Wednesday Meeting Readings

Home page

First Church of Christ, Scientist, La Cañada Flintridge

Wednesday Meeting Readings

w120125.html

Facing down giants

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

The Bible:

Num 13:1, 2, 17-33
1And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
2Send thou men, that they may search the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel: of every tribe of their fathers shall ye send a man, every one a ruler among them.
17¶And Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said unto them, Get you up this way southward, and go up into the mountain:
18And see the land, what it is; and the people that dwelleth therein, whether they be strong or weak, few or many;
19And what the land is that they dwell in, whether it be good or bad; and what cities they be that they dwell in, whether in tents, or in strong holds;
20And what the land is, whether it be fat or lean, whether there be wood therein, or not. And be ye of good courage, and bring of the fruit of the land. Now the time was the time of the firstripe grapes.
21¶So they went up, and searched the land from the wilderness of Zin unto Rehob, as men come to Hamath.
22And they ascended by the south, and came unto Hebron; where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the children of Anak, were. (Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.)
23And they came unto the brook of Eshcol, and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bare it between two upon a staff; and they brought of the pomegranates, and of the figs.
24The place was called the brook Eshcol, because of the cluster of grapes which the children of Israel cut down from thence.
25And they returned from searching of the land after forty days.
26¶And they went and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh; and brought back word unto them, and unto all the congregation, and shewed them the fruit of the land.
27And they told him, and said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it.
28Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there.
29The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south: and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites, dwell in the mountains: and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by the coast of Jordan.
30And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it.
31But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we.
32And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature.
33And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.
Num 14:1-14 (to :), 19-23, 30
1And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night.
2And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness!
3And wherefore hath the Lord brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? were it not better for us to return into Egypt?
4And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt.
5Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel.
6¶And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of them that searched the land, rent their clothes:
7And they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land.
8If the Lord delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land which floweth with milk and honey.
9 Only rebel not ye against the Lord, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the Lord is with us: fear them not.
10But all the congregation bade stone them with stones. And the glory of the Lord appeared in the tabernacle of the congregation before all the children of Israel.
11¶And the Lord said unto Moses, How long will this people provoke me? and how long will it be ere they believe me, for all the signs which I have shewed among them?
12I will smite them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of thee a greater nation and mightier than they.
13¶And Moses said unto the Lord, Then the Egyptians shall hear it, (for thou broughtest up this people in thy might from among them;)
14And they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land:
19Pardon, I beseech thee, the iniquity of this people according unto the greatness of thy mercy, and as thou hast forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.
20And the Lord said, I have pardoned according to thy word:
21But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord.
22Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice;
23Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it:
30Doubtless ye shall not come into the land, concerning which I sware to make you dwell therein, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.
Isa 46:9, 10
9Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me,
10Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:
Isa 40:28-31
28¶Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.
29He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.
30Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:
31But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
Rev 12:1
1And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars:
II Cor 6:15-18
15And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?
16And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
17Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,
18And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.

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

S&H 216:22

If the decision were left to the corporeal senses, evil
would appear to be the master of good, and sickness to
24be the rule of existence, while health would seem the
exception, death the inevitable, and life a paradox.

Paul
asked: "What concord hath Christ with Belial?" (2 Cor-
27inthians vi. 15.)
S&H 202:17

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.
S&H 374:18
18

You con-
fess to ignorance of the future and incapacity to preserve
your own existence, and this belief helps rather than
21hinders disease.

Such a state of mind induces sickness.

It is like walking in darkness on the edge of a precipice.

You cannot forget the belief of danger, and your steps
24are less firm because of your fear, and ignorance of mental
cause and effect.
S&H 380:15, 28-19
15
The physical effects of fear illustrate its illusion.

Gaz-
ing at a chained lion, crouched for a spring, should not
Benefits of
metaphysics terrify a man.

The body is affected only with
18the belief of disease produced by a so-called
mind ignorant of the truth which chains disease.

Noth-
ing but the power of Truth can prevent the fear of
21error, and prove man's dominion over error.

Nothing is more disheartening than to believe
that there is a power opposite to God, or good, and that
30God endows this opposing power with strength to be used
against Himself, against Life, health, harmony.

Every law of matter or the body, supposed to govern
381:1man, is rendered null and void by the law of Life, God.

Ignorant of our God-given rights, we submit to unjust
Ignorance
of our rights 3decrees, and the bias of education enforces
this slavery.

Be no more willing to suffer the
illusion that you are sick or that some disease is develop-
6ing in the system, than you are to yield to a sinful temp-
tation on the ground that sin has its necessities.

When infringing some supposed law, you say that
9there is danger.

This fear is the danger and induces the
No laws
of matter physical effects.

We cannot in reality suffer
from breaking anything except a moral or
12spiritual law.

The so-called laws of mortal belief are
destroyed by the understanding that Soul is immortal,
and that mortal mind cannot legislate the times, periods,
15and types of disease, with which mortals die.

God is the
lawmaker, but He is not the author of barbarous codes.

In infinite Life and Love there is no sickness, sin, nor
18death, and the Scriptures declare that we live, move, and
have our being in the infinite God.
S&H 514:10-18

Moral courage is "the lion of the tribe of Juda," the
king of the mental realm.

Free and fearless it roams in
Qualities
of thought 12the forest.

Undisturbed it lies in the open
field, or rests in "green pastures, . . . beside
the still waters."

In the figurative transmission from the
15divine thought to the human, diligence, promptness, and
perseverance are likened to "the cattle upon a thousand
hills."

They carry the baggage of stern resolve, and
18keep pace with highest purpose.
S&H 348:14

Are we irreverent towards sin, or imputing too much
15power to God, when we ascribe to Him almighty Life
Elimination
of sickness and Love?

I deny His cooperation with evil,
because I desire to have no faith in evil or in
18any power but God, good.

Is it not well to eliminate from
so-called mortal mind that which, so long as it remains in
mortal mind, will show itself in forms of sin, sickness, and
21death?

Instead of tenaciously defending the supposed
rights of disease, while complaining of the suffering dis-
ease brings, would it not be well to abandon the defence,
24especially when by so doing our own condition can be im-
proved and that of other persons as well?
S&H 130:26

If thought is startled at the strong claim of Science
27for the supremacy of God, or Truth, and doubts the su-
All evil
unnatural premacy of good, ought we not, contrari-
wise, to be astounded at the vigorous claims
30of evil and doubt them, and no longer think it natural to
love sin and unnatural to forsake it, ” no longer imagine
evil to be ever-present and good absent?

Truth should
131:1not seem so surprising and unnatural as error, and error
should not seem so real as truth.

Sickness should not seem
3so real as health.

There is no error in Science, and our
lives must be governed by reality in order to be in har-
mony with God, the divine Principle of all being.
S&H 560:6-15
6
Revelation xii. 1. And there appeared a great wonder in
heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon
under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve
9stars.

Heaven represents harmony, and divine Science inter-
prets the Principle of heavenly harmony.

The great
True estimate
of God's
messenger 12miracle, to human sense, is divine Love, and
the grand necessity of existence is to gain the
true idea of what constitutes the kingdom of
15heaven in man.
S&H 562:3
3

As Elias presented
the idea of the fatherhood of God, which Jesus
afterwards manifested, so the Revelator completed this
6figure with woman, typifying the spiritual idea of God's
motherhood.

The moon is under her feet.

This idea
reveals the universe as secondary and tributary to Spirit,
9from which the universe borrows its reflected light, sub-
stance, life, and intelligence.
S&H 92:21 Until
21
Until
the fact concerning error ” namely, its nothingness ”
Opposing
power appears, the moral demand will not be met,
24and the ability to make nothing of error will
be wanting.

We should blush to call that real which is
only a mistake.

The foundation of evil is laid on a belief
27in something besides God.

This belief tends to support
two opposite powers, instead of urging the claims of Truth
alone.

The mistake of thinking that error can be real,
30when it is merely the absence of truth, leads to belief in
the superiority of error.
S&H 253:18-6
18
If you believe in and practise wrong knowingly, you
can at once change your course and do right.

Matter can
Right
endeavor
possible make no opposition to right endeavors against
21sin or sickness, for matter is inert, mindless.

Also, if you believe yourself diseased, you can
alter this wrong belief and action without hindrance from
24the body.

Do not believe in any supposed necessity for sin, dis-
ease, or death, knowing (as you ought to know) that God
27never requires obedience to a so-called material law, for
no such law exists.

The belief in sin and death is de-
stroyed by the law of God, which is the law of Life in-
30stead of death, of harmony instead of discord, of Spirit
instead of the flesh.

The divine demand, "Be ye therefore perfect," is sci-
254:1entific, and the human footsteps leading to perfection are
indispensable.

Individuals are consistent who, watching
Patience
and final
perfection 3and praying, can "run, and not be weary; . . .
walk, and not faint," who gain good rapidly
and hold their position, or attain slowly and
6yield not to discouragement.
S&H 479:27-29
27
We admit that black is not a color, because it reflects
no light.

So evil should be denied identity or power,
Spiritual
reflection because it has none of the divine hues.
S&H 480:2-5

Where
3the spirit of God is, and there is no place where God is
not, evil becomes nothing, ” the opposite of the some-
thing of Spirit.

From the Christian Science Hymnal
Hymn 391: "Why search the future and the past?"
Hymn 321: "Supreme in wisdom wisdon as in power, The Rock of Ages stands"
Hymn 296: "Rouse ye, soldiers of the cross"

Home page