Service for Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2013


Theme: Renew

 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.

Readings from the Bible

Psalms 33:1‑9
Rejoice in the Lord, O ye righteous: for praise is comely for the upright.  Praise the Lord with harp: sing unto him with the psaltery and an instrument of ten strings.  Sing unto him a new song; play skilfully with a loud noise.  For the word of the Lord is right; and all his works are done in truth.  He loveth righteousness and judgment: the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.  By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.  He gathereth the waters of the sea together as an heap: he layeth up the depth in storehouses.  Let all the earth fear the Lord: let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him.  For he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast.

Psalms 51:1,2,6‑12,15
Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.  Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. 

Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.  Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.  Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.  Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities.  Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.  Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.  Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.

O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise.

Psalms 103:1‑5
Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name.  Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies; Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's.

Isaiah 40:1,4,5,9‑15,25,28‑31
Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. 

Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. 

#O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God!  Behold, the Lord God will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him: behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him.  He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.  #Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?  Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord, or being his counseller hath taught him?  With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and shewed to him the way of understanding?  Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing. 

To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One. 

#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.

Romans 12:1‑15,18
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.  And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.  For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.  For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.  Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith; Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering: or he that teacheth, on teaching; Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness.  Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.  Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another; Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord; Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer; Distributing to the necessity of saints; given to hospitality.  Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not.  Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep. 

If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.

II Corinthians 4:6‑10 God,15‑18
 God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.  But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.  We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. 

For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God.  For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.  For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

Colossians 3:1‑4,9,10,12‑17
If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.  Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.  For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.  When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. 

Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:

Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.  And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.  And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.  Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.  And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.

Titus 3:4‑7 after
after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. 

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


24:11
  He to whom "the arm of the Lord" is revealed will believe our report, and rise into newness of life with regeneration.  This is having part in the atonement; this is the understanding, in which Jesus suffered and triumphed.  The time is not distant when the ordinary theological views of atonement will undergo a great change,‑‑a change as radical as that which has come over popular opinions in regard to predestination and future punishment. 

34:18‑29 np
  Through all the disciples experienced, they became more spiritual and understood better what the Master had taught.  His resurrection was also their resurrection.  It helped them to raise themselves and others from spiritual dulness and blind belief in God into the perception of infinite possibilities.  They needed this quickening, for soon their dear Master would rise again in the spiritual realm of reality, and ascend far above their apprehension.  As the reward for his faithfulness, he would disappear to material sense in that change which has since been called the ascension. 
  What a contrast between our Lord's last supper and his last spiritual breakfast with his disciples in the bright morning hours at the joyful meeting on the shore of the Galilean Sea!  His gloom had passed into glory, and his disciples' grief into repentance,‑‑hearts chastened and pride rebuked.  Convinced of the fruitlessness of their toil in the dark and wakened by their Master's voice, they changed their methods, turned away from material things, and cast their net on the right side.  Discerning Christ, Truth, anew on the shore of time, they were enabled to rise somewhat from mortal sensuousness, or the burial of mind in matter, into newness of life as Spirit. 
  This spiritual meeting with our Lord in the dawn of a new light is the morning meal which Christian Scientists commemorate.  They bow before Christ, Truth, to receive more of his reappearing and silently to commune with the divine Principle, Love.  They celebrate their Lord's victory over death, his probation in the flesh after death, its exemplification of human probation, and his spiritual and final ascension above matter, or the flesh, when he rose out of material sight. 
  Our baptism is a purification from all error.  Our church is built on the divine Principle, Love.  We can unite with this church only as we are new‑born of Spirit, as we reach the Life which is Truth and the Truth which is Life by bringing forth the fruits of Love,‑‑casting out error and healing the sick.  Our Eucharist is spiritual communion with the one God.  Our bread, "which cometh down from heaven," is Truth.  Our cup is the cross.  Our wine the inspiration of Love, the draught our Master drank and commended to his followers. 

49:14
  The meek demonstrator of good, the highest instructor and friend of man, met his earthly fate alone with God.  No human eye was there to pity, no arm to save.  Forsaken by all whom he had blessed, this faithful sentinel of God at the highest post of power, charged with the grandest trust of heaven, was ready to be transformed by the renewing of the infinite Spirit.  He was to prove that the Christ is not subject to material conditions, but is above the reach of human wrath, and is able, through Truth, Life, and Love, to triumph over sin, sickness, death, and the grave. 

162:4‑28
  Christian Science brings to the body the sunlight of Truth, which invigorates and purifies.  Christian Science acts as an alterative, neutralizing error with Truth.  It changes the secretions, expels humors, dissolves tumors, relaxes rigid muscles, restores carious bones to soundness.  The effect of this Science is to stir the human mind to a change of base, on which it may yield to the harmony of the divine Mind. 
  Experiments have favored the fact that Mind governs the body, not in one instance, but in every instance.  The indestructible faculties of Spirit exist without the conditions of matter and also without the false beliefs of a so‑called material existence.  Working out the rules of Science in practice, the author has restored health in cases of both acute and chronic disease in their severest forms.  Secretions have been changed, the structure has been renewed, shortened limbs have been elongated, ankylosed joints have been made supple, and carious bones have been restored to healthy conditions.  I have restored what is called the lost substance of lungs, and healthy organizations have been established where disease was organic.  Christian Science heals organic disease as surely as it heals what is called functional, for it requires only a fuller understanding of the divine Principle of Christian Science to demonstrate the higher rule. 

241:13‑30
  The Bible teaches transformation of the body by the renewal of Spirit.  Take away the spiritual signification of Scripture, and that compilation can do no more for mortals than can moonbeams to melt a river of ice.  The error of the ages is preaching without practice. 
  The substance of all devotion is the reflection and demonstration of divine Love, healing sickness and destroying sin.  Our Master said, "If ye love me, keep my commandments."
  One's aim, a point beyond faith, should be to find the footsteps of Truth, the way to health and holiness.  We should strive to reach the Horeb height where God is revealed; and the corner‑stone of all spiritual building is purity.  The baptism of Spirit, washing the body of all the impurities of flesh, signifies that the pure in heart see God and are approaching spiritual Life and its demonstration. 

249:1‑19
  Let us accept Science, relinquish all theories based on sense‑testimony, give up imperfect models and illusive ideals; and so let us have one God, one Mind, and that one perfect, producing His own models of excellence. 
  Let the "male and female" of God's creating appear.  Let us feel the divine energy of Spirit, bringing us into newness of life and recognizing no mortal nor material power as able to destroy.  Let us rejoice that we are subject to the divine "powers that be." Such is the true Science of being.  Any other theory of Life, or God, is delusive and mythological. 
  Mind is not the author of matter, and the creator of ideas is not the creator of illusions.  Either there is no omnipotence, or omnipotence is the only power.  God is the infinite, and infinity never began, will never end, and includes nothing unlike God.  Whence then is soulless matter? 
  Life is, like Christ, "the same yesterday, and to‑day, and forever."

276:17
  If God is admitted to be the only Mind and Life, there ceases to be any opportunity for sin and death.  When we learn in Science how to be perfect even as our Father in heaven is perfect, thought is turned into new and healthy channels,‑‑towards the contemplation of things immortal and away from materiality to the Principle of the universe, including harmonious man. 

426:5
  The discoverer of Christian Science finds the path less difficult when she has the high goal always before her thoughts, than when she counts her footsteps in endeavoring to reach it.  When the destination is desirable, expectation speeds our progress.  The struggle for Truth makes one strong instead of weak, resting instead of wearying one.  If the belief in death were obliterated, and the understanding obtained that there is no death, this would be a "tree of life," known by its fruits.  Man should renew his energies and endeavors, and see the folly of hypocrisy, while also learning the necessity of working out his own salvation.  When it is learned that disease cannot destroy life, and that mortals are not saved from sin or sickness by death, this understanding will quicken into newness of life.  It will master either a desire to die or a dread of the grave, and thus destroy the great fear that besets mortal existence. 

519:25‑15
  God rests in action.  Imparting has not impoverished, can never impoverish, the divine Mind.  No exhaustion follows the action of this Mind, according to the apprehension of divine Science.  The highest and sweetest rest, even from a human standpoint, is in holy work.  
  Unfathomable Mind is expressed.  The depth, breadth, height, might, majesty, and glory of infinite Love fill all space.  That is enough!  Human language can repeat only an infinitesimal part of what exists.  The absolute ideal, man, is no more seen nor comprehended by mortals, than is his infinite Principle, Love.  Principle and its idea, man, are coexistent and eternal.  The numerals of infinity, called seven days, can never be reckoned according to the calendar of time.  These days will appear as mortality disappears, and they will reveal eternity, newness of Life, in which all sense of error forever disappears and thought accepts the divine infinite calculus. 

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


 Hymn 218
 Samuel Longfellow 

 O Life that maketh all things new,
   The blooming earth, the thoughts of men;
 Our pilgrim feet, wet with Thy dew,
   In gladness hither turn again.

 From hand to hand the greeting flows,
   From eye to eye the signals run,
 From heart to heart the bright hope glows,
   The seekers of the Light are one:

 One in the freedom of the truth,
   One in the joy of paths untrod,
 One in the heart's perennial youth,
   One in the larger thought of God;‑‑

 The freer step, the fuller breath,
   The wide horizon's grander view;
 The sense of Life that knows no death,‑‑
   The Life that maketh all things new.

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


 Hymn 283 
 From the German of Joachim Neander

 Praise we the Lord, for His mercy endureth forever.
 Let us extol Him with joyous and loving endeavor;
        Come let us sing,
        Praising our God and our King,
 Should we be silent?  Ah, never.

 Praise we the Lord, who our footsteps still holdeth
          from sliding;
 Daily He campeth about us, protecting and guiding;
        E'en while we sleep
        Watch doth He tenderly keep;
 Ever new mercies providing.

 Praise we the Lord with a joyous and glad adoration;
 Lo, unto them that believe there is no condemnation;
        Now will we raise
        Songs of thanksgiving and praise,
 Christ is become our salvation.

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