Service for Sunday, Oct. 21, 2012

Subject: Probation After Death

 Hymn 343

 George W. Doane – Adapted

 Thou art the Way:  to thee alone

   From sin and death we flee;

 And he who would the Father seek,

   Must seek Him, Lord, by thee.

 Thou art the Truth:  thy word alone

   True wisdom doth impart;

 Thou only canst unfold that Truth,

   And purify the heart.

 Thou art the Life:  the rending tomb

   Proclaims thy conquering arm;

 And those who put their trust in thee

   Nor death nor hell shall harm.

 Thou art the Way, the Truth, the Life:

   Grant us that Way to know,

 That Truth to trust, that Life to learn,

   Whose joys eternal flow.

The scriptural selection is from I Timothy.

I Timothy 4:1‑16

Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.  

For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving: For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.  If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, whereunto thou hast attained.  

But refuse profane and old wives' fables, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness.  For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.  This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation.  For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe.  These things command and teach.  

Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.  Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.  Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery.  Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all.  Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.

Silent prayer, followed by the audible repetition of the Lord’s prayer, with its spiritual interpretation as given in the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy

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 15 

 Based on the Danish of Bernhard S. Ingemann

 As gold by fire is tested,

   Its purity shown forth,

 So cleansing fires of Truth may prove

   To man his native worth.

 And as a mirror shows us

   A likeness clear and bright,

 So God forever sees His child

   Revealed in radiant light.

 'Twas thus the loving Master

   Saw man's perfection shine,

 Beheld God's child forever pure

   In radiance all divine.

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.

 Hymn 196 

 Jane Borthwick

 Now is the time approaching,

   By prophets long foretold,

 When all shall dwell together,

   One Shepherd and one fold.

 Now Jew and Gentile, meeting

   From many a distant shore,

 Around one altar kneeling,

   One common Lord adore.

 Let all that now divides us

   Remove and pass away,

 Like shadows of the morning

   Before the blaze of day.

 Let all that now unites us

   More sweet and lasting prove,

 A closer bond of union,

   In a blest land of love.

"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

Psalms 19:8,9

The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.  The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.