First Church of Christ, Scientist, La Cañada Flintridge, California

Wednesday Meeting Readings

w230913DT
Practicing Christian Scinece – part two
Wednesday, September 13, 2023
The Bible
  1. Josh. 1:1, 5 as, 7-9

    1Now after the death of Moses the servant of the Lord it came to pass, that the Lord spake unto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ minister, saying,

    ... as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.

    ... 7Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest.

    8This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.

    9Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.

  2. Prov. 1:1-7 (to :), 8

    1The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel;

    2To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding;

    3To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity;

    4To give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion.

    5A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:

    6To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings.

    7The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge:

    8My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother:

  3. Prov. 2:1-5

    1My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee;

    2So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding;

    3Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding;

    4If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures;

    5Then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God.

  4. John 13:36

    36Simon Peter said unto him, Lord, whither goest thou? Jesus answered him, Whither I go, thou canst not follow me now; but thou shalt follow me afterwards.

  5. John 14:1-29, 31

    1Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.

    2In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.

    3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.

    4And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.

    5Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?

    6Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

    7If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.

    8Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us.

    9Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?

    10Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.

    11Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works’ sake.

    12Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.

    13And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

    14If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.

    15If ye love me, keep my commandments.

    16And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;

    17Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.

    18I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.

    19Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also.

    20At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.

    21He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.

    22Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?

    23Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.

    24He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me.

    25These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you.

    26But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.

    27Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

    28Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I.

    29And now I have told you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye might believe.

    31But that the world may know that I love the Father; and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us go hence.


Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures
by Mary Baker Eddy
  1. SH 510:9

        Truth and Love enlighten the understanding, in whose “light shall we see light;” and this illumination is re-flected spiritually by all who walk in the light and turn 12away from a false material sense.

  2. SH 505:20-7

    Spiritual sense is the discernment of spiritual 21good. Understanding is the line of demarcation between the real and unreal. Spiritual understanding unfolds Mind, — Life, Truth, and Love, — and demonstrates the 24divine sense, giving the spiritual proof of the universe in Christian Science.

        This understanding is not intellectual, is not the result 27of scholarly attainments; it is the reality of all things Original reflectedbrought to light. God’s ideas reflect the im-mortal, unerring, and infinite. The mortal, 30erring, and finite are human beliefs, which apportion to 506 506:1themselves a task impossible for them, that of distinguish-ing between the false and the true. Objects utterly un-3like the original do not reflect that original. Therefore matter, not being the reflection of Spirit, has no real en-tity. Understanding is a quality of God, a quality which 6separates Christian Science from supposition and makes Truth final.

  3. SH 510:2

    How much more should we seek to apprehend the spirit -3Spiritual ideas apprehendedual ideas of God, than to dwell on the objects of sense! To discern the rhythm of Spirit and to be holy, thought must be purely spiritual.

  4. SH 514:7, 26-2

    Mind’s infinite ideas run and dis-port themselves. In humility they climb the heights of 9holiness.

        Understanding the control which Love held over all, 27Daniel felt safe in the lions’ den, and Paul proved the Creatures of God usefulviper to be harmless. All of God’s creatures, moving in the harmony of Science, are harm-30less, useful, indestructible. A realization of this grand verity was a source of strength to the ancient worthies. 515 515:1It supports Christian healing, and enables its possessor to emulate the example of Jesus.

  5. SH 368:14

    When we 15come to have more faith in the truth of being than we have in error, more faith in Spirit than in matter, more faith in living than in dying, more faith in God than in man, 18then no material suppositions can prevent us from healing the sick and destroying error.

  6. SH 365:15

        If the Scientist reaches his patient through divine Love, the healing work will be accomplished at one Speedy healingvisit, and the disease will vanish into its native 18nothingness like dew before the morning sun-shine. If the Scientist has enough Christly affection to win his own pardon, and such commendation as the Mag-21dalen gained from Jesus, then he is Christian enough to practise scientifically and deal with his patients compas-sionately; and the result will correspond with the spiritual 24intent.

  7. SH 369:14

        We never read that Luke or Paul made a reality of 15disease in order to discover some means of healing it. The Christ treatmentJesus never asked if disease were acute or chronic, and he never recommended atten-18tion to laws of health, never gave drugs, never prayed to know if God were willing that a man should live. He understood man, whose Life is God, to be immortal, and 21knew that man has not two lives, one to be destroyed and the other to be made indestructible.

  8. SH 370:23

        According to both medical testimony and individual 24experience, a drug may eventually lose its supposed power Transient potency of drugsand do no more for the patient. Hygienic treatment also loses its efficacy. Quackery 27likewise fails at length to inspire the credulity of the sick, and then they cease to improve. These les-sons are useful. They should naturally and genuinely 30change our basis from sensation to Christian Science, from error to Truth, from matter to Spirit.

  9. SH 371:22-30

    No impossible thing do I ask when urging the claims of Christian Science; but because 24this teaching is in advance of the age, we should not deny our need of its spiritual unfoldment. Mankind will improve through Science and Christi -27anity. The necessity for uplifting the race is father to the fact that Mind can do it; for Mind can impart purity instead of impurity, strength instead of weak-30ness, and health instead of disease.

  10. SH 373:1-5

        If we are Christians on all moral questions, but are in darkness as to the physical exemption which Christian-3Disease far more docile than iniquityity includes, then we must have more faith in God on this subject and be more alive to His promises.

  11. SH 380:22-1

        Many years ago the author made a spiritual discov-ery, the scientific evidence of which has accumulated to 24A higher discoveryprove that the divine Mind produces in man health, harmony, and immortality. Gradu -ally this evidence will gather momentum and clearness, 27until it reaches its culmination of scientific statement and proof. Nothing is more disheartening than to believe that there is a power opposite to God, or good, and that 30God endows this opposing power with strength to be used against Himself, against Life, health, harmony.

        Every law of matter or the body, supposed to govern 381 381:1man, is rendered null and void by the law of Life, God.

  12. SH 381:20

        Think less of the enactments of mortal mind, and you 21will sooner grasp man’s God-given dominion. You must God-given dominionunderstand your way out of human theories relating to health, or you will never believe 24that you are quite free from some ailment. The har-mony and immortality of man will never be reached without the understanding that Mind is not in matter. 27Let us banish sickness as an outlaw, and abide by the rule of perpetual harmony, — God’s law. It is man’s moral right to annul an unjust sentence, a sentence never 30inflicted by divine authority.

  13. SH 168:15

        Because man-made systems insist that man becomes sick and useless, suffers and dies, all in consonance with The divine authoritythe laws of God, are we to believe it? Are 18we to believe an authority which denies God’s spiritual command relating to perfection, — an authority which Jesus proved to be false? He did the will of the 21Father. He healed sickness in defiance of what is called material law, but in accordance with God’s law, the law of Mind.

  14. SH 442:30

        Christian Scientists, be a law to yourselves that mental malpractice cannot harm you either when asleep or when awake.

From the Christian Science Hymnal
Hymn 5: “...Your mission is to heal”
Hymn 545: “...With mighty power to heal and bless”
Hymn 472: “...May the prayer of faith now heal us”