First Church of Christ, Scientist, La Cañada Flintridge
Wednesday Meeting Readings
- Deut. 31:1, 6-8, 22-24, 30
1And Moses went and spake these words unto all Israel.
... 6Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the Lord thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.
7¶ And Moses called unto Joshua, and said unto him in the sight of all Israel, Be strong and of a good courage: for thou must go with this people unto the land which the Lord hath sworn unto their fathers to give them; and thou shalt cause them to inherit it.
8And the Lord, he it is that doth go before thee; he will be with thee, he will not fail thee, neither forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed.
22¶ Moses therefore wrote this song the same day, and taught it the children of Israel.
23And he gave Joshua the son of Nun a charge, and said, Be strong and of a good courage: for thou shalt bring the children of Israel into the land which I sware unto them: and I will be with thee.
24¶ And it came to pass, when Moses had made an end of writing the words of this law in a book, until they were finished,
30And Moses spake in the ears of all the congregation of Israel the words of this song, until they were ended.
- Ps. 27:1, 3
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.
- 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. 46:1-3 (to 1st .), 4-7 (to 1st .), 9, 10 (to :)
1God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
2Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;
3Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof.
... 4There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High.
5God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early.
6The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved: he uttered his voice, the earth melted.
7The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.
... 9He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; he burneth the chariot in the fire.
10Be still, and know that I am God:
- Isa. 35:3, 4
3¶ Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees.
4Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; he will come and save you.
- Mark 1:9-11
9And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in Jordan.
10And straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him:
11And there came a voice from heaven, saying, Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
- Mark 4:1 (to :)
1And he began again to teach by the sea side:
- Matt. 10:29-31
29Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.
30But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
31Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.
- Mark 5:21-43
21And when Jesus was passed over again by ship unto the other side, much people gathered unto him: and he was nigh unto the sea.
22And, behold, there cometh one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name; and when he saw him, he fell at his feet,
23And besought him greatly, saying, My little daughter lieth at the point of death: I pray thee, come and lay thy hands on her, that she may be healed; and she shall live.
24And Jesus went with him; and much people followed him, and thronged him.
25And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years,
26And had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse,
27When she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his garment.
28For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole.
29And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague.
30And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about in the press, and said, Who touched my clothes?
31And his disciples said unto him, Thou seest the multitude thronging thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me?
32And he looked round about to see her that had done this thing.
33But the woman fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her, came and fell down before him, and told him all the truth.
34And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague.
35While he yet spake, there came from the ruler of the synagogue’s house certain which said, Thy daughter is dead: why troublest thou the Master any further?
36As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, he saith unto the ruler of the synagogue, Be not afraid, only believe.
37And he suffered no man to follow him, save Peter, and James, and John the brother of James.
38And he cometh to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and seeth the tumult, and them that wept and wailed greatly.
39And when he was come in, he saith unto them, Why make ye this ado, and weep? the damsel is not dead, but sleepeth.
40And they laughed him to scorn. But when he had put them all out, he taketh the father and the mother of the damsel, and them that were with him, and entereth in where the damsel was lying.
41And he took the damsel by the hand, and said unto her, Talitha cumi; which is, being interpreted, Damsel, I say unto thee, arise.
42And straightway the damsel arose, and walked; for she was of the age of twelve years. And they were astonished with a great astonishment.
43And he charged them straitly that no man should know it; and commanded that something should be given her to eat.
- SH 411:27
Always begin your treatment by allaying the fear of patients. Silently reassure them as to their exemp-Unspoken pleadingtion from disease and danger. Watch the re-30sult of this simple rule of Christian Science, and you will find that it alleviates the symptoms of every disease. If you succeed in wholly removing the fear, 412 412:1your patient is healed. The great fact that God lovingly governs all, never punishing aught but sin, is your stand-3point, from which to advance and destroy the human fear of sickness. Mentally and silently plead the case scien-tifically for Truth. You may vary the arguments to meet 6the peculiar or general symptoms of the case you treat, but be thoroughly persuaded in your own mind concern-ing the truth which you think or speak, and you will be 9the victor.
- SH 410:29-30
- SH 180:5-9
- SH 425:14-15, 24
- SH 426:16-28
When it is learned that disease cannot destroy life, and that 18mortals are not saved from sin or sickness by death, this understanding will quicken into newness of life. It will master either a desire to die or a dread of the grave, 21and thus destroy the great fear that besets mortal existence.
The relinquishment of all faith in death and also of 24the fear of its sting would raise the standard of health Christian standardand morals far beyond its present elevation, and would enable us to hold the banner of 27Christianity aloft with unflinching faith in God, in Life eternal.
- SH 427:13-14, 26
Death is but another phase of the dream that exist-ence can be material.
Called to the bed of death, what material remedy has 27man when all such remedies have failed? Spirit is his No death nor inactionlast resort, but it should have been his first and only resort. The dream of death must 30be mastered by Mind here or hereafter. Thought will waken from its own material declaration, “I am dead,” to catch this trumpet-word of Truth, “There 428 428:1is no death, no inaction, diseased action, overaction, nor reaction.”
- SH 125:12, 31
As human thought changes from one stage to an-other of conscious pain and painlessness, sorrow and joy, — from fear to hope and from faith to understand-15ing, — the visible manifestation will at last be man gov-erned by Soul, not by material sense. Reflecting God’s government, man is self-governed. When subordinate 18to the divine Spirit, man cannot be controlled by sin or death, thus proving our material theories about laws of health to be valueless.
Thus matter will finally be proved nothing more than a mortal belief, wholly inadequate to affect a man 126 126:1through its supposed organic action or supposed exist-ence. Error will be no longer used in stating truth. The 3Mortal nothingnessproblem of nothingness, or “dust to dust,” will be solved, and mortal mind will be without form and void, for mortality will cease when man beholds 6himself God’s reflection, even as man sees his reflection in a glass.
- SH 154:3-21
Disease arises, like other mental conditions, from as-sociation. Since it is a law of mortal mind that certain diseases should be regarded as contagious, this law ob-6tains credit through association, — calling up the fear that creates the image of disease and its consequent manifes-tation in the body.
9 This fact in metaphysics is illustrated by the following incident: A man was made to believe that he occupied a Imaginary cholerabed where a cholera patient had died. Imme-12diately the symptoms of this disease appeared, and the man died. The fact was, that he had not caught the cholera by material contact, because no cholera patient 15had been in that bed.
If a child is exposed to contagion or infection, the mother is frightened and says, “My child will be sick.” 18Children’s ailmentsThe law of mortal mind and her own fears gov-ern her child more than the child’s mind gov -erns itself, and they produce the very results which might 21have been prevented through the opposite understanding.
- SH 180:11-24
Physicians should not deport themselves as if Mind 12 were non-existent, nor take the ground that all causation is matter, instead of Mind. Ignorant that the human mind governs the body, its phenomenon, the invalid may 15unwittingly add more fear to the mental reservoir already overflowing with that emotion.
Doctors should not implant disease in the thoughts of 18their patients, as they so frequently do, by declaring dis-Wrong and right wayease to be a fixed fact, even before they go to work to eradicate the disease through the ma-21terial faith which they inspire. Instead of furnishing thought with fear, they should try to correct this turbulent element of mortal mind by the influence of divine Love 24 which casteth out fear.
- SH 365:15-19
From the Christian Science Hymnal
Hymn 443: “...No pain or fear has power”
Hymn 139: “I walk with Love along the way”
Hymn 473: “Father-Mother God, All-in-all”
