Finding the Way Home

Wednesday Evening Readings for May 19, 2021

From The Bible

Joel 2:25 I (to 1st ,), 26 (to :), 27 (to 
… I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, …

And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you: …

And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the Lord your God, and none else: …

Ruth 1:1, 2 (to 3rd ,), 3, 4 (to :), 5, 6 (to :), 8, 14, 16, 22
Now it came to pass in the days when the judges ruled, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Beth–lehem–judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons. And the name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife Naomi, and the name of his two sons Mahlon and Chilion, …

And Elimelech Naomi’s husband died; and she was left, and her two sons. And they took them wives of the women of Moab; the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth: …

And Mahlon and Chilion died also both of them; and the woman was left of her two sons and her husband. ¶ Then she arose with her daughters in law, that she might return from the country of Moab: …

And Naomi said unto her two daughters in law, Go, return each to her mother’s house: the Lord deal kindly with you, as ye have dealt with the dead, and with me. …

And they lifted up their voice, and wept again: and Orpah kissed her mother in law; but Ruth clave unto her. …

And Ruth said, Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: …

So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter in law, with her, which returned out of the country of Moab: and they came to Beth–lehem in the beginning of barley harvest.

Ruth 2:1–3 (to 3rd ,), 8, 10–12
And Naomi had a kinsman of her husband’s, a mighty man of wealth, of the family of Elimelech; and his name was Boaz. And Ruth the Moabitess said unto Naomi, Let me now go to the field, and glean ears of corn after him in whose sight I shall find grace. And she said unto her, Go, my daughter. And she went, and came, and gleaned in the field after the reapers: and her hap was to light on a part of the field belonging unto Boaz, …

Then said Boaz unto Ruth, Hearest thou not, my daughter? Go not to glean in another field, neither go from hence, but abide here fast by my maidens: …

Then she fell on her face, and bowed herself to the ground, and said unto him, Why have I found grace in thine eyes, that thou shouldest take knowledge of me, seeing I am a stranger? And Boaz answered and said unto her, It hath fully been shewed me, all that thou hast done unto thy mother in law since the death of thine husband: and how thou hast left thy father and thy mother, and the land of thy nativity, and art come unto a people which thou knewest not heretofore. The Lord recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee of the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to trust.

Ruth 4:13, 17 2nd and
¶ So Boaz took Ruth, and she was his wife: and when he went in unto her, the Lord gave her conception, and she bare a son. …

… and they called his name Obed: he is the father of Jesse, the father of David.

Ps. 23:6
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

Luke 8:22, 26–28, 30–35 (to :), 38, 39
¶ Now it came to pass on a certain day, that he went into a ship with his disciples: and he said unto them, Let us go over unto the other side of the lake. And they launched forth. …

… ¶ And they arrived at the country of the Gadarenes, which is over against Galilee. And when he went forth to land, there met him out of the city a certain man, which had devils long time, and ware no clothes, neither abode in any house, but in the tombs. When he saw Jesus, he cried out, and fell down before him, and with a loud voice said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God most high? I beseech thee, torment me not. …

And Jesus asked him, saying, What is thy name? And he said, Legion: because many devils were entered into him. And they besought him that he would not command them to go out into the deep. And there was there an herd of many swine feeding on the mountain: and they besought him that he would suffer them to enter into them. And he suffered them. Then went the devils out of the man, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the lake, and were choked. When they that fed them saw what was done, they fled, and went and told it in the city and in the country. Then they went out to see what was done; and came to Jesus, and found the man, out of whom the devils were departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed, and in his right mind: …

Now the man out of whom the devils were departed besought him that he might be with him: but Jesus sent him away, saying, Return to thine own house, and shew how great things God hath done unto thee. And he went his way, and published throughout the whole city how great things Jesus had done unto him.

Luke 15:11–24 (to 1st .)
¶ And he said, A certain man had two sons: And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living. And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living. And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want. And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him. And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants. And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. …

II Cor. 5:6, 8
Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: …

We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.

Selections from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures

SH 121:14 man
… man, left to the hypotheses of material sense unexplained by Science, is as the wandering comet or the desolate star — “a weary searcher for a viewless home.”

SH 169:11–16 faith
… faith in rules of health or in drugs begets and fosters disease by attracting the mind to the subject of sickness, by exciting fear of disease, and by dosing the body in order to avoid it. The faith reposed in these things should find stronger supports and a higher home.

SH 269:9–28
Human philosophy has made God manlike. Christian Science makes man Godlike. The first is error; the latter is truth. Metaphysics is above physics, and matter does not enter into metaphysical premises or conclusions. The categories of metaphysics rest on one basis, the divine Mind. Metaphysics resolves things into thoughts, and exchanges the objects of sense for the ideas of Soul.

These ideas are perfectly real and tangible to spiritual consciousness, and they have this advantage over the objects and thoughts of material sense, — they are good and eternal.

The testimony of the material senses is neither absolute nor divine. I therefore plant myself unreservedly on the teachings of Jesus, of his apostles, of the prophets, and on the testimony of the Science of Mind. Other foundations there are none. All other systems — systems based wholly or partly on knowledge gained through the material senses — are reeds shaken by the wind, not houses built on the rock.

SH 258:25
Mortals have a very imperfect sense of the spiritual man and of the infinite range of his thought. To him belongs eternal Life. Never born and never dying, it were impossible for man, under the government of God in eternal Science, to fall from his high estate.

SH 399:29
Our Master asked: “How can one enter into a strong man’s house and spoil his goods, except he first
bind the strong man?” In other words: How can I heal the body, without beginning with so-called mortal mind, which directly controls the body? When disease is once destroyed in this so-called mind, the fear of disease is gone, and therefore the disease is thoroughly cured. Mortal mind is “the strong man,” which must be held in subjection before its influence upon health and morals can be removed. This error conquered, we can despoil “the strong man” of his goods, — namely, of sin and disease.

SH 280:2
Symbols and elements of discord and decay are not products of the infinite, perfect, and eternal All.

From Love and from the light and harmony which are the abode of Spirit, only reflections of good can come. All things beautiful and harmless are ideas of Mind. Mind creates and multiplies them, and the product must be mental.

SH 282:3–18
The real Life, or Mind, and its opposite, the so-called material life and mind, are figured by two geometrical symbols, a circle or sphere and a straight line. The circle represents the infinite without beginning or end; the straight line represents the finite, which has both beginning and end. The sphere represents good, the self-existent and eternal individuality or Mind; the straight line represents evil, a belief in a self-made and temporary material existence. Eternal Mind and temporary material existence never unite in figure or in fact.

A straight line finds no abiding-place in a curve, and a curve finds no adjustment to a straight line. Similarly, matter has no place in Spirit, and Spirit has no place in matter. Truth has no home in error, and error has no foothold in Truth.

SH 547:23–25, 31–32; 548:5
The Scriptures are very sacred. Our aim must be to have them understood spiritually, for only by this understanding can truth be gained. …

It is this spiritual perception of Scripture, which lifts humanity out of disease and death and inspires faith. … In this Science, we discover man in the image and likeness of God. We see that man has never lost his spiritual estate and his eternal harmony.

SH 241:23
One’s aim, a point beyond faith, should be to find the footsteps of Truth, the way to health and holiness. We should strive to reach the Horeb height where God is revealed; and the corner-stone of all spiritual building is purity. The baptism of Spirit, washing the body of all the impurities of flesh, signifies that the pure in heart see God and are approaching spiritual Life and its demonstration.

SH 451:14
Man walks in the direction towards which he looks, and where his treasure is, there will his heart be also. If our hopes and affections are spiritual, they come from above, not from beneath, and they bear as of old the fruits of the Spirit.

SH 124:25
Spirit is the life, substance, and continuity of all things. We tread on forces. Withdraw them, and creation must collapse. Human knowledge calls them forces of matter; but divine Science declares that they belong wholly to divine Mind, are inherent in this Mind, and so restores them to their rightful home and classification.

SH 58:21
Home is the dearest spot on earth, and it should be the centre, though not the boundary, of the affections.

SH 254:31
Pilgrim on earth, thy home is heaven; stranger, thou art the guest of God.

Hymns from the christian Science Hymnal

Hymn. 497
Home is the consciousness of good / That holds us in its wide embrace; / The steady light that comforts us / In every path our footsteps trace.

Our Father’s house has many rooms, / And each with peace and love imbued; / No child can ever stray beyond / The compass of infinitude.

Home is the Father’s sweet “Well done,” / God’s daily, hourly gift of grace. / We go to meet our neighbor’s need, / And find our home in every place.
Words: Rosemary C. Cobham, alt.
Music: British melody; harm. and arr. Robert Rockabrand

Hymn. 534
My shepherd is the living God, / There’s nothing that I need; / In pastures fair, near pleasant streams, / I settle down to feed. / You bring my wandering spirit back / When I forsake Your ways. / And lead me for Your mercy’s sake / In paths of truth and grace.

When I walk through the shades of death, / Your presence is my stay; / A word of Your supporting breath / Drives all my fears away. / Your hand, in sight of all my foes, / Lays out my table’s spread; / And fills my cup to overflow, / Your oil anoints my head.

The sure provisions of my God / Attend me all my days; / O may Your house be my abode, / And all my work be praise. / There would I find a settled rest, / While others come and go— / No more a stranger or a guest, / But like a child at home.
Words: Thomas Sternhold and Isaac Watts, alt.
Music: American melody, Lewis’s Beauties of Harmony, 1828; harm. Erik Routley

Hymn. 584
The Lord is my Shepherd; I need not a thing. / Green pastures give rest for my soul. / Love leads me beside the still, still waters. / Love restores me, and Love makes me whole.

Love leads me in right paths to honor God’s name, / And though I walk through darkest days, / I won’t be afraid for Love’s here beside me / To protect me and show me the way.

Though sin would surround me, my cup overflows; / You show that I’m never alone. / Your goodness and love are mine forever; / In the dwelling of Love, I am home.
Words: Katie Grigg-Miller
Music: Katie Grigg-Miller