First Church of Christ, Scientist, La Cañada Flintridge, California
Wednesday Meeting Readings
- Ps. 1:1-3
1Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
2But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.
3And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
- Ps. 5:3, 11 let, 12
3My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up.
... let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice: let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest them: let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee.
12For thou, Lord, wilt bless the righteous; with favour wilt thou compass him as with a shield.
- Song 2:11-13 (to 1st .)
11For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone;
12The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land;
13The fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell.
- Deut. 33:29
29Happy art thou, O Israel: who is like unto thee, O people saved by the Lord, the shield of thy help, and who is the sword of thy excellency! and thine enemies shall be found liars unto thee; and thou shalt tread upon their high places.
- Ps. 128:1, 2
1Blessed is every one that feareth the Lord; that walketh in his ways.
2For thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands: happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee.
- Prov. 3:13, 17, 18, 29-31, 35
13¶ Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding.
... 17Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.
18She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: and happy is every one that retaineth her.
29Devise not evil against thy neighbour, seeing he dwelleth securely by thee.
30¶ Strive not with a man without cause, if he have done thee no harm.
31¶ Envy thou not the oppressor, and choose none of his ways.
35The wise shall inherit glory: but shame shall be the promotion of fools.
- Prov. 12:5, 11, 14, 17, 20
5The thoughts of the righteous are right: but the counsels of the wicked are deceit.
... 11He that tilleth his land shall be satisfied with bread: but he that followeth vain persons is void of understanding.
... 14A man shall be satisfied with good by the fruit of his mouth: and the recompence of a man’s hands shall be rendered unto him.
... 17He that speaketh truth sheweth forth righteousness: but a false witness deceit.
... 20Deceit is in the heart of them that imagine evil: but to the counsellors of peace is joy.
- I John 4:1-21
1Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.
2Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:
3And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.
4Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.
5They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them.
6We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.
7Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.
8He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.
9In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.
10Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
11Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.
12No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.
13Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.
14And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.
15Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.
16And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.
17Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.
18There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.
19We love him, because he first loved us.
20If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?
21And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.
- I John 5:1, 2
1Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him.
2By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.
- John 13:17
17If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.
Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures
by Mary Baker Eddy
- SH vii:1-21
To those leaning on the sustaining infinite, to-day is big with blessings. The wakeful shepherd beholds 3the first faint morning beams, ere cometh the full radiance of a risen day. So shone the pale star to the prophet-shepherds; yet it traversed the night, and came where, in 6cradled obscurity, lay the Bethlehem babe, the human herald of Christ, Truth, who would make plain to be-nighted understanding the way of salvation through Christ 9Jesus, till across a night of error should dawn the morn-ing beams and shine the guiding star of being. The Wise-men were led to behold and to follow this daystar of 12divine Science, lighting the way to eternal harmony.
The time for thinkers has come. Truth, independent of doctrines and time-honored systems, knocks at the 15portal of humanity. Contentment with the past and the cold conventionality of materialism are crumbling away. Ignorance of God is no longer the stepping-18stone to faith. The only guarantee of obedience is a right apprehension of Him whom to know aright is Life eternal. Though empires fall, “the Lord shall 21reign forever.”
- SH 55:16-21
- SH 37:16-17
- SH 296:26-5
Mortal mind judges by the testimony 27of the material senses, until Science obliterates this false testimony. An improved belief is one step out of error, and aids in taking the next step and in understanding 30the situation in Christian Science.
Mortal belief is a liar from the beginning, not deserving power. It says to mortals, “You are wretched!” and they 297 297:1think they are so; and nothing can change this state, until the belief changes. Mortal belief says, “You are happy!” 3Belief an autocratand mortals are so; and no circumstance can alter the situation, until the belief on this sub-ject changes.
- SH 57:18
- SH 58:7
- SH 514:6-25
Mind, joyous in strength, dwells in the realm of Mind. Mind’s infinite ideas run and dis -port themselves. In humility they climb the heights of 9holiness.
Moral courage is “the lion of the tribe of Juda,” the king of the mental realm. Free and fearless it roams in 12Qualities of thoughtthe forest. Undisturbed it lies in the open field, or rests in “green pastures, . . . beside the still waters.” In the figurative transmission from the 15divine thought to the human, diligence, promptness, and perseverance are likened to “the cattle upon a thousand hills.” They carry the baggage of stern resolve, and 18keep pace with highest purpose. Tenderness accompa-nies all the might imparted by Spirit. The individ-uality created by God is not carnivorous, as witness the 21millennial estate pictured by Isaiah: — The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, And the leopard shall lie down with the kid; 24And the calf and the young lion, and the fatling together; And a little child shall lead them.
- SH 515:4
Patience is symbolized by the tireless worm, creeping over lofty summits, persevering in its intent. The ser-6The serpent harmlesspent of God’s creating is neither subtle nor poisonous, but is a wise idea, charming in its adroitness, for Love’s ideas are subject to the Mind which 9forms them, — the power which changeth the serpent into a staff.
- SH 327:22-2
Fear of punishment never made man truly honest. Moral courage is requisite to meet the wrong and to 24Moral courageproclaim the right. But how shall we re-form the man who has more animal than moral courage, and who has not the true idea of good? 27Through human consciousness, convince the mortal of his mistake in seeking material means for gaining hap-piness. Reason is the most active human faculty. Let 30that inform the sentiments and awaken the man’s dor-mant sense of moral obligation, and by degrees he will learn the nothingness of the pleasures of human sense 328 328:1and the grandeur and bliss of a spiritual sense, which silences the material or corporeal.
- SH 329:21
There is no hypocrisy in Science. Principle is impera-tive. You cannot mock it by human will. Science is a Error destroyed, not pardoneddivine demand, not a human. Always right, 24its divine Principle never repents, but main-tains the claim of Truth by quenching error. The pardon of divine mercy is the destruction of error. If 27men understood their real spiritual source to be all bless-edness, they would struggle for recourse to the spiritual and be at peace; but the deeper the error into which mor-30tal mind is plunged, the more intense the opposition to spirituality, till error yields to Truth.
- SH 201:1-19
The best sermon ever preached is Truth practised and demonstrated by the destruction of sin, sickness, 3Practical preachingand death. Knowing this and knowing too that one affection would be supreme in us and take the lead in our lives, Jesus said, “No man can serve 6two masters.”
We cannot build safely on false foundations. Truth makes a new creature, in whom old things pass away 9and “all things are become new.” Passions, selfishness, false appetites, hatred, fear, all sensuality, yield to spirit-uality, and the superabundance of being is on the side 12of God, good.
We cannot fill vessels already full. They must first be The uses of truthemptied. Let us disrobe error. Then, when 15the winds of God blow, we shall not hug our tatters close about us.
The way to extract error from mortal mind is to pour 18in truth through flood-tides of Love. Christian perfec-tion is won on no other basis.
- SH 377:3
- SH 393:4-11
The body seems to be self-acting, only because mortal mind is ignorant of itself, of its own actions, and of their 6The strength of Spiritresults, — ignorant that the predisposing, re-mote, and exciting cause of all bad effects is a law of so-called mortal mind, not of matter. Mind is the 9master of the corporeal senses, and can conquer sickness, sin, and death. Exercise this God-given authority. Take possession of your body, and govern its feeling and action.
- SH 392:24 Stand (only)
Stand porter at the door of thought.
Hymn 64: “...My heart is singing: I have found. the way”
Hymn 58: “Father, we Thy loving children Lift our hearts in joy today”
Hymn 136: “...For still Thy presence is with me, And Thou dost give me peace.”