First Church of Christ, Scientist, La Cañada Flintridge
Wednesday Meeting Readings
- Deut. 1:1 (to 1st ,), 3
1These be the words which Moses spake unto all Israel on this side Jordan in the wilderness,
... 3And it came to pass in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first day of the month, that Moses spake unto the children of Israel, according unto all that the Lord had given him in commandment unto them;
- Deut. 4:1, 2, 5-9
1Now therefore hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments, which I teach you, for to do them, that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers giveth you.
2Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish aught from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you.
... 5Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the Lord my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it.
6Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.
7For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon him for?
8And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?
9Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons’ sons;
- Deut. 6:3 (to 5th ,), 4-7, 12, 13 (to 2nd ,), 14, 17-25
3¶ Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as the Lord God of thy fathers hath promised thee,
... 4Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord:
5And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
6And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:
7And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
... 12Then beware lest thou forget the Lord, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.
13Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and serve him,
... 14Ye shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the people which are round about you;
17Ye shall diligently keep the commandments of the Lord your God, and his testimonies, and his statutes, which he hath commanded thee.
18And thou shalt do that which is right and good in the sight of the Lord: that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest go in and possess the good land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers,
19To cast out all thine enemies from before thee, as the Lord hath spoken.
20And when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What mean the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments, which the Lord our God hath commanded you?
21Then thou shalt say unto thy son, We were Pharaoh’s bondmen in Egypt; and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand:
22And the Lord shewed signs and wonders, great and sore, upon Egypt, upon Pharaoh, and upon all his household, before our eyes:
23And he brought us out from thence, that he might bring us in, to give us the land which he sware unto our fathers.
24And the Lord commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as it is at this day.
25And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before the Lord our God, as he hath commanded us.
- Lev. 19:15-18 (to :)
15¶ Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment: thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honour the person of the mighty: but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbour.
16¶ Thou shalt not go up and down as a talebearer among thy people: neither shalt thou stand against the blood of thy neighbour: I am the Lord.
17¶ Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him.
18¶ Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself:
- Ps. 119:30, 33-35, 40, 44-46, 48
30I have chosen the way of truth: thy judgments have I laid before me.
33Teach me, O Lord, the way of thy statutes; and I shall keep it unto the end.
34Give me understanding, and I shall keep thy law; yea, I shall observe it with my whole heart.
35Make me to go in the path of thy commandments; for therein do I delight.
... 40Behold, I have longed after thy precepts: quicken me in thy righteousness.
44So shall I keep thy law continually for ever and ever.
45And I will walk at liberty: for I seek thy precepts.
46I will speak of thy testimonies also before kings, and will not be ashamed.
... 48My hands also will I lift up unto thy commandments, which I have loved; and I will meditate in thy statutes.
- Matt. 22:1-14 Jesus, 35-40
Jesus answered and spake unto them again by parables, and said,
2The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son,
3And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come.
4Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage.
5But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise:
6And the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them.
7But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.
8Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy.
9Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage.
10So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests.
11¶ And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment:
12And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless.
13Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
14For many are called, but few are chosen.
35Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying,
36Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
37Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
38This is the first and great commandment.
39And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
40On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures
by Mary Baker Eddy
- SH 340:16
The First Commandment is my favorite text. It demonstrates Christian Science. It inculcates the tri-18unity of God, Spirit, Mind; it signifies that man shall have no other spirit or mind but God, eternal good, and that all men shall have one Mind. The divine Principle 21 of the First Commandment bases the Science of being, by which man demonstrates health, holiness, and life eternal. One infinite God, good, unifies men and nations; con -24stitutes the brotherhood of man; ends wars; fulfils the Scripture, “Love thy neighbor as thyself;” annihilates pagan and Christian idolatry, — whatever is wrong in 27social, civil, criminal, political, and religious codes; equalizes the sexes; annuls the curse on man, and leaves nothing that can sin, suffer, be punished or destroyed.
- SH 19:29-13
Jesus urged the commandment, “Thou shalt have no 30Jesus’ sinless careerother gods before me,” which may be ren-dered: Thou shalt have no belief of Life as mortal; thou shalt not know evil, for there is one Life, — 20 20:1even God, good. He rendered “unto Cæsar the things which are Cæsar’s; and unto God the things that are 3God’s.” He at last paid no homage to forms of doctrine or to theories of man, but acted and spake as he was moved, not by spirits but by Spirit.
6 To the ritualistic priest and hypocritical Pharisee Jesus said, “The publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you.” Jesus’ history made a 9new calendar, which we call the Christian era; but he established no ritualistic worship. He knew that men can be baptized, partake of the Eucharist, support the 12clergy, observe the Sabbath, make long prayers, and yet be sensual and sinful.
- SH 20:16-32
“Despised and rejected of men,” returning blessing for cursing, he taught mor-18tals the opposite of themselves, even the nature of God; and when error felt the power of Truth, the scourge and the cross awaited the great Teacher. Yet he swerved not, 21well knowing that to obey the divine order and trust God, saves retracing and traversing anew the path from sin to holiness.
24 Material belief is slow to acknowledge what the spiritual fact implies. The truth is the centre of all Behest of the crossreligion. It commands sure entrance into 27the realm of Love. St. Paul wrote, “Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that 30is set before us;” that is, let us put aside material self and sense, and seek the divine Principle and Science of all healing.
- SH 482:27-29 Christian
- SH 483:22-30
Because the Science of Mind seems to bring into dis-honor the ordinary scientific schools, which wrestle with 24Science the waymaterial observations alone, this Science has met with opposition; but if any system honors God, it ought to receive aid, not opposition, from all think-27ing persons. And Christian Science does honor God as no other theory honors Him, and it does this in the way of His appointing, by doing many wonderful works 30through the divine name and nature.
- SH 471:31-12
This Science 472 472:1teaches man that God is the only Life, and that this Life is Truth and Love; that God is to be understood, adored, 3and demonstrated; that divine Truth casts out supposi-tional error and heals the sick.
The way which leads to Christian Science is straight 6and narrow. God has set His signet upon Science, mak-God’s law destroys eviling it coordinate with all that is real and only with that which is harmonious and eternal. 9Sickness, sin, and death, being inharmonious, do not originate in God nor belong to His government. His law, rightly understood, destroys them. Jesus furnished 12proofs of these statements.
- SH 400:9-11
- SH 112:32-25
God is the Principle of divine metaphysics. As there 113 113:1is but one God, there can be but one divine Principle of all Science; and there must be fixed rules for the demon-3Principle and practicestration of this divine Principle. The letter of Science plentifully reaches humanity to-day, but its spirit comes only in small degrees. The vital part, 6the heart and soul of Christian Science, is Love. With-out this, the letter is but the dead body of Science, — pulseless, cold, inanimate.
9 The fundamental propositions of divine metaphysics are summarized in the four following, to me, self-evident Reversible propositions propositions. Even if reversed, these proposi-12tions will be found to agree in statement and proof, showing mathematically their exact relation to Truth. De Quincey says mathematics has not a foot to 15stand upon which is not purely metaphysical.
18 3. God, Spirit, being all, nothing is matter.
4. Life, God, omnipotent good, deny death, evil, sin, disease. — Disease, sin, evil, death, deny good, omnipo-21tent God, Life.
Which of the denials in proposition four is true? Both are not, cannot be, true. According to the Scripture, 24I find that God is true, “but every [mortal] man a liar.”
- SH 394:28-29
From the Christian Science Hymnal
Hymn 431: “...O God, unite us heart to heart"
Hymn 79: “God is Love; His mercy brightens All the path in which we rove"
Hymn 433: “A new commandment I give unto you”
