Service for Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2013


Theme: Physiology

 Hymn 216 
 From the German of Georg Neumark

 O he who trusts in God's protection
   And hopes in Him when fears alarm,
 Is sheltered by His lovingkindness,
   Delivered by His mighty arm;
 If ye God's law can understand,
 Ye have not builded on the sand.

 O wait on Him with veneration,
   Be silent in humility;
 He leads you after His own counsel,
   His will is done and still shall be;
 All good for you His wisdom planned;
 O trust in God and understand.

Readings from the Bible.

Psalms 103:15‑22
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, ye his angels, that excel in strength, that do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word.  Bless ye the Lord, all ye his hosts; ye ministers of his, that do his pleasure.  Bless the Lord, all his works in all places of his dominion: bless the Lord, O my soul.

Psalms 107:1‑9,15,20,21,43
O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.  Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy; And gathered them out of the lands, from the east, and from the west, from the north, and from the south.  They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way; they found no city to dwell in.  Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them.  Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses.  And he led them forth by the right way, that they might go to a city of habitation.  Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!  For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness.

Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men! 

He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.  Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men! 

Whoso is wise, and will observe these things, even they shall understand the lovingkindness of the Lord.

Proverbs 4:20‑23
#My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings.  Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart.  For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh.  #Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.

Matthew 6:19‑23
#Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.  The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.  But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!

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

165:1‑7 np
  Physiology is one of the apples from "the tree of knowledge."  Evil declared that eating this fruit would open man's eyes and make him as a god.  Instead of so doing, it closed the eyes of mortals to man's God‑given dominion over the earth. 
  To measure intellectual capacity by the size of the brain and strength by the exercise of muscle, is to subjugate intelligence, to make mind mortal, and to place this so‑called mind at the mercy of material organization and non‑intelligent matter. 
  Obedience to the so‑called physical laws of health has not checked sickness.  Diseases have multiplied, since man‑made material theories took the place of spiritual truth. 
  You say that indigestion, fatigue, sleeplessness, cause distressed stomachs and aching heads.  Then you consult your brain in order to remember what has hurt you, when your remedy lies in forgetting the whole thing; for matter has no sensation of its own, and the human mind is all that can produce pain. 
  As a man thinketh, so is he.  Mind is all that feels, acts, or impedes action.  Ignorant of this, or shrinking from its implied responsibility, the healing effort is made on the wrong side, and thus the conscious control over the body is lost. 

167:1‑19
  Should we implore a corporeal God to heal the sick out of His personal volition, or should we understand the infinite divine Principle which heals?  If we rise no higher than blind faith, the Science of healing is not attained, and Soul‑existence, in the place of sense‑existence, is not comprehended.  We apprehend Life in divine Science only as we live above corporeal sense and correct it.  Our proportionate admission of the claims of good or of evil determines the harmony of our existence,‑‑our health, our longevity, and our Christianity. 
  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. 

168:15 Because man‑made systems insist that man becomes sick and useless, suffers and dies, all in consonance with the laws of God, are we to believe it?  Are we to believe an authority which denies God's spiritual command relating to perfection,‑‑an authority which Jesus proved to be false?  He did the will of the Father.  He healed sickness in defiance of what is called material law, but in accordance with God's law, the law of Mind.  

170:22‑11
  Spiritual causation is the one question to be considered, for more than all others spiritual causation relates to human progress. The age seems ready to approach this subject, to ponder somewhat the supremacy of Spirit, and at least to touch the hem of Truth's garment. 
  The description of man as purely physical, or as both material and spiritual,‑‑but in either case dependent upon his physical organization,‑‑is the Pandora box, from which all ills have gone forth, especially despair.  Matter, which takes divine power into its own hands and claims to be a creator, is a fiction, in which paganism and lust are so sanctioned by society that mankind has caught their moral contagion. 
  Through discernment of the spiritual opposite of materiality, even the way through Christ, Truth, man will reopen with the key of divine Science the gates of Paradise which human beliefs have closed, and will find himself unfallen, upright, pure, and free, not needing to consult almanacs for the probabilities either of his life or of the weather, not needing to study brainology to learn how much of a man he is. 

174:22
  Mortal belief is all that enables a drug to cure mortal ailments. Anatomy admits that mind is somewhere in man, though out of sight.  Then, if an individual is sick, why treat the body alone and administer a dose of despair to the mind?  Why declare that the body is diseased, and picture this disease to the mind, rolling it under the tongue as a sweet morsel and holding it before the thought of both physician and patient?  We should understand that the cause of disease obtains in the mortal human mind, and its cure comes from the immortal divine Mind.  We should prevent the images of disease from taking form in thought, and we should efface the outlines of disease already formulated in the minds of mortals. 

179:5
  Science can heal the sick, who are absent from their healers, as well as those present, since space is no obstacle to Mind.  Immortal Mind heals what eye hath not seen; but the spiritual capacity to apprehend thought and to heal by the Truth‑power, is won only as man is found, not in self‑righteousness, but reflecting the divine nature. 

180:25
  When man is governed by God, the ever‑present Mind who understands all things, man knows that with God all things are possible.  The only way to this living Truth, which heals the sick, is found in the Science of divine Mind as taught and demonstrated by Christ Jesus. 

182:18‑7
  Mind's government of the body must supersede the so‑called laws of matter.  Obedience to material law prevents full obedience to spiritual law,‑‑the law which overcomes material conditions and puts matter under the feet of Mind.  Mortals entreat the divine Mind to heal the sick, and forthwith shut out the aid of Mind by using material means, thus working against themselves and their prayers and denying man's God‑given ability to demonstrate Mind's sacred power.  Pleas for drugs and laws of health come from some sad incident, or else from ignorance of Christian Science and its transcendent power. 
  To admit that sickness is a condition over which God has no control, is to presuppose that omnipotent power is powerless on some occasions.  The law of Christ, or Truth, makes all things possible to Spirit; but the so‑called laws of matter would render Spirit of no avail, and demand obedience to materialistic codes, thus departing from the basis of one God, one lawmaker.  To suppose that God constitutes laws of inharmony is a mistake; discords have no support from nature or divine law, however much is said to the contrary. 

192:4,27
  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. 

  We walk in the footsteps of Truth and Love by following the example of our Master in the understanding of divine metaphysics.  Christianity is the basis of true healing.  Whatever holds human thought in line with unselfed love, receives directly the divine power. 

199:21
The devotion of thought to an honest achievement makes the achievement possible.  Exceptions only confirm this rule, proving that failure is occasioned by a too feeble faith. 

200:16
  The great truth in the Science of being, that the real man was, is, and ever shall be perfect, is incontrovertible; for if man is the image, reflection, of God, he is neither inverted nor subverted, but upright and Godlike. 

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


 Hymn 265 
 Samuel Johnson – Adapted

 Onward, Christian, though the region
   Where thou art seem drear and lone;
 God hath set a guardian legion
   Very near thee, press thou on.

 By the Christ road, and none other,
   Is the mount of vision won;
 Tread it with rejoicing, brother:
   Jesus trod it, press thou on.

 By thy trustful, calm endeavor,
   Guiding, cheering, like the sun,
 Earth‑bound hearts thou shalt deliver;
   O, for their sake, press thou on.

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


 Hymn 154
 Frances A. Fox 

 In Thee, O Spirit true and tender,
   I find my life as God's own child;
 Within Thy light of glorious splendor
   I lose the earth‑clouds drear and wild.

 Within Thy love is safe abiding
   From every thought that giveth fear;
 Within Thy truth a perfect chiding,
   Should I forget that Thou art near.

 In Thee I have no pain or sorrow,
   No anxious thought, no load of care.
 Thou art the same today, tomorrow;
   Thy love and truth are everywhere.

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