First Church of Christ, Scientist, La Cañada Flintridge, California
Wednesday Meeting Readings
- Prov. 3:24
24When thou liest down, thou shalt not be afraid: yea, thou shalt lie down, and thy sleep shall be sweet.
- I Thess. 5:5, 6
5Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.
6Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.
- Prov. 6:4, 9, 10, 20-23
4Give not sleep to thine eyes, nor slumber to thine eyelids.
9How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep?
10Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep:
20¶ My son, keep thy father’s commandment, and forsake not the law of thy mother:
21Bind them continually upon thine heart, and tie them about thy neck.
22When thou goest, it shall lead thee; when thou sleepest, it shall keep thee; and when thou awakest, it shall talk with thee.
23For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life:
- Prov. 4:10, 11, 13, 14, 18, 25-27
10Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings; and the years of thy life shall be many.
11I have taught thee in the way of wisdom; I have led thee in right paths.
... 13Take fast hold of instruction; let her not go: keep her; for she is thy life.
14¶ Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men.
18But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.
25Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee.
26Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established.
27Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil.
- Job 33:4, 14-16, 29, 30
4The spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life.
... 14For God speaketh once, yea twice, yet man perceiveth it not.
15In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumberings upon the bed;
16Then he openeth the ears of men, and sealeth their instruction,
... 29Lo, all these things worketh God oftentimes with man,
30To bring back his soul from the pit, to be enlightened with the light of the living.
- Ps. 121:1-4
1I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.
2My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.
3He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber.
4Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.
- Ps. 4:8
8I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety.
- Ps. 18:32
32It is God that girdeth me with strength, and maketh my way perfect.
- Ps. 118:17, 19
17I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord.
... 19Open to me the gates of righteousness: I will go into them, and I will praise the Lord:
- John 11:1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 11, 17, 20-28, 32, 39 (to 1st .), 41-44
1Now a certain man was sick, named Lazarus, of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha.
... 3Therefore his sisters sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick.
4When Jesus heard that, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.
... 6When he had heard therefore that he was sick, he abode two days still in the same place where he was.
7Then after that saith he to his disciples, Let us go into Judæa again.
... 11These things said he: and after that he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep.
... 17Then when Jesus came, he found that he had lain in the grave four days already.
... 20Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him: but Mary sat still in the house.
21Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.
22But I know, that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee.
23Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again.
24Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.
25Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:
26And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?
27She saith unto him, Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world.
28And when she had so said, she went her way, and called Mary her sister secretly, saying, The Master is come, and calleth for thee.
... 32Then when Mary was come where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying unto him, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.
... 39Jesus said, Take ye away the stone.
... 41Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me.
42And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me.
43And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.
44And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.
- I Cor. 15:50-52, 58
50Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.
51Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
52In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
... 58Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.
- Rom. 13:11, 12, 14 (to 2nd ,)
11And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.
12The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.
... 14But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh,
- Zech. 4:1, 5, 6
1And the angel that talked with me came again, and waked me, as a man that is wakened out of his sleep,
... 5Then the angel that talked with me answered and said unto me, Knowest thou not what these be? And I said, No, my lord.
6Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.
- Eph. 5:1, 2 (to 2nd ,), 8, 10, 11, 14, 20
1Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children;
2And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us,
... 8For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light:
... 10Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord.
11And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.
... 14Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.
... 20Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;
Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures
by Mary Baker Eddy
- SH 412:16-18
- SH 530:26-29
- SH 188:11-21
Mortal existence is a dream of pain and pleasure in 12matter, a dream of sin, sickness, and death; and it is like Disease a dreamthe dream we have in sleep, in which every one recognizes his condition to be wholly a state of 15mind. In both the waking and the sleeping dream, the dreamer thinks that his body is material and the suffering is in that body.
18 The smile of the sleeper indicates the sensation pro-duced physically by the pleasure of a dream. In the same way pain and pleasure, sickness and care, are 21traced upon mortals by unmistakable signs.
- SH 249:20-27
18You say, “I dreamed last night.” 21What a mistake is that! The I is Spirit. God never slumbers, and His likeness never dreams. Mortals are the Adam dreamers.
24 Sleep and apathy are phases of the dream that life, sub-stance, and intelligence are material. The mortal night-dream is sometimes nearer the fact of being than are the 27thoughts of mortals when awake.
- SH 250:6-7, 14-25
6 Mortal existence is a dream; mortal existence has no real entity, but saith “It is I.” 12
Mortal body and mind are one, and that one is called 15man; but a mortal is not man, for man is immortal. A Mortal existence a dreammortal may be weary or pained, enjoy or suffer, according to the dream he entertains in sleep. 18When that dream vanishes, the mortal finds himself experiencing none of these dream-sensations. To the observer, the body lies listless, undisturbed, and sensa-21tionless, and the mind seems to be absent.
Now I ask, Is there any more reality in the waking dream of mortal existence than in the sleeping dream? 24There cannot be, since whatever appears to be a mortal man is a mortal dream.
- SH 491:12-26, 28-7
It is only by acknowledging the supremacy of Spirit, which annuls the claims of matter, that mortals can lay off mortality and 15find the indissoluble spiritual link which establishes man forever in the divine likeness, inseparable from his creator.
The belief that matter and mind are one, — that mat-18ter is awake at one time and asleep at another, some-Material man as a dreamtimes presenting no appearance of mind, — this belief culminates in another belief, that 21man dies. Science reveals material man as never the real being. The dream or belief goes on, whether our eyes are closed or open. In sleep, memory and consciousness are 24lost from the body, and they wander whither they will apparently with their own separate embodiment. Per-sonality is not the individuality of man.
When we are awake, we dream of the pains and pleas-Spiritual existence the one factures of matter. Who will say, even though he 30does not understand Christian Science, that this dream — rather than the dreamer — may not be mortal man? Who can rationally say otherwise, 492 492:1when the dream leaves mortal man intact in body and thought, although the so-called dreamer is unconscious? 3For right reasoning there should be but one fact before the thought, namely, spiritual existence. In reality there is no other existence, since Life cannot be united to its 6unlikeness, mortality.
- SH 346:13-16, 19-25
It is self-evident that we are harmonious only as we cease to manifest evil or the belief that we suffer 15from the sins of others. Disbelief in error destroys error, and leads to the discernment of Truth.
We treat error through the understanding of Truth, because Truth is error’s antidote. If a dream ceases, it 21Truth antidotes erroris self-destroyed, and the terror is over. When a sufferer is convinced that there is no reality in his belief of pain, — because matter has no sensation, 24hence pain in matter is a false belief, — how can he suffer longer?
- SH 494:15 Jesus
15Jesus 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 417:20
To the Christian Science healer, sickness is a dream 21from which the patient needs to be awakened. Dis-Disease to be made unrealease should not appear real to the physician, since it is demonstrable that the way to 24cure the patient is to make disease unreal to him. To do this, the physician must understand the unreality of disease in Science.
- SH 42:6
- SH 420:28-32
- SH 95:28
Lulled by stupefying illusions, the world is asleep in the cradle of infancy, dreaming away the hours. 30Spiritual awakeningMaterial sense does not unfold the facts of existence; but spiritual sense lifts human consciousness into eternal Truth. Humanity advances 96 96:1slowly out of sinning sense into spiritual understanding; unwillingness to learn all things rightly, binds Christen-3dom with chains.
- SH 14:25-28
From the Christian Science Hymnal
Hymn 202: “O dreamer, leave thy dreams for joyful waking”
Hymn 6: “Abide not in the realm of dreams”
Hymn 392: “… From out the darkness and the dream, The haven of rest is nearing ”
