Service for Sunday, April 1, 2012

Subject: Unreality


 Hymn 51
 Mary Alice Dayton 

 Eternal Mind the Potter is,
   And thought th' eternal clay:
 The hand that fashions is divine,
   His works pass not away.
 Man is the noblest work of God,
   His beauty, power and grace,
 Immortal; perfect as his Mind
   Reflected face to face.

 God could not make imperfect man
   His model infinite;
 Unhallowed thought He could not plan,
   Love's work and Love must fit.
 Life, Truth and Love the pattern make,
   Christ is the perfect heir;
 The clouds of sense roll back, and show
   The form divinely fair.

 God's will is done; His kingdom come;
   The Potter's work is plain.
 The longing to be good and true
   Has brought the light again.
 And man does stand as God's own child,
   The image of His love.
 Let gladness ring from every tongue,
   And heaven and earth approve.

The scriptural selection is from Psalms.

Psalms 89:1‑4 (to 1st .),5‑9,11‑15
I will sing of the mercies of the Lord for ever: with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations.  For I have said, Mercy shall be built up for ever: thy faithfulness shalt thou establish in the very heavens.  I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David my servant, Thy seed will I establish for ever, and build up thy throne to all generations.

And the heavens shall praise thy wonders, O Lord: thy faithfulness also in the congregation of the saints.  For who in the heaven can be compared unto the Lord? who among the sons of the mighty can be likened unto the Lord?  God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him.  O Lord God of hosts, who is a strong Lord like unto thee? or to thy faithfulness round about thee?  Thou rulest the raging of the sea: when the waves thereof arise, thou stillest them.

The heavens are thine, the earth also is thine: as for the world and the fulness thereof, thou hast founded them.  The north and the south thou hast created them: Tabor and Hermon shall rejoice in thy name.  Thou hast a mighty arm: strong is thy hand, and high is thy right hand.  Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before thy face.  Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O Lord, in the light of thy countenance.

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 115
 John M. Neale – Adapted

 Holy Father, Thou hast taught us
   We should live to Thee alone;
 Year by year, Thy hand hath brought us
   On through dangers oft unknown.
 When we wandered, Thou hast found us;
   When we doubted, sent us light;
 Still Thine arm has been around us,
   All our paths were in Thy sight.

 We would trust in Thy protecting,
   Wholly rest upon Thine arm,
 Follow wholly Thy directing,
   Thou our only guard from harm.
 Keep us from our own undoing,
   Help us turn to Thee when tried,
 Still our strength in Thee renewing,
   Keep us ever at Thy side.

This being the first Sunday of the month, Article VIII , Section 1, is read from the Manual of The Mother Church: 

A Rule for Motives and Acts. 

Neither animosity nor mere personal attachment should impel the motives or acts of the members of The Mother Church.  In Science, divine Love alone governs man; and a Christian Scientist reflects the sweet amenities of Love, in rebuking sin, in true brotherliness, charitableness, and forgiveness.  The members of this Church should daily watch and pray to be delivered from all evil, from prophesying, judging, condemning, counseling, influencing or being influenced erroneously.

Solo: "Prayer"                    


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.

 Hymn 176 
 Based on the Danish of Nikolaj F. S. Grundtvig

 Long hast thou stood, O church of God,
   Long mid the tempest's assailing,
 Founded secure on timeless rock
   Rises thy light, never failing;
 Shining that all may understand
 What has been wrought by God's command,
   O'er night and chaos prevailing.

 Let there be light, and light was there,
   Clear as the Word that declared it;
 Healing and peace to all it gave,
   Who in humility shared it.
 Ah, they were faithful, they who heard,
 Steadfast their trust in God's great Word,
   Steadfast the Love that prepared it.

 Let there be light, the Word shines forth,
   Lo, where the new morning whitens;
 O church of God, with Book unsealed,
   How its page beacons and brightens.
 Living stones we, each in his place,
 May we be worthy such a grace,
   While Truth the wide earth enlightens.

"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


Isaiah 2:5 come
 come ye, and let us walk in the light of the Lord.  

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