First Church of Christ, Scientist, La Cañada Flintridge, California
Wednesday Meeting Readings
- Job 2:7-10
7¶ So went Satan forth from the presence of the Lord, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown.
8And he took him a potsherd to scrape himself withal; and he sat down among the ashes.
9¶ Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die.
10But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips.
- Job 38:1-3 (to ;), 4 (to ?), 18 (to ?), 19, 31, 33 (to 1st ?), 35, 36
1Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said,
2Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?
3Gird up now thy loins like a man;
... 4Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth?
... 18Hast thou perceived the breadth of the earth?
... 19Where is the way where light dwelleth? and as for darkness, where is the place thereof,
... 31Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion?
... 33Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven?
... 35Canst thou send lightnings, that they may go, and say unto thee, Here we are?
36Who hath put wisdom in the inward parts? or who hath given understanding to the heart?
- Job 40:7, 10
7Gird up thy loins now like a man: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me.
... 10Deck thyself now with majesty and excellency; and array thyself with glory and beauty.
- Job 42:1, 2, 5, 7 (to 1st ,), 10
1Then Job answered the Lord, and said,
2I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from thee.
... 5I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee.
7¶ And it was so,
... 10And the Lord turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before.
- Ezra 4:1-5
1Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the children of the captivity builded the temple unto the Lord God of Israel;
2Then they came to Zerubbabel, and to the chief of the fathers, and said unto them, Let us build with you: for we seek your God, as ye do; and we do sacrifice unto him since the days of Esar–haddon king of Assur, which brought us up hither.
3But Zerubbabel, and Jeshua, and the rest of the chief of the fathers of Israel, said unto them, Ye have nothing to do with us to build an house unto our God; but we ourselves together will build unto the Lord God of Israel, as king Cyrus the king of Persia hath commanded us.
4Then the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah, and troubled them in building,
5And hired counsellors against them, to frustrate their purpose, all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.
- Ezra 6:1 (to up), 2 (to found), 2 in, 3 (to 1st ;), 6 (to companions), 6 be, 7, 14, 16
1Then Darius the king made a decree, and search was made in the house of the rolls, where the treasures were laid up
... 2And there was found ... in the palace that is in the province of the Medes, a roll, and therein was a record thus written:
3In the first year of Cyrus the king the same Cyrus the king made a decree concerning the house of God at Jerusalem, Let the house be builded, the place where they offered sacrifices, and let the foundations thereof be strongly laid;
... 6Now therefore, Tatnai, governor beyond the river, Shethar–boznai, and your companions ... be ye far from thence:
7Let the work of this house of God alone; let the governor of the Jews and the elders of the Jews build this house of God in his place.
14And the elders of the Jews builded, and they prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. And they builded, and finished it, according to the commandment of the God of Israel, and according to the commandment of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia.
16¶ And the children of Israel, the priests, and the Levites, and the rest of the children of the captivity, kept the dedication of this house of God with joy,
- Mark 8:18 (to 1st ?), 22-25
18Having eyes, see ye not?
22¶ And he cometh to Bethsaida; and they bring a blind man unto him, and besought him to touch him.
23And he took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the town; and when he had spit on his eyes, and put his hands upon him, he asked him if he saw aught.
24And he looked up, and said, I see men as trees, walking.
25After that he put his hands again upon his eyes, and made him look up: and he was restored, and saw every man clearly.
- Ps. 121:1-8
1I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.
2My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.
3He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber.
4Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.
5The Lord is thy keeper: the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand.
6The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.
7The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul.
8The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.
Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures
by Mary Baker Eddy
- SH 15:14-18, 20
In order to pray aright, we must enter into the 15closet and shut the door. We must close the lips and Effectual invocationsilence the material senses. In the quiet sanctuary of earnest longings, we must 18deny sin and plead God’s allness. ... We 21must “pray without ceasing.” Such prayer is an-swered, in so far as we put our desires into practice. The Master’s injunction is, that we pray in secret and 24let our lives attest our sincerity.
- SH 269:5
- SH 273:29-3
Science shows that material, conflicting mortal opin-30ions and beliefs emit the effects of error at all times, but this atmosphere of mortal mind cannot be destructive to morals and health when it is opposed promptly and per-274274:1sistently by Christian Science. Truth and Love antidote this mental miasma, and thus invigorate and sustain ex-3Material knowledge illusiveistence.
- SH 400:9-11, 15
Mortals obtain the harmony of health, only as they forsake discord, acknowledge the supremacy of divine Eradicate error from thoughtMind, and abandon their material beliefs. ... This task becomes easy, if you understand that every disease is an error, and has no character nor type, except what mortal mind assigns to 18it. By lifting thought above error, or disease, and con-tending persistently for truth, you destroy error.
- SH 514:14-18
- SH 412:16
To prevent disease or to cure it, the power of Truth, of divine Spirit, must break the dream of the material 18Insistence requisitesenses. To heal by argument, find the type of the ailment, get its name, and array your mental plea against the physical. Argue at first men-21tally, not audibly, that the patient has no disease, and conform the argument so as to destroy the evidence of disease. Mentally insist that harmony is the fact, and 24that sickness is a temporal dream. Realize the presence of health and the fact of harmonious being, until the body corresponds with the normal conditions of health 27and harmony.
- SH 394:28-29, 32-10
We should remember that Life is God, and that God Arguing wronglyis omnipotent. ... The sick 395 395:1unconsciously argue for suffering, instead of against it. They admit its reality, whereas they should deny it. 3They should plead in opposition to the testimony of the deceitful senses, and maintain man’s immortality and eternal likeness to God.
6 Like the great Exemplar, the healer should speak to disease as one having authority over it, leaving Soul to Divine authoritymaster the false evidences of the corporeal 9senses and to assert its claims over mortal-ity and disease.
- SH 395:21-27
It is mental quackery to make disease a reality — to hold it as something seen and felt — and then to attempt Mental quackeryits cure through Mind. It is no less erroneous 24to believe in the real existence of a tumor, a cancer, or decayed lungs, while you argue against their reality, than it is for your patient to feel these ills in 27physical belief.
- SH 539:8, 22
What can be the standard of good, of Spirit, of Life, 9or of Truth, if they produce their opposites, such as evil, Only one standardmatter, error, and death? God could never impart an element of evil, and man possesses 12nothing which he has not derived from God. How then has man a basis for wrong-doing? Whence does he obtain the propensity or power to do evil? Has Spirit 15 resigned to matter the government of the universe?
Disputing these points with the Pharisees and arguing for the Science of creation, Jesus said: “Do men 24gather grapes of thorns?” Paul asked: “What com-munion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial?”
- SH 2:23-28, 31-2 God
God is Love. Can we ask Him to be more? God is 24intelligence. Can we inform the infinite Mind of any-God’s standardthing He does not already comprehend? Do we expect to change perfection? Shall 27we plead for more at the open fount, which is pour-ing forth more than we accept?
God is “the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever;” and 3 3:1He who is immutably right will do right without being reminded of His province.
- SH 116:11
A correct view of Christian Science and of its adapta-12tion to healing includes vastly more than is at first seen. Aim of ScienceWorks on metaphysics leave the grand point untouched. They never crown the power of 15Mind as the Messiah, nor do they carry the day against physical enemies, — even to the extinction of all belief in matter, evil, disease, and death, — nor insist upon the fact 18that God is all, therefore that matter is nothing beyond an image in mortal mind.
- SH 391:18-22 (to 1st .), 24-26 (to 1st .), 26-32 Therefore
When the body is supposed Contradict errorto say, “I am sick,” never plead guilty. Since matter cannot talk, it must be mortal mind 21which speaks; therefore meet the intimation with a pro-test. ... Disease has no intelligence to declare itself something and announce its name. ... Therefore 27make your own terms with sickness, and be just to yourself and to others.
Mentally contradict every complaint from the body, 30Sin to be overcomeand rise to the true consciousness of Life as Love, — as all that is pure, and bearing the fruits of Spirit.
- SH 462:13
Whoever would demonstrate the healing of Christian Science must abide strictly by its rules, heed every state-15ment, and advance from the rudiments laid down. There is nothing difficult nor toilsome in this task, when the way is pointed out; but self-denial, sincerity, Christianity, and 18persistence alone win the prize, as they usually do in every department of life.
Hymn 284: “Prayer is the heart's sincere desire, Uttered or unexpressed”
Hymn 341: “They who seek the throne of grace, Find that throne in every place”
Hymn 458: “To God shall prayer unceasing, And daily vows, ascend”
Topic: Persevering in prayer