a fountain of waters, and my eyes rivers of tears that I might weep, because of the apathy of the students and the little that they have accomplished. You have never seen me in my real home, but you may sometime. Come with me into it.
— from Mary Baker Eddy, Her Spiritual Footsteps by Gilbert Carpenter
“The Healing Mind” from, The Christian Science Sentinel, March 10, 1917, by Samuel Greenwood
Those who seek the things which are generally accounted desirable often accord humility small place in their plans; and this, according to those who understand life best, is one reason why many people do not find more of success in their efforts. Solomon expressed it thus: “By humility and the fear of the Lord are riches, and honour, and life.” In the same spirit he says, “My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord; neither be weary of his correction,” giving as his reason for it that the Lord chastens those whom He loves, and that the wisdom He imparts brings happiness and prosperity. It is a healthful sign of the time that men are learning to apply the wisdom of the Bible practically, to know that the truths it contains are not merely to be discussed from the pulpit and made part of a theoretical code of ethics, or religious creed, or articles of faith, but that they are to be applied with profit to the daily contacts of life.
… Humility means a willingness to be led — to learn. “Humility and the fear of the Lord” means a readiness to be taught of God and acknowledge His wisdom, not in a mere statement of faith, but in seeking to put into actual practice the lessons we learn. To “despise not the chastening of the Lord” is to capitalize every disappointment, every sorrow which comes from our failure to abide by His laws, turning them to profit by amending our ways.
… There is always a right way to do things. Jesus refers to it as being … “narrow.” To reach that way, one must conform to the unchangeable laws of God, which provide for everything essential to man’s happiness and his “dominion … over all the earth.” It is easy to conceive, therefore, if a man sets out to do that which the laws of God forbid, he is going to suffer. He brings this suffering on himself, but we have learned to call this the “chastening of the Lord.” It is God’s chastening, in the sense that the man has not conformed to God’s laws. Now, if this man is operating according to human will, and continues to so labor despite this chastening, he is not humble, he has no fear of the Lord, and consequently he continues to get the same result. But if he is humble, he will change his way, seeking to find that straight and narrow way of truth. He will use the knowledge he has gained by his failure, or his distress, and continue to do so until he finds the right way, and thus proves himself to be in conformity with God’s eternal laws — or truth.
Excerpt from Christian Science Sentinel, December 17, 1927 [From an editorial in the Frederick Leader, Oklahoma]
In the eighteenth chapter of Luke we read the parable of two men praying. The human mind in condemning the different conditions of self-righteousness as claimed by the Pharisee often is inclined to overlook the most salient feature here expressed, “or even as this publican,” although by his vivid judgment Jesus clearly made it the most important. Comparison is always breaking the second commandment. “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself,” that is, see spiritual idea as all there is to neighbor. When alluding to this parable Mrs. Eddy says in “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures” (p. 448), “Blindness and self-righteousness cling fast to iniquity.” It is not unusual in a group of people when discussing some action of another’s to think as the Pharisee, perhaps in a more modern manner, as thus: “I may have my faults but thank God such or such (naming a specific error) is not one of them.” Now Paul puts this all very clearly in the first three verses of the second chapter of his epistle to the Romans. It is as though he said, “If you believe in the reality of these things — in the reality of life, substance, and intelligence in matter, then you are on the same plane of thought or judgment as those who do these things.” Then in the eleventh verse of the same chapter, in his peculiar, concise way he writes, “For there is no respect of persons with God.” Spiritual idea is alone worthy of the recognition of divine Mind. Close study of these writings of Paul reveals that the self-righteousness of his time is the self-righteousness of to-day and will continue to be the self-righteousness of all ages until the world changes its wrong concept of God and man to the right concept, namely, divine Principle and idea.
“True Labor without Self-Righteousness” from Christian Science Sentinel, January 22, 1921 Adelaide Singleton (excerpt)
The simple story of the woman who came unbidden to the house of Simon the Pharisee, and her self-forgetful tribute to the Master as he “sat at meat” amid the luxurious surroundings of Simon’s dwelling, brings the inspiration of love, humility, and gratitude.
The profound metaphysical truths set forth by Christ Jesus in the beatitudes were remarkably exemplified by this woman in her mental awakening to a spiritual sense of life as portrayed in the Bible narrative. She had been a woman of the city, a sinner, according to Luke…We can almost hear her saying, “The sight of thee unveiled my sins, and turned my misnamed joys to sorrow” (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 326). Heart-weary and sin-stained, she had perceived that the pleasures of the flesh are but bubbles upon the stream of mortal experience. In trembling shame she felt the spiritual poverty of her barren life, and became receptive to the glorified sense of spiritual being, and this mental state illustrates the first beatitude.
With eager joy she approached the Master, bearing the alabaster box of ointment,—a token of the purity of her motive and the newly-dawned spirit of consecration. The tears that fell upon his feet were tears of repentance, and they help us to understand the Master’s words, “Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.” Already was Jesus’ compassionate thought shedding upon her the hallowed benediction, “Thy sins are forgiven.”
After this marvelous mental transformation the spirit of meekness descended upon the purified consciousness, like the dove after the deluge. Immediately the woman’s uplifted thought felt its inheritance, whose sphere is eternity and whose scope is infinity. Wonderful legacy! Could the meek be promised aught that is greater than this, “They shall inherit the earth”?
Following the order of the beatitudes, we can see how divinely natural it is for the awakened thought to “hunger and thirst after righteousness.” Indeed, how heart-hungry was this woman for the things of Spirit! The kisses and ointment bestowed in unsparing affection on the Master’s feet tell the story of the completeness of the self-surrender of one who was hungering and thirsting for divine Love.
The unbridled sins of his fellow countrymen had stained with persecution the steps of the Man of Galilee; and the wicked minds of those who saw not his purity, pierced him with weapons of ignorance and vice. But from the consciousness freshly purged of sin and baptized of Spirit, welled up thoughts of mercy and love for the Wayshower; and in return this woman obtained the flood of divine mercy portrayed in the words, “Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much.” The unquestionable purification of her affections, her motives and purposes, together with her moral assertion,—these assure us that the chastened heart was beginning to “see God.” Ineffable peace then clothed the regenerated heart like a garment. The spontaneous expression of repentance and love, and the wondrous blessing which followed, must have brought a peace that cometh to none save the children of God. Her sense of at-one-ment with divine Truth and Love gave a foretaste of the joy that awaited her as a “peacemaker” among men.
Swift upon the footsteps of righteousness, however, came the persecution “for righteousness’ sake.” The arrogant Pharisee and his materially-minded guests condemned Jesus for permitting this woman’s approach, and they further doubted that Jesus was really a prophet. Not only did this dense materiality blind Simon and his friends to the Master’s true nature and mission, and to the woman’s contrition, but it brought upon both of them persecution, reviling, and the saying of all manner of evil against them falsely. Nevertheless, the spiritually-minded Saviour quickly detected this wrong sense, and with his characteristic wisdom and patience he uncovered and denounced the pharisaical fault by relating the story of the two debtors and by compelling Simon to draw the inevitable conclusion. As the scene comes to its close, it goes without saying that she, the erstwhile sinner, could “rejoice, and be exceeding glad,” for great was her reward in heaven,—the reward of harmony and holiness which crowned her experience. And last we hear the ringing words, “Go in peace.”
“The Beatitudes” from Christian Science Sentinel, March 6, 1915 by Louise C. Martin
Final Readings
Old Jerusalem typifies the hard and barren dogmas of ecclesiasticism, tyrannizing over its votaries with a tyranny worse confounded. Out of old Jerusalem come the scribes and Pharisees. Saul, the inadequate king, reigned there, and Ananias, the murderous high priest, conspired there for Jesus’ crucifixion; it is the abode of the stiff-necked, the self-righteous, those careful of tithing mint, anise, and cummin, the herbs that border a garden, but forgetful of charity and loving-kindness. Of the temple in old Jerusalem Jesus said that not one stone of it should be left upon another, and his prophecy came true, for its exact site is difficult to find to-day. It was over this old Jerusalem that the great Master uttered those sorrowful words, containing both a warning and a lament, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not.” Mrs. Eddy’s definition of this old Jerusalem is in part (Science and Health, p. 589), “Mortal belief and knowledge obtained from the five corporeal senses; the pride of power and the power of pride; sensuality; envy; oppression; tyranny.”
But New Jerusalem is a heavenly home everywhere present, founded upon the spiritual stone which the builders rejected. Its fair stones cannot be overthrown nor its site lost, because it is everywhere. Zechariah describes this happy city when he prophesies, “And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets thereof.” Nehemiah spoke of the rejoicings in the reconstituted Jerusalem of his day, “So that the joy of Jerusalem was heard even afar off.”
Let the idea of New Jerusalem go from land to land and shore to shore until there is no spot where this New Jerusalem cannot be found. One who walks the earth with spiritual joy carries New Jerusalem with him. The sick who have recovered their health through Christian Science have caught glimpses of that city; perhaps they walk its very streets as though on air. Those for whom Spirit has suddenly opened its flood gates and poured forth plenty and destroyed fear of financial disaster smile with the light of the New Jerusalem. The Christian Science healer who sees the light of hope and inspiration dawn upon the faces of the helpless and weary knows what the New Jerusalem means. He who goes apart to pray and bathes in the atmosphere of the divine presence realizes the new birth of the New Jerusalem.
Obedience and gratitude are constant milestones on the way to the holy city. These qualities inspire and sustain; they counteract the weariness of the road and lift up the wayfarer lest he hurt his foot against a stone. The old conception of the world is fast fading away; the new world rises out of the mists. Let the colonists come from far and near to dwell therein, to taste of its fruits and rest in its pleasant places. It is open to all through demonstration; no one may win another’s way into its portals, though all may sustain each other over the rough places. No vicarious sacrifice, no salvation by proxy, can gain entrance into the city; no apostolic succession, no mediatory office avails; for every one unto whom the Christ has come possesses the key of David which unlocks Zion, and him no ecclesiastical interdiction can reach, no hostile exclusion can banish. Therefore, though New Jerusalem has many inhabitants they have all made their own way hither and earned their own citizenship.
Perfect love is the New Jerusalem which casteth out fear, envy, hate, and all ungodliness. The Principle of all good is its government, the law of Love rules its happy dwellers. In this city the divine will renders the human will obsolete; the latter fades away because it is useless, having been superseded. Then why not rejoice at the prospect of this vision of loveliness, lifted above the murky plain into the still sweetness of the clear air, even before the height has been actually attained. Even now while clouds of darkness sweep across, and the night still succeeds the day, why not hail with glorious resolve the nearness of that resplendent city where there is no night, no stumbling, no doubting, no halting between opinions, but only the steadfast understanding of all-powerful Truth?
Christian Science is generous, open-handed to all. Its gift is free for all. Is humanity’s special need to still that hunger of the heart which matter cannot satisfy—the craving to know God, which means to know Life? Then Christian Science offers the full satisfaction of real understanding. What can transcend the comfort of that supreme assurance which comes from knowing that God is Life eternal and that this Life is the only Life of man! Let the oppressed go free and enter into that Life which crowns New Jerusalem. No wonder the figurative phraseology of Scripture associates gold and pearls and precious stones with that state of consciousness. As John beheld the vision, so may all who will seek it by the way of Life, Truth, and Love; for he said, “And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” Years ago the Leader of Christian Science could see the risks and rewards which accompanied her beloved cause, and admonished her followers accordingly. She wrote (Retrospection and Introspection, p. 85): “The tempter is vigilant, awaiting only an opportunity to divide the ranks of Christian Science and scatter the sheep abroad; but ‘if God be for us, who can be against us?’ The Cause, our Cause, is highly prosperous, rapidly spreading over the globe; and the morrow will crown the effort of today with a diadem of gems from the New Jerusalem.
“New Jerusalem from Christian Science Journal, April 1919 by William D. McCrackan.