First Church of Christ, Scientist, La Cañada Flintridge
Wednesday Meeting Readings
- Ex. 33:11 (to 1st .), 12-14
11And the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend.
12¶ And Moses said unto the Lord, See, thou sayest unto me, Bring up this people: and thou hast not let me know whom thou wilt send with me. Yet thou hast said, I know thee by name, and thou hast also found grace in my sight.
13Now therefore, I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, shew me now thy way, that I may know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight: and consider that this nation is thy people.
14And he said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest.
- Jer. 31:1-3
1At the same time, saith the Lord, will I be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people.
2Thus saith the Lord, The people which were left of the sword found grace in the wilderness; even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest.
3The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.
- Prov. 3:33, 34
33¶ The curse of the Lord is in the house of the wicked: but he blesseth the habitation of the just.
34Surely he scorneth the scorners: but he giveth grace unto the lowly.
- Prov. 1:7-9
7¶ The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
8My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother:
9For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck.
- Ps. 84:10-12
10For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.
11For the Lord God is a sun and shield: the Lord will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.
12O Lord of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee.
- John 1:6-18
6¶ There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
7The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.
8He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.
9That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.
10He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.
11He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
12But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
13Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
14And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
15¶ John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me.
16And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.
17For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
18No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.
- Acts 20:16-18 Paul, 22-24, 32
16Paul had determined to sail by Ephesus, because he would not spend the time in Asia: for he hasted, if it were possible for him, to be at Jerusalem the day of Pentecost.
17¶ And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called the elders of the church.
18And when they were come to him, he said unto them, Ye know, from the first day that I came into Asia, after what manner I have been with you at all seasons,
22And now, behold, I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there:
23Save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me.
24But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.
32And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.
- I Cor. 1:3-5
3Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
4I thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ;
5That in every thing ye are enriched by him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge;
- II Cor. 9:6-8
6But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.
7Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.
8And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:
- Gal. 5:1, 4, 5
1Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
... 4Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.
5For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.
- Eph 2:4-10
4But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
5Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
6And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
7That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
8For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9Not of works, lest any man should boast.
10For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
- Eph. 3:1-3 (to ;), 5-10, 14-19
1For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles,
2If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward:
3How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery;
... 5Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit;
6That the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs, and of the same body and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel:
7Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power.
8Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ;
9And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:
10To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God,
... 14For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
15Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,
16That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;
17That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,
18May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;
19And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.
Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures
by Mary Baker Eddy
- SH 4:3
3 What we most need is the prayer of fervent desire for growth in grace, expressed in patience, meekness, Efficacious petitionslove, and good deeds. To keep the com-6mandments of our Master and follow his example, is our proper debt to him and the only worthy evidence of our gratitude for all that he has 9done. Outward worship is not of itself sufficient to express loyal and heartfelt gratitude, since he has said: “If ye love me, keep my commandments.”
- SH 67:18-29
18 The notion that animal natures can possibly give force to character is too absurd for consideration, when we Spiritual powerremember that through spiritual ascendency 21our Lord and Master healed the sick, raised the dead, and commanded even the winds and waves to obey him. Grace and Truth are potent beyond all other 24means and methods.
The lack of spiritual power in the limited demonstration of popular Christianity does not put to silence the labor 27of centuries. Spiritual, not corporeal, consciousness is needed. Man delivered from sin, disease, and death presents the true likeness or spiritual ideal.
- SH 263:7
When mortal man blends his thoughts of existence with the spiritual and works only as God works, 9Mortal man a mis-creatorhe will no longer grope in the dark and cling to earth because he has not tasted heaven. Carnal beliefs defraud us. They make man an involun-12tary hypocrite, — producing evil when he would create good, forming deformity when he would outline grace and beauty, injuring those whom he would bless. He 15becomes a general mis-creator, who believes he is a semi-god. His “touch turns hope to dust, the dust we all have trod.” He might say in Bible language: “The 18good that I would, I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.”
- SH 134:9-20
9The new faith in the Christ, Truth, so roused the hatred of the opponents of Christianity, that the followers of Christ were burned, crucified, and otherwise persecuted; 12and so it came about that human rights were hallowed by the gallows and the cross.
Man-made doctrines are waning. They have not waxed 15strong in times of trouble. Devoid of the Christ-power, Absence of Christ-powerhow can they illustrate the doctrines of Christ or the miracles of grace? Denial of the possi -18bility of Christian healing robs Christianity of the very element, which gave it divine force and its astonishing and unequalled success in the first century.
- SH 117:29-16
Jesus bade his disciples beware of the leaven of the 30Leaven of TruthPharisees and of the Sadducees, which he de-fined as human doctrines. His parable of the “leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures 118 118:1of meal, till the whole was leavened,” impels the infer-ence that the spiritual leaven signifies the Science of Christ 3and its spiritual interpretation, — an inference far above the merely ecclesiastical and formal applications of the illustration.
6 Did not this parable point a moral with a prophecy, foretelling the second appearing in the flesh of the Christ, Truth, hidden in sacred secrecy from the visi-9ble world?
Ages pass, but this leaven of Truth is ever at work. It must destroy the entire mass of error, and so be eternally 12glorified in man’s spiritual freedom.
In their spiritual significance, Science, Theology, and Medicine are means of divine thought, which include spirit-15The divine and human contrastedual laws emanating from the invisible and in-finite power and grace.
- SH 27:22-32
Jesus sent forth seventy students at one time, but only eleven left a desirable historic record. Tradition credits 24Recreant discipleshim with two or three hundred other disciples who have left no name. “Many are called, but few are chosen.” They fell away from grace because 27they never truly understood their Master’s instruction.
Why do those who profess to follow Christ reject the essential religion he came to establish? Jesus’ persecu-30tors made their strongest attack upon this very point. They endeavored to hold him at the mercy of matter and to kill him according to certain assumed material laws.
- SH 247:19-24
- SH 494:10-24
Divine Love always has met and always will meet every human need. It is not well to imagine that Jesus demon-12strated the divine power to heal only for a select number or for a limited period of time, since to all mankind and in every hour, divine Love supplies all good.
15 The miracle of grace is no miracle to Love. Jesus demonstrated the inability of corporeality, as well as the Reason and Scienceinfinite ability of Spirit, thus helping erring 18human sense to flee from its own convictions and seek safety in divine Science. Reason, rightly di-rected, serves to correct the errors of corporeal sense; but 21sin, sickness, and death will seem real (even as the ex-periences of the sleeping dream seem real) until the Sci-ence of man’s eternal harmony breaks their illusion with 24the unbroken reality of scientific being.
- SH 107:15-11
15 Feeling so perpetually the false consciousness that life Discontent with lifeinheres in the body, yet remembering that in reality God is our Life, we may well tremble 18in the prospect of those days in which we must say, “I have no pleasure in them.”
108108:1 Whence came to me this heavenly conviction, — a con-viction antagonistic to the testimony of the physical senses? 3According to St. Paul, it was “the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of His power.” It was the divine law of Life and Love, unfolding to me 6the demonstrable fact that matter possesses neither sen-sation nor life; that human experiences show the falsity of all material things; and that immortal cravings, “the 9price of learning love,” establish the truism that the only sufferer is mortal mind, for the divine Mind cannot suffer.
- SH 478:22-1
Matter cannot perform the functions of Mind. Error says, “I am man;” but this 24belief is mortal and far from actual. From beginning to end, whatever is mortal is composed of material hu-man beliefs and of nothing else. That only is real which 27reflects God. St. Paul said, “But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by His grace, . . . I conferred not with flesh and blood.”
30 Mortal man is really a self-contradictory phrase, for man is not mortal, “neither indeed can be;” man is im-479479:1mortal.
- SH 220:18-32
18 Mortal mind produces its own phenomena, and then The reflex phenomenacharges them to something else, — like a kitten glancing into the mirror at itself and thinking 21it sees another kitten.
A clergyman once adopted a diet of bread and water to increase his spirituality. Finding his health failing, 24he gave up his abstinence, and advised others never to try dietetics for growth in grace.
The belief that either fasting or feasting makes men 27better morally or physically is one of the fruits of “the Volition far-reachingtree of the knowledge of good and evil,” con-cerning which God said, “Thou shalt not eat 30of it.” Mortal mind forms all conditions of the mortal body, and controls the stomach, bones, lungs, heart, blood, etc., as directly as the volition or will moves the hand.
- SH 17:4
From the Christian Science Hymnal
Hymn 438: “Amazing grace! how sweet the sound”
Hymn 59: “Fight the good fight with all thy might”
Hymn 497: “Home is the consciousness of good”
