Wednesday Meeting Readings

First Church of Christ, Scientist, La Cañada Flintridge

Wednesday Meeting Readings

100113-Forgiveness

The necessity and blessing of forgiveness

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Section I

The Bible:

Matt 18:21-24,26-35

21¶Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?

22Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.

23¶Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants.

24And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents.

26The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.

27Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt.

28But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellowservants, which owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest.

29And his fellowservant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.

30And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt.

31So when his fellowservants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done.

32Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me:

33Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee?

34And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him.

35So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.

Gen 42:3

3¶And Joseph's ten brethren went down to buy corn in Egypt.

Gen 45:1 (to ;),4,5,9,11 (to 2nd ;)

1Then Joseph could not refrain himself before all them that stood by him;

4And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt.

5Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life.

9Haste ye, and go up to my father, and say unto him, Thus saith thy son Joseph, God hath made me lord of all Egypt: come down unto me, tarry not:

11And there will I nourish thee; for yet there are five years of famine;

Num 12:1-3,5,9 (to ;),10 and (to :),11,13,14 (to ,),14 let her be shut,15

1And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married: for he had married an Ethiopian woman.

2And they said, Hath the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses? hath he not spoken also by us? And the Lord heard it.

3(Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.)

5And the Lord came down in the pillar of the cloud, and stood in the door of the tabernacle, and called Aaron and Miriam: and they both came forth.

9And the anger of the Lord was kindled against them;

10and, behold, Miriam became leprous, white as snow:

11And Aaron said unto Moses, Alas, my lord, I beseech thee, lay not the sin upon us, wherein we have done foolishly, and wherein we have sinned.

13And Moses cried unto the Lord, saying, Heal her now, O God, I beseech thee.

14¶And the Lord said unto Moses,

14let her be shut out from the camp seven days, and after that let her be received in again.

15And Miriam was shut out from the camp seven days: and the people journeyed not till Miriam was brought in again.

Luke 17:1 (to :),3,4,6

1Then said he unto the disciples, It is impossible but that offences will come:

3¶Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him.

4And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent: thou shalt forgive him.

6And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you.

Luke 22:47-51

47¶And while he yet spake, behold a multitude, and he that was called Judas, one of the twelve, went before them, and drew near unto Jesus to kiss him.

48But Jesus said unto him, Judas, betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss?

49When they which were about him saw what would follow, they said unto him, Lord, shall we smite with the sword?

50¶And one of them smote the servant of the high priest, and cut off his right ear.

51And Jesus answered and said, Suffer ye thus far. And he touched his ear, and healed him.

Luke 23:13,14,16,23 (to .),24,33,34 (to .)

13¶And Pilate, when he had called together the chief priests and the rulers and the people,

14Said unto them, Ye have brought this man unto me, as one that perverteth the people: and, behold, I, having examined him before you, have found no fault in this man touching those things whereof ye accuse him:

16I will therefore chastise him, and release him.

23And they were instant with loud voices, requiring that he might be crucified.

24And Pilate gave sentence that it should be as they required.

33And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left.

34¶Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.

Ps 86:1 O,5 thou,15 thou

1O Lord, hear me: for I am poor and needy.

5thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee.

15thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth.

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

339:1 The

339:1The destruction of sin is the divine method of
pardon. Divine Life destroys death, Truth destroys
Divine
pardon 3error, and Love destroys hate. Being de‐
stroyed, sin needs no other form of forgiveness.
Does not God's pardon, destroying any one sin, prophesy
6and involve the final destruction of all sin?

518:15

15 The rich in spirit help the poor in
one grand brotherhood, all having the same
Principle, or Father; and blessed is that man who seeth
18his brother's need and supplieth it, seeking his own in
another's good. Love giveth to the least spiritual idea
might, immortality, and goodness, which shine through
21all as the blossom shines through the bud. All the varied
expressions of God reflect health, holiness, immortality —
infinite Life, Truth, and Love.

497:9 We

9We acknowledge God's forgiveness of sin in the
destruction of sin and the spiritual understanding that
casts out evil as unreal. But the belief in sin is pun‐
12ished so long as the belief lasts.

78:28

Spirit blesses man, but man cannot "tell whence
it cometh." By it the sick are healed, the sorrowing are
30comforted, and the sinning are reformed. These are the
effects of one universal God, the invisible good dwelling
in eternal Science.

289:9

9 To suppose that sin,
Wickedness
is not man lust, hatred, envy, hypocrisy, revenge, have life
abiding in them, is a terrible mistake. Life
12and Life's idea, Truth and Truth's idea, never make men
sick, sinful, or mortal.

5:23 Sin

Sin is forgiven
Cancellation
of human sin 24only as it is destroyed by Christ, — Truth and
Life. If prayer nourishes the belief that sin is
cancelled, and that man is made better merely by praying,
27prayer is an evil. He grows worse who continues in sin
because he fancies himself forgiven.

6:3-5,17

3 Divine Love corrects and governs man. Men may
pardon, but this divine Principle alone reforms the
Pardon and
amendment sinner.

"God is Love." More than this we cannot ask,
18higher we cannot look, farther we cannot go. To
Mercy without
partiality suppose that God forgives or punishes sin
according as His mercy is sought or un‐
21sought, is to misunderstand Love and to make prayer
the safety-valve for wrong-doing.

419:2

Lurking error, lust, envy, revenge, malice, or hate will
3perpetuate or even create the belief in disease. Errors
of all sorts tend in this direction. Your true course is
to destroy the foe, and leave the field to God, Life, Truth,
6and Love, remembering that God and His ideas alone
are real and harmonious.

329:21 Principle

21Principle is impera‐
tive. You cannot mock it by human will. Science is a
Error
destroyed,
not pardoned divine demand, not a human. Always right,
24its divine Principle never repents, but main‐
tains the claim of Truth by quenching error.
The pardon of divine mercy is the destruction of error. 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.

405:5-11,18

Christian Science commands man to master the pro‐
6pensities, — to hold hatred in abeyance with kindness,
Mental
conspirators to conquer lust with chastity, revenge with
charity, and to overcome deceit with hon‐
9esty. Choke these errors in their early stages, if you
would not cherish an army of conspirators against
health, happiness, and success.

18 The good man finally can overcome his fear of
sin. This is sin's necessity, — to destroy itself. Im‐
mortal man demonstrates the government of God, good,
21in which is no power to sin.

201:17-23 np

The way to extract error from mortal mind is to pour
18in truth through flood-tides of Love. Christian perfec‐
tion is won on no other basis.

Grafting holiness upon unholiness, supposing that sin
202:1can be forgiven when it is not forsaken, is as foolish as
straining out gnats and swallowing camels.

3The scientific unity which exists between God and man
must be wrought out in life-practice, and God's will must
be universally done.

6If men would bring to bear upon the study of the
Science of Mind half the faith they bestow upon the so‐
Divine
study called pains and pleasures of material sense,
9they would not go on from bad to worse,
until disciplined by the prison and the scaffold; but
the whole human family would be redeemed through
12the merits of Christ, — through the perception and ac‐
ceptance of Truth. For this glorious result Christian
Science lights the torch of spiritual understanding.

15Outside of this Science all is mutable; but immortal
man, in accord with the divine Principle of his being,
Harmonious
life-work God, neither sins, suffers, nor dies. The days
18of our pilgrimage will multiply instead of di‐
minish, when God's kingdom comes on earth; for the
true way leads to Life instead of to death, and earthly
21experience discloses the finity of error and the infinite
capacities of Truth, in which God gives man dominion
over all the earth.

9:5-7,11-14,17

The test of all prayer lies in the answer to these
6questions: Do we love our neighbor better because of
Summit of
aspiration this asking?

If selfishness has given place to kindness,
12we shall regard our neighbor unselfishly, and bless
them that curse us; but we shall never meet this great
duty simply by asking that it may be done.

Dost thou "love the Lord thy God with all thy
18heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind"?
Practical
religion This command includes much, even the sur‐
render of all merely material sensation, affec‐
21tion, and worship. This is the El Dorado of Christianity.
It involves the Science of Life, and recognizes only the
divine control of Spirit, in which Soul is our master,
24and material sense and human will have no place.

365:15

15If the Scientist reaches his patient through divine
Love, the healing work will be accomplished at one
Speedy
healing visit, and the disease will vanish into its native
18nothingness like dew before the morning sun‐
shine. If the Scientist has enough Christly affection to
win his own pardon, and such commendation as the Mag‐
21dalen gained from Jesus, then he is Christian enough to
practise scientifically and deal with his patients compas‐
sionately; and the result will correspond with the spiritual
24intent.

From the Christian Science Hymnal:
Hymn 163: “Jesus, what precept is like thine: Forgive, as ye would be forgiven”
Hymn 43: “…O peaceful words of Jesus, WHich come to end all strife”
Hymn 280: “…Ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven, Who like us His praise should sing”