March 17–23, 2025
Matter
Golden Text
Romans 12:1 present
1. . . present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
Click to open the research contentResponsive Reading
Psalms 96:1, 3, 5, 6; 106:7, 8, 13, 19–21, 44, 45; 29:2
96:1Sing to the Lord a new song. Let all the earth sing to the Lord.
3Tell of His shining-greatness among the nations. Tell of His wonderful works among all the people.
5For all the gods of the nations are false gods. But the Lord made the heavens.
6Honor and great power are with Him. Strength and beauty are in His holy place.
106:7Our fathers in Egypt did not understand Your powerful works. They did not remember how many times You showed Your loving-kindness. But they turned against You by the sea, the Red Sea.
8Yet He saved them because of the honor of His name, and to make His great power known.
13But they soon forgot His works. They did not wait to hear what He wanted them to do.
19They made a calf at Horeb and worshiped a god of gold.
20They traded their shining-greatness for something that looked like a bull that eats grass.
21They forgot the God Who saved them, Who had done great things in Egypt,
44But He looked upon their trouble when He heard their cry.
45He remembered His agreement because of them, and took pity on them by the greatness of His loving-kindness.
29:2Give to the Lord the honor that belongs to Him. Worship the Lord in the beauty of holy living.
The Responsive Reading is from the New Life Version.
Section 1
The Bible
I John 5:21 (to 1st .)
21Little children, keep yourselves from idols.
Click to open the Bibles contentJoshua 22:5 take
5take diligent heed to do the commandment and the law, which Moses the servant of the Lord charged you, to love the Lord your God, and to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and to cleave unto him, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.
Click to open the research contentScience and Health with Key to the Scripturesby Mary Baker Eddy
200:4
Moses advanced a nation to the worship of God in Spirit instead of matter, and illustrated the grand human capacities of being bestowed by immortal Mind.
123:11
Seeming
and being
The verity of Mind shows conclusively how it is that matter seems to be, but is not. Divine Science, rising above physical theories, excludes matter, resolves things into thoughts, and replaces the objects of material sense with spiritual ideas.
372:8
The Science of being, in which all is divine Mind, or God and His idea, would be clearer in this age, but for the belief that matter is the medium of man, or that man can enter his own embodied thought, bind himself with his own beliefs, and then call his bonds material and name them divine law.
214:18–21
Idolatrous
illusions
We bow down to matter, and entertain finite thoughts of God like the pagan idolater. Mortals are inclined to fear and to obey what they consider a material body more than they do a spiritual God.
9:17–21 (to 1st .)
Practical
religion
Dost thou “love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind”? This command includes much, even the surrender of all merely material sensation, affection, and worship.
279:16–19
In proportion as the belief disappears that life and intelligence are in or of matter, the immortal facts of being are seen, and their only idea or intelligence is in God.
Section 2
The Bible
I Samuel 17:4, 10, 11, 32, 37 And Saul, 38, 39 And David said, 40, 42, 43 2nd And, 45, 46 (to 1st ;), 49
4And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span.
Click to open the research content10And the Philistine said, I defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together.
11When Saul and all Israel heard those words of the Philistine, they were dismayed, and greatly afraid.
32And David said to Saul, Let no man’s heart fail because of him; thy servant will go and fight with this Philistine.
37And Saul said unto David, Go, and the Lord be with thee.
38And Saul armed David with his armour, and he put an helmet of brass upon his head; also he armed him with a coat of mail.
39And David said unto Saul, I cannot go with these; for I have not proved them. And David put them off him.
40And he took his staff in his hand, and chose him five smooth stones out of the brook, and put them in a shepherd’s bag which he had, even in a scrip; and his sling was in his hand: and he drew near to the Philistine.
42And when the Philistine looked about, and saw David, he disdained him: for he was but a youth, and ruddy, and of a fair countenance.
43And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.
45Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied.
46This day will the Lord deliver thee into mine hand;
49And David put his hand in his bag, and took thence a stone, and slang it, and smote the Philistine in his forehead, that the stone sunk into his forehead; and he fell upon his face to the earth.
Psalms 27:1, 6 therefore
1The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
Click to open the Bibles content6therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy; I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the Lord.
Science and Health
200:2–4
Pagan worship began with muscularity, but the law of Sinai lifted thought into the song of David.
268:6
Belief in a material basis, from which may be deduced all rationality, is slowly yielding to the idea of a metaphysical basis, looking away from matter to Mind as the cause of every effect. Materialistic hypotheses challenge metaphysics to meet in final combat. In this revolutionary period, like the shepherd-boy with his sling, woman goes forth to battle with Goliath.
91:13
The destruction of error is by no means the destruction of Truth or Life, but is the acknowledgment of them.
269:29–2
Rejected
theories
The theories I combat are these: (1) that all is matter; (2) that matter originates in Mind, and is as real as Mind, possessing intelligence and life. The first theory, that matter is everything, is quite as reasonable as the second, that Mind and matter coexist and cooperate.
270:5–7 (to 2nd .)
Matter and Mind are opposites. One is contrary to the other in its very nature and essence; hence both cannot be real. If one is real, the other must be unreal.
177:10
Mental and
physical
oneness
Matter, or body, is but a false concept of mortal mind. This so-called mind builds its own superstructure, of which the material body is the grosser portion; but from first to last, the body is a sensuous, human concept.
397:26–28
Independent
mentality
We can never treat mortal mind and matter separately, because they combine as one.
317:16–20
The individuality of man is no less tangible because it is spiritual and because his life is not at the mercy of matter. The understanding of his spiritual individuality makes man more real, more formidable in truth, and enables him to conquer sin, disease, and death.
484:24
Science must triumph over material sense, and Truth over error, thus putting an end to the hypotheses involved in all false theories and practices.
Section 3
The Bible
II Corinthians 4:18 we
18we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.
Click to open the research content Click to open the Bibles contentMatthew 4:23
23And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.
Matthew 17:1–8 Jesus
1Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart,
Click to open the research content2And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.
3And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him.
4Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias.
5While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.
6And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face, and were sore afraid.
7And Jesus came and touched them, and said, Arise, and be not afraid.
8And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man, save Jesus only.
II Corinthians 5:8
8We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.
Click to open the research contentScience and Health
283:32–1
Are mentality, immortality, consciousness, resident in matter?
94:1–4
Scientific
man
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.
333:9–13
Christ expresses God’s spiritual, eternal nature. The name is synonymous with Messiah, and alludes to the spirituality which is taught, illustrated, and demonstrated in the life of which Christ Jesus was the embodiment.
261:21–27
Immutable
identity
of man
Detach sense from the body, or matter, which is only a form of human belief, and you may learn the meaning of God, or good, and the nature of the immutable and immortal. Breaking away from the mutations of time and sense, you will neither lose the solid objects and ends of life nor your own identity.
325:2–15
Abiding
in Life
He who has the true idea of good loses all sense of evil, and by reason of this is being ushered into the undying realities of Spirit. Such a one abideth in Life, — life obtained not of the body incapable of supporting life, but of Truth, unfolding its own immortal idea. Jesus gave the true idea of being, which results in infinite blessings to mortals.
Indestructible
being
In Colossians (iii. 4) Paul writes: “When Christ, who is our life, shall appear [be manifested], then shall ye also appear [be manifested] with him in glory.” When spiritual being is understood in all its perfection, continuity, and might, then shall man be found in God’s image.
485:14–17
Scientific
translations
Emerge gently from matter into Spirit. Think not to thwart the spiritual ultimate of all things, but come naturally into Spirit through better health and morals and as the result of spiritual growth.
Section 4
The Bible
Psalms 103:2, 3, 5
2Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:
Click to open the research content Click to open the Bibles content3Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases;
5Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
I Corinthians 8:4–6
4As concerning therefore the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice unto idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one.
Click to open the Bibles content5For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many,)
6But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.
I Corinthians 9:4
4Have we not power to eat and to drink?
I Corinthians 10:26, 27 whatsoever, 31
26For the earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof.
Click to open the research content Click to open the Bibles content27whatsoever is set before you, eat, asking no question for conscience sake.
31Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.
Science and Health
389:13–15
Our dietetic theories first admit that food sustains the life of man, and then discuss the certainty that food can kill man.
181:2
The
important
decision
Before deciding that the body, matter, is disordered, one should ask, “Who art thou that repliest to Spirit? Can matter speak for itself, or does it hold the issues of life?” Matter, which can neither suffer nor enjoy, has no partnership with pain and pleasure, but mortal belief has such a partnership.
221:1–4, 10–28
Starvation
and
dyspepsia
I knew a person who when quite a child adopted the Graham system to cure dyspepsia. For many years, he ate only bread and vegetables, and drank nothing but water.
He passed many weary years in hunger and weakness, almost in starvation, and finally made up his mind to die, having exhausted the skill of the doctors, who kindly informed him that death was indeed his only alternative. At this point Christian Science saved him, and he is now in perfect health without a vestige of the old complaint.
He learned that suffering and disease were the self-imposed beliefs of mortals, and not the facts of being; that God never decreed disease, — never ordained a law that fasting should be a means of health. Hence semi-starvation is not acceptable to wisdom, and it is equally far from Science, in which being is sustained by God, Mind. These truths, opening his eyes, relieved his stomach, and he ate without suffering, “giving God thanks;” but he never enjoyed his food as he had imagined he would when, still the slave of matter, he thought of the flesh-pots of Egypt, feeling childhood’s hunger and undisciplined by self-denial and divine Science.
222:7–14, 17, 29–2
He learned also that mortal mind makes a mortal body, whereas Truth regenerates this fleshly mind and feeds thought with the bread of Life.
Food had less power to help or to hurt him after he had availed himself of the fact that Mind governs man, and he also had less faith in the so-called pleasures and pains of matter.
For many years he had been kept alive, as was believed, only by the strictest adherence to hygiene and drugs, and yet he continued ill all the while. Now he dropped drugs and material hygiene, and was well.
Life only
in Spirit
In seeking a cure for dyspepsia consult matter not at all, and eat what is set before you, “asking no question for conscience sake.” We must destroy the false belief that life and intelligence are in matter, and plant ourselves upon what is pure and perfect.
285:27
Salvation
is through
reform
As mortals reach, through knowledge of Christian Science, a higher sense, they will seek to learn, not from matter, but from the divine Principle, God, how to demonstrate the Christ, Truth, as the healing and saving power.
Section 5
The Bible
Colossians 3:4
4When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.
Click to open the research content Click to open the Bibles contentActs 9:36–41
36Now there was at Joppa a certain disciple named Tabitha, which by interpretation is called Dorcas: this woman was full of good works and almsdeeds which she did.
37And it came to pass in those days, that she was sick, and died: whom when they had washed, they laid her in an upper chamber.
38And forasmuch as Lydda was nigh to Joppa, and the disciples had heard that Peter was there, they sent unto him two men, desiring him that he would not delay to come to them.
39Then Peter arose and went with them. When he was come, they brought him into the upper chamber: and all the widows stood by him weeping, and shewing the coats and garments which Dorcas made, while she was with them.
40But Peter put them all forth, and kneeled down, and prayed; and turning him to the body said, Tabitha, arise. And she opened her eyes: and when she saw Peter, she sat up.
41And he gave her his hand, and lifted her up, and when he had called the saints and widows, presented her alive.
Psalms 118:17
17I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord.
Science and Health
380:32–1
Every law of matter or the body, supposed to govern man, is rendered null and void by the law of Life, God.
200:9–13
A mortal
not man
Life is, always has been, and ever will be independent of matter; for Life is God, and man is the idea of God, not formed materially but spiritually, and not subject to decay and dust.
426:16–19
When it is learned that disease cannot destroy life, and that mortals are not saved from sin or sickness by death, this understanding will quicken into newness of life.
280:25–30
Sensationless
body
Rightly understood, instead of possessing a sentient material form, man has a sensationless body; and God, the Soul of man and of all existence, being perpetual in His own individuality, harmony, and immortality, imparts and perpetuates these qualities in man, — through Mind, not matter.
14:12–18
Spiritualized
consciousness
Become conscious for a single moment that Life and intelligence are purely spiritual, — neither in nor of matter, — and the body will then utter no complaints. If suffering from a belief in sickness, you will find yourself suddenly well. Sorrow is turned into joy when the body is controlled by spiritual Life, Truth, and Love.
Section 6
The Bible
I Corinthians 6:19 know, 20 glorify
19know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
Click to open the Bibles content20glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.
Psalms 96:9 (to :)
9O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness:
Click to open the research contentScience and Health
140:16–18, 20
We worship spiritually, only as we cease to worship materially. Spiritual devoutness is the soul of Christianity.
“The true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth.”
© 2025 The Christian Science Publishing Society. Unless otherwise noted, references above are from the Bible (King James Version) and the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science. The design of the Cross and Crown is a trademark owned by The Christian Science Board of Directors and is used by permission. Christian Science Quarterly™ is a trademark owned by The Christian Science Publishing Society.
The Responsive Reading is from the New Life Version, copyright © 1969 and 2003. Used by permission of Barbour Publishing, Inc., Uhrichsville, OH 44683. All rights reserved.
© 2025 The Christian Science Publishing Society. All rights reserved. The design of the Cross and Crown is a trademark owned by The Christian Science Board of Directors and is used by permission. Christian Science Quarterly™, Christian Science Sentinel™, and Bible Lens™ are trademarks owned by The Christian Science Publishing Society.