First Church of Christ, Scientist, La Cañada Flintridge, California
Wednesday Meeting Readings
- I Cor. 11:11 neither, 12
11neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord.
12For as the woman is of the man, even so is the man also by the woman; but all things of God.
- Gen. 1:1, 3, 26 (to :), 27, 31 (to 1st .)
1In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
... 3And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
26¶ And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness:
... 27So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
31And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good.
- Gen. 2:6, 18, 21-23
6But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.
18¶ And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.
... 21And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;
22And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.
23And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.
- Deut. 31:10 (to 2nd ,), 11, 12
10And Moses commanded them, saying,
... 11When all Israel is come to appear before the Lord thy God in the place which he shall choose, thou shalt read this law before all Israel in their hearing.
12Gather the people together, men, and women, and children, and thy stranger that is within thy gates, that they may hear, and that they may learn, and fear the Lord your God, and observe to do all the words of this law:
- Jer. 31:1, 3, 4 (to :), 7, 16 (to 2nd ;), 21, 22, 31-33
1At the same time, saith the Lord, will I be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people.
... 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.
4Again I will build thee, and thou shalt be built, O virgin of Israel:
... 7For thus saith the Lord; Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout among the chief of the nations: publish ye, praise ye, and say, O Lord, save thy people, the remnant of Israel.
16Thus saith the Lord; Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears: for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the Lord;
21Set thee up waymarks, make thee high heaps: set thine heart toward the highway, even the way which thou wentest: turn again, O virgin of Israel, turn again to these thy cities.
22¶ How long wilt thou go about, O thou backsliding daughter? for the Lord hath created a new thing in the earth, A woman shall compass a man.
31¶ Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:
32Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord:
33But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
- Matt. 19:1-4
1And it came to pass, that when Jesus had finished these sayings, he departed from Galilee, and came into the coasts of Judæa beyond Jordan;
2And great multitudes followed him; and he healed them there.
3¶ The Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, and saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?
4And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female,
- Luke 8:1-3
1And it came to pass afterward, that he went throughout every city and village, preaching and shewing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God: and the twelve were with him,
2And certain women, which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils,
3And Joanna the wife of Chuza Herod’s steward, and Susanna, and many others, which ministered unto him of their substance.
- Luke 13:10-13
10And he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath.
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.
- Matt. 9:20-22
20¶ And, behold, a woman, which was diseased with an issue of blood twelve years, came behind him, and touched the hem of his garment:
21For she said within herself, If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole.
22But Jesus turned him about, and when he saw her, he said, Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole. And the woman was made whole from that hour.
- Luke 7:36-40, 44-50
36¶ And one of the Pharisees desired him that he would eat with him. And he went into the Pharisee’s house, and sat down to meat.
37And, behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster box of ointment,
38And stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment.
39Now when the Pharisee which had bidden him saw it, he spake within himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him: for she is a sinner.
40And Jesus answering said unto him, Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee. And he saith, Master, say on.
... 44And he turned to the woman, and said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet: but she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head.
45Thou gavest me no kiss: but this woman since the time I came in hath not ceased to kiss my feet.
46My head with oil thou didst not anoint: but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment.
47Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.
48And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven.
49And they that sat at meat with him began to say within themselves, Who is this that forgiveth sins also?
50And he said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace.
- Prov. 31:10-12, 16-18, 26, 28, 31
10¶ Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies.
11The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil.
12She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life.
... 16She considereth a field, and buyeth it: with the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard.
17She girdeth her loins with strength, and strengtheneth her arms.
18She perceiveth that her merchandise is good: her candle goeth not out by night.
... 26She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness.
... 28Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her.
... 31Give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her own works praise her in the gates.
- Num. 27:1 (to 1st ,), 2, 3 (to 1st ,), 4-8
1Then came the daughters of Zelophehad,
... 2And they stood before Moses, and before Eleazar the priest, and before the princes and all the congregation, by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, saying,
3Our father died in the wilderness,
... 4Why should the name of our father be done away from among his family, because he hath no son? Give unto us therefore a possession among the brethren of our father.
5And Moses brought their cause before the Lord.
6¶ And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
7The daughters of Zelophehad speak right: thou shalt surely give them a possession of an inheritance among their father’s brethren; and thou shalt cause the inheritance of their father to pass unto them.
8And thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a man die, and have no son, then ye shall cause his inheritance to pass unto his daughter.
- Gal. 3:26-28
26For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
27For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
28There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
by Mary Baker Eddy
- SH 516:21-14
Man and woman as coexistent and eternal with God forever reflect, in glorified quality, the infinite Father-Mother God.
24 Genesis i. 27. So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them.
27 To emphasize this momentous thought, it is repeated that God made man in His own image, to reflect the Ideal man and womandivine Spirit. It follows that man is a generic 30term. Masculine, feminine, and neuter gen-ders are human concepts. In one of the ancient lan-517517:1guages the word for man is used also as the synonym of mind. This definition has been weakened by anthropo-3morphism, or a humanization of Deity. The word an-thropomorphic, in such a phrase as “an anthropomorphic God,” is derived from two Greek words, signifying man 6 and form, and may be defined as a mortally mental at-tempt to reduce Deity to corporeality. The life-giving quality of Mind is Spirit, not matter. The ideal man 9corresponds to creation, to intelligence, and to Truth. The ideal woman corresponds to Life and to Love. In divine Science, we have not as much authority for con-12sidering God masculine, as we have for considering Him feminine, for Love imparts the clearest idea of Deity.
- SH 525:7-16
The following are some of the equivalents of the term man in different languages. In the Saxon, mankind, a 9 woman, any one;Definitions of man in the Welsh, that which rises up, — the primary sense being image, form; in the Hebrew, image, similitude; in the Icelandic, mind. 12The following translation is from the Icelandic: —
- SH 528:9-27, 31-4
9 Genesis ii. 21, 22. And the Lord God [Jehovah, Yawah] caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead 12thereof; and the rib, which the Lord God [Jehovah] had taken from man, made He a woman, and brought her unto the man.
15 Here falsity, error, credits Truth, God, with inducing a sleep or hypnotic state in Adam in order to perform a Hypnotic surgerysurgical operation on him and thereby create 18woman. This is the first record of magnet-ism. Beginning creation with darkness instead of light, — materially rather than spiritually, — error now simu-21lates the work of Truth, mocking Love and declar -ing what great things error has done. Beholding the creations of his own dream and calling them real and 24God-given, Adam — alias error — gives them names. Afterwards he is supposed to become the basis of the creation of woman and of his own kind, calling them 27mankind, — that is, a kind of man.
Later in human history, when the forbidden 529 529:1fruit was bringing forth fruit of its own kind, there came a suggestion of change in the modus operandi, — 3that man should be born of woman, not woman again taken from man.
- SH 533:14-23, 26-27, 31-5
Adam, 15alias mortal error, charges God and woman with his own dereliction, saying, “The woman, whom Thou gavest me, is responsible.” According to this belief, the rib taken 18from Adam’s side has grown into an evil mind, named woman, who aids man to make sinners more rapidly than he can alone. Is this an help meet for man?
21 Materiality, so obnoxious to God, is already found in the rapid deterioration of the bone and flesh which came from Adam to form Eve.
Truth, cross-questioning man as to his knowledge of 27error, finds woman the first to confess her fault. ... Hence 534 534:1she is first to abandon the belief in the material origin of man and to discern spiritual creation. This hereafter 3enabled woman to be the mother of Jesus and to behold at the sepulchre the risen Saviour, who was soon to mani-fest the deathless man of God’s creating.
- SH 63:12-20, 23-32
12 Civil law establishes very unfair differences between the rights of the two sexes. Christian Science furnishes no The rights of womanprecedent for such injustice, and civilization 15mitigates it in some measure. Still, it is a marvel why usage should accord woman less rights than does either Christian Science or civilization.
18 Our laws are not impartial, to say the least, in their discrimination as to the person, property, and parental Unfair discriminationclaims of the two sexes. A feasible as well as rational 24means of improvement at present is the elevation of society in general and the achievement of a nobler race for legislation, — a race having higher aims and 27motives.
If a dissolute husband deserts his wife, certainly the wronged, and perchance impoverished, woman should be 30allowed to collect her own wages, enter into business agreements, hold real estate, deposit funds, and own her children free from interference.
- SH 246:10-20, 23
The measurement of life by solar years robs youth and gives ugliness to age. The radiant sun of virtue and truth 12coexists with being. Manhood is its eternal noon, un-dimmed by a declining sun. As the physical and mate-rial, the transient sense of beauty fades, the radiance of 15Spirit should dawn upon the enraptured sense with bright and imperishable glories.
Never record ages. Chronological data are no part 18of the vast forever. Time-tables of birth and death are Undesirable recordsso many conspiracies against manhood and womanhood. Man, 24governed by immortal Mind, is always beautiful and grand. Each succeeding year unfolds wisdom, beauty, and holiness.
- SH 529:6
- SH 508:13-16, 17
God determines the gender of His own ideas. Gen-der is mental, not material. The seed within itself is 15Mind’s pure thoughtthe pure thought emanating from divine Mind. ... Gender means simply kind or sort, 18 and does not necessarily refer either to masculinity or femininity. The word is not confined to sexuality, and grammars always recognize a neuter gender, neither 21male nor female. The Mind or intelligence of produc-tion names the female gender last in the ascending order of creation. The intelligent individual idea, be it male 24or female, rising from the lesser to the greater, unfolds the infinitude of Love.
- SH 588:11-15
- SH 249:1-5
From the Christian Science Hymnal:
Hymn 174: “Like as a mother, God comforteth His children”
Hymn 200: “O daughter of Zion, awake from thy sadness”
Hymn 356: “ To Thee, O God, we bring our adoration”
