First Church of Christ, Scientist, La CaÑada Flintridge

Wednesday Meeting Readings

1. Isaiah 58:13, 14 [From the New International Version]

   13"If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath
   and from doing as you please on my holy day,
   if you call the Sabbath a delight
   and the LORD’s holy day honorable,
   and if you honor it by not going your own way
   and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,
   

   14then you will find your joy in the LORD,
   and I will cause you to ride in triumph on the heights of the land
   and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.” For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

2. Gen 6:9 Noah was, 12, 13 (to 1st ;), 14, 17-20 (to 3rd ,), 22

   9Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.

   12And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.

   13And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me;

   14¶Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch.

   17And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die.

   18But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons' wives with thee.

   19And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female.

   20Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind,

   22Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he.

3. Gen 7:1, 7, 17

   1And the Lord said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation.

   7¶And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood.

   17And the flood was forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lift up above the earth.

4. Gen 1:20

   20And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.

5. Gen 8:6-13, 15, 16

   6¶And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made:

   7And he sent forth a raven, which went forth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the earth.

   8Also he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground;

   9But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him into the ark, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth: then he put forth his hand, and took her, and pulled her in unto him into the ark.

   10And he stayed yet other seven days; and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark;

   11And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf pluckt off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth.

   12And he stayed yet other seven days; and sent forth the dove; which returned not again unto him any more.

   13¶And it came to pass in the six hundredth and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from off the earth: and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and, behold, the face of the ground was dry.

   15¶And God spake unto Noah, saying,

   16Go forth of the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons' wives with thee.

6. Gen 9:1, 12-15 (to ;)

   1And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.

   12And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations:

   13I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.

   14And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud:

   15And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh;

7. Isa 2:2, 3

   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 many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

8. Ps 24:3-5

   3Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in his holy place?

   4He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.

   5He shall receive the blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.

9. Col 3:1, 2

   1If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.

   2Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.

10. Rom 12:2 be

    2be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

11. Luke 13:11-13

    11¶And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself.

    12And when Jesus saw her, he called her to him, and said unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity.

    13And he laid his hands on her: and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God.

12. Eccl 3:1-8, 10, 11, 14

    1To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

    2A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

    3A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;

    4A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

    5A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

    6A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

    7A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

    8A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

    10I have seen the travail, which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it.

    11He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.

    14I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before him.

1. S&H 595:17
   TIME. Mortal measurements; limits, in which are
   18summed up all human acts, thoughts, beliefs, opinions,
   knowledge; matter; error; that which begins before,
   and continues after, what is termed death, until the mortal
   21disappears and spiritual perfection appears.

   
   
2. S&H 95:28-32
   Lulled by stupefying illusions, the world is asleep
   in the cradle of infancy, dreaming away the hours.

   
   Spiritual
   awakening 30

   Material sense does not unfold the facts of
   existence; but spiritual sense lifts human
   consciousness into eternal Truth.

   
   
3. S&H 520:26-28, 30
   Mor-
   27tal thought drops into the ground, but the immortal creat-
   ing thought is from above, not from beneath.

   
   

   30

   Spirit acts through the Science of Mind,
   never causing man to till the ground, but making him
   521:1superior to the soil.

   Knowledge of this lifts man above
   the sod, above earth and its environments, to conscious
   3spiritual harmony and eternal being.

   
   
4. S&H 511:19, 28
   Genesis i. 20. And God said, Let the waters bring forth
   abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl
   21that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of
   heaven.

   
   

   The
   fowls, which fly above the earth in the open firmament
   512:1of heaven, correspond to aspirations soaring beyond and
   above corporeality to the understanding of the incorporeal
   3and divine Principle, Love.

   
   
5. S&H 262:9
   9

   We cannot fathom the nature and quality of God's
   creation by diving into the shallows of mortal belief.

   We
   must reverse our feeble flutterings ” our efforts to find
   12life and truth in matter ” and rise above the testimony
   of the material senses, above the mortal to the immortal
   idea of God.

   These clearer, higher views inspire the God-
   15like man to reach the absolute centre and circumference
   of his being.

   
   
6. S&H 265:5-15
   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
   12and 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.

   
   
7. S&H 128:14
   A knowl-
   15edge of the Science of being develops the latent abilities
   and possibilities of man.

   It extends the atmosphere of
   thought, giving mortals access to broader and higher
   18realms.

   It raises the thinker into his native air of insight
   and perspicacity.

   
   
8. S&H 506:10-12
   Through divine Science, Spirit, God, unites under-
   standing to eternal harmony.

   The calm and exalted
   Exalted
   thought 12thought or spiritual apprehension is at peace.

   
   
9. S&H 257:24-27
   24

   Who hath found finite life
   or love sufficient to meet the demands of human
   want and woe, ” to still the desires, to satisfy the aspira-
   27tions?

   
   
10. S&H 258:1-6, 13-15
    258:1

    A mortal, corporeal, or
    finite conception of God cannot embrace the glories of
    Infinite
    physique
    impossible 3limitless, incorporeal Life and Love.

    Hence
    the unsatisfied human craving for something
    better, higher, holier, than is afforded by a
    6material belief in a physical God and man.

    
    

    God expresses in man the infinite idea forever develop-
    ing itself, broadening and rising higher and higher from
    15a boundless basis.

    
    
11. S&H 264:20-31
    Spirit and its formations are the only realities of being.

    
    21

    Matter disappears under the microscope of Spirit.

    Sin
    Spiritual
    proofs of
    existence is unsustained by Truth, and sickness and
    death were overcome by Jesus, who proved
    24them to be forms of error.

    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.

    
    
12. S&H 354:14, 23
    Surely
    15it is not enough to cleave to barren and desul-
    tory dogmas, derived from the traditions of the elders who
    thereunto have set their seals.

    
    

    The night of materiality is far spent, and with
    24the dawn Truth will waken men spiritually to hear and
    to speak the new tongue.

    
    
13. S&H 285:27
    27

    As mortals
    reach, through knowledge of Christian Science, a higher
    sense, they will seek to learn, not from matter, but from
    30the divine Principle, God, how to demonstrate the Christ,
    Truth, as the healing and saving power.

    
    
14. S&H 428:22
    The great spiritual fact must be brought out that man
    is, not shall be, perfect and immortal.

    We must hold
    The present
    immortality 24forever the consciousness of existence, and
    sooner or later, through Christ and Christian
    Science, we must master sin and death.

    The evidence
    27of man's immortality will become more apparent, as ma-
    terial beliefs are given up and the immortal facts of being
    are admitted.

    
    
15. S&H 289:2-4
    Mortal man can never rise from the temporal debris
    3of error, belief in sin, sickness, and death, until he learns
    that God is the only Life.

    
    
16. S&H 491:11
    Matter cannot connect mortals with the true
    12origin and facts of being, in which all must end.

    It is only
    by acknowledging the supremacy of Spirit, which annuls
    the claims of matter, that mortals can lay off mortality and
    15find the indissoluble spiritual link which establishes man
    forever in the divine likeness, inseparable from his creator.

    
    
17. S&H 581:8-14
    ark. Safety; the idea, or reflection, of Truth, proved
    9to be as immortal as its Principle; the understanding of
    Spirit, destroying belief in matter.

    
    

    God and man coexistent and eternal; Science show-
    12ing that the spiritual realities of all things are created
    by Him and exist forever.

    The ark indicates temptation
    overcome and followed by exaltation.

    
    
18. S&H 167:6
    6

    We apprehend Life in divine Science only
    as we live above corporeal sense and correct it.

    Our pro-
    portionate admission of the claims of good or of evil de-
    9termines the harmony of our existence, ” our health, our
    longevity, and our Christianity.

    
    
19. S&H 197:11
    The less that is said of physical structure and laws, and
    Higher
    standard
    for mortals 12the more that is thought and said about moral
    and spiritual law, the higher will be the stand-
    ard of living and the farther mortals will be re-
    15moved from imbecility or disease.

    
    
20. S&H 205:32
    When we fully understand our relation to the Divine,
    206:1we can have no other Mind but His, ” no other Love,
    wisdom, or Truth, no other sense of Life, and no con-
    3sciousness of the existence of matter or error.

    
    
21. S&H 492:3-12
    3

    For right reasoning there should be but one fact before
    the thought, namely, spiritual existence.

    In reality there
    is no other existence, since Life cannot be united to its
    6unlikeness, mortality.

    
    

    Being is holiness, harmony, immortality.

    It is already
    proved that a knowledge of this, even in small degree,
    Mind one
    and all 9will uplift the physical and moral standard
    of mortals, will increase longevity, will purify
    and elevate character.

    Thus progress will finally destroy
    12all error, and bring immortality to light.