First Church of Christ, Scientist, La Cañada Flintridge, California
Wednesday Meeting Readings
- Matt. 16:13-18
13¶ When Jesus came into the coasts of Cæsarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?
14And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets.
15He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?
16And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
17And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar–jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.
18And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
- Acts 2:1, 4, 6, 12-18, 21, 37-39, 41, 46, 47
1And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.
... 4And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
... 6Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language.
... 12And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this?
13Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine.
14¶ But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judæa, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words:
15For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day.
16But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;
17And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:
18And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy:
21And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
37¶ Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?
38Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
39For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.
41¶ Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.
... 46And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,
47Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.
- Acts 14:1, 3-7, 21-23, 27
1And it came to pass in Iconium, that they went both together into the synagogue of the Jews, and so spake, that a great multitude both of the Jews and also of the Greeks believed.
... 3Long time therefore abode they speaking boldly in the Lord, which gave testimony unto the word of his grace, and granted signs and wonders to be done by their hands.
4But the multitude of the city was divided: and part held with the Jews, and part with the apostles.
5And when there was an assault made both of the Gentiles, and also of the Jews with their rulers, to use them despitefully, and to stone them,
6They were ware of it, and fled unto Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and unto the region that lieth round about:
7And there they preached the gospel.
21And when they had preached the gospel to that city, and had taught many, they returned again to Lystra, and to Iconium, and Antioch,
22Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.
23And when they had ordained them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed.
... 27And when they were come, and had gathered the church together, they rehearsed all that God had done with them, and how he had opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles.
- James 5:13-16
13Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms.
14Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:
15And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.
16Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
- I Cor. 14:4, 12, 15-17, 19, 20, 25, 26, 33
4He that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifieth himself; but he that prophesieth edifieth the church.
... 12Even so ye, forasmuch as ye are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek that ye may excel to the edifying of the church.
... 15What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also: I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also.
16Else when thou shalt bless with the spirit, how shall he that occupieth the room of the unlearned say Amen at thy giving of thanks, seeing he understandeth not what thou sayest?
17For thou verily givest thanks well, but the other is not edified.
... 19Yet in the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that by my voice I might teach others also, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue.
20Brethren, be not children in understanding: howbeit in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men.
... 25And thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest; and so falling down on his face he will worship God, and report that God is in you of a truth.
26How is it then, brethren? when ye come together, every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying.
... 33For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.
- Eph. 3:14-21
14For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
15Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,
16That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;
17That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,
18May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;
19And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.
20Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,
21Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.
Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures
by Mary Baker Eddy
- SH 583:12-19
Church. The structure of Truth and Love; what-ever rests upon and proceeds from divine Principle.
The Church is that institution, which affords proof of 15its utility and is found elevating the race, rousing the dormant understanding from material beliefs to the ap-prehension of spiritual ideas and the demonstration of 18divine Science, thereby casting out devils, or error, and healing the sick.
- SH 35:19-25 2nd Our
- SH 136:1-19
Jesus established his church and maintained his mission on a spiritual foundation of Christ-healing. He taught 3The Christ-missionhis followers that his religion had a divine Principle, which would cast out error and heal both the sick and the sinning. He claimed no intelli-6gence, action, nor life separate from God. Despite the persecution this brought upon him, he used his divine power to save men both bodily and spiritually.
9 The question then as now was, How did Jesus heal the sick? His answer to this question the world rejected. Ancient spiritualism He appealed to his students: “Whom do 12men say that I, the Son of man, am?” That is: Who or what is it that is thus identified with casting out evils and healing the sick? They replied, “Some 15say that thou art John the Baptist; some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets.” These prophets were considered dead, and this reply may indicate that 18some of the people believed that Jesus was a medium, controlled by the spirit of John or of Elias.
- SH 137:8-9 (np)
Yearning to be understood, the Master repeated, 9“But whom say ye that I am?” This renewed inquiry meant: Who or what is it that is able to do the work, so mysterious to the popular mind? In his rejection of the 12answer already given and his renewal of the question, it is plain that Jesus completely eschewed the narrow opinion implied in their citation of the common report 15about him.
With his usual impetuosity, Simon replied for his brethren, and his reply set forth a great fact: “Thou 18A divine responseart the Christ, the Son of the living God!” That is: The Messiah is what thou hast de-clared, — Christ, the spirit of God, of Truth, Life, and 21Love, which heals mentally. This assertion elicited from Jesus the benediction, “Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, 24but my Father which is in heaven;” that is, Love hath shown thee the way of Life!
Before this the impetuous disciple had been called 27only by his common names, Simon Bar-jona, or son of The true and living rockJona; but now the Master gave him a spir-itual name in these words: “And I say also 30unto thee, That thou art Peter; and upon this rock [the meaning of the Greek word petros, or stone] I will build my church; and the gates of hell [hades, the under-138138:1world, or the grave] shall not prevail against it.” In other words, Jesus purposed founding his society, not 3on the personal Peter as a mortal, but on the God-power which lay behind Peter’s confession of the true Messiah.
6 It was now evident to Peter that divine Life, Truth, and Love, and not a human personality, was the healer of the Sublime summarysick and a rock, a firm foundation in the realm 9of harmony.
- SH 149:31
- SH 98:15
Beyond the frail premises of human beliefs, above the loosening grasp of creeds, the demonstration of Christian Revelation of ScienceMind-healing stands a revealed and practical 18Science. It is imperious throughout all ages as Christ’s revelation of Truth, of Life, and of Love, which remains inviolate for every man to understand and to 21practise.
- SH 28:9-11
- SH 41:14-32
The proofs of Truth, Life, and Love, which Jesus gave 15by casting out error and healing the sick, completed his Healing early lostearthly mission; but in the Christian Church this demonstration of healing was early lost, 18about three centuries after the crucifixion. No ancient school of philosophy, materia medica, or scholastic theol-ogy ever taught or demonstrated the divine healing of 21absolute Science.
Jesus foresaw the reception Christian Science would have before it was understood, but this foreknowledge hindered 24Immortal achievalhim not. He fulfilled his God-mission, and then sat down at the right hand of the Father. Persecuted from city to city, his apostles still went about 27doing good deeds, for which they were maligned and stoned. The truth taught by Jesus, the elders scoffed at. Why? Because it demanded more than they were willing 30to practise. It was enough for them to believe in a national Deity; but that belief, from their time to ours, has never made a disciple who could cast out evils and heal the sick.
- SH 108:30
- SH 109:16-22
- SH 341:11-1
In Christian Science mere opinion is valueless. Proof 12is essential to a due estimate of this subject. Sneers at Supported by factsthe application of the word Science to Chris-tianity cannot prevent that from being scien-15tific which is based on divine Principle, demonstrated ac-cording to a divine given rule, and subjected to proof. The facts are so absolute and numerous in support of 18Christian Science, that misrepresentation and denuncia-342342:1tion cannot overthrow it.
Hymn 176: “Long hast thou stood, O church of God”
Hymn 439: “... So a church is meant for healing”
Hymn 537: “O church of God, built on a firm foundation”