Theme: Rely
Hymn 59
John S. B. Monsell*
Fight the good fight with all thy might,
Christ is thy strength, and Christ thy right;
Lay hold on Life, and it shall be
Thy joy and crown eternally.
Run the straight race through God's good
grace,
Lift up thine eyes, and seek His face;
Life with its way before us lies,
Christ is the path, and Christ the prize.
Faint not nor fear, His arms are near;
He changeth not, and thou art dear;
On Him rely and thou shalt see
That Christ is all in all to thee.
Readings from the Bible.
Leviticus 19:30,31,35,37
#Ye shall keep my sabbaths,
and reverence my sanctuary: I am the Lord.
#Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards,
to be defiled by them: I am the Lord your God.
#Ye shall do no
unrighteousness in judgment, in meteyard, in weight, or in measure.
Therefore shall ye observe
all my statutes, and all my judgments, and do them: I am the Lord.
Deuteronomy 4:26‑31
I call heaven and earth to
witness against you this day, that ye shall soon utterly perish from off the
land whereunto ye go over Jordan to possess it; ye shall not prolong your days
upon it, but shall utterly be destroyed.
And the Lord shall scatter you among the nations, and ye shall be left
few in number among the heathen, whither the Lord shall lead you. And there ye shall serve gods, the work of
men's hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor
smell. But if from thence thou shalt
seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart
and with all thy soul. When thou art in
tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, even in the latter days,
if thou turn to the Lord thy God, and shalt be obedient unto his voice; (For
the Lord thy God is a merciful God;) he will not forsake thee, neither destroy
thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he sware unto them.
I Chronicles 16:8‑17
Give thanks unto the Lord,
call upon his name, make known his deeds among the people. Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him, talk ye
of all his wondrous works. Glory ye in
his holy name: let the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord. Seek the Lord and his strength, seek his face
continually. Remember his marvellous
works that he hath done, his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth; O ye seed
of Israel his servant, ye children of Jacob, his chosen ones. He is the Lord our God; his judgments are in
all the earth. Be ye mindful always of
his covenant; the word which he commanded to a thousand generations; Even of
the covenant which he made with Abraham, and of his oath unto Isaac; And hath
confirmed the same to Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an everlasting
covenant,
II Chronicles 16:7‑13 Hanani
Hanani the seer came to Asa
king of Judah, and said unto him, Because thou hast relied on the king of
Syria, and not relied on the Lord thy God, therefore is the host of the king of
Syria escaped out of thine hand. Were
not the Ethiopians and the Lubims a huge host, with very many chariots and
horsemen? yet, because thou didst rely on the Lord, he delivered them into
thine hand. For the eyes of the Lord run
to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of
them whose heart is perfect toward him. Herein thou hast done foolishly:
therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars.
Then Asa was wroth with the seer, and put him in a prison house; for he
was in a rage with him because of this thing. And Asa oppressed some of the
people the same time. #And, behold, the
acts of Asa, first and last, lo, they are written in the book of the kings of
Judah and Israel. And Asa in the thirty
and ninth year of his reign was diseased in his feet, until his disease was
exceeding great: yet in his disease he sought not to the Lord, but to the
physicians. #And Asa slept with his
fathers, and died in the one and fortieth year of his reign.
Psalms 9:7‑11 the
the Lord shall endure for
ever: he hath prepared his throne for judgment.
And he shall judge the world in righteousness, he shall minister
judgment to the people in uprightness.
The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of
trouble. And they that know thy name
will put their trust in thee: for thou, Lord, hast not forsaken them that seek
thee. Sing praises to the Lord, which
dwelleth in Zion: declare among the people his doings.
Psalms 27:4‑14
One thing have I desired of
the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all
the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his
temple. For in the time of trouble he
shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide
me; he shall set me up upon a rock. And
now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me: therefore
will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy; I will sing, yea, I will sing
praises unto the Lord. Hear, O Lord,
when I cry with my voice: have mercy also upon me, and answer me. When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart
said unto thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek.
Hide not thy face far from me; put not thy servant away in anger: thou
hast been my help; leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my
salvation. When my father and my mother
forsake me, then the Lord will take me up.
Teach me thy way, O Lord, and lead me in a plain path, because of mine
enemies. Deliver me not over unto the
will of mine enemies: for false witnesses are risen up against me, and such as
breathe out cruelty. I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness
of the Lord in the land of the living.
Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine
heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.
Psalms 34:3‑15 (to 2nd are)
O magnify the Lord with me,
and let us exalt his name together. I
sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears. They looked unto him, and were lightened: and
their faces were not ashamed. This poor
man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the Lord encampeth round about
them that fear him, and delivereth them.
O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth
in him. O fear the Lord, ye his saints: for there is no want to them that fear
him. The young lions do lack, and suffer
hunger: but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing. Come, ye children, hearken unto me: I will
teach you the fear of the Lord. What man
is he that desireth life, and loveth many days, that he may see good? Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from
speaking guile. Depart from evil, and do
good; seek peace, and pursue it. The
eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears are
Psalms 40:16
Let all those that seek thee
rejoice and be glad in thee: let such as love thy salvation say continually,
The Lord be magnified.
Psalms 63:1‑8
O God, thou art my God; early
will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a
dry and thirsty land, where no water is; To see thy power and thy glory, so as
I have seen thee in the sanctuary.
Because thy lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise
thee. Thus will I bless thee while I
live: I will lift up my hands in thy name.
My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth
shall praise thee with joyful lips: When I remember thee upon my bed, and
meditate on thee in the night watches.
Because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings
will I rejoice. My soul followeth hard
after thee: thy right hand upholdeth me.
Psalms 105:1‑8
O give thanks unto the Lord;
call upon his name: make known his deeds among the people. Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him: talk ye
of all his wondrous works. Glory ye in
his holy name: let the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord. Seek the Lord, and his strength: seek his
face evermore. Remember his marvellous
works that he hath done; his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth; O ye seed
of Abraham his servant, ye children of Jacob his chosen. He is the Lord our God: his judgments are in
all the earth. He hath remembered his
covenant for ever, the word which he commanded to a thousand generations.
Matthew 6:24‑33
#No man can serve two
masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will
hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for
your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body,
what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than
raiment? Behold the fowls of the air:
for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your
heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not
much better than they? Which of you by
taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider
the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like
one of these. Wherefore, if God so
clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the
oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall
we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles
seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these
things. But seek ye first the kingdom of
God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
Readings from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy..
60:29
Soul has infinite resources with which to bless
mankind, and happiness would be more readily attained and would be more secure
in our keeping, if sought in Soul.
Higher enjoyments alone can satisfy the cravings of immortal man. We cannot circumscribe happiness within the
limits of personal sense. The senses
confer no real enjoyment.
120:15
Health is not a condition of matter, but of
Mind; nor can the material senses bear reliable testimony on the subject of
health. The Science of Mind‑healing
shows it to be impossible for aught but Mind to testify truly or to exhibit the
real status of man. Therefore the divine
Principle of Science, reversing the testimony of the physical senses, reveals
man as harmoniously existent in Truth, which is the only basis of health; and
thus Science denies all disease, heals the sick, overthrows false evidence, and
refutes materialistic logic.
143:5‑5 np
It is plain that God does not employ drugs or
hygiene, nor provide them for human use; else Jesus would have recommended and
employed them in his healing. The sick
are more deplorably lost than the sinning, if the sick cannot rely on God for
help and the sinning can. The divine
Mind never called matter medicine,
and matter required a material and human belief before it could be considered
as medicine.
Sometimes the human mind uses one error to
medicine another. Driven to choose
between two difficulties, the human mind takes the lesser to relieve the
greater. On this basis it saves from
starvation by theft, and quiets pain with anodynes. You admit that mind influences the body
somewhat, but you conclude that the stomach, blood, nerves, bones, etc., hold
the preponderance of power. Controlled
by this belief, you continue in the old routine. You lean on the inert and unintelligent,
never discerning how this deprives you of the available superiority of divine
Mind. The body is not controlled
scientifically by a negative mind.
Mind is the grand creator, and there can be
no power except that which is derived from Mind. If Mind was first chronologically, is first
potentially, and must be first eternally, then give to Mind the glory, honor,
dominion, and power everlastingly due its holy name. Inferior and unspiritual methods of healing
may try to make Mind and drugs coalesce, but the two will not mingle
scientifically. Why should we wish to
make them do so, since no good can come of it?
If Mind is foremost and superior, let us rely
upon Mind, which needs no cooperation from lower powers, even if these so‑called
powers are real.
144:30‑15
It is a question to‑day, whether the ancient
inspired healers understood the Science of Christian healing, or whether they
caught its sweet tones, as the natural musician catches the tones of harmony,
without being able to explain them. So
divinely imbued were they with the spirit of Science, that the lack of the
letter could not hinder their work; and that letter, without the spirit, would
have made void their practice.
The struggle for the recovery of invalids
goes on, not between material methods, but between mortal minds and immortal
Mind. The victory will be on the
patient's side only as immortal Mind through Christ, Truth, subdues the human
belief in disease. It matters not what
material method one may adopt, whether faith in drugs, trust in hygiene, or
reliance on some other minor curative.
167:11‑31
We cannot serve two masters nor perceive
divine Science with the material senses.
Drugs and hygiene cannot successfully usurp the place and power of the
divine source of all health and perfection.
If God made man both good and evil, man must remain thus. What can improve God's work? Again, an error in the premise must appear in
the conclusion. To have one God and
avail yourself of the power of Spirit, you must love God supremely.
The "flesh lusteth against the
Spirit." The flesh and Spirit can
no more unite in action, than good can coincide with evil. It is not wise to take a halting and half‑way
position or to expect to work equally with Spirit and matter, Truth and
error. There is but one way‑‑namely, God
and His idea‑‑which leads to spiritual being.
The scientific government of the body must be attained through the
divine Mind. It is impossible to gain
control over the body in any other way.
On this fundamental point, timid conservatism is absolutely
inadmissible. Only through radical
reliance on Truth can scientific healing power be realized.
169:29
Whatever teaches man to have other laws and
to acknowledge other powers than the divine Mind, is anti‑Christian. The good that a poisonous drug seems to do is
evil, for it robs man of reliance on God, omnipotent Mind, and according to
belief, poisons the human system. Truth
is not the basis of theogony. Modes of
matter form neither a moral nor a spiritual system. The discord which calls for material methods
is the result of the exercise of faith in material modes,‑‑faith in matter
instead of in Spirit.
192:4
We are Christian Scientists, only as we quit
our reliance upon that which is false and grasp the true. We are not Christian Scientists until we
leave all for Christ. Human opinions are
not spiritual. They come from the
hearing of the ear, from corporeality instead of from Principle, and from the
mortal instead of from the immortal.
Spirit is not separate from God.
Spirit is God.
202:24‑16
Our beliefs about a Supreme Being contradict
the practice growing out of them. Error
abounds where Truth should "much more abound." We admit that God has almighty power, is
"a very present help in trouble;" and yet we rely on a drug or
hypnotism to heal disease, as if senseless matter or erring mortal mind had
more power than omnipotent Spirit.
Common opinion admits that a man may take
cold in the act of doing good, and that this cold may produce fatal pulmonary
disease; as though evil could overbear the law of Love, and check the reward
for doing good. In the Science of
Christianity, Mind ‑‑omnipotence‑‑has all‑power, assigns sure rewards to
righteousness, and shows that matter can neither heal nor make sick, create nor
destroy.
If God were understood instead of being
merely believed, this understanding would establish health. The accusation of the rabbis, "He made
himself the Son of God," was really the justification of Jesus, for to the
Christian the only true spirit is Godlike.
This thought incites to a more exalted worship and self‑abnegation. Spiritual perception brings out the
possibilities of being, destroys reliance on aught but God, and so makes man
the image of his Maker in deed and in truth.
452:18‑4
Right is radical. The teacher must know the truth himself. He must live it and love it, or he cannot
impart it to others. We soil our
garments with conservatism, and afterwards we must wash them clean. When the spiritual sense of Truth unfolds its
harmonies, you take no risks in the policy of error. Expect to heal simply by repeating the
author's words, by right talking and wrong acting, and you will be
disappointed. Such a practice does not
demonstrate the Science by which divine Mind heals the sick.
Acting from sinful motives destroys your
power of healing from the right motive.
On the other hand, if you had the inclination or power to practise
wrongly and then should adopt Christian Science, the wrong power would be
destroyed. You do not deny the
mathematician's right to distinguish the correct from the incorrect among the
examples on the blackboard, nor disbelieve the musician when he distinguishes
concord from discord.
Silent prayer followed by the audible repetition of the Lord’s Prayer.
Hymn 342
Laura Lee Randall
This is the day the Lord hath made;
Be glad, give thanks, rejoice;
Stand in His presence, unafraid,
In praise lift up your voice.
All perfect gifts are from above,
And all our blessings show
The amplitude of God's dear love
Which every heart may know.
The Lord will hear before we call,
And every need supply;
Good things are freely given to all
Who on His word rely.
We come today to bring Him praise
Not for such gifts alone,
But for the higher, deeper ways
In which His love is shown.
For sin destroyed, for sorrow healed,
For health and peace restored;
For Life and Love by Truth revealed,
We thank and bless the Lord.
This is the day the Lord hath made,
In praise lift up your voice.
In shining robes of joy arrayed,
Be glad, give thanks, rejoice.
Sharing of experiences, testimonies and remarks by members of the congregation.
Hymn 125
John Milton – Adapted
How lovely are Thy dwellings, Lord,
From noise and trouble free;
How beautiful the sweet accord
Of those who pray to Thee.
Lord God of Hosts, that reigns on high,
They are the truly blest
Who on Thee only will rely,
In Thee alone will rest.
For God the Lord, both sun and shield,
Gives grace and glory bright;
No good from him shall be withheld
Whose ways are just and right.
