Service for Sunday, Jan. 8, 2012

Subject: Sacrament

 Hymn 261
 Samuel Longfellow 

 One holy church of God appears
   Through every age and race,
 Unwasted by the lapse of years,
   Unchanged by changing place.

 From oldest time, on farthest shores,
   Beneath the pine or palm,
 One unseen presence she adores,
   With silence or with psalm.

 Her priests are all God's faithful sons,
   To serve the world raised up;
 The pure in heart her baptized ones;
   Love, her communion cup.

The scriptural selections are from Psalms.

Psalms 21:1,2 (to 1st .),3‑7
The king shall joy in thy strength, O Lord; and in thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoice!  Thou hast given him his heart's desire, and hast not withholden the request of his lips.

For thou preventest him with the blessings of goodness: thou settest a crown of pure gold on his head.  He asked life of thee, and thou gavest it him, even length of days for ever and ever.  His glory is great in thy salvation: honour and majesty hast thou laid upon him.  For thou hast made him most blessed for ever: thou hast made him exceeding glad with thy countenance.  For the king trusteth in the Lord, and through the mercy of the most High he shall not be moved.

Psalms 27:1‑11 (to 3rd ,),13,14
The 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?  When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell.  Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident.  One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple.  For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock.  And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me: therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy; I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the Lord.  Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice: have mercy also upon me, and answer me.  When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek.  Hide not thy face far from me; put not thy servant away in anger: thou hast been my help; leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation.  When my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up.  Teach me thy way, O Lord, and lead me in a plain path,

I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.  Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.


Silent prayer, followed by the audible repetition of the Lord’s prayer, with its spiritual interpretation as given in the Christian Science textbook.


Our Father which art in heaven,
Our Father-Mother God, all-harmonious,
Hallowed be Thy name.
Adorable One.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy kingdom is come; Thou art ever-present.
Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
Enable us to know – as in heaven, so on earth
God is omnipotent, supreme.
Give us this day our daily bread;
Give us grace for today; feed the famished affections;
And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
And Love is reflected in love;
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil;
And God leadeth us not into temptation, but delivereth us from sin, disease, and death.
For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever.
For God is infinite, all-power, all Life, Truth, Love, over all, and All.


 Hymn 298
 Communion Hymn – Mary Baker Eddy

 Saw ye my Saviour?  Heard ye the glad sound?
 Felt ye the power of the Word?
 'Twas the Truth that made us free,
 And was found by you and me
 In the life and the love of our Lord.

 Mourner, it calls you,‑‑"Come to my bosom,
 Love wipes your tears all away,
 And will lift the shade of gloom,
 And for you make radiant room
 Midst the glories of one endless day."

 Sinner, it calls you,‑‑"Come to this fountain,
 Cleanse the foul senses within;
 'Tis the Spirit that makes pure,
 That exalts thee, and will cure
 All thy sorrow and sickness and sin."

 Strongest deliverer, friend of the friendless,
 Life of all being divine:
 Thou the Christ, and not the creed;
 Thou the Truth in thought and deed;
 Thou the water, the bread, and the wine.

Reading of the Tenets of The Mother Church
Tenets of The Mother Church
The First Church of Christ, Scientist*
 
 
1. As adherents of Truth, we take the inspired Word of the Bible as our sufficient guide to eternal Life.
 
2. We acknowledge and adore one supreme and infinite God. We acknowledge His Son, one Christ; the Holy Ghost or divine Comforter; and man in God's image and likeness.
 
3. We acknowledge God's forgiveness of sin in the destruction of sin and the spiritual understanding that casts out evil as unreal. But the belief in sin is punished so long as the belief lasts.
 
4. We acknowledge Jesus' atonement as the evidence of divine, efficacious Love, unfolding man's unity with God through Christ Jesus the Way-shower;and we acknowledge that man is saved through Christ, through Truth, Life, and Love as demonstrated by the Galilean Prophet in healing the sick and overcoming sin and death.
 
5. We acknowledge that the crucifixion of Jesus and his resurrection served to uplift faith to understand eternal Life, even the allness of Soul, Spirit, and the nothingness of matter
 
6. And we solemnly promise to watch, and pray for that Mind to be in us which was also in Christ Jesus; to do unto others as we would have them do unto us; and to be merciful, just, and pure.
Mary Baker Eddy




Solo. "Create in Me a Clean Heart".

The lesson-sermon from the Bible and the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy, read by the First and Second Readers.

The content of the Lesson Sermon may be found in the Christian Science Quarterly. You may also read the Lesson-Sermon for this week online by clicking here.


The First Reader briefly invites the congregation to kneel in silent Communion. This is concluded by the
audible repetition of the Lord's Prayer (spiritual interpretation omitted).


 Hymn 1 
 Communion Doxology – Tate and Brady

 Be Thou, O God, exalted high;
 And as Thy glory fills the sky,
 So let it be on earth displayed,
 Till Thou art here and now obeyed.

"The Scientific Statement of Being" (S&H p. 468} and the correlative scripture according to I John 3:1-3.

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, p.468

1John.3


[1] 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.
[2] 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.
[3] And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.

Benediction

Psalm 62:1
Truly my soul waiteth upon God; from him cometh my salvation.

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