Service for Wednesday, March 13, 2013


Theme: Freedom

 Hymn 65 
 Frances R. Havergal – Adapted

 From glory unto glory,
   Be this our joyous song;
 From glory unto glory,
   'Tis Love that leads us on;
 As wider yet and wider,
   The rising splendors glow,
 What wisdom is revealed to us,
   What freedom we may know.

 The fullness of His blessing
   Encompasseth our way;
 The fullness of His promise
   Crowns every dawning day;
 The fullness of His glory
   Is shining from above,
 While more and more we learn to know
   The fullness of His love.

 From glory unto glory,
   What great things He hath done,
 What wonders He hath shown us,
   What triumphs Love hath won.
 From glory unto glory,
   From strength to strength we go,
 While grace for grace abundantly
   Doth from His fullness flow.

Readings from the Bible

Psalms 51:1‑3,6‑12,15‑17
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.  For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me. 

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.  For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering.  The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.

Isaiah 58:6,7 (to 1st ?),8,9 (to .),10,11
Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?  Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house?

#Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the Lord shall be thy rereward.  Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am.

And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday: And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.

John 8:31‑36
Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.  

#They answered him, We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?  Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.  And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever.  If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

Romans 6:16‑18,22,23
Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?  But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.  Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness. 

But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.  For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Romans 8:1‑9 (to 1st .),12‑19,28,35,37‑39
THERE is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.  For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.  For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.  For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.  For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.  Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.  So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.  But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you.

Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.  For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.  For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.  For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.  The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint‑heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.  For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.  For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. 

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. 

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 

Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.  For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Galatians 5:1
Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

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

22:23
  Final deliverance from error, whereby we rejoice in immortality, boundless freedom, and sinless sense, is not reached through paths of flowers nor by pinning one's faith without works to another's vicarious effort.  Whosoever believeth that wrath is righteous or that divinity is appeased by human suffering, does not understand God. 

89:18
  Mind is not necessarily dependent upon educational processes.  It possesses of itself all beauty and poetry, and the power of expressing them.  Spirit, God, is heard when the senses are silent. We are all capable of more than we do.  The influence or action of Soul confers a freedom, which explains the phenomena of improvisation and the fervor of untutored lips. 

178:18
  Mortal mind, acting from the basis of sensation in matter, is animal magnetism; but this so‑called mind, from which comes all evil, contradicts itself, and must finally yield to the eternal Truth, or the divine Mind, expressed in Science.  In proportion to our understanding of Christian Science, we are freed from the belief of heredity, of mind in matter or animal magnetism; and we disarm sin of its imaginary power in proportion to our spiritual understanding of the status of immortal being. 

225:5‑31
  You may know when first Truth leads by the fewness and faithfulness of its followers.  Thus it is that the march of time bears onward freedom's banner.  The powers of this world will fight, and will command their sentinels not to let truth pass the guard until it subscribes to their systems; but Science, heeding not the pointed bayonet, marches on.  There is always some tumult, but there is a rallying to truth's standard. 
  The history of our country, like all history, illustrates the might of Mind, and shows human power to be proportionate to its embodiment of right thinking.  A few immortal sentences, breathing the omnipotence of divine justice, have been potent to break despotic fetters and abolish the whipping‑post and slave market; but oppression neither went down in blood, nor did the breath of freedom come from the cannon's mouth.  Love is the liberator. 
  Legally to abolish unpaid servitude in the United States was hard; but the abolition of mental slavery is a more difficult task. The despotic tendencies, inherent in mortal mind and always germinating in new forms of tyranny, must be rooted out through the action of the divine Mind. 
  Men and women of all climes and races are still in bondage to material sense, ignorant how to obtain their freedom.

228:11
  The enslavement of man is not legitimate.  It will cease when man enters into his heritage of freedom, his God‑given dominion over the material senses.  Mortals will some day assert their freedom in the name of Almighty God.  Then they will control their own bodies through the understanding of divine Science.  Dropping their present beliefs, they will recognize harmony as the spiritual reality and discord as the material unreality. 

236:28‑6
  Jesus loved little children because of their freedom from wrong and their receptiveness of right.  While age is halting between two opinions or battling with false beliefs, youth makes easy and rapid strides towards Truth. 
  A little girl, who had occasionally listened to my explanations, badly wounded her finger.  She seemed not to notice it.  On being questioned about it she answered ingenuously, "There is no sensation in matter."  Bounding off with laughing eyes, she presently added, "Mamma, my finger is not a bit sore."

241:23‑8
  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. 
  It is "easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle," than for sinful beliefs to enter the kingdom of heaven, eternal harmony.  Through repentance, spiritual baptism, and regeneration, mortals put off their material beliefs and false individuality.  It is only a question of time when "they shall all know Me [God], from the least of them unto the greatest." Denial of the claims of matter is a great step towards the joys of Spirit, towards human freedom and the final triumph over the body. 

244:7
  If we were to derive all our conceptions of man from what is seen between the cradle and the grave, happiness and goodness would have no abiding‑place in man, and the worms would rob him of the flesh; but Paul writes: "The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death."

454:14
  He, who understands in a sufficient degree the Principle of Mind‑healing, points out to his student error as well as truth, the wrong as well as the right practice.  Love for God and man is the true incentive in both healing and teaching.  Love inspires, illumines, designates, and leads the way.  Right motives give pinions to thought, and strength and freedom to speech and action.  Love is priestess at the altar of Truth.  Wait patiently for divine Love to move upon the waters of mortal mind, and form the perfect concept.  Patience must "have her perfect work."

480:26
  The Bible declares: "All things were made by Him [the divine Word]; and without Him was not anything made that was made."  This is the eternal verity of divine Science.  If sin, sickness, and death were understood as nothingness, they would disappear.  As vapor melts before the sun, so evil would vanish before the reality of good.  One must hide the other.  How important, then, to choose good as the reality!  Man is tributary to God, Spirit, and to nothing else.  God's being is infinity, freedom, harmony, and boundless bliss.  "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty."  Like the archpriests of yore, man is free "to enter into the holiest,"‑‑the realm of God. 

495:6
  If sickness is true or the idea of Truth, you cannot destroy sickness, and it would be absurd to try.  Then classify sickness and error as our Master did, when he spoke of the sick, "whom Satan hath bound," and find a sovereign antidote for error in the life‑giving power of Truth acting on human belief, a power which opens the prison doors to such as are bound, and sets the captive free physically and morally. 

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


 Hymn 136 
 Violet Hay

 I love Thy way of freedom, Lord,
   To serve Thee is my choice,
 In Thy clear light of Truth I rise

   And, listening for Thy voice,
 I hear Thy promise old and new,
   That bids all fear to cease:
 My presence still shall go with thee
   And I will give thee peace.

 Though storm or discord cross my path
   Thy power is still my stay,
 Though human will and woe would check
   My upward‑soaring way;
 All unafraid I wait, the while
   Thy angels bring release,
 For still Thy presence is with me,
   And Thou dost give me peace.

 I climb, with joy, the heights of Mind,
   To soar o'er time and space;
 I yet shall know as I am known
   And see Thee face to face.
 Till time and space and fear are naught
   My quest shall never cease,
 Thy presence ever goes with me
   And Thou dost give me peace.

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


 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.

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