First Church of Christ, Scientist, La Cañada Flintridge

Wednesday Meeting Readings

w180523
Defeat discouragement and realize God's presence
Wednesday, May 23, 2018
The Bible

  1. Isa. 54:2, 4 (to 2nd :), 10-12, 14, 17 This

    2Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes;

    ... 4Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed: neither be thou confounded; for thou shalt not be put to shame:

    ... 10For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee.

    11O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colours, and lay thy foundations with sapphires.

    12And I will make thy windows of agates, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy borders of pleasant stones.

    14In righteousness shalt thou be established: thou shalt be far from oppression; for thou shalt not fear: and from terror; for it shall not come near thee.

    17This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord.

  2. Ex. 3:1, 2 (to :), 7, 10-12

    1Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb.

    2And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush:

    7And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows;

    ... 10Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt.

    11And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?

    12And he said, Certainly I will be with thee; and this shall be a token unto thee, that I have sent thee: When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain.

  3. Job 3:2-4, 6, 8, 9, 20, 23, 25, 26

    2And Job spake, and said,

    3Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was said, There is a man child conceived.

    4Let that day be darkness; let not God regard it from above, neither let the light shine upon it.

    ... 6As for that night, let darkness seize upon it; let it not be joined unto the days of the year, let it not come into the number of the months.

    ... 8Let them curse it that curse the day, who are ready to raise up their mourning.

    9Let the stars of the twilight thereof be dark; let it look for light, but have none; neither let it see the dawning of the day:

    ... 20Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery, and life unto the bitter in soul;

    ... 23Why is light given to a man whose way is hid, and whom God hath hedged in?

    ... 25For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me.

    26I was not in safety, neither had I rest, neither was I quiet; yet trouble came.

  4. Job 42:1, 2, 5

    1Then Job answered the Lord, and said,

    2I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from thee.

    ... 5I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee.

  5. Luke 9:38-43 (to .)

    38And, behold, a man of the company cried out, saying, Master, I beseech thee, look upon my son: for he is mine only child.

    39And, lo, a spirit taketh him, and he suddenly crieth out; and it teareth him that he foameth again, and bruising him hardly departeth from him.

    40And I besought thy disciples to cast him out; and they could not.

    41And Jesus answering said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you, and suffer you? Bring thy son hither.

    42And as he was yet a-coming, the devil threw him down, and tare him. And Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, and healed the child, and delivered him again to his father.

    43And they were all amazed at the mighty power of God.

  6. Mark 8:13-17 (to 2nd ?), 18, 19, 21

    13And he left them, and entering into the ship again departed to the other side.

    14Now the disciples had forgotten to take bread, neither had they in the ship with them more than one loaf.

    15And he charged them, saying, Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod.

    16And they reasoned among themselves, saying, It is because we have no bread.

    17And when Jesus knew it, he saith unto them, Why reason ye, because ye have no bread? perceive ye not yet, neither understand?

    18Having eyes, see ye not? and having ears, hear ye not? and do ye not remember?

    19When I brake the five loaves among five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments took ye up? They say unto him, Twelve.

    ... 21And he said unto them, How is it that ye do not understand?

  7. II Cor. 10:1 I Paul, 3

    1I Paul myself beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, who in presence am base among you, but being absent am bold toward you:

    ... 3For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:


  8. II Cor. 11:3 I, 21, 22, 24, 25, 27, 28

    3I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.

    ... 21I speak as concerning reproach, as though we had been weak. Howbeit whereinsoever any is bold, (I speak foolishly,) I am bold also.

    22Are they Hebrews? so am I. Are they Israelites? so am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? so am I.

    ... 24Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one.

    25Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep;

    ... 27In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.

    28Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches.

  9. II Cor. 13:8 we, 9 2nd and, 11 Be

    8we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth.

    9 ... and this also we wish, even your perfection.

    11 ... Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you.

  10. Ps. 42:5, 7 all, 8

    5Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.

    7 ... all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me.

    8Yet the Lord will command his lovingkindness in the daytime, and in the night his song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life.


Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures
by Mary Baker Eddy

  1. SH 385:17-18, 31-1

    15Whatever it is your duty to do, 18you can do without harm to yourself.

        Any supposed information, coming from the body or from inert matter as if either were intelligent, is an illu-386386:1sion of mortal mind, — one of its dreams.

  2. SH 390:32-2

    Rise in the conscious strength of the 391 391:1spirit of Truth to overthrow the plea of mortal mind, alias matter, arrayed against the supremacy of Spirit.

  3. SH 254:2-6, 10

    Individuals are consistent who, watching 3Patience and final perfectionand praying, can “run, and not be weary; . . . walk, and not faint,” who gain good rapidly and hold their position, or attain slowly and 6yield not to discouragement. ... When we wait patiently on God and seek Truth righteously, He directs 12our path. Imperfect mortals grasp the ultimate of spir-itual perfection slowly; but to begin aright and to con-tinue the strife of demonstrating the great problem of 15being, is doing much.

  4. SH 329:17-22 (to 1st .), 26 If

    To be discouraged, is to resemble a pupil in 18addition, who attempts to solve a problem of Euclid, and denies the rule of the problem because he fails in his first effort.

    21    There is no hypocrisy in Science. Principle is impera-tive.If 27men understood their real spiritual source to be all bless-edness, they would struggle for recourse to the spiritual and be at peace; but the deeper the error into which mor-30tal mind is plunged, the more intense the opposition to spirituality, till error yields to Truth.

  5. SH 392:7, 24 (only, to 2nd .), 31-32

    Casting out evil and fear enables truth to outweigh error. The only course is to 9take antagonistic grounds against all that is opposed to the health, holiness, and harmony of man, God’s image.

    24    Reverse the case. Stand porter at the door of thought. ... Exclude from mortal mind the offending errors; then the body cannot suffer from them.

  6. SH 393:12-18

    12Rise in the strength of Spirit to resist all that is unlike good. God has made man capable of this, and nothing can vitiate the ability and power divinely bestowed on 15man.

        Be firm in your understanding that the divine Mind governs, and that in Science man reflects God’s govern-18No pain in matterment.

  7. SH 22:14

    If 15your endeavors are beset by fearful odds, and you receive no present reward, go not back to error, nor become a sluggard in the race.

  8. SH 170:22-31

        Spiritual causation is the one question to be considered, for more than all others spiritual causation relates to 24Causation consideredhuman progress. The age seems ready to approach this subject, to ponder somewhat the supremacy of Spirit, and at least to touch the hem 27of Truth’s garment.

        The description of man as purely physical, or as both material and spiritual, — but in either case dependent 30upon his physical organization, — is the Pandora box, from which all ills have gone forth, especially despair.

  9. SH 414:4, 19

        The treatment of insanity is especially interesting. However obstinate the case, it yields more readily than 6Cure of insanitydo most diseases to the salutary action of truth, which counteracts error. The argu-ments to be used in curing insanity are the same as in 9other diseases: namely, the impossibility that matter, brain, can control or derange mind, can suffer or cause suffering; also the fact that truth and love will establish 12a healthy state, guide and govern mortal mind or the thought of the patient, and destroy all error, whether it is called dementia, hatred, or any other discord.

    The Christian Scien-tist’s argument rests on the Christianly scientific basis of 21being. The Scripture declares, “The Lord He is God [good]; there is none else beside Him.” Even so, harmony is universal, and discord is unreal. Christian Science de-24clares that Mind is substance, also that matter neither feels, suffers, nor enjoys. Hold these points strongly in view. Keep in mind the verity of being, — that man is 27the image and likeness of God, in whom all being is painless and permanent. Remember that man’s perfec-tion is real and unimpeachable, whereas imperfection is 30blameworthy, unreal, and is not brought about by divine Love.

  10. SH 96:12, 22

    12    This material world is even now becoming the arena for conflicting forces. On one side there will be discord Arena of contestand dismay; on the other side there will be 15Science and peace. The breaking up of mate-rial beliefs may seem to be famine and pestilence, want and woe, sin, sickness, and death, which assume new 18phases until their nothingness appears. These disturb-ances will continue until the end of error, when all discord will be swallowed up in spiritual Truth.

    21This mental fermentation has begun, and will continue until all errors of belief yield to understanding. Belief is 24changeable, but spiritual understanding is changeless.

  11. SH 321:6, 29

    6    The Hebrew Lawgiver, slow of speech, despaired of making the people understand what should be revealed Fear of the serpent overcometo him. When, led by wisdom to cast down his 9rod, he saw it become a serpent, Moses fled be-fore it; but wisdom bade him come back and handle the serpent, and then Moses’ fear departed. In 12this incident was seen the actuality of Science. Matter was shown to be a belief only. The serpent, evil, under wisdom’s bidding, was destroyed through understanding 15divine Science, and this proof was a staff upon which to lean. The illusion of Moses lost its power to alarm him, when he discovered that what he apparently saw was really 18but a phase of mortal belief.

    And so it was in the coming 30centuries, when the Science of being was demonstrated by Jesus, who showed his students the power of Mind by changing water into wine, and taught them how to handle 322 322:1serpents unharmed, to heal the sick and cast out evils in proof of the supremacy of Mind.

  12. SH 13:20-24

        If we pray to God as a corporeal person, this will 21prevent us from relinquishing the human doubts and Corporeal ignorancefears which attend such a belief, and so we cannot grasp the wonders wrought by infi-24nite, incorporeal Love, to whom all things are possible.

  13. SH 130:26-2

        If thought is startled at the strong claim of Science 27for the supremacy of God, or Truth, and doubts the su-All evil unnaturalpremacy of good, ought we not, contrari-wise, to be astounded at the vigorous claims 30of evil and doubt them, and no longer think it natural to love sin and unnatural to forsake it, — no longer imagine evil to be ever-present and good absent? Truth should 131 131:1not seem so surprising and unnatural as error, and error should not seem so real as truth.

  14. SH 495:14

        When the illusion of sickness or sin tempts you, cling 15steadfastly to God and His idea. Allow nothing but His Steadfast and calm trust likeness to abide in your thought. Let neither fear nor doubt overshadow your clear sense and 18calm trust, that the recognition of life harmonious — as Life eternally is — can destroy any painful sense of, or belief in, that which Life is not. Let Christian Science, 21instead of corporeal sense, support your understanding of being, and this understanding will supplant error with Truth, replace mortality with immortality, and silence dis-24cord with harmony.


From the Christian Science Hymnal
Hymn 382: “…Thou hast he gift of God — Dominion over all”
Hymn 81: “God is with me, gently o'er me Are His wings of mercy spread”
Hymn 356: “…we are Christ's, and Christ is Thine, O father”