December 26, 2022–January 1, 2023
God
Golden Text
Psalms 65:2, 11 (to ;)
2O thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come.
11. . . Thou crownest the year with thy goodness;
Responsive Reading
Psalms 107:1, 2, 4–6, 8, 9, 20; I Chronicles 16:25 (to :), 27, 31, 32, 34
1O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.
Click to open the research content2Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy;
4They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way; they found no city to dwell in.
5Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them.
6Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses.
8Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!
9For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness.
20He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.
25For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised:
Click to open the research content27Glory and honour are in his presence; strength and gladness are in his place.
31Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice: and let men say among the nations, The Lord reigneth.
32Let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof: let the fields rejoice, and all that is therein.
34O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever.
Section 1
The Bible
Revelation 1:8
8I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.
Click to open the research contentPsalms 118:1 (to :), 24
1O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good:
Click to open the research content Click to open the Bibles content24This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.
Psalms 100:1, 3, 5
1Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands.
Click to open the research content Click to open the Bibles content3Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
5For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.
Psalms 104:24 (to !), 30
24O Lord, how manifold are thy works!
Click to open the Bibles content30Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created: and thou renewest the face of the earth.
Psalms 54:6 I will praise
6I will praise thy name, O Lord; for it is good.
Science and Health with Key to the Scripturesby Mary Baker Eddy
587:19
Good. God; Spirit; omnipotence; omniscience; omnipresence; omni-action.
286:16–19
Goodness
a portion
of God
In the Saxon and twenty other tongues good is the term for God. The Scriptures declare all that He made to be good, like Himself, — good in Principle and in idea.
275:10
Divine
synonyms
To grasp the reality and order of being in its Science, you must begin by reckoning God as the divine Principle of all that really is. Spirit, Life, Truth, Love, combine as one, — and are the Scriptural names for God. All substance, intelligence, wisdom, being, immortality, cause, and effect belong to God. These are His attributes, the eternal manifestations of the infinite divine Principle, Love. No wisdom is wise but His wisdom; no truth is true, no love is lovely, no life is Life but the divine; no good is, but the good God bestows.
277:7 As
As God Himself is good and is Spirit, goodness and spirituality must be immortal. Their opposites, evil and matter, are mortal error, and error has no creator. If goodness and spirituality are real, evil and materiality are unreal and cannot be the outcome of an infinite God, good.
516:9–12, 21
Love imparts
beauty
God fashions all things, after His own likeness. Life is reflected in existence, Truth in truthfulness, God in goodness, which impart their own peace and permanence.
Man and woman as coexistent and eternal with God forever reflect, in glorified quality, the infinite Father-Mother God.
339:8–9
God, Spirit, alone created all, and called it good.
Section 2
The Bible
Psalms 4:6
6There be many that say, Who will shew us any good? Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us.
Click to open the Bibles contentPsalms 27:13, 14
13I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.
Click to open the Bibles content14Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.
I Kings 18:46 (to ;)
46And the hand of the Lord was on Elijah;
I Kings 19:9–12
9And he came thither unto a cave, and lodged there; and, behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and he said unto him, What doest thou here, Elijah?
Click to open the research content10And he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.
11And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord. And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake:
12And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.
Psalms 85:8 (to 2nd :), 12 (to ;)
8I will hear what God the Lord will speak: for he will speak peace unto his people, and to his saints:
Click to open the research content Click to open the Bibles content12Yea, the Lord shall give that which is good;
Science and Health
89:20–21
Spirit, God, is heard when the senses are silent.
298:8–10
What is termed material sense can report only a mortal temporary sense of things, whereas spiritual sense can bear witness only to Truth.
505:20
Spiritual sense is the discernment of spiritual good. Understanding is the line of demarcation between the real and unreal. Spiritual understanding unfolds Mind, — Life, Truth, and Love, — and demonstrates the divine sense, giving the spiritual proof of the universe in Christian Science.
205:15
Perceiving
the divine
image
Befogged in error (the error of believing that matter can be intelligent for good or evil), we can catch clear glimpses of God only as the mists disperse, or as they melt into such thinness that we perceive the divine image in some word or deed which indicates the true idea, — the supremacy and reality of good, the nothingness and unreality of evil.
559:8–12
The “still, small voice” of scientific thought reaches over continent and ocean to the globe's remotest bound. The inaudible voice of Truth is, to the human mind, “as when a lion roareth.” It is heard in the desert and in dark places of fear.
323:30–32
Childlike
receptivity
We are either turning away from this utterance, or we are listening to it and going up higher.
213:11–12
Every step towards goodness is a departure from materiality, and is a tendency towards God, Spirit.
Section 3
The Bible
Acts 10:38 God
38God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.
Luke 4:16–19, 21
16And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.
Click to open the research content17And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written,
18The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
19To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
21And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.
Luke 5:15 and
15and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by him of their infirmities.
Matthew 19:16, 17 (to :)
16And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?
Click to open the research content17And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God:
Science and Health
19:29–1
Jesus’
sinless career
Jesus urged the commandment, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me,” which may be rendered: Thou shalt have no belief of Life as mortal; thou shalt not know evil, for there is one Life, — even God, good.
332:9–11 Christ, 19
Christ is the true idea voicing good, the divine message from God to men speaking to the human consciousness.
Holy Ghost
or Comforter
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.
180:25
When man is governed by God, the ever-present Mind who understands all things, man knows that with God all things are possible. The only way to this living Truth, which heals the sick, is found in the Science of divine Mind as taught and demonstrated by Christ Jesus.
450:19–24
The Christian Scientist has enlisted to lessen evil, disease, and death; and he will overcome them by understanding their nothingness and the allness of God, or good. Sickness to him is no less a temptation than is sin, and he heals them both by understanding God's power over them.
495:14–16, 20
When the illusion of sickness or sin tempts you, cling steadfastly to God and His idea. Allow nothing but His likeness to abide in your thought.
Let Christian Science, instead of corporeal sense, support your understanding of being, and this understanding will supplant error with Truth, replace mortality with immortality, and silence discord with harmony.
Section 4
The Bible
Psalms 107:8, 9
8Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!
Click to open the Bibles content9For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness.
Psalms 68:5, 6 (to 1st :)
5A father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, is God in his holy habitation.
Click to open the Bibles content6God setteth the solitary in families:
Hebrews 13:5 for
5for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
Click to open the research contentRomans 8:38, 39
38For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
Click to open the Bibles content39Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Psalms 52:1 the
1the goodness of God endureth continually.
Science and Health
265:23–26
Blessings
from pain
Who that has felt the loss of human peace has not gained stronger desires for spiritual joy? The aspiration after heavenly good comes even before we discover what belongs to wisdom and Love.
303:28–9
Man’s
entity
spiritual
Spiritual man is the image or idea of God, an idea which cannot be lost nor separated from its divine Principle. When the evidence before the material senses yielded to spiritual sense, the apostle declared that nothing could alienate him from God, from the sweet sense and presence of Life and Truth.
Man
inseparable
from Love
It is ignorance and false belief, based on a material sense of things, which hide spiritual beauty and goodness. Understanding this, 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.”
503:12
Spiritual
harmony
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. Hence the eternal wonder, — that infinite space is peopled with God's ideas, reflecting Him in countless spiritual forms.
264:15
Self-
completeness
When we realize that Life is Spirit, never in nor of matter, this understanding will expand into self-completeness, finding all in God, good, and needing no other consciousness.
254:31
Pilgrim on earth, thy home is heaven; stranger, thou art the guest of God.
Section 5
The Bible
Acts 3:1–9
1Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour.
Click to open the research content2And a certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple;
3Who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple asked an alms.
4And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us.
5And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them.
6Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.
7And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength.
8And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God.
9And all the people saw him walking and praising God:
Psalms 135:1–3 (to :)
1Praise ye the Lord. Praise ye the name of the Lord; praise him, O ye servants of the Lord.
2Ye that stand in the house of the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God,
3Praise the Lord; for the Lord is good:
Science and Health
414:21–28
The Scripture declares, “The Lord He is God [good]; there is none else beside Him.” Even so, harmony is universal, and discord is unreal. Christian Science declares that Mind is substance, also that matter neither feels, suffers, nor enjoys. Hold these points strongly in view. Keep in mind the verity of being, — that man is the image and likeness of God, in whom all being is painless and permanent.
243:32–3
Inasmuch as God is good and the fount of all being, He does not produce moral or physical deformity; therefore such deformity is not real, but is illusion, the mirage of error.
178:8
Heredity is not a law. The remote cause or belief of disease is not dangerous because of its priority and the connection of past mortal thoughts with present. The predisposing cause and the exciting cause are mental.
412:23
Mentally insist that harmony is the fact, and that 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 and harmony.
393:12
Rise in the strength of Spirit to resist all that is unlike good. God has made man capable of this, and nothing can vitiate the ability and power divinely bestowed on man.
515:22
All that God imparts moves in accord with Him, reflecting goodness and power.
Section 6
The Bible
Jeremiah 31:14 my
14my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, saith the Lord.
Click to open the research contentZephaniah 3:17
17The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing.
Click to open the Bibles contentZechariah 9:17 (to !)
17For how great is his goodness, and how great is his beauty!
Science and Health
78:28
Spirit blesses man, but man cannot “tell whence it cometh.” By it the sick are healed, the sorrowing are comforted, and the sinning are reformed. These are the effects of one universal God, the invisible good dwelling in eternal Science.
518:19
Love giveth to the least spiritual idea might, immortality, and goodness, which shine through all as the blossom shines through the bud. All the varied expressions of God reflect health, holiness, immortality — infinite Life, Truth, and Love.
103:15–16
The maximum of good is the infinite God and His idea, the All-in-all.
© 2022 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.
© 2023 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.