Readings for December 22, 2021

From The Bible

... God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
(II Corinthians 4:6 God)

... in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, ...

And the angel came in unto her, and said, ...

... Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. ...

And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: ...

For with God nothing shall be impossible. And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her. And Mary arose in those days, and went into the hill country with haste, into a city of Juda; And entered into the house of Zacharias, and saluted Elisabeth. And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost: And she spake out with a loud voice, and said, Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. ...

For, lo, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in mine ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy. ...

And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord,
(Luke 1:26 in, 28 (to 2nd ,), 30 Fear, 31, 36 (to :), 37–42, 44, 46)

... unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: ... and his name shall be called Wonderful, ...
(Isaiah 9:6 unto (to 1st :), 6 2nd and (to 2nd ,))

And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; ... and the Holy Ghost was upon him. ...

And he came by the Spirit into the temple: and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, ...

Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said, Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, ...

For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, ...

A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel. ...

And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.
(Luke 2:25 (to ;), 25 4th and, 27 (to 1st ,), 28, 29 (to 2nd ,), 30, 32, 52)

O give thanks unto the LORD; call upon his name: make known his deeds among the people.
(Psalms 105:1)

The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen:
(Acts 1:1, 2)

... and commanded them, saying, ...

Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: ...
(Matthew 10:5 and (to 3rd ,), 8 (to :))

There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. ...

That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. ...

Verily, verily, I say unto thee, ...

... no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, ...

... ¶ For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
(John 3:1–3, 6, 11 (to 3rd ,), 13 no (to 2nd ,), 16)

I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. ...

I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. ...

If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love. These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.
(John 15:1, 5, 10, 11)

And Jesus went up into a mountain, and there he sat with his disciples. ...

And Jesus said, ...

... I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.
(John 6:3, 10 (to 1st ,), 38 I)

... call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.
(Matthew 23:9 call)

¶ Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
(John 8:12)

Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever.
(Hebrews 13:8)

Selections from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy

Life is, like Christ, “the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever.” Organization and time have nothing to do with Life.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 249:18–20 (to 1st .))

“And the evening and the morning were the first day.” (Genesis i. 5.)
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 584:3–4)

Day. The irradiance of Life; light, the spiritual idea of Truth and Love.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 584:1)

“Let there be light,” is the perpetual demand of Truth and Love, changing chaos into order and discord into the music of the spheres.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 255:3–6)

Spiritually followed, the book of Genesis is the history of the untrue image of God, named a sinful mortal. This deflection of being, rightly viewed, serves to suggest the proper reflection of God and the spiritual actuality of man, as given in the first chapter of Genesis. ...

... The creative Principle — Life, Truth, and Love — is God. ... There is but one creator and one creation. ...

... In the universe of Truth, matter is unknown. ... Divine Science, the Word of God, saith to the darkness upon the face of error, “God is All-in-all,” and the light of ever-present Love illumines the universe.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, pp. 502:9–14, 27–28 (to 1st .), 29 (only); 503:10–11, 12–15)

Jesus taught but one God, one Spirit, who makes man in the image and likeness of Himself, — of Spirit, not of matter. Man reflects infinite Truth, Life, and Love.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 94:1–4)

Can there be any birth or death for man, the spiritual image and likeness of God?
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 206:25–26)

Birth, decay, and death arise from the material sense of things, not from the spiritual, ...
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 544:7–8 (to 2nd ,))

Chronological data are no part of the vast forever. Time-tables of birth and death are so many conspiracies against manhood and womanhood.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 246:17–20 Chronological)

Jesus acknowledged no ties of the flesh. He said: “Call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.” ... He recognized Spirit, God, as the only creator, and therefore as the Father of all.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 31:4–6, 10)

The Science of creation, so conspicuous in the birth of Jesus, inspired his wisest and least-understood sayings, and was the basis of his marvellous demonstrations.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, pp. 539:30–1)

The Christ was the Spirit which Jesus implied in his own statements: “I am the way, the truth, and the life;” “I and my Father are one.” ... Divine Truth, Life, and Love gave Jesus authority over sin, sickness, and death. His mission was to reveal the Science of celestial being, to prove what God is and what He does for man.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 26:10–12, 14)

In witness of his divine commission, he presented the proof that Life, Truth, and Love heal the sick and the sinning, and triumph over death through Mind, not matter.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 54:13–16)

Christ is the true idea voicing good, the divine message from God to men speaking to the human consciousness. The Christ is incorporeal, spiritual, — yea, the divine image and likeness, dispelling the illusions of the senses; the Way, the Truth, and the Life, healing the sick and casting out evils, destroying sin, disease, and death. ...

... Jesus demonstrated Christ; he proved that Christ is the divine idea of God — the Holy Ghost, or Comforter, revealing the divine Principle, Love, and leading into all truth.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 332:9–15 Christ, 19 Jesus)

In the illusion of life that is here to-day and gone to-morrow, man would be wholly mortal, were it not that Love, the divine Principle that obtains in divine Science, destroys all error and brings immortality to light. Because man is the reflection of his Maker, he is not subject to birth, growth, maturity, decay. These mortal dreams are of human origin, not divine.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 305:22)

Because man-made systems insist that man becomes sick and useless, suffers and dies, all in consonance with the laws of God, are we to believe it? Are we 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 Father. He healed sickness in defiance of what is called material law, but in accordance with God's law, the law of Mind.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 168:15)

The “man of sorrows” best understood the nothingness of material life and intelligence and the mighty actuality of all-inclusive God, good. These were the two cardinal points of Mind-healing, or Christian Science, which armed him with Love.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 52:19–23)

... Paul said: “Neither death, nor life, . . . nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God.” This is the doctrine of Christian Science: that divine Love cannot be deprived of its manifestation, or object; that joy cannot be turned into sorrow, for sorrow is not the master of joy; that good can never produce evil; that matter can never produce mind nor life result in death.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 304:5–14 Paul)

Divine Science rolls back the clouds of error with the light of Truth, and lifts the curtain on man as never born and as never dying, but as coexistent with his creator.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 557:18)

Advancing to a higher plane of action, thought rises from the material sense to the spiritual, from the scholastic to the inspirational, and from the mortal to the immortal. All things are created spiritually. ... Love, the divine Principle, is the Father and Mother of the universe, including man.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 256:2–6, 7)

Truth and Love enlighten the understanding, in whose “light shall we see light;” and this illumination is reflected spiritually by all who walk in the light and turn away from a false material sense.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 510:9)

This also shows that there is no place where God's light is not seen, since Truth, Life, and Love fill immensity and are ever-present.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 504:11–14)

Our Master fully and finally demonstrated divine Science in his victory over death and the grave. Jesus' deed was for the enlightenment of men and for the salvation of the whole world from sin, sickness, and death. ...

Glory be to God, and peace to the struggling hearts! Christ hath rolled away the stone from the door of human hope and faith, and through the revelation and demonstration of life in God, hath elevated them to possible at-one-ment with the spiritual idea of man and his divine Principle, Love.
(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 45:6–10, 16)

Hymns from the Christian Science Hymnal

Hymn 600

Who was that man in Galilee,
Healing and teaching beside the sea?
What was the power that made him strong?
How can we learn to sing his song?

He told us,
I am the light of the world,
I am the light of the world,
So follow me and shine out
For I am the light of the world!

Why are we here, and who are we?
What is his purpose for you and me?
Our little light seems small and dim
Next to the blaze that comes from him!

He told us,
You are the salt of the earth,
You are the light of the world.
So follow me and shine out
For you are the light of the world!

Christ is the light with which we shine,
Lit from within by this love divine.
Step out with courage, dare to go,
Give from the heart the love you know.

He told us,
We are the salt of the earth,
We are the light of the world.
We follow him and shine out
For Christ is the light of the world!

Hymn 23
Blest Christmas morn, though murky clouds
Pursue thy way,
Thy light was born where storm enshrouds
Nor dawn nor day!

Dear Christ, forever here and near,
No cradle song,
No natal hour and mother's tear,
To thee belong.

Thou God-idea, Life-encrowned,
The Bethlehem babe-
Beloved, replete, by flesh embound-
Was but thy shade!

Thou gentle beam of living Love,
And deathless Life!
Truth infinite,-so far above
All mortal strife,

Or cruel creed, or earth-born taint:
Fill us today
With all thou art-be thou our saint,
Our stay, alway.

Hymn 549
O thou joyful, O thou blessed,
O thou grace-bringing Christmastide!
Chaos and darkness yield to the Christ light.
Christians sing with joy, in love abide.

O thou joyful, O thou blessed,
O thou grace-bringing Christmastide!
Christ came to earth to show our at-one-ment.
Christians sing with joy, in love abide.

O thou joyful, O thou blessed,
O thou grace-bringing Christmastide!
Heavenly hosts rejoice and embrace us.
Christians sing with joy, in love abide.
(Christian Science Hymnal, No. 549)