Wednesday Meeting Readings

First Church of Christ, Scientist, La Cañada Flintridge

Wednesday Meeting Readings

091209-Climate

Prayer about climate and weather

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Section I

The Bible:

Ps 29:7,8 (to ;),10,11

7The voice of the Lord divideth the flames of fire.

8The voice of the Lord shaketh the wilderness;

10The Lord sitteth upon the flood; yea, the Lord sitteth King for ever.

11The Lord will give strength unto his people; the Lord will bless his people with peace.

Job 28:3 (to :),4,5,7,9,10 (to ;),11,12,14,23-25 (to ;),26

3He setteth an end to darkness, and searcheth out all perfection:

4The flood breaketh out from the inhabitant: even the waters forgotten of the foot: they are dried up, they are gone away from men.

5As for the earth, out of it cometh bread: and under it is turned up as it were fire.

7There is a path which no fowl knoweth, and which the vulture's eye hath not seen:

9He putteth forth his hand upon the rock; he overturneth the mountains by the roots.

10He cutteth out rivers among the rocks;

11He bindeth the floods from overflowing; and the thing that is hid bringeth he forth to light.

12But where shall wisdom be found? and where is the place of understanding?

14The depth saith, It is not in me: and the sea saith, It is not with me.

23God understandeth the way thereof, and he knoweth the place thereof.

24For he looketh to the ends of the earth, and seeth under the whole heaven;

25To make the weight for the winds;

26When he made a decree for the rain, and a way for the lightning of the thunder:

I Kings 18:41 (to said),41 there,42-45 and he (to .)

41¶And Elijah said

41there is a sound of abundance of rain.

42and he cast himself down upon the earth, and put his face between his knees,

43And said to his servant, Go up now, look toward the sea. And he went up, and looked, and said, There is nothing. And he said, Go again seven times.

44And it came to pass at the seventh time, that he said, Behold, there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a man's hand. And he said, Go up, say unto Ahab, Prepare thy chariot, and get thee down, that the rain stop thee not.

45And it came to pass in the mean while, that the heaven was black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain.

II Kings 3:5 the king of Moab,7 (to 2nd :),9-12,16,17,20

5the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel.

7And he went and sent to Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, saying, The king of Moab hath rebelled against me: wilt thou go with me against Moab to battle? And he said, I will go up:

9So the king of Israel went, and the king of Judah, and the king of Edom: and they fetched a compass of seven days' journey: and there was no water for the host, and for the cattle that followed them.

10And the king of Israel said, Alas! that the Lord hath called these three kings together, to deliver them into the hand of Moab!

11But Jehoshaphat said, Is there not here a prophet of the Lord, that we may inquire of the Lord by him? And one of the king of Israel's servants answered and said, Here is Elisha the son of Shaphat, which poured water on the hands of Elijah.

12And Jehoshaphat said, The word of the Lord is with him. So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to him.

16And he said, Thus saith the Lord, Make this valley full of ditches.

17For thus saith the Lord, Ye shall not see wind, neither shall ye see rain; yet that valley shall be filled with water, that ye may drink, both ye, and your cattle, and your beasts.

20And it came to pass in the morning, when the meat offering was offered, that, behold, there came water by the way of Edom, and the country was filled with water.

II Kings 2:19,20 (to .),21,22

19¶And the men of the city said unto Elisha, Behold, I pray thee, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord seeth: but the water is naught, and the ground barren.

20And he said, Bring me a new cruse, and put salt therein.

21And he went forth unto the spring of the waters, and cast the salt in there, and said, Thus saith the Lord, I have healed these waters; there shall not be from thence any more death or barren land.

22So the waters were healed unto this day, according to the saying of Elisha which he spake.

Mark 6:34 (to 3rd ,),45,47-51 (to :),53 (to 2nd ,),56

34And Jesus, when he came out, saw much people,

45And straightway he constrained his disciples to get into the ship, and to go to the other side before unto Bethsaida, while he sent away the people.

47And when even was come, the ship was in the midst of the sea, and he alone on the land.

48And he saw them toiling in rowing; for the wind was contrary unto them: and about the fourth watch of the night he cometh unto them, walking upon the sea, and would have passed by them.

49But when they saw him walking upon the sea, they supposed it had been a spirit, and cried out:

50For they all saw him, and were troubled. And immediately he talked with them, and saith unto them, Be of good cheer: it is I; be not afraid.

51And he went up unto them into the ship; and the wind ceased:

53And when they had passed over, they came into the land of Gennesaret,

56And whithersoever he entered, into villages, or cities, or country, they laid the sick in the streets, and besought him that they might touch if it were but the border of his garment: and as many as touched him were made whole.

Ps 98:7,8

7Let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.

8Let the floods clap their hands: let the hills be joyful together

Isa 32:17 the work,18

17the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever.

18And my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places;

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

119:17-1

In one sense God is identical with nature, but this na‐
18ture is spiritual and is not expressed in matter. The law‐
God and
nature giver, whose lightning palsies or prostrates in
death the child at prayer, is not the divine ideal
21of omnipresent Love. God is natural good, and is repre‐
sented only by the idea of goodness; while evil should be
regarded as unnatural, because it is opposed to the nature
24of Spirit, God.

In viewing the sunrise, one finds that it contradicts
the evidence before the senses to believe that the earth
The sun
and Soul 27is in motion and the sun at rest. As astron‐
omy reverses the human perception of the
movement of the solar system, so Christian Science re‐
30verses the seeming relation of Soul and body and makes
body tributary to Mind. Thus it is with man, who
is but the humble servant of the restful Mind, though it
120:1seems otherwise to finite sense.

120:7-9

Science reverses the false testimony of the physical
senses, and by this reversal mortals arrive at the funda‐
Reversal of
testimony 9mental facts of being.

122:24

24To material sense, the severance of the jugular vein
Spiritual
sense of life takes away life; but to spiritual sense and
in Science, Life goes on unchanged and
27being is eternal. Temporal life is a false sense of
existence.

293:21

21There is no vapid fury of mortal mind — expressed in
earthquake, wind, wave, lightning, fire, bestial ferocity
The counterfeit
forces — and this so-called mind is self-destroyed.
24The manifestations of evil, which counterfeit
divine justice, are called in the Scriptures, "The anger
of the Lord." In reality, they show the self-destruction
27of error or matter and point to matter's opposite, the
strength and permanency of Spirit. Christian Science
brings to light Truth and its supremacy, universal har‐
30mony, the entireness of God, good, and the nothingness
of evil.

192:11-19,27

Erring power is a material belief, a blind miscalled force,
12the offspring of will and not of wisdom, of the mortal mind
Human power
a blind force and not of the immortal. It is the headlong
cataract, the devouring flame, the tempest's
15breath. It is lightning and hurricane, all that is selfish,
wicked, dishonest, and impure.

Moral and spiritual might belong to Spirit, who holds
18the "wind in His fists;" and this teaching accords with
The one
real power Science and harmony.

27We walk in the footsteps of Truth and Love by follow‐
ing the example of our Master in the understanding of
divine metaphysics. Christianity is the basis of true heal‐
30ing. Whatever holds human thought in line with unselfed
love, receives directly the divine power.

484:13-15,24

The physical universe expresses
the conscious and unconscious thoughts of mortals.
15Physical force and mortal mind are one.

24 Science must triumph
over material sense, and Truth over error, thus putting
an end to the hypotheses involved in all false theories
27and practices.

492:29

The conservative theory, long believed, is that there
30are two factors, matter and mind, uniting on some im‐
possible basis. This theory would keep truth and error
always at war. Victory would perch on neither banner.
493:1On the other hand, Christian Science speedily shows
Truth to be triumphant. To corporeal sense, the sun
Victory
for Truth 3appears to rise and set, and the earth to stand
still; but astronomical science contradicts this,
and explains the solar system as working on a differ‐
6ent plan. All the evidence of physical sense and all the
knowledge obtained from physical sense must yield to
Science, to the immortal truth of all things.

129:7,22-24

If you wish to know the spiritual fact, you can dis‐
Truth by
inversion cover it by reversing the material fable, be the
9fable pro or con, — be it in accord with your
preconceptions or utterly contrary to them.

We must look deep
Ontology
needed into realism instead of accepting only the out‐
24ward sense of things.

124:14-31

The universe, like man, is to be interpreted by Science
15from its divine Principle, God, and then it can be under‐
Right
interpretation stood; but when explained on the basis of
physical sense and represented as subject to
18growth, maturity, and decay, the universe, like man, is,
and must continue to be, an enigma.

Adhesion, cohesion, and attraction are properties of
21Mind. They belong to divine Principle, and support
All force
mental the equipoise of that thought-force, which
launched the earth in its orbit and said to the
24proud wave, "Thus far and no farther."

Spirit is the life, substance, and continuity of all
things. We tread on forces. Withdraw them, and
27creation must collapse. Human knowledge calls them
forces of matter; but divine Science declares that they
belong wholly to divine Mind, are inherent in this
30Mind, and so restores them to their rightful home and
classification.

96:23-30

Belief is
24changeable, but spiritual understanding is changeless.

As this consummation draws nearer, he who has
shaped his course in accordance with divine Science
Millennial
glory 27will endure to the end. As material knowl‐
edge diminishes and spiritual understanding
increases, real objects will be apprehended mentally
30instead of materially.

125:21

21The seasons will come and go with changes of time and
tide, cold and heat, latitude and longitude. The agri‐
The time
and tide culturist 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.

127:4

If God, the All-in-all, be the creator of
the spiritual universe, including man, then everything
6entitled to a classification as truth, or Science, must be
comprised in a knowledge or understanding of God, for
there can be nothing beyond illimitable divinity.

171:4-13

Through discernment of the spiritual opposite of ma‐
teriality, even the way through Christ, Truth, man will
Paradise
regained 6reopen with the key of divine Science the gates
of Paradise which human beliefs have closed,
and will find himself unfallen, upright, pure, and free,
9not needing to consult almanacs for the probabilities either
of his life or of the weather, not needing to study brain‐
ology to learn how much of a man he is.

12Mind's control over the universe, including man, is
no longer an open question, but is demonstrable Science.

From the Christian Science Hymnal:
Hymn 102: "Hear our prayer, O gracious Father, Author of celestial good"
Hymn 93: "Happy the man whose heart can rest, Assured God's goodness ne'er will cease"
Hymn 164: "…He rules the world with truth and grace"