Wednesday Meeting Readings

First Church of Christ, Scientist, La Cañada Flintridge

Wednesday Meeting Readings

100127-Government

Divine intelligence governs, from nations to churches

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Section I

The Bible:

Ps 22:27,28

27All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee.

28For the kingdom is the Lord's: and he is the governor among the nations.

Ps 67:6

6Then shall the earth yield her increase; and God, even our own God, shall bless us.

Dan 4:1 (to ;),2,5,6 (to ,),7 but,8 at (to :),19 Belteshazzar answered,27,30,31,33 and he,34,36 (to ;),36 and I,37 (to :)

1Nebuchadnezzar the king, unto all people, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth;

2I thought it good to shew the signs and wonders that the high God hath wrought toward me.

5I saw a dream which made me afraid, and the thoughts upon my bed and the visions of my head troubled me.

6Therefore made I a decree to bring in all the wise men of Babylon before me,

7but they did not make known unto me the interpretation thereof.

8at the last Daniel came in before me, whose name was Belteshazzar, according to the name of my god, and in whom is the spirit of the holy gods:

19Belteshazzar answered and said, My lord, the dream be to them that hate thee, and the interpretation thereof to thine enemies.

27Wherefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable unto thee, and break off thy sins by righteousness, and thine iniquities by shewing mercy to the poor; if it may be a lengthening of thy tranquillity.

30The king spake, and said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty?

31While the word was in the king's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken; The kingdom is departed from thee.

33and he was driven from men, and did eat grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagles' feathers, and his nails like birds' claws.

34And at the end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the most High, and I praised and honoured him that liveth for ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation:

36At the same time my reason returned unto me;

36and I was established in my kingdom, and excellent majesty was added unto me.

37Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment:

John 2:1 there was,3,5,7-10

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

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

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

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.

Mark 12:13,14,15-17 But

13¶And they send unto him certain of the Pharisees and of the Herodians, to catch him in his words.

14And when they were come, they say unto him, Master, we know that thou art true, and carest for no man: for thou regardest not the person of men, but teachest the way of God in truth: Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar, or not?

15But he, knowing their hypocrisy, said unto them, Why tempt ye me? bring me a penny, that I may see it.

16And they brought it. And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription? And they said unto him, Caesar's.

17And Jesus answering said unto them, Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's. And they marvelled at him.

Luke 4:16-20 (to .),21

16¶And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.

17And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written,

18The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,

19To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.

20And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down.

21And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.

Rev 21:1,3,5 (to .)

1And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.

3And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.

5And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new.

Isa 2:2,3 and he (to :),4 (to ,)

2And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.

3and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths:

4And he shall judge among the nations,

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

275:10

To grasp the reality and order of being in its Science,
you must begin by reckoning God as the divine Principle
Divine
synonyms 12of all that really is. Spirit, Life, Truth, Love,
combine as one, — and are the Scriptural names
for God. All substance, intelligence, wisdom, being, im‐
15mortality, cause, and effect belong to God. These are
His attributes, the eternal manifestations of the infinite
divine Principle, Love. No wisdom is wise but His
18wisdom; no truth is true, no love is lovely, no life is Life
but the divine; no good is, but the good God bestows.

2:23-3 God is intelligence

God is
24intelligence. Can we inform the infinite Mind of any‐
God's
standard thing He does not already comprehend?
Do we expect to change perfection? Shall
27we plead for more at the open fount, which is pour‐
ing forth more than we accept? The unspoken desire
does bring us nearer the source of all existence and
30blessedness.

Asking God to be God is a vain repetition. God is
"the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever;" and
3:1He who is immutably right will do right without being
reminded of His province. The wisdom of man is not
3sufficient to warrant him in advising God.

136:1-6

136:1Jesus established his church and maintained his mission
on a spiritual foundation of Christ-healing. He taught
The
Christ-mission 3his followers that his religion had a divine
Principle, which would cast out error and heal
both the sick and the sinning. He claimed no intelli‐
6gence, action, nor life separate from God.

234:4-12

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

9We should become more familiar with good than with
evil, and guard against false beliefs as watchfully as we
Hospitality
to health
and good bar our doors against the approach of thieves
12and murderers.

402:20-22

We say that one human mind can influence another and
21in this way affect the body, but we rarely remember that
The evil of
mesmerism we govern our own bodies.

73:8

The belief that one man, as spirit, can control an‐
9other man, as matter, upsets both the individuality and
One
government the Science of man, for man is image. God
controls man, and God is the only Spirit. Any
12other control or attraction of so-called spirit is a mortal
belief, which ought to be known by its fruit, — the repe‐
tition of evil.

541:16

The erroneous belief that life, substance, and intelli‐
gence can be material ruptures the life and brotherhood
18of man at the very outset.

94:14

Tyranny, intolerance, and bloodshed, wherever found,
15arise from the belief that the infinite is formed after the
pattern of mortal personality, passion, and impulse.

133:8

In Egypt, it was Mind which saved the Israelites from
9belief in the plagues. In the wilderness, streams flowed
from the rock, and manna fell from the sky. The Israelites
looked upon the brazen serpent, and straightway believed
12that they were healed of the poisonous stings of vipers.
In national prosperity, miracles attended the successes of
the Hebrews; but when they departed from the true
15idea, their demoralization began. Even in captivity
among foreign nations, the divine Principle wrought
wonders for the people of God in the fiery furnace and
18in kings' palaces.

566:1

566:1As the children of Israel were guided triumphantly
through the Red Sea, the dark ebbing and flowing tides
Spiritual
guidance 3of human fear, — as they were led through the
wilderness, walking wearily through the great
desert of human hopes, and anticipating the promised
6joy, — so shall the spiritual idea guide all right desires
in their passage from sense to Soul, from a material sense
of existence to the spiritual, up to the glory prepared for
9them who love God. Stately Science pauses not, but
moves before them, a pillar of cloud by day and of fire
by night, leading to divine heights.

340:23

One infinite God, good, unifies men and nations; con‐
24stitutes the brotherhood of man; ends wars; fulfils the
Scripture, "Love thy neighbor as thyself;" annihilates
pagan and Christian idolatry, — whatever is wrong in
27social, civil, criminal, political, and religious codes;
equalizes the sexes; annuls the curse on man, and leaves
nothing that can sin, suffer, be punished or destroyed.

254:10

When we wait
patiently on God and seek Truth righteously, He directs
12our path. Imperfect mortals grasp the ultimate of spir‐
itual perfection slowly; but to begin aright and to con‐
tinue the strife of demonstrating the great problem of
15being, is doing much.

393:16-18

Be firm in your understanding that the divine Mind
governs, and that in Science man reflects God's govern‐
No pain
in matter 18ment.

63:5

In Science man is the offspring of Spirit. The beauti‐
6ful, good, and pure constitute his ancestry. His origin is
Spiritual
origin not, like that of mortals, in brute instinct, nor
does he pass through material conditions prior
9to reaching intelligence. Spirit is his primitive and ulti‐
mate source of being; God is his Father, and Life is the
law of his being.

276:4-24

When the divine precepts
are understood, they unfold the foundation of fellowship,
6in which one mind is not at war with another, but all have
one Spirit, God, one intelligent source, in accordance with
the Scriptural command: "Let this Mind be in you,
9which was also in Christ Jesus." Man and his Maker
are correlated in divine Science, and real consciousness
is cognizant only of the things of God.

12The realization that all inharmony is unreal brings
objects and thoughts into human view in their true light,
and presents them as beautiful and immortal. Harmony
15in man is as real and immortal as in music. Discord is
unreal and mortal.

If God is admitted to be the only Mind and Life,
18there ceases to be any opportunity for sin and death.
Perfection
requisite When we learn in Science how to be perfect
even as our Father in heaven is perfect,
21thought is turned into new and healthy channels, —
towards the contemplation of things immortal and away
from materiality to the Principle of the universe, includ‐
24ing harmonious man.

From the Christian Science Hymnal:
Hymn 270: “…Our God is Mind, the perfect Mind, Intelligence divine”
Hymn 122: “How blest are they whose hearts are pure; From guile their ughts are free”
Hymn 157: “Jesus' prayer for all his brethren: Father, that they may be one”