First Church of Christ, Scientist, La Cañada Flintridge, California
Wednesday Meeting Readings
- Ps. 119:1-3, 10, 15, 16, 27 (to :), 30 (to :)
1Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord.
2Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart.
3They also do no iniquity: they walk in his ways.
10With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments.
... 15I will meditate in thy precepts, and have respect unto thy ways.
16I will delight myself in thy statutes: I will not forget thy word.
27Make me to understand the way of thy precepts:
... 30I have chosen the way of truth:
- Ps. 116:9
9I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living.
- Ps. 117:2 (to 1st .)
2For his merciful kindness is great toward us: and the truth of the Lord endureth for ever.
- Gen. 17:1 when, 5, 7
when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.
... 5Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee.
... 7And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.
- Acts 15:35, 36
35Paul also and Barnabas continued in Antioch, teaching and preaching the word of the Lord, with many others also.
36¶ And some days after Paul said unto Barnabas, Let us go again and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord, and see how they do.
- Acts 16:1 (to 1st :), 4, 5, 8-34, 40
1Then came he to Derbe and Lystra:
... 4And as they went through the cities, they delivered them the decrees for to keep, that were ordained of the apostles and elders which were at Jerusalem.
5And so were the churches established in the faith, and increased in number daily.
... 8And they passing by Mysia came down to Troas.
9And a vision appeared to Paul in the night; There stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help us.
10And after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavoured to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto them.
11Therefore loosing from Troas, we came with a straight course to Samothracia, and the next day to Neapolis;
12And from thence to Philippi, which is the chief city of that part of Macedonia, and a colony: and we were in that city abiding certain days.
13And on the sabbath we went out of the city by a river side, where prayer was wont to be made; and we sat down, and spake unto the women which resorted thither.
14¶ And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul.
15And when she was baptized, and her household, she besought us, saying, If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and abide there. And she constrained us.
16¶ And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying:
17The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation.
18And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour.
19¶ And when her masters saw that the hope of their gains was gone, they caught Paul and Silas, and drew them into the marketplace unto the rulers,
20And brought them to the magistrates, saying, These men, being Jews, do exceedingly trouble our city,
21And teach customs, which are not lawful for us to receive, neither to observe, being Romans.
22And the multitude rose up together against them: and the magistrates rent off their clothes, and commanded to beat them.
23And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailer to keep them safely:
24Who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks.
25¶ And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.
26And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one’s bands were loosed.
27And the keeper of the prison awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword, and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled.
28But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm: for we are all here.
29Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas,
30And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?
31And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.
32And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house.
33And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway.
34And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house.
40And they went out of the prison, and entered into the house of Lydia: and when they had seen the brethren, they comforted them, and departed.
- Acts 17:1, 2, 10-12, 33, 34 (to :)
1Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews:
2And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures,
10¶ And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews.
11These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.
12Therefore many of them believed; also of honourable women which were Greeks, and of men, not a few.
33So Paul departed from among them.
34Howbeit certain men clave unto him, and believed:
- SH 497:3-8 As, 24 And
As adherents of Truth, we take the inspired Word of the Bible as our sufficient guide to eternal Life.
2. We acknowledge and adore one supreme and in-6finite God. We acknowledge His Son, one Christ; the Holy Ghost or divine Comforter; and man in God’s image and likeness.
And we solemnly promise to watch, and pray for that Mind to be in us which was also in Christ Jesus; to do unto others as we would have them do unto us; and 27to be merciful, just, and pure.
- SH 23:12-2
Rabbinical lore said: “He that taketh one doctrine, firm in faith, has the Holy Ghost dwelling in him.” Doctrines and faithThis preaching receives a strong rebuke in 15the Scripture, “Faith without works is dead.” Faith, if it be mere belief, is as a pendulum swinging be -tween nothing and something, having no fixity. Faith, 18advanced to spiritual understanding, is the evidence gained from Spirit, which rebukes sin of every kind and estab-lishes the claims of God.
21 In Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and English, faith and the words corresponding thereto have these two defini-Self-reliance and confidencetions, trustfulness and trustworthiness. One 24kind of faith trusts one’s welfare to others. Another kind of faith understands divine Love and how to work out one’s “own salvation, with fear and trem-27bling.” “Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief!” expresses the helplessness of a blind faith; whereas the injunction, “Believe . . . and thou shalt be saved!” 30demands self-reliant trustworthiness, which includes spir-itual understanding and confides all to God.
The Hebrew verb to believe means also to be firm or 24 24:1to be constant. This certainly applies to Truth and Love understood and practised.
- SH 24:4
Acquaintance with the original texts, and willingness to give up human beliefs (established by hierarchies, and 6Life’s healing currentsinstigated sometimes by the worst passions of men), open the way for Christian Science to be understood, and make the Bible the chart of life, where 9the buoys and healing currents of Truth are pointed out.
- SH 65:11
- SH 83:21-22
- SH 98:31-2
- SH 178:32
- SH 272:19-25
It is the spiritualization of thought and Christianization of daily life, in contrast with the results of the ghastly farce 21Unspiritual contrastsof material existence; it is chastity and purity, in contrast with the downward tendencies and earthward gravitation of sensualism and impurity, 24which really attest the divine origin and operation of Chris-tian Science.
- SH 366:24
- SH 95:5-16, 19-22
Paul 6said, “To be spiritually minded is life.” We approach God, or Life, in proportion to our spirituality, our fidel-ity to Truth and Love; and in that ratio we know all 9human need and are able to discern the thought of the sick and the sinning for the purpose of healing them. Error of any kind cannot hide from the law of God.
12 Whoever reaches this point of moral culture and good-ness cannot injure others, and must do them good. The greater or lesser ability of a Christian Scientist to discern 15thought scientifically, depends upon his genuine spirit-uality.
We welcome the increase of knowledge and the end of error, because even human invention must have its 21Christ’s reappearanceday, and we want that day to be succeeded by Christian Science, by divine reality.
- SH 325:20-4
Paul had a clear sense of the demands of Truth upon 21mortals physically and spiritually, when he said: “Pre-Consecration requiredsent your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, ac-ceptable unto God, which is your reasonable 24service.” But he, who is begotten of the beliefs of the flesh and serves them, can never reach in this world the divine heights of our Lord. The time cometh when 27the spiritual origin of man, the divine Science which ushered Jesus into human presence, will be understood and demonstrated.
30 When first spoken in any age, Truth, like the light, “shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not.” A false sense of life, substance, and mind 326 326:1hides the divine possibilities, and conceals scientific demonstration.
3 If we wish to follow Christ, Truth, it must be in the way of God’s appointing.
- SH 327:17
- SH 182:1-7
- SH 367:17
A Christian Scientist occupies the place at this period 18of which Jesus spoke to his disciples, when he said: “Ye The salt of the earthare the salt of the earth.” “Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill can -21not be hid.” Let us watch, work, and pray that this salt lose not its saltness, and that this light be not hid, but radiate and glow into noontide glory.
- SH 510:9
- SH 577:22 (only)
All who are saved must walk in this light.
Hymn 92: “Happy the man who knows His Master to obey”
Hymn 221: “...Today Christ's precious Science Thy healing power makes plain”
Hymn 29: “...Comes the Christian Science gospel...”