First Church of Christ, Scientist, La Cañada Flintridge

Wednesday Meeting Readings

w210120
Spiritual peace unites us all
Wednesday, January 20, 2021
The Bible
  1. Jer. 29:8 thus, 11-14 (to ;)

    8thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Let not your prophets and your diviners, that be in the midst of you, deceive you, neither hearken to your dreams which ye cause to be dreamed.

    11For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

    12Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.

    13And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.

    14And I will be found of you, saith the Lord: and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the Lord;

  2. Ps. 107:1, 9, 29, 30, 43

    1O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.

    ... 9For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness.

    ... 29He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still.

    30Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven.

    ... 43Whoso is wise, and will observe these things, even they shall understand the lovingkindness of the Lord.

  3. Gen. 1:7-10

    7And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.

    8And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.

    9And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.

    10And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.

  4. Gen. 32:3, 6, 7 (to :), 9, 11, 13

    3And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother unto the land of Seir, the country of Edom.

    6And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, We came to thy brother Esau, and also he cometh to meet thee, and four hundred men with him.

    7Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed:

    9And Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, the Lord which saidst unto me, Return unto thy country, and to thy kindred, and I will deal well with thee:

    ... 11Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau: for I fear him, lest he will come and smite me, and the mother with the children.

    13And he lodged there that same night; and took of that which came to his hand a present for Esau his brother;

  5. Gen. 33:1 (to 1st .), 4, 8-10, 11 2nd And, 13, 15, 16

    1And Jacob lifted up his eyes, and looked, and, behold, Esau came, and with him four hundred men.

    ... 4And Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him: and they wept.

    ... 8And he said, What meanest thou by all this drove which I met? And he said, These are to find grace in the sight of my lord.

    9And Esau said, I have enough, my brother; keep that thou hast unto thyself.

    10And Jacob said, Nay, I pray thee, if now I have found grace in thy sight, then receive my present at my hand: for therefore I have seen thy face, as though I had seen the face of God, and thou wast pleased with me.

    11 ... And he urged him, and he took it.

    ... 13And he said unto him, My lord knoweth that the children are tender, and the flocks and herds with young are with me: and if men should overdrive them one day, all the flock will die.

    ... 15And Esau said, Let me now leave with thee some of the folk that are with me. And he said, What needeth it? let me find grace in the sight of my lord.

    16So Esau returned that day on his way unto Seir.

  6. Matt. 8:28-32

    28And when he was come to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way.

    29And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time?

    30And there was a good way off from them an herd of many swine feeding.

    31So the devils besought him, saying, If thou cast us out, suffer us to go away into the herd of swine.

    32And he said unto them, Go. And when they were come out, they went into the herd of swine: and, behold, the whole herd of swine ran violently down a steep place into the sea, and perished in the waters.

  7. Ps. 146:2 (to :), 3, 5, 6 (to 1st :), 7, 8 (to 2nd :), 9 (to :), 10 (to 1st .)

    2While I live will I praise the Lord:

    ... 3Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help.

    ... 5Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God:

    6Which made heaven, and earth, the sea, and all that therein is:

    ... 7Which executeth judgment for the oppressed: which giveth food to the hungry. The Lord looseth the prisoners:

    8The Lord openeth the eyes of the blind: the Lord raiseth them that are bowed down:

    ... 9The Lord preserveth the strangers; he relieveth the fatherless and widow:

    ... 10The Lord shall reign for ever, even thy God, O Zion, unto all generations.


Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures

by Mary Baker Eddy
  1. SH 336:25 God

    God, the divine Principle of man, and man in God’s likeness are inseparable, harmonious, and eternal. 27God the parent MindThe Science of being furnishes the rule of per-fection, and brings immortality to light. God and man are not the same, but in the order of divine Sci-30ence, God and man coexist and are eternal. God is the parent Mind, and man is God’s spiritual offspring.

  2. SH 337:20 The

    The true idea of man, as the reflection of the 21invisible God, is as incomprehensible to the limited senses True idea of manas is man’s infinite Principle. The visible uni-verse and material man are the poor counter-24feits of the invisible universe and spiritual man. Eternal things (verities) are God’s thoughts as they exist in the spiritual realm of the real. Temporal things are the 27thoughts of mortals and are the unreal, being the oppo-site of the real or the spiritual and eternal.

  3. SH 505:16-17, 20-28

        Spirit imparts the understanding which uplifts con-sciousness and leads into all truth. ... Spiritual sense is the discernment of spiritual 21good. Understanding is the line of demarcation between the real and unreal. Spiritual understanding unfolds Mind, — Life, Truth, and Love, — and demonstrates the 24divine sense, giving the spiritual proof of the universe in Christian Science.

        This understanding is not intellectual, is not the result 27of scholarly attainments; it is the reality of all things Original reflectedbrought to light.

  4. SH 506:10, 18

        Through divine Science, Spirit, God, unites under -standing to eternal harmony. The calm and exalted 12Exalted thoughtthought or spiritual apprehension is at peace. Thus the dawn of ideas goes on, forming each successive stage of progress.

    18    Spirit, God, gathers unformed thoughts into their Unfolding of thoughtsproper channels, and unfolds these thoughts, even as He opens the petals of a holy purpose 21in order that the purpose may appear.

  5. SH 298:13-20, 22

        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. ... Spiritual ideas lead up to their divine origin, God, and to the spiritual sense 24of being.

  6. SH 329:26 If

    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.

  7. SH 265:5-15, 20-30

    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.

    The 21truth of being is perennial, and the error is unreal and obsolete.

        Who that has felt the loss of human peace has not gained 24stronger desires for spiritual joy? The aspiration after Blessings from painheavenly good comes even before we discover what belongs to wisdom and Love. The loss 27of earthly hopes and pleasures brightens the ascending path of many a heart. The pains of sense quickly inform us that the pleasures of sense are mortal and that joy is 30spiritual.

  8. SH 507:24-25, 28

    24    Infinite Mind creates and governs all, from the men-tal molecule to infinity. ... Creation is ever appearing, and must ever con-tinue to appear from the nature of its inexhaustible source. 30Mortal sense inverts this appearing and calls ideas mate-rial. Thus misinterpreted, the divine idea seems to fall 508 508:1to the level of a human or material belief, called mortal man. But the seed is in itself, only as the divine Mind 3 is All and reproduces all — as Mind is the multiplier, and Mind’s infinite idea, man and the universe, is the product. The only intelligence or substance of a thought, 6a seed, or a flower is God, the creator of it. Mind is the Soul of all. Mind is Life, Truth, and Love which gov -erns all.

  9. SH 264:20 (only), 24-3

        Spirit and its formations are the only realities of being. ... Spiritual living and blessedness are the only evidences, by which we can recognize true existence and feel the unspeakable peace 27which comes from an all-absorbing spiritual love.

        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.

  10. SH 125:12

    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.

  11. 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.


From the Christian Science Hymnal:
Hymn 547: “… God's love and blessing, then and there, Are now and here and everywhere”
Hymn 596: “When peace, like a river, flows calmly each day, Or sorrows like seas surge and roll … It is well, it is well with my soul”
Hymn 524: “… One in the Spirit, blessing each hour, One in kindness, one in peace”