First Church of Christ, Scientist, La Cañada Flintridge
Wednesday Meeting Readings
- Ps. 127:1
1Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.
- Gen. 12:1, 4 (to :), 5 6th and, 7 (to :)
1Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee:
... 4So Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him:
5 ... and into the land of Canaan they came.
7And the Lord appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land:
- Gen. 21:9-12 (to 2nd ;), 14-16 (to .), 17, 18 (to ;), 19, 20 (to ;), 21 (to :)
9¶ And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, which she had born unto Abraham, mocking.
10Wherefore she said unto Abraham, Cast out this bondwoman and her son: for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac.
11And the thing was very grievous in Abraham’s sight because of his son.
12¶ And God said unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman; in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice;
14And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of water, and gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her away: and she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beer–sheba.
15And the water was spent in the bottle, and she cast the child under one of the shrubs.
16And she went, and sat her down over against him a good way off, as it were a bowshot: for she said, Let me not see the death of the child.
... 17And God heard the voice of the lad; and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar? fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is.
18Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in thine hand;
... 19And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went, and filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad drink.
20And God was with the lad;
... 21And he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran:
- Isa. 33:20-22, 24
20Look upon Zion, the city of our solemnities: thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be taken down; not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be removed, neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken.
21But there the glorious Lord will be unto us a place of broad rivers and streams; wherein shall go no galley with oars, neither shall gallant ship pass thereby.
22For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king; he will save us.
... 24And the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick: the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity.
- Matt. 8:18-26
18¶ Now when Jesus saw great multitudes about him, he gave commandment to depart unto the other side.
19And a certain scribe came, and said unto him, Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest.
20And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.
21And another of his disciples said unto him, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.
22But Jesus said unto him, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead.
23¶ And when he was entered into a ship, his disciples followed him.
24And, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves: but he was asleep.
25And his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us: we perish.
26And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm.
- Rev. 21:9-11, 23, 25, 27 (to :)
9And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife.
10And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God,
11Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal;
... 23And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.
... 25And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there.
... 27And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie:
- Mic. 4:1 in, 2, 4 they, 6, 7
1in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it.
2And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
4they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the Lord of hosts hath spoken it.
... 6In that day, saith the Lord, will I assemble her that halteth, and I will gather her that is driven out, and her that I have afflicted;
7And I will make her that halted a remnant, and her that was cast far off a strong nation: and the Lord shall reign over them in mount Zion from henceforth, even for ever.
- SH 283:4-6
- SH 121:7
The Chaldean Wisemen read in the stars the fate of empires and the fortunes of men. Though no higher 9Perennial beautyrevelation than the horoscope was to them dis-played upon the empyrean, earth and heaven were bright, and bird and blossom were glad in God’s 12perennial and happy sunshine, golden with Truth. So we have goodness and beauty to gladden the heart; but man, left to the hypotheses of material sense unexplained 15by Science, is as the wandering comet or the desolate star — “a weary searcher for a viewless home.”
- SH 264:20 (only), 28-15
Spirit and its formations are the only realities of being.
When we learn the way in Christian Science and rec-ognize man’s spiritual being, we shall behold and under-30stand God’s creation, — all the glories of earth and heaven and man.
The universe of Spirit is peopled with spiritual beings, 265 265:1and its government is divine Science. Man is the off-spring, not of the lowest, but of the highest qualities of 3Godward gravitationMind. Man understands spiritual existence in proportion as his treasures of Truth and Love are enlarged. Mortals must gravitate Godward, 6their affections and aims grow spiritual, — they must near the broader interpretations of being, and gain some proper sense of the infinite, — in order that sin and mortality 9may be put off.
This scientific sense of being, forsaking matter for Spirit, by no means suggests man’s absorption into Deity 12 and the loss of his identity, but confers upon man en-larged individuality, a wider sphere of thought and action, a more expansive love, a higher and more permanent 15peace.
- SH 232:3-7, 9-13
3 Many theories relative to God and man neither make man harmonious nor God lovable. The beliefs we com-Denials of divine powermonly entertain about happiness and life 6afford no scatheless and permanent evidence of either.
9 Scripture informs us that “with God all things are possible,” — all good is possible to Spirit; but our prev-alent theories practically deny this, and make healing 12possible only through matter. These theories must be untrue, for the Scripture is true.
- SH 58:21
- SH 361:22-23
- SH 66:14
- SH 546:23
Christian Science is dawning upon a material age. 24The great spiritual facts of being, like rays of light, shine Dawning of spiritual factsin the darkness, though the darkness, com-prehending them not, may deny their reality. 27The proof that the system stated in this book is Chris-tianly scientific resides in the good this system accom-plishes, for it cures on a divine demonstrable Principle 30 which all may understand.
- SH 269:9-28
9 Human philosophy has made God manlike. Christian Science makes man Godlike. The first is error; the latter Divine metaphysicsis truth. Metaphysics is above physics, and 12matter does not enter into metaphysical prem-ises or conclusions. The categories of metaphysics rest on one basis, the divine Mind. Metaphysics resolves 15things into thoughts, and exchanges the objects of sense for the ideas of Soul.
These ideas are perfectly real and tangible to spiritual 18consciousness, and they have this advantage over the ob-jects and thoughts of material sense, — they are good and eternal.
21 The testimony of the material senses is neither abso-lute nor divine. I therefore plant myself unreservedly Biblical foundationson the teachings of Jesus, of his apostles, of 24the prophets, and on the testimony of the Science of Mind. Other foundations there are none. All other systems — systems based wholly or partly on 27knowledge gained through the material senses — are reeds shaken by the wind, not houses built on the rock.
- SH 281:20-24
- SH 282:3-15, 17-18, 26 (only)
3 The real Life, or Mind, and its opposite, the so-called material life and mind, are figured by two geometrical Figures of beingsymbols, a circle or sphere and a straight 6line. The circle represents the infinite with-out beginning or end; the straight line represents the finite, which has both beginning and end. The sphere 9represents good, the self-existent and eternal individuality or Mind; the straight line represents evil, a belief in a self-made and temporary material existence. Eternal 12Mind and temporary material existence never unite in figure or in fact.
A straight line finds no abiding-place in a curve, and a 15curve finds no adjustment to a straight line. Truth has no home in 18error, and error has no foothold in Truth.
Truth is the intelligence of immortal Mind.
- SH 531:29-32
- SH 264:3-19
The crude crea-tions of mortal thought must finally give place to the glorious forms which we sometimes behold in the 6camera of divine Mind, when the mental picture is spir-itual and eternal. Mortals must look beyond fading, finite forms, if they would gain the true sense of things. 9Where shall the gaze rest but in the unsearchable realm of Mind? We must look where we would walk, and we must act as possessing all power from Him in whom we 12have our being.
As mortals gain more correct views of God and man, multitudinous objects of creation, which before were 15Self-completeness invisible, will become visible. When we realize that Life is Spirit, never in nor of matter, this understanding will expand into self-com-18pleteness, finding all in God, good, and needing no other consciousness.
- SH 254:24-32
24 If you venture upon the quiet surface of error and are in sympathy with error, what is there to disturb the waters? What is there to strip off error’s disguise?
27 If you launch your bark upon the ever-agitated but healthful waters of truth, you will encounter storms. The cross and crownYour good will be evil spoken of. This is the 30cross. Take it up and bear it, for through it you win and wear the crown. Pilgrim on earth, thy home is heaven; stranger, thou art the guest of God.
From the Christian Science Hymnal
Hymn 141: “If the Lord build not the house”
Hymn 534: “My shepherd is the living God…O may Your house be my abode”
Hymn 362: “To us a Child of Hope is born”
