First Church of Christ, Scientist, La Cañada Flintridge
Wednesday Meeting Readings
- Ps. 27:1, 3-9, 11-14
1The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
... 3Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident.
4One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple.
5For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock.
6And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me: therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy; I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the Lord.
7Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice: have mercy also upon me, and answer me.
8When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek.
9Hide not thy face far from me; put not thy servant away in anger: thou hast been my help; leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation.
... 11Teach me thy way, O Lord, and lead me in a plain path, because of mine enemies.
12Deliver me not over unto the will of mine enemies: for false witnesses are risen up against me, and such as breathe out cruelty.
13I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.
14Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.
- Ps. 28:7
7The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him.
- Ps. 29:11
11The Lord will give strength unto his people; the Lord will bless his people with peace.
- Job 5:8-12, 15 he, 20-23
8I would seek unto God, and unto God would I commit my cause:
9Which doeth great things and unsearchable; marvellous things without number:
10Who giveth rain upon the earth, and sendeth waters upon the fields:
11To set up on high those that be low; that those which mourn may be exalted to safety.
12He disappointeth the devices of the crafty, so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise.
15 ... he saveth the poor from the sword, from their mouth, and from the hand of the mighty.
... 20In famine he shall redeem thee from death: and in war from the power of the sword.
21Thou shalt be hid from the scourge of the tongue: neither shalt thou be afraid of destruction when it cometh.
22At destruction and famine thou shalt laugh: neither shalt thou be afraid of the beasts of the earth.
23For thou shalt be in league with the stones of the field: and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee.
- Mic. 4:1-4, 5 and
1But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it.
2And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
3¶ And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
4But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the Lord of hosts hath spoken it.
5and we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever.
- II Sam. 1:27
27How are the mighty fallen, and the weapons of war perished!
- Mark 1:14-22 Jesus
14Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God,
15And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.
16Now as he walked by the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers.
17And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men.
18And straightway they forsook their nets, and followed him.
19And when he had gone a little farther thence, he saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who also were in the ship mending their nets.
20And straightway he called them: and they left their father Zebedee in the ship with the hired servants, and went after him.
21And they went into Capernaum; and straightway on the sabbath day he entered into the synagogue, and taught.
22And they were astonished at his doctrine: for he taught them as one that had authority, and not as the scribes.
- Mark 4:35-40
35And the same day, when the even was come, he saith unto them, Let us pass over unto the other side.
36And when they had sent away the multitude, they took him even as he was in the ship. And there were also with him other little ships.
37And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full.
38And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish?
39And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.
40And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?
- James 1:3-6, 12, 19, 20
3Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
4But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.
5If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.
6But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.
... 12Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.
... 19Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:
20For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.
- James 4:1-3, 8 (to 1st .)
1From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?
2Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.
3Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.
... 8Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you.
- James 3:18 the
18the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.
- SH 276:4-28
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.
12 The 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 requisiteWhen 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.
Material beliefs and spiritual understanding never mingle. The latter destroys the former. Discord is the 27nothingness named error. Harmony is the somethingness named Truth.
- SH 277:7
Good cannot result in evil. As God Himself is good and is Spirit, goodness and spirituality must be im-9mortal. Their opposites, evil and matter, are mortal error, and error has no creator. If goodness and spirit-uality are real, evil and materiality are unreal and can-12not be the outcome of an infinite God, good.
- SH 584:17
Devil. Evil; a lie; error; neither corporeality nor 18mind; the opposite of Truth; a belief in sin, sickness, and death; animal magnetism or hypnotism; the lust of the flesh, which saith: “I am life and intelligence in 21matter. There is more than one mind, for I am mind, — a wicked mind, self-made or created by a tribal god and put into the opposite of mind, termed matter, thence to 24reproduce a mortal universe, including man, not after the image and likeness of Spirit, but after its own image.”
- SH 467:9
9It should be thoroughly understood that all men have one Mind, one God and Father, one Life, Truth, and Love. Mankind will become perfect in proportion as this fact 12becomes apparent, war will cease and the true brother-hood of man will be established. Having no other gods, turning to no other but the one perfect Mind to guide 15him, man is the likeness of God, pure and eternal, hav-ing that Mind which was also in Christ.
- SH 226:14-17
- SH 584:9-16
9Death. An illusion, the lie of life in matter; the un-real and untrue; the opposite of Life.
Matter has no life, hence it has no real existence. Mind 12 is immortal. The flesh, warring against Spirit; that which frets itself free from one belief only to be fettered by another, until every belief of life where Life is not 15yields to eternal Life. Any material evidence of death is false, for it contradicts the spiritual facts of being.
- SH 96:4-4 (np)
Love will finally mark the hour of harmony, and spir-itualization will follow, for Love is Spirit. Before error 6The darkest hours of allis wholly destroyed, there will be interrup-tions of the general material routine. Earth will become dreary and desolate, but summer and winter, 9seedtime and harvest (though in changed forms), will continue unto the end, — until the final spiritualization of all things. “The darkest hour precedes the dawn.”
12 This material world is even now becoming the arena for conflicting forces. On one side there will be discord Arena of contestand dismay; on the other side there will be 15Science and peace. The breaking up of mate-rial beliefs may seem to be famine and pestilence, want and woe, sin, sickness, and death, which assume new 18phases until their nothingness appears. These disturb-ances will continue until the end of error, when all discord will be swallowed up in spiritual Truth.
21 Mortal error will vanish in a moral chemicalization. This mental fermentation has begun, and will continue until all errors of belief yield to understanding. Belief is 24changeable, but spiritual understanding is changeless.
As this consummation draws nearer, he who has shaped his course in accordance with divine Science 27Millennial glorywill endure to the end. As material knowl-edge diminishes and spiritual understanding increases, real objects will be apprehended mentally 30instead of materially.
During this final conflict, wicked minds will endeavor to find means by which to accomplish more evil; but 97 97:1those who discern Christian Science will hold crime in check. They will aid in the ejection of error. They 3will maintain law and order, and cheerfully await the certainty of ultimate perfection.
- SH 571:15
15 At all times and under all circumstances, overcome evil with good. Know thyself, and God will supply The armor of divinitythe wisdom and the occasion for a victory 18over evil. Clad in the panoply of Love, human hatred cannot reach you. The cement of a higher humanity will unite all interests in the one 21divinity.
- SH 589:8
- SH 584:26
From the Christian Science Hymnal
Hymn 476: “...God will keep you safe, secure...”
Hymn 157: “...Warfare shall forever cease...”
Hymn 9: “All glory be to God most high, And on the earth be peace”
