Sunday, April 8, 2007

Subject: Unreality

Scriptural Selection:
Matthew 6:19-33
#Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness! #No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

Solo – O Savior Sweet

Readings may be found in the Christian Science Quarterly - to obtain a Quarterly contact the Reading Room.

The scientific statement of being?
There is no life, truth, intelligence, nor substance in matter. All is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation, for God is All-in-all. Spirit is immortal Truth; matter is mortal error. Spirit is the real and eternal; matter is the unreal and temporal. Spirit is God, and man is His image and likeness. Therefore man is not material; he is spiritual.

Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, p 468

And the correlative scripture according to I John

Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.

Benediction:
I Corinthians 15:19-20
If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.

Hymn 370
Nellie B. Mace

We are hid with Christ forever
In the Father's holy plan.
In this pure eternal union
We behold the perfect man;
And we know that sin can never
Overthrow the sacred rod
Of dominion over evil:
We are hid with Christ in God.

Hid with Christ in God, O gladness:
O the meekness and the might,
When the risen Christ has lifted
All our thoughts into the light,
Light of Truth wherein no sadness
Dims the radiant peace we find,
As we set our whole affection
On the beauteous things of Mind.

Hymn 390
William F. Sherwin – Adapted

Why is thy faith in God's great love so small?
Why doth thy heart shrink back at duty's call?
Art thou obeying this: Abide in me;
And doth the Master's word abide in thee?

O blest assurance from our risen Lord;
O precious comfort breathing from the Word.
How great the promise, could there greater be?
Ask what thou wilt, it shall be done for thee.

Ask what thou wilt, but O, remember this,
We ask and have not when we ask amiss.
If weak in faith, we only half believe
That what we ask we really shall receive.

Hymn 413
Frances Thompson Hill

Let us sing of Easter gladness
That rejoices every day,
Sing of hope and faith uplifted;
Love has rolled the stone away.
Lo, the promise and fulfillment,
Lo, the man whom God hath made,
Seen in glory of an Easter
Crowned with light that cannot fade.

When we touch Truth's healing garment
And behold Life's purity,
When we find in Love the refuge
That is man's security,
When we turn from earth to Spirit,
And from self have won release,
Then we see the risen Saviour;
Then we know his promised peace.

Living meekly as the Master,
Who of God was glorified,
Looking ever to the radiance
Of his wondrous Eastertide;
Freed of fear, of pain, and sorrow,
Giving God the honor due,
Every day will be an Easter
Filled with benedictions new.

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