Theme: Everlasting
Hymn 53
Based on a hymn by John R. Macduff
Everlasting arms of Love
Are beneath, around, above;
God it is who bears us on,
His the arm we lean upon.
He our ever‑present guide
Faithful is, whate'er betide;
Gladly then we journey on,
With His arm to lean upon.
From earth's fears and vain alarms
Safe in His encircling arms,
He will keep us all the way,
God, our refuge, strength and stay.
Readings from the Bible.
Deuteronomy 33:27 (to :)
The eternal God is thy
refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms:
Psalms 24:1‑6 (to 1st .),7‑10
(to 1st .)
The earth is the Lord's, and
the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein. For he hath founded it upon the seas, and
established it upon the floods. Who
shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in his holy
place? He that hath clean hands, and a
pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn
deceitfully. He shall receive the
blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation. This is the generation of them that seek him,
that seek thy face, O Jacob.
Lift up your heads, O ye
gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall
come in. Who is this King of glory? The
Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift
them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts,
he is the King of glory.
Psalms 90:1,2,4,14,16,17
Lord, thou hast been our
dwelling place in all generations.
Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the
earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.
For a thousand years in thy
sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.
O satisfy us early with thy
mercy; that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
Let thy work appear unto thy
servants, and thy glory unto their children.
And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us: and establish thou
the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.
Psalms 100:1‑5
Make a joyful noise unto the
Lord, all ye lands. Serve the Lord with
gladness: come before his presence with singing. Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is he
that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of
his pasture. Enter into his gates with
thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless
his name. For the Lord is good; his
mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.
Psalms 103:8‑19,22
The Lord is merciful and
gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. He will not always chide: neither will he
keep his anger for ever. He hath not
dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so
great is his mercy toward them that fear him.
As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our
transgressions from us. Like as a father
pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that
we are dust. As for man, his days are as
grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone;
and the place thereof shall know it no more.
But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them
that fear him, and his righteousness unto children's children; To such as keep
his covenant, and to those that remember his commandments to do them. The Lord hath prepared his throne in the
heavens; and his kingdom ruleth over all.
Bless the Lord, all his works
in all places of his dominion: bless the Lord, O my soul.
Psalms 119:144
The righteousness of thy
testimonies is everlasting: give me understanding, and I shall live.
Psalms 139:23,24
Search me, O God, and know my
heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.
Psams 145:1‑13
I will extol thee, my God, O
king; and I will bless thy name for ever and ever. Every day will I bless thee; and I will
praise thy name for ever and ever. Great
is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable. One generation shall praise thy works to
another, and shall declare thy mighty acts.
I will speak of the glorious honour of thy majesty, and of thy wondrous
works. And men shall speak of the might
of thy terrible acts: and I will declare thy greatness. They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy
great goodness, and shall sing of thy righteousness. The Lord is gracious, and full of compassion;
slow to anger, and of great mercy. The
Lord is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works. All thy works shall praise thee, O Lord; and
thy saints shall bless thee. They shall
speak of the glory of thy kingdom, and talk of thy power; To make known to the
sons of men his mighty acts, and the glorious majesty of his kingdom. Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and
thy dominion endureth throughout all generations.
Isaiah 26:2‑4
Open ye the gates, that the
righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in. Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose
mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee. Trust ye in the Lord for ever: for in the
Lord JEHOVAH is everlasting strength:
Isaiah 35:3‑10
#Strengthen ye the weak
hands, and confirm the feeble knees. Say
to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will
come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; he will come and save
you. Then the eyes of the blind shall be
opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and
the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and
streams in the desert. And the parched
ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: in the
habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes. And an highway shall be there, and a way, and
it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but
it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err
therein. No lion shall be there, nor any
ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there; but the
redeemed shall walk there: And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come
to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy
and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
Isaiah 40:28‑31
#Hast thou not known? hast
thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of
the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his
understanding. He giveth power to the
faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and
the young men shall utterly fall: But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew
their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and
not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
Isaiah 55:3,6‑13
Incline your ear, and come
unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting
covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.
#Seek ye the Lord while he
may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: Let the wicked forsake his
way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord,
and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. #For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than
your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not
thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may
give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goeth
forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall
accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I
sent it. For ye shall go out with joy,
and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth
before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their
hands. Instead of the thorn shall come
up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree: and it
shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut
off.
Readings from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy.
22:30
Justice requires reformation of the
sinner. Mercy cancels the debt only when
justice approves. Revenge is
inadmissible. Wrath which is only
appeased is not destroyed, but partially indulged. Wisdom and Love may require many sacrifices
of self to save us from sin. One
sacrifice, however great, is insufficient to pay the debt of sin. The atonement requires constant self‑immolation
on the sinner's part. That God's wrath
should be vented upon His beloved Son, is divinely unnatural. Such a theory is man‑made. The atonement is a hard problem in theology,
but its scientific explanation is, that suffering is an error of sinful sense
which Truth destroys, and that eventually both sin and suffering will fall at
the feet of everlasting Love.
44:28
His disciples believed Jesus to be dead while
he was hidden in the sepulchre, whereas he was alive, demonstrating within the
narrow tomb the power of Spirit to overrule mortal, material sense. There were
rock‑ribbed walls in the way, and a great stone must be rolled from the cave's
mouth; but Jesus vanquished every material obstacle, overcame every law of
matter, and stepped forth from his gloomy resting‑place, crowned with the glory
of a sublime success, an everlasting victory.
99:23
The calm, strong currents of true
spirituality, the manifestations of which are health, purity, and self‑immolation,
must deepen human experience, until the beliefs of material existence are seen
to be a bald imposition, and sin, disease, and death give everlasting place to
the scientific demonstration of divine Spirit and to God's spiritual, perfect
man.
121:17‑32
The earth's diurnal rotation is invisible to
the physical eye, and the sun seems to move from east to west, instead of the
earth from west to east. Until rebuked
by clearer views of the everlasting facts, this false testimony of the eye
deluded the judgment and induced false conclusions. Science shows appearances often to be
erroneous, and corrects these errors by the simple rule that the greater
controls the lesser. The sun is the
central stillness, so far as our solar system is concerned, and the earth
revolves about the sun once a year, besides turning daily on its own axis.
As thus indicated, astronomical order
imitates the action of divine Principle; and the universe, the reflection of
God, is thus brought nearer the spiritual fact, and is allied to divine Science
as displayed in the everlasting government of the universe.
256:13
The everlasting I AM is not bounded nor
compressed within the narrow limits of physical humanity, nor can He be
understood aright through mortal concepts.
The precise form of God must be of small importance in comparison with
the sublime question, What is infinite Mind or divine Love?
289:31‑15
Man is not the offspring of flesh, but of
Spirit,‑‑of Life, not of matter. Because
Life is God, Life must be eternal, self‑existent. Life is the everlasting I AM, the Being who
was and is and shall be, whom nothing can erase.
If the Principle, rule, and demonstration of
man's being are not in the least understood before what is termed death overtakes
mortals, they will rise no higher spiritually in the scale of existence on
account of that single experience, but will remain as material as before the
transition, still seeking happiness through a material, instead of through a
spiritual sense of life, and from selfish and inferior motives. That Life or Mind is finite and physical or
is manifested through brain and nerves, is false. Hence Truth comes to destroy this error and
its effects,‑‑sickness, sin, and death.
To the spiritual class, relates the Scripture: "On such the second
death hath no power."
390:4‑26
We cannot deny that Life is self‑sustained,
and we should never deny the everlasting harmony of Soul, simply because, to
the mortal senses, there is seeming discord.
It is our ignorance of God, the divine Principle, which produces
apparent discord, and the right understanding of Him restores harmony. Truth will at length compel us all to
exchange the pleasures and pains of sense for the joys of Soul.
When the first symptoms of disease appear,
dispute the testimony of the material senses with divine Science. Let your higher sense of justice destroy the
false process of mortal opinions which you name law, and then you will not be
confined to a sick‑room nor laid upon a bed of suffering in payment of the last
farthing, the last penalty demanded by error.
"Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way
with him." Suffer no claim of sin
or of sickness to grow upon the thought.
Dismiss it with an abiding conviction that it is illegitimate, because
you know that God is no more the author of sickness than He is of sin. You have no law of His to support the
necessity either of sin or sickness, but you have divine authority for denying
that necessity and healing the sick.
410:4‑21
"This is life eternal," says Jesus,‑‑is, not shall be; and then he defines everlasting life as a present
knowledge of his Father and of himself,‑‑the knowledge of Love, Truth, and
Life. "This is life eternal, that
they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast
sent." The Scriptures say,
"Man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God," showing that
Truth is the actual life of man; but mankind objects to making this teaching
practical.
Every trial of our faith in God makes us
stronger. The more difficult seems the
material condition to be overcome by Spirit, the stronger should be our faith
and the purer our love. The Apostle John
says: "There is no fear in Love, but perfect Love casteth out fear. . . .
He that feareth is not made perfect in Love." Here is a definite and inspired proclamation
of Christian Science.
428:15
We should consecrate existence, not "to
the unknown God" whom we "ignorantly worship," but to the
eternal builder, the everlasting Father, to the Life which mortal sense cannot
impair nor mortal belief destroy. We
must realize the ability of mental might to offset human misconceptions and to
replace them with the life which is spiritual, not material.
568:24
For victory over a single sin, we give thanks
and magnify the Lord of Hosts. What
shall we say of the mighty conquest over all sin? A louder song, sweeter than has ever before
reached high heaven, now rises clearer and nearer to the great heart of Christ;
for the accuser is not there, and Love sends forth her primal and everlasting
strain. Self‑abnegation, by which we lay
down all for Truth, or Christ, in our warfare against error, is a rule in
Christian Science. This rule clearly
interprets God as divine Principle,‑‑as Life, represented by the Father; as
Truth, represented by the Son; as Love, represented by the Mother. Every mortal at some period, here or
hereafter, must grapple with and overcome the mortal belief in a power opposed
to God.
594:19
SPIRIT.
Divine substance; Mind; divine Principle; all that is good; God; that
only which is perfect, everlasting, omnipresent, omnipotent, infinite.
Silent prayer followed by the audible repetition of the Lord’s Prayer.
Hymn 247
Thomas H. Gill*
O walk with God along the road,
Your strength He will renew;
Wait on the everlasting God,
And He will walk with you.
Ye shall not to your daily task
Without your God repair,
But on your work His blessing ask
And prove His glory there.
Ye shall not faint, ye shall not fail;
In Spirit ye are strong;
Each task divine ye still shall hail,
And blend it with a song.
Sharing of experiences, testimonies and remarks by members of the congregation.
Hymn 374
John Randall Dunn
We thank Thee and we bless Thee,
O Father of us all,
That e'en before we ask Thee
Thou hear'st Thy children's call.
We praise Thee for Thy goodness
And tender, constant care,
We thank Thee, Father‑Mother,
That Thou hast heard our prayer.
We thank Thee and we bless Thee,
O Lord of all above,
That now Thy children know Thee
As everlasting Love.
And Love is not the author
Of discord, pain and fear;
O Love divine, we thank Thee
That good alone is here.
We thank Thee, Father‑Mother,
For blessings, light and grace
Which bid mankind to waken
And see Thee face to face.
We thank Thee, when in anguish
We turn from sense to Soul,
That we may hear Thee calling:
Rejoice, for thou art whole.
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