First Church of Christ, Scientist, La Cañada Flintridge
Wednesday Meeting Readings
- Luke 2:8-11
8And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
9And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
10And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
11For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
- I Pet. 1:13-16 gird, 24, 25
13gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;
14As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance:
15But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation;
16Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.
... 24For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away:
25But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.
- Titus 2:1 speak, 7 (to :), 11-13
1speak thou the things which become sound doctrine:
... 7In all things shewing thyself a pattern of good works:
... 11For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
12Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;
13Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
- II Chron. 32:1-3, 9 (to ,), 9 unto, 10 (to ,), 13 (to ?), 15 let, 20 for, 21 (to .), 22, 23
1After these things, and the establishment thereof, Sennacherib king of Assyria came, and entered into Judah, and encamped against the fenced cities, and thought to win them for himself.
2And when Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib was come, and that he was purposed to fight against Jerusalem,
3He took counsel with his princes and his mighty men to stop the waters of the fountains which were without the city: and they did help him.
9¶ After this did Sennacherib king of Assyria send his servants to Jerusalem, ... unto Hezekiah king of Judah, and unto all Judah that were at Jerusalem, saying,
10Thus saith Sennacherib king of Assyria,
... 13Know ye not what I and my fathers have done unto all the people of other lands?
15 ... let not Hezekiah deceive you, nor persuade you on this manner, neither yet believe him: for no god of any nation or kingdom was able to deliver his people out of mine hand, and out of the hand of my fathers: how much less shall your God deliver you out of mine hand?
20 ... for this cause Hezekiah the king, and the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz, prayed and cried to heaven.
21¶ And the Lord sent an angel, which cut off all the mighty men of valour, and the leaders and captains in the camp of the king of Assyria.
22Thus the Lord saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib the king of Assyria, and from the hand of all other, and guided them on every side.
23And many brought gifts unto the Lord to Jerusalem, and presents to Hezekiah king of Judah: so that he was magnified in the sight of all nations from thenceforth.
- Ps. 42:5, 8 the
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.
8 ... 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.
- Joel 3:11 (to :), 13 (to 2nd ;), 16, 17 (to :), 18, 20 Judah
11Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about:
... 13Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the vats overflow;
... 16The Lord also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the Lord will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel.
17So shall ye know that I am the Lord your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain:
18¶ And it shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall drop down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the rivers of Judah shall flow with waters, and a fountain shall come forth of the house of the Lord, and shall water the valley of Shittim.
20 ... Judah shall dwell for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation.
- Luke 14:1-4
1And it came to pass, as he went into the house of one of the chief Pharisees to eat bread on the sabbath day, that they watched him.
2And, behold, there was a certain man before him which had the dropsy.
3And Jesus answering spake unto the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath day?
4And they held their peace. And he took him, and healed him, and let him go;
- John 8:12
12¶ Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
- Phil. 4:1 my, 4, 6, 7, 13, 19 my, 20
1my brethren dearly beloved and longed for, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, my dearly beloved.
... 4Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.
... 6Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
7And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
... 13I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
19 ... my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
20Now unto God and our Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
- SH 45:16
Glory be to God, and peace to the struggling hearts! Christ hath rolled away the stone from the door of hu -18The stone rolled awayman hope and faith, and through the reve-lation and demonstration of life in God, hath elevated them to possible at-one-ment with the spiritual 21idea of man and his divine Principle, Love.
- SH 298:2
Life, Truth, and Love are the realities of divine 3Science. They dawn in faith and glow full-orbed in spiritual understanding. As a cloud hides the sun it cannot extinguish, so false belief silences for a while the 6voice of immutable harmony, but false belief cannot de-stroy Science armed with faith, hope, and fruition.
- SH 109:4, 22
Christian Science reveals incontrovertibly that Mind is All-in-all, that the only realities are the divine Mind 6Scientific evidence and idea. This great fact is not, however, seen to be supported by sensible evidence, until its divine Principle is demonstrated by healing the sick and 9thus proved absolute and divine. This proof once seen, no other conclusion can be reached.
The revelation of Truth in the understand-ing came to me gradually and apparently through divine 24power. When a new spiritual idea is borne to earth, the prophetic Scripture of Isaiah is renewedly fulfilled: “Unto us a child is born, . . . and his name shall be 27called Wonderful.”
- SH 298:13
Spiritual sense, contradicting the material senses, in-volves intuition, hope, faith, understanding, fruition, real-15ity. Material sense expresses the belief that mind is in matter. This human belief, alternating between a sense of pleasure and pain, hope and fear, life and death, never 18reaches beyond the boundary of the mortal or the unreal. When the real is attained, which is announced by Science, joy is no longer a trembler, nor is hope a cheat. Spirit-21ual ideas, like numbers and notes, start from Principle, and admit no materialistic beliefs. Spiritual ideas lead up to their divine origin, God, and to the spiritual sense 24of being.
- SH 125:12-2 (to 1st .)
12 As human thought changes from one stage to an-other of conscious pain and painlessness, sorrow and joy, — from fear to hope and from faith to understand-15ing, — the visible manifestation will at last be man gov-erned by Soul, not by material sense. Reflecting God’s government, man is self-governed. When subordinate 18to the divine Spirit, man cannot be controlled by sin or death, thus proving our material theories about laws of health to be valueless.
21 The seasons will come and go with changes of time and tide, cold and heat, latitude and longitude. The agri-The time and tideculturist will find that these changes cannot 24affect his crops. “As a vesture shalt Thou change them and they shall be changed.” The mariner will have dominion over the atmosphere and the great 27deep, over the fish of the sea and the fowls of the air. The astronomer will no longer look up to the stars, — he will look out from them upon the universe; and the 30florist will find his flower before its seed.
Thus matter will finally be proved nothing more than a mortal belief, wholly inadequate to affect a man 126 126:1through its supposed organic action or supposed exist-ence.
- SH 318:28-30
- SH 394:7-10, 28-29
- SH 319:5-14, 17
3To calculate one’s life-prospects 6from a material basis, would infringe upon spiritual law and misguide human hope. Having faith in the divine Principle of health and spiritually under-9standing God, sustains man under all circumstances; whereas the lower appeal to the general faith in material means (commonly called nature) must yield to the all-12might of infinite Spirit.
Throughout the infinite cycles of eternal existence, Spirit and matter neither concur in man nor in the universe.
15Mystery, miracle, 18sin, and death will disappear when it becomes fairly understood that the divine Mind controls man and man has no Mind but God.
- SH 531:10 The
- SH 539:30-9
The Science of creation, so conspicuous in the birth of Jesus, inspired his wisest and least-understood sayings, and was the basis of his 540 540:1marvellous demonstrations. Christ is the offspring of Spirit, and spiritual existence shows that Spirit creates 3neither a wicked nor a mortal man, lapsing into sin, sick-ness, and death.
In Isaiah we read: “I make peace, and create evil. I 6 the Lord do all these things;” but the prophet referred to Cleansing upheavaldivine law as stirring up the belief in evil to its utmost, when bringing it to the surface and re-9ducing it to its common denominator, nothingness.
- SH 140:4 (only), 8-17
That God is a corporeal being, nobody can truly affirm. ... We 9shall obey and adore in proportion as we apprehend the divine nature and love Him understandingly, warring no more over the corporeality, but rejoicing in the affluence 12of our God. Religion will then be of the heart and not of the head. Mankind will no longer be tyrannical and pro-scriptive from lack of love, — straining out gnats and 15swallowing camels.
We worship spiritually, only as we cease to worship materially.
- SH 342:21-26
- SH 55:15-16, 21-29
15 Truth’s immortal idea is sweeping down the centuries, gathering beneath its wings the sick and sinning. ... The promises will be ful-filled. The time for the reappearing of the divine healing is throughout all time; and whosoever layeth his earthly 24all on the altar of divine Science, drinketh of Christ’s cup now, and is endued with the spirit and power of Christian healing.
27 In the words of St. John: “He shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever.” This Comforter I understand to be Divine Science.
- SH 368:5-6
