Service for Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Subject:  "Awake"

 Hymn 5 
 Irving C. Tomlinson

 A voice from heaven we have heard,
   The call to rise from earth;
 Put armor on, the sword now gird,
   And for the fight go forth.
 The foe in ambush claims our prize,
   Then heed high heaven's call.
 Obey the voice of Truth, arise,
   And let not fear enthrall.

 The cause requires unswerving might:
   With God alone agree.
 Then have no other aim than right;
   End bondage, O be free.
 Depart from sin, awake to love:
   Your mission is to heal.
 Then all of Truth you must approve,
   And only know the real.

Readings from the Bible.

Psalms 17:1‑3,6‑8,15
Hear the right, O Lord, attend unto my cry, give ear unto my prayer, that goeth not out of feigned lips.  Let my sentence come forth from thy presence; let thine eyes behold the things that are equal.  Thou hast proved mine heart; thou hast visited me in the night; thou hast tried me, and shalt find nothing; I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress. 

I have called upon thee, for thou wilt hear me, O God: incline thine ear unto me, and hear my speech.  Shew thy marvellous lovingkindness, O thou that savest by thy right hand them which put their trust in thee from those that rise up against them.  Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings,

As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.

Psalms 57:1‑3 to 1st .,3 God,5,8‑11
Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me: for my soul trusteth in thee: yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities be overpast.  I will cry unto God most high; unto God that performeth all things for me.  He shall send from heaven, and save me from the reproach of him that would swallow me up  God shall send forth his mercy and his truth. 

Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens; let thy glory be above all the earth. 

Awake up, my glory; awake, psaltery and harp: I myself will awake early.  I will praise thee, O Lord, among the people: I will sing unto thee among the nations.  For thy mercy is great unto the heavens, and thy truth unto the clouds.  Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens: let thy glory be above all the earth.

Psalms 139:1‑12,17,18
O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me.  Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off.  Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.  For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether.  Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me.  Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.  Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?  If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.  If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.  If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me.  Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee. 

How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!  If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee.

Isaiah 60:1‑3
Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.  For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee.  And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.

Romans 13:1‑12
Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.  Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.  Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour.  Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.  Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.  And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.  The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.

Ephesians 5:1,2,7,8,10-12
Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour. 

Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.  Be not ye therefore partakers with them.  For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light: (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;) Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord.  And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.  For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret.  But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light.  Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.

Readings from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy.
4:17
  Simply asking that we may love God will never make us love Him; but the longing to be better and holier, expressed in daily watchfulness and in striving to assimilate more of the divine character, will mould and fashion us anew, until we awake in His likeness.  We reach the Science of Christianity through demonstration of the divine nature; but in this wicked world goodness will "be evil spoken of," and patience must bring experience. 

95:28‑11 (to 2nd .)
  Lulled by stupefying illusions, the world is asleep in the cradle of infancy, dreaming away the hours.  Material sense does not unfold the facts of existence; but spiritual sense lifts human consciousness into eternal Truth.  Humanity advances slowly out of sinning sense into spiritual understanding; unwillingness to learn all things rightly, binds Christendom with chains. 
  Love will finally mark the hour of harmony, and spiritualization will follow, for Love is Spirit.  Before error is wholly destroyed, there will be interruptions of the general material routine.  Earth will become dreary and desolate, but summer and winter, seedtime and harvest (though in changed forms), will continue unto the end,‑‑until the final spiritualization of all things.  "The darkest hour precedes the dawn."

190:8‑31
  This embryonic and materialistic human belief called mortal man in turn fills itself with thoughts of pain and pleasure, of life and death, and arranges itself into five so‑called senses, which presently measure mind by the size of a brain and the bulk of a body, called man. 
  Human birth, growth, maturity, and decay are as the grass springing from the soil with beautiful green blades, afterwards to wither and return to its native nothingness.  This mortal seeming is temporal; it never merges into immortal being, but finally disap‑pears, and immortal man, spiritual and eternal, is found to be the real man. 
  The Hebrew bard, swayed by mortal thoughts, thus swept his lyre with saddening strains on human existence:

    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. 

When hope rose higher in the human heart, he sang:
    As for me, I will behold Thy face in righteousness:
    I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with Thy likeness. . . . 

    For with Thee is the fountain of life;
    In Thy light shall we see light. 

230:1
  If sickness is real, it belongs to immortality; if true, it is a part of Truth.  Would you attempt with drugs, or without, to destroy a quality or condition of Truth?  But if sickness and sin are illusions, the awakening from this mortal dream, or illusion, will bring us into health, holiness, and immortality.  This awakening is the forever coming of Christ, the advanced appearing of Truth, which casts out error and heals the sick.  This is the salvation which comes through God, the divine Principle, Love, as demonstrated by Jesus. 

249:18‑13
  Life is, like Christ, "the same yesterday, and to‑day, and forever."  Organization and time have nothing to do with Life.  You say, "I dreamed last night." What a mistake is that!  The I is Spirit.  God never slumbers, and His likeness never dreams.  Mortals are the Adam dreamers. 
  Sleep and apathy are phases of the dream that life, substance, and intelligence are material.  The mortal night‑dream is sometimes nearer the fact of being than are the thoughts of mortals when awake.  The night‑dream has less matter as its accompaniment.  It throws off some material fetters.  It falls short of the skies, but makes its mundane flights quite ethereal. 
  Man is the reflection of Soul.  He is the direct opposite of material sensation, and there is but one Ego.  We run into error when we divide Soul into souls, multiply Mind into minds and suppose error to be mind, then mind to be in matter and matter to be a lawgiver, unintelligence to act like intelligence, and mortality to be the matrix of immortality. 
  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. 

291:19‑32
  "In the place where the tree falleth, there it shall be."  So we read in Ecclesiastes.  This text has been transformed into the popular proverb, "As the tree falls, so it must lie."  As man falleth asleep, so shall he awake.  As death findeth mortal man, so shall he be after death, until probation and growth shall effect the needed change.  Mind never becomes dust.  No resurrection from the grave awaits Mind or Life, for the grave has no power over either. 
  No final judgment awaits mortals, for the judgment‑day of wisdom comes hourly and continually, even the judgment by which mortal man is divested of all material error.  As for spiritual error there is none. 

323:6‑27
  Through the wholesome chastisements of Love, we are helped onward in the march towards righteousness, peace, and purity, which are the landmarks of Science.  Beholding the infinite tasks of truth, we pause,‑‑wait on God.  Then we push onward, until boundless thought walks enraptured, and conception unconfined is winged to reach the divine glory. 
  In order to apprehend more, we must put into practice what we already know.  We must recollect that Truth is demonstrable when understood, and that good is not understood until demonstrated.  If "faithful over a few things," we shall be made rulers over many; but the one unused talent decays and is lost.  When the sick or the sinning awake to realize their need of what they have not, they will be receptive of divine Science, which gravitates towards Soul and away from material sense, removes thought from the body, and elevates even mortal mind to the contemplation of something better than disease or sin.  The true idea of God gives the true understanding of Life and Love, robs the grave of victory, takes away all sin and the delusion that there are other minds, and destroys mortality. 

442:16‑32
  Neither animal magnetism nor hypnotism enters into the practice of Christian Science, in which truth cannot be reversed, but the reverse of error is true.  An improved belief cannot retrograde.  When Christ changes a belief of sin or of sickness into a better belief, then belief melts into spiritual understanding, and sin, disease, and death disappear.  Christ, Truth, gives mortals temporary food and clothing until the material, transformed with the ideal, disappears, and man is clothed and fed spiritually.  St. Paul says, "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling:" Jesus said, "Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom."  This truth is Christian Science. 
  Christian Scientists, be a law to yourselves that mental malpractice cannot harm you either when asleep or when awake. 

490:28
  Sleep and mesmerism explain the mythical nature of material sense.  Sleep shows material sense as either oblivion, nothingness, or an illusion or dream.  Under the mesmeric illusion of belief, a man will think that he is freezing when he is warm, and that he is swimming when he is on dry land.  Needle‑thrusts will not hurt him. A delicious perfume will seem intolerable.  Animal magnetism thus uncovers material sense, and shows it to be a belief without actual foundation or validity.  Change the belief, and the sensation changes.  Destroy the belief, and the sensation disappears. 

491:17‑12
  The belief that matter and mind are one,‑‑that matter is awake at one time and asleep at another, sometimes presenting no appearance of mind,‑‑this belief culminates in another belief, that man dies.  Science reveals material man as never the real being.  The dream or belief goes on, whether our eyes are closed or open.  In sleep, memory and consciousness are lost from the body, and they wander whither they will apparently with their own separate embodiment.  Personality is not the individuality of man.  A wicked man may have an attractive personality. 
  When we are awake, we dream of the pains and pleasures of matter. Who will say, even though he does not understand Christian Science, that this dream‑‑rather than the dreamer‑‑may not be mortal man?  Who can rationally say otherwise, when the dream leaves mortal man intact in body and thought, although the so‑called dreamer is unconscious?  For right reasoning there should be but one fact before the thought, namely, spiritual existence.  In reality there is no other existence, since Life cannot be united to its unlikeness, mortality. 
  Being is holiness, harmony, immortality.  It is already proved that a knowledge of this, even in small degree, will uplift the physical and moral standard of mortals, will increase longevity, will purify and elevate character.  Thus progress will finally destroy all error, and bring immortality to light.

552:32
  Naturalists describe the origin of mortal and material existence in the various forms of embryology, and accompany their descriptions with important observations, which should awaken thought to a higher and purer contemplation of man's origin.  This clearer consciousness must precede an understanding of the harmony of being.  Mortal thought must obtain a better basis, get nearer the truth of being, or health will never be universal, and harmony will never become the standard of man. 

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

 Hymn 161
 Satisfied – Mary Baker Eddy

 It matters not what be thy lot,
     So Love doth guide;
 For storm or shine, pure peace is thine,
     Whate'er betide.

 And of these stones, or tyrants' thrones,
     God able is
 To raise up seed‑‑in thought and deed‑‑
     To faithful His.

 Aye, darkling sense, arise, go hence!
     Our God is good.
 False fears are foes‑‑truth tatters those,
     When understood.

 Love looseth thee, and lifteth me,
     Ayont hate's thrall:
 There Life is light, and wisdom might,
     And God is All.

 The centuries break, the earth‑bound wake,
     God's glorified!
 Who doth His will‑‑His likeness still‑‑
     Is satisfied.

Sharing of experiences, testimonies and remarks by members of the congregation.
 Hymn 181 
 Rosemary B. Hackett

 Loving Father, we Thy children
   Look to Thee in fear's dark night
 While the angels of Thy presence
   Guide us upward to the light.

 Then we feel the power that lifts us
   To Thy holy secret place,
 Where our gloom is lost in glory
   As we see Thee face to face.

 We would learn, O gracious Father,
   To reflect Thy healing love.
 May we all awake to praise Thee
   For Thy good gifts from above.

 Make us strong to bear the message
   To Thy children far and near:
 Fear shall have no more dominion.
   God is All, and heaven is here.
                                                                                          

Service for Sunday, March 4, 2012

Subject: Man

 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 84:1‑4 (to 1st .),5‑8 (to 1st .),9‑12
How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts!  My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the Lord: my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God.  Yea, the sparrow hath found an house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even thine altars, O Lord of hosts, my King, and my God.  Blessed are they that dwell in thy house: they will be still praising thee.

Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee; in whose heart are the ways of them.  Who passing through the valley of Baca make it a well; the rain also filleth the pools.  They go from strength to strength, every one of them in Zion appeareth before God.  O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer: give ear, O God of Jacob.

Behold, O God our shield, and look upon the face of thine anointed. For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.  For the Lord God is a sun and shield: the Lord will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.  O Lord of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee.


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 175 
 Violet Hay

 Lo, He sent His Word and healed them,
   Still that Word of God is here.
 Still its tender healing message
   Speaks to every listening ear.
 Truth divine, that overcometh
   All the ills that seem to be,
 In our hearts Thy Word abiding,
   We may know Thee and be free.

 Love divine, that faileth never,
   Still Thy presence and Thy power
 Mighty are to save and heal us,
   Guard and guide us every hour.
 Life divine, Thy Word proclaimeth
   All true being one with Thee.
 Sinless, fearless, whole, rejoicing,
   Now and through eternity.

  
 A Rule for Motives and Acts
 

This is from Article VIII, Section 1, of the Manual of the Mother Church, and is read as part of the service of the first Sunday in each month.
 
“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:   "Mark the Perfect Man"                   

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 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.

"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
Ecclesiastes 12:13
#Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.