Service for Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2012


Theme: Dream

 Hymn 6 
 William H. Burleigh – Adapted

 Abide not in the realm of dreams,
 O man, however fair it seems;
 But with clear eye the present scan,
 And hear the call of God and man.

 Think not in sleep to fold thy hands,
 Forgetful of thy Lord's commands:
 From duty's claims no life is free,
 Behold, today hath need of thee.

 The present hour allots thy task,
 For present strength and patience ask;
 And trust His love whose sure supply
 Meets all thy need abundantly.

Readings from the Bible.

Deuteronomy 13:1‑8
If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them; Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the Lord your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. 

Ye shall walk after the Lord your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him.  And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he hath spoken to turn you away from the Lord your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to thrust thee out of the way which the Lord thy God commanded thee to walk in.  So shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of thee.  

If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers; Namely, of the gods of the people which are round about you, nigh unto thee, or far off from thee, from the one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth; Thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him; neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him:

I Kings 3:5‑15
In Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night: and God said, Ask what I shall give thee.  And Solomon said, Thou hast shewed unto thy servant David my father great mercy, according as he walked before thee in truth, and in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with thee; and thou hast kept for him this great kindness, that thou hast given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day.  And now, O Lord my God, thou hast made thy servant king instead of David my father: and I am but a little child: I know not how to go out or come in.  

And thy servant is in the midst of thy people which thou hast chosen, a great people, that cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude.  Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people?  

And the speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing.  And God said unto him, Because thou hast asked this thing, and hast not asked for thyself long life; neither hast asked riches for thyself, nor hast asked the life of thine enemies; but hast asked for thyself understanding to discern judgment; Behold, I have done according to thy words: lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart; so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee.  And I have also given thee that which thou hast not asked, both riches, and honour: so that there shall not be any among the kings like unto thee all thy days.  

And if thou wilt walk in my ways, to keep my statutes and my commandments, as thy father David did walk, then I will lengthen thy days.  And Solomon awoke; and, behold, it was a dream. And he came to Jerusalem, and stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and offered up burnt offerings, and offered peace offerings, and made a feast to all his servants.

Jeremiah 23:28‑32
The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the Lord.  Is not my word like as a fire?  saith the Lord; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces? 

Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith the Lord, that steal my words every one from his neighbour.  Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the Lord, that use their tongues, and say, He saith.  Behold, I am against them that prophesy false dreams, saith the Lord, and do tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies, and by their lightness; yet I sent them not, nor commanded them: therefore they shall not profit this people at all, saith the Lord.

Daniel 2:1‑3 in,16,19‑21
in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams, wherewith his spirit was troubled, and his sleep brake from him.  Then the king commanded to call the magicians, and the astrologers, and the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans, for to shew the king his dreams. So they came and stood before the king.  And the king said unto them, I have dreamed a dream, and my spirit was troubled to know the dream.

Then Daniel went in, and desired of the king that he would give him time, and that he would shew the king the interpretation. 

#Then was the secret revealed unto Daniel in a night vision. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven.  Daniel answered and said, Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever: for wisdom and might are his: And he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding:

Joel 2:21‑28
#Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice: for the Lord will do great things.  Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field: for the pastures of the wilderness do spring, for the tree beareth her fruit, the fig tree and the vine do yield their strength.  Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month.  And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the fats shall overflow with wine and oil.  

And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you.  And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you: and my people shall never be ashamed.  

And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the Lord your God, and none else: and my people shall never be ashamed.  #And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:

Acts 2:17‑21
And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy: And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke: The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come: And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Readings from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy.

14:25
  Entirely separate from the belief and dream of material living, is the Life divine, revealing spiritual understanding and the consciousness of man's dominion over the whole earth.  This understanding casts out error and heals the sick, and with it you can speak "as one having authority."

42:5‑14
  The universal belief in death is of no advantage.  It cannot make Life or Truth apparent.  Death will be found at length to be a mortal dream, which comes in darkness and disappears with the light. 
  The "man of sorrows" was in no peril from salary or popularity.  Though entitled to the homage of the world and endorsed pre‑eminently by the approval of God, his brief triumphal entry into Jerusalem was followed by the desertion of all save a few friends, who sadly followed him to the foot of the cross. 

71:5‑20
  The identity, or idea, of all reality continues forever; but Spirit, or the divine Principle of all, is not in Spirit's formations.  Soul is synonymous with Spirit, God, the creative, governing, infinite Principle outside of finite form, which forms only reflect. 
  Close your eyes, and you may dream that you see a flower,‑‑that you touch and smell it.  Thus you learn that the flower is a product of the so‑called mind, a formation of thought rather than of matter.  Close your eyes again, and you may see landscapes, men, and women.  Thus you learn that these also are images, which mortal mind holds and evolves and which simulate mind, life, and intelligence.  From dreams also you learn that neither mortal mind nor matter is the image or likeness of God, and that immortal Mind is not in matter. 

75:29‑21
In the vestibule through which we pass from one dream to another dream, or when we awake from earth's sleep to the grand verities of Life, the departing may hear the glad welcome of those who have gone before.  The ones departing may whisper this vision, name the face that smiles on them and the hand which beckons them, as one at Niagara, with eyes open only to that wonder, forgets all else and breathes aloud his rapture. 
  When being is understood, Life will be recognized as neither material nor finite, but as infinite,‑‑as God, universal good; and the belief that life, or mind, was ever in a finite form, or good in evil, will be destroyed.  Then it will be understood that Spirit never entered matter and was therefore never raised from matter.  When advanced to spiritual being and the understanding of God, man can no longer commune with matter; neither can he return to it, any more than a tree can return to its seed.  Neither will man seem to be corporeal, but he will be an individual consciousness, characterized by the divine Spirit as idea, not matter. 
  Suffering, sinning, dying beliefs are unreal.  When divine Science is universally understood, they will have no power over man, for man is immortal and lives by divine authority. 

188:11‑21
  Mortal existence is a dream of pain and pleasure in matter, a dream of sin, sickness, and death; and it is like the dream we have in sleep, in which every one recognizes his condition to be wholly a state of mind.  In both the waking and the sleeping dream, the dreamer thinks that his body is material and the suffering is in that body. 
  The smile of the sleeper indicates the sensation produced physically by the pleasure of a dream.  In the same way pain and pleasure, sickness and care, are traced upon mortals by unmistakable signs. 

196:6
  Better the suffering which awakens mortal mind from its fleshly dream, than the false pleasures which tend to perpetuate this dream.  Sin alone brings death, for sin is the only element of destruction. 

218:27
  The Scriptures say, "They that wait upon the Lord . . . shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint."  The meaning of that passage is not perverted by applying it literally to moments of fatigue, for the moral and physical are as one in their results.  When we wake to the truth of being, all disease, pain, weakness, weariness, sorrow, sin, death, will be unknown, and the mortal dream will forever cease.  My method of treating fatigue applies to all bodily ailments, since Mind should be, and is, supreme, absolute, and final. 

250:6‑27 (to 2nd .)
  Mortal existence is a dream; mortal existence has no real entity, but saith "It is I."  Spirit is the Ego which never dreams, but understands all things; which never errs, and is ever conscious; which never believes, but knows; which is never born and never dies.  Spiritual man is the likeness of this Ego.  Man is not God, but like a ray of light which comes from the sun, man, the outcome of God, reflects God. 
  Mortal body and mind are one, and that one is called man; but a mortal is not man, for man is immortal.  A mortal may be weary or pained, enjoy or suffer, according to the dream he entertains in sleep.  When that dream vanishes, the mortal finds himself experiencing none of these dream‑sensations.  To the observer, the body lies listless, undisturbed, and sensationless, and the mind seems to be absent. 
  Now I ask, Is there any more reality in the waking dream of mortal existence than in the sleeping dream?  There cannot be, since whatever appears to be a mortal man is a mortal dream.  Take away the mortal mind, and matter has no more sense as a man than it has as a tree.  But the spiritual, real man is immortal. 

282:28
  Whatever indicates the fall of man or the opposite of God or God's absence, is the Adam‑dream, which is neither Mind nor man, for it is not begotten of the Father.  The rule of inversion infers from error its opposite, Truth; but Truth is the light which dispels error.  As mortals begin to understand Spirit, they give up the belief that there is any true existence apart from God. 

306:32
  The parent of all human discord was the Adam‑dream, the deep sleep, in which originated the delusion that life and intelligence proceeded from and passed into matter.  This pantheistic error, or so‑called serpent, insists still upon the opposite of Truth, saying, "Ye shall be as gods;" that is, I will make error as real and eternal as Truth. 

311:14
  Through false estimates of soul as dwelling in sense and of mind as dwelling in matter, belief strays into a sense of temporary loss or absence of soul, spiritual truth.  This state of error is the mortal dream of life and substance as existent in matter, and is directly opposite to the immortal reality of being.  So long as we believe that soul can sin or that immortal Soul is in mortal body, we can never understand the Science of being.  When humanity does understand this Science, it will become the law of Life to man,‑‑even the higher law of Soul, which prevails over material sense through harmony and immortality. 

347:26
  The dream that matter and error are something must yield to reason and revelation.  Then mortals will behold the nothingness of sickness and sin, and sin and sickness will disappear from consciousness.  The harmonious will appear real, and the inharmonious unreal.  These critics will then see that error is indeed the nothingness, which they chide us for naming nothing and which we desire neither to honor nor to fear. 

412:16
  To prevent disease or to cure it, the power of Truth, of divine Spirit, must break the dream of the material senses.  To heal by argument, find the type of the ailment, get its name, and array your mental plea against the physical.  Argue at first mentally, not audibly, that the patient has no disease, and conform the argument so as to destroy the evidence of disease.  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. 

418:12
  It must be clear to you that sickness is no more the reality of being than is sin.  This mortal dream of sickness, sin, and death should cease through Christian Science.  Then one disease would be as readily destroyed as another.  Whatever the belief is, if arguments are used to destroy it, the belief must be repudiated, and the negation must extend to the supposed disease and to whatever decides its type and symptoms.  Truth is affirmative, and confers harmony.  All metaphysical logic is inspired by this simple rule of Truth, which governs all reality.  By the truthful arguments you employ, and especially by the spirit of Truth and Love which you entertain, you will heal the sick. 

494:15
  The miracle of grace is no miracle to Love.  Jesus demonstrated the inability of corporeality, as well as the infinite ability of Spirit, thus helping erring human sense to flee from its own convictions and seek safety in divine Science.  Reason, rightly directed, serves to correct the errors of corporeal sense; but sin, sickness, and death will seem real (even as the experiences of the sleeping dream seem real) until the Science of man's eternal harmony breaks their illusion with the unbroken reality of scientific being. 

530:26‑29
  The history of error is a dream‑narrative.  The dream has no reality, no intelligence, no mind; therefore the dreamer and dream are one, for neither is true nor real.

Silent prayer followed by the audible repetition of the Lord’s Prayer. 

 Hymn 412
 Rosa M. Turner

 O dreamer, leave thy dreams for joyful waking,
   O captive, rise and sing, for thou art free;
 The Christ is here, all dreams of error breaking,
   Unloosing bonds of all captivity.

 He comes to bless thee on his wings of healing;
   To banish pain, and wipe all tears away;
 He comes anew, to humble hearts revealing
   The mounting footsteps of the upward way.

 He comes to give thee joy for desolation,
   Beauty for ashes of the vanished years;
 For every tear to bring full compensation,
   To give thee confidence for all thy fears.

 He comes to call the dumb to joyful singing;
   The deaf to hear; the blinded eyes to see;
 The glorious tidings of salvation bringing.
   O captive, rise, thy Saviour comes to thee.

Sharing of experiences, testimonies and remarks by members of the congregation.


 Hymn 382 
 Emily F. Seal

 What is thy birthright, man,
   Child of the perfect One;
 What is thy Father's plan
   For His beloved son?

 Thou art Truth's honest child,
   Of pure and sinless heart;
 Thou treadest undefiled
   In Christly paths apart.

 Vain dreams shall disappear
   As Truth dawns on the sight;
 The phantoms of thy fear
   Shall flee before the light.

 Take then the sacred rod;
   Thou art not error's thrall;
 Thou hast the gift of God‑‑
   Dominion over all.

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