First Church of Christ, Scientist, La Cañada Flintridge

Wednesday Meeting Readings

w190424
Our natural expectation of spiritual good
Wednesday, April 24, 2019
The Bible
  1. Gen. 1:26, 27 (to ;)

    26And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

    27So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him;

  2. Ps. 62:1, 5, 6, 8 (to ;)

    1Truly my soul waiteth upon God: from him cometh my salvation.

    ... 5My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him.

    6He only is my rock and my salvation: he is my defence; I shall not be moved.

    ... 8Trust in him at all times;

  3. Prov. 23:12, 18, 19

    12Apply thine heart unto instruction, and thine ears to the words of knowledge.

    ... 18For surely there is an end; and thine expectation shall not be cut off.

    19Hear thou, my son, and be wise, and guide thine heart in the way.

  4. II Kings 4:1-7

    1Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets unto Elisha, saying, Thy servant my husband is dead; and thou knowest that thy servant did fear the Lord: and the creditor is come to take unto him my two sons to be bondmen.

    2And Elisha said unto her, What shall I do for thee? tell me, what hast thou in the house? And she said, Thine handmaid hath not any thing in the house, save a pot of oil.

    3Then he said, Go, borrow thee vessels abroad of all thy neighbours, even empty vessels; borrow not a few.

    4And when thou art come in, thou shalt shut the door upon thee and upon thy sons, and shalt pour out into all those vessels, and thou shalt set aside that which is full.

    5So she went from him, and shut the door upon her and upon her sons, who brought the vessels to her; and she poured out.

    6And it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said unto her son, Bring me yet a vessel. And he said unto her, There is not a vessel more. And the oil stayed.

    7Then she came and told the man of God. And he said, Go, sell the oil, and pay thy debt, and live thou and thy children of the rest.

  5. Matt. 6:33 seek

    33seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

  6. John 2:1-10

    1And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there:

    2And both Jesus was called, and his disciples, to the marriage.

    3And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine.

    4Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come.

    5His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.

    6And there were set there six waterpots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece.

    7Jesus saith unto them, Fill the waterpots with water. And they filled them up to the brim.

    8And he saith unto them, Draw out now, and bear unto the governor of the feast. And they bare it.

    9When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it was: (but the servants which drew the water knew;) the governor of the feast called the bridegroom,

    10And saith unto him, Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast kept the good wine until now.

  7. Isa. 40:21, 25, 26, 29-31

    21Have ye not known? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth?

    ... 25To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One.

    26Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth.

    29He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.

    30Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:

    31But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

  8. Acts 3:1-8

    1Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour.

    2And a certain man lame from his mother’s womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple;

    3Who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple asked an alms.

    4And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us.

    5And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them.

    6Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.

    7And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength.

    8And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God.

  9. Rom. 8:38 I, 39

    38I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,

    39Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

  10. Prov. 24:13, 14

    13My son, eat thou honey, because it is good; and the honeycomb, which is sweet to thy taste:

    14So shall the knowledge of wisdom be unto thy soul: when thou hast found it, then there shall be a reward, and thy expectation shall not be cut off.


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

  1. SH 1:1-4, 6

    1:1The prayer that reforms the sinner and heals the sick is an absolute faith that all things are 3possible to God, — a spiritual understanding of Him, an unselfed love. 6 ... Prayer, watching, and working, combined with self-im-molation, are God’s gracious means for accomplishing whatever has been successfully done for the Christian-9ization and health of mankind.

  2. SH 123:12

    Divine Science, rising above physical theories, excludes matter, resolves things into thoughts, and replaces the objects of 15material sense with spiritual ideas.

  3. SH 426:8-9

    When the desti-9nation is desirable, expectation speeds our progress.

  4. SH 280:30-4

    The only excuse for entertaining human opinions and rejecting the Science of being is our mortal ignorance of Spirit, — ignorance 281 281:1which yields only to the understanding of divine Science, the understanding by which we enter into the kingdom 3of Truth on earth and learn that Spirit is infinite and supreme.

  5. SH 380:32

        Every law of matter or the body, supposed to govern 381 381:1man, is rendered null and void by the law of Life, God. Ignorant of our God-given rights, we submit to unjust 3Ignorance of our rightsdecrees, and the bias of education enforces this slavery. Be no more willing to suffer the illusion that you are sick or that some disease is develop-6ing in the system, than you are to yield to a sinful temp-tation on the ground that sin has its necessities.

  6. SH 261:2

    Look away from the body into Truth and Love, 3the Principle of all happiness, harmony, and immortality. Hold thought steadfastly to the endur -ing, the good, and the true, and you will bring these 6into your experience proportionably to their occupancy of your thoughts.

  7. SH 396:10-21, 26-30

    Never say beforehand how much you have to contend with in a case, nor encourage in the patient’s 12thought the expectation of growing worse before a crisis is passed.

        The refutation of the testimony of material sense is 15not a difficult task in view of the conceded falsity of this False testimony refutedtestimony. The refutation becomes arduous, not because the testimony of sin or disease is 18true, but solely on account of the tenacity of belief in its truth, due to the force of education and the overwhelm-ing weight of opinions on the wrong side, — all teaching 21that the body suffers, as if matter could have sensation.

    Keep distinctly in 27thought that man is the offspring of God, not of man; that man is spiritual, not material; that Soul is Spirit, outside of matter, never in it, never giving the body life 30and sensation.

  8. SH 485:19

    18The belief that life can be in matter or soul in body, and that man springs from dust or from an egg, 21is the result of the mortal error which Christ, or Truth, destroys by fulfilling the spiritual law of being, in which man is perfect, even as the “Father which is in heaven 24is perfect.” If thought yields its dominion to other powers, it cannot outline on the body its own beautiful images, but it effaces them and delineates foreign agents, 27called disease and sin.

  9. SH 510:28

    27Sci-ence reveals only one Mind, and this one shin-30ing by its own light and governing the universe, including 511 511:1man, in perfect harmony. This Mind forms ideas, its own images, subdivides and radiates their borrowed light, 3intelligence, and so explains the Scripture phrase, “whose seed is in itself.” Thus God’s ideas “multiply and re -plenish the earth.” The divine Mind supports the sub -6limity, magnitude, and infinitude of spiritual creation.

  10. SH 167:22

    It is not wise to take a halt-ing and half-way position or to expect to work 24equally with Spirit and matter, Truth and error. There is but one way — namely, God and His idea — which leads to spiritual being. The scientific government of the 27body must be attained through the divine Mind. It is im-possible to gain control over the body in any other way. On this fundamental point, timid conservatism is abso -30lutely inadmissible. Only through radical reliance on Truth can scientific healing power be realized.

  11. SH 409:20

    The real man is 21spiritual and immortal, but the mortal and imperfect so-called “children of men” are counterfeits from the beginning, to be laid aside for the pure reality. This 24mortal is put off, and the new man or real man is put on, in proportion as mortals realize the Science of man and seek the true model.

  12. SH 191:16, 24-25, 30-1

        The human thought must free itself from self-imposed Spiritual freedommateriality and bondage. It should no longer 18ask of the head, heart, or lungs: What are man’s prospects for life? Mind is not helpless. Intelli-gence is not mute before non-intelligence.

    24    The Science of being reveals man and immortality as based on Spirit.

    Mind has no affinity with matter, and therefore Truth is able to cast out the ills of the flesh. Mind, God, sends forth the aroma of Spirit, 192 192:1the atmosphere of intelligence.

  13. SH 459:27

    Guided by divine Truth and not guesswork, the theologus (that is, the student — the Christian and scientific expounder — of the divine 30law) treats disease with more certain results than any other healer on the globe. The Christian Scientist should understand and adhere strictly to the rules of divine meta-460460:1physics as laid down in this work, and rest his demonstra-tion on this sure basis.

  14. SH 234:4

        Whatever inspires with wisdom, Truth, or Love — be it song, sermon, or Science — blesses the human family 6Crumbs of comfortwith crumbs of comfort from Christ’s table, feeding the hungry and giving living waters to the thirsty.

  15. SH 367:30-4

    30    Because Truth is infinite, error should be known as nothing. Because Truth is omnipotent in goodness, error, Truth’s opposite, has no might. Evil is but the 368 368:1counterpoise of nothingness. The greatest wrong is but a supposititious opposite of the highest right. The 3Real and counterfeitconfidence inspired by Science lies in the fact that Truth is real and error is unreal.

  16. SH 368:5-6

    Divine Science insists that 6time will prove all this.

  17. SH 452:22-23

    When the spiritual sense of Truth unfolds its harmonies, you take no risks in the policy of error.

  18. SH 496:15

    15Hold perpetually this thought, — that it is the spiritual idea, the Holy Ghost and Christ, which enables you to demonstrate, with scientific certainty, the rule of healing, 18based upon its divine Principle, Love, underlying, over-lying, and encompassing all true being.


From the Christian Science Hymnal
Hymn 382: “… Thou hast the gift of God — Dominioin over all”
Hymn 510: “… We know that man beloved is in God's care”
Hymn 351: “… Onward goes the pilgrim band, Singing songs of expectation”