Theme: Unity
Hymn 297
Roberta B. Lynch
Science, the angel with the flaming sword,
God's gift, the glory of the risen Lord;
Light of the world, in whose light we shall
see
Father and perfect Son, blest unity;
Calm of Shekinah where hope anchors fast,
Harbor of refuge till the storm be past;
Sweet, secret place where God and men do meet,
Horeb whereon we walk with unshod feet;
Place of communion with the Lamb of God,
Fold where the sheep must pass beneath His
rod;
Ark where the dove may close her faltering
wings,
Love's law divine that makes us priests and
kings;
Loosener of prison bands at midnight hour,
Of self‑forged chains that fall through Love's
all‑power;
Christ's morning meal by joyous Galilee:
Science, thou dost fulfill all prophecy.
Readings from the Bible
Psalms 119:153‑160
Consider mine affliction, and
deliver me: for I do not forget thy law.
Plead my cause, and deliver me: quicken me according to thy word. Salvation is far from the wicked: for they
seek not thy statutes. Great are thy
tender mercies, O Lord: quicken me according to thy judgments. Many are my persecutors and mine enemies; yet
do I not decline from thy testimonies. I
beheld the transgressors, and was grieved; because they kept not thy word. Consider how I love thy precepts: quicken me,
O Lord, according to thy lovingkindness.
Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous
judgments endureth for ever.
Psalms 133:1‑3
Behold, how good and how
pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious ointment upon the
head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard: that went down to the
skirts of his garments; As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended
upon the mountains of Zion: for there the Lord commanded the blessing, even
life for evermore.
Psalms 145:1‑21
I will extol thee, my God, O
king; and I will bless thy name for ever and ever. Every day will I bless thee; and I will
praise thy name for ever and ever. Great
is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable. One generation shall praise thy works to
another, and shall declare thy mighty acts.
I will speak of the glorious honour of thy majesty, and of thy wondrous
works. And men shall speak of the might
of thy terrible acts: and I will declare thy greatness. They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy
great goodness, and shall sing of thy righteousness.
The Lord is gracious, and full of compassion;
slow to anger, and of great mercy. The
Lord is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works. All thy works shall praise thee, O Lord; and
thy saints shall bless thee. They shall
speak of the glory of thy kingdom, and talk of thy power; To make known to the
sons of men his mighty acts, and the glorious majesty of his kingdom. Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and
thy dominion endureth throughout all generations. The Lord upholdeth all that fall, and raiseth
up all those that be bowed down. The
eyes of all wait upon thee; and thou givest them their meat in due season. Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the
desire of every living thing. The Lord
is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works. The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon
him, to all that call upon him in truth.
He will fulfil the desire of them that fear him: he also will hear their
cry, and will save them. The Lord
preserveth all them that love him: but all the wicked will he destroy. My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord:
and let all flesh bless his holy name for ever and ever.
Isaiah 40:17,18,21‑23,25,26,28‑31
All nations before him are as
nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity.
#To whom then will ye liken God? or what
likeness will ye compare unto him?
Have ye not known? have ye
not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood
from the foundations of the earth? It is
he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are
as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth
them out as a tent to dwell in: That bringeth the princes to nothing; he maketh
the judges of the earth as vanity.
To whom then will ye liken
me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One.
Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things,
that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names by the
greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth.
#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.
Isaiah 55:1‑3,6‑12
Ho, every one that thirsteth,
come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea,
come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is
not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently
unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in
fatness. Incline your ear, and come unto
me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant
with you, even the sure mercies of David.
#Seek ye the Lord while he
may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: Let the wicked forsake his
way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord,
and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
#For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than
your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not
thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may
give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goeth
forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall
accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I
sent it. For ye shall go out with joy,
and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth
before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
Matthew 7:7‑14
#Ask, and it shall be given
you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every
one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that
knocketh it shall be opened. Or what man
is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a
serpent? If ye then, being evil, know
how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father
which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him? Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that
men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the
prophets. #Enter ye in at the strait
gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction,
and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow
is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
Ephesians 4:1‑3,11‑16,31,32
I therefore, the prisoner of
the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are
called, With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one
another in love; Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of
peace.
And he gave some, apostles;
and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For
the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of
the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the
knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the
stature of the fulness of Christ: That we henceforth be no more children,
tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the
sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;
But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is
the head, even Christ: From whom the whole body fitly joined together and
compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual
working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the
edifying of itself in love.
Let all bitterness, and
wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with
all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one
another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.
Philippians 2:1‑13
If there be therefore any
consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit,
if any bowels and mercies, Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the
same love, being of one accord, of one mind.
Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of
mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but
every man also on the things of others.
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in
the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself
of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the
likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and
became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him,
and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every
knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the
earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the
glory of God the Father. Wherefore, my
beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much
more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to
will and to do of his good pleasure.
Readings from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy.
12:1
"The prayer of faith shall save the
sick," says the Scripture. What is
this healing prayer? A mere request that
God will heal the sick has no power to gain more of the divine presence than is
always at hand. The beneficial effect of
such prayer for the sick is on the human mind, making it act more powerfully on
the body through a blind faith in God.
This, however, is one belief casting out another,‑‑a belief in the
unknown casting out a belief in sickness.
It is neither Science nor Truth which acts through blind belief, nor is
it the human understanding of the divine healing Principle as manifested in
Jesus, whose humble prayers were deep and conscientious protests of Truth,‑‑of
man's likeness to God and of man's unity with Truth and Love.
18:1‑11 np
Atonement is the exemplification of man's
unity with God, whereby man reflects divine Truth, Life, and Love. Jesus of Nazareth taught and demonstrated
man's oneness with the Father, and for this we owe him endless homage. His mission was both individual and
collective. He did life's work aright
not only in justice to himself, but in mercy to mortals,‑‑to show them how to
do theirs, but not to do it for them nor to relieve them of a single
responsibility. Jesus acted boldly,
against the accredited evidence of the senses, against Pharisaical creeds and
practices, and he refuted all opponents with his healing power.
The atonement of Christ reconciles man to
God, not God to man; for the divine Principle of Christ is God, and how can God
propitiate Himself? Christ is Truth,
which reaches no higher than itself. The
fountain can rise no higher than its source.
Christ, Truth, could conciliate no nature above his own, derived from
the eternal Love. It was therefore
Christ's purpose to reconcile man to God, not God to man. Love and Truth are not at war with God's
image and likeness. Man cannot exceed
divine Love, and so atone for himself.
Even Christ cannot reconcile Truth to error, for Truth and error are
irreconcilable. Jesus aided in
reconciling man to God by giving man a truer sense of Love, the divine
Principle of Jesus' teachings, and this truer sense of Love redeems man from
the law of matter, sin, and death by the law of Spirit,‑‑the law of divine
Love.
131:26
The mission of Jesus confirmed prophecy, and
explained the so‑called miracles of olden time as natural demonstrations of the
divine power, demonstrations which were not understood. Jesus' works established his claim to the
Messiahship. In reply to John's inquiry,
"Art thou he that should come," Jesus returned an affirmative reply,
recounting his works instead of referring to his doctrine, confident that this
exhibition of the divine power to heal would fully answer the question. Hence his reply: "Go and show John again
those things which ye do hear and see:
the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, the lepers are
cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the
gospel preached to them. And blessed is
he, whosoever shall not be offended in me." In other words, he gave his benediction to
any one who should not deny that such effects, coming from divine Mind, prove
the unity of God,‑‑the divine Principle which brings out all harmony.
202:3‑14
The scientific unity which exists between God
and man must be wrought out in life‑practice, and God's will must be
universally done.
If men would bring to bear upon the study of
the Science of Mind half the faith they bestow upon the so‑called pains and
pleasures of material sense, they would not go on from bad to worse, until
disciplined by the prison and the scaffold; but the whole human family would be
redeemed through the merits of Christ,‑‑through the perception and acceptance
of Truth. For this glorious result
Christian Science lights the torch of spiritual understanding.
269:3
From first to last the supposed coexistence
of Mind and matter and the mingling of good and evil have resulted from the
philosophy of the serpent. Jesus'
demonstrations sift the chaff from the wheat, and unfold the unity and the
reality of good, the unreality, the nothingness, of evil.
331:26 Life
Life, Truth, and Love
constitute the triune Person called God,‑‑that is, the triply divine Principle,
Love. They represent a trinity in unity,
three in one,‑‑the same in essence, though multiform in office: God the Father‑Mother; Christ the spiritual
idea of sonship; divine Science or the Holy Comforter. These three express in divine Science the
threefold, essential nature of the infinite.
They also indicate the divine Principle of scientific being, the
intelligent relation of God to man and the universe.
333:16 The
The advent of Jesus of
Nazareth marked the first century of the Christian era, but the Christ is
without beginning of years or end of days.
Throughout all generations both before and after the Christian era, the
Christ, as the spiritual idea,‑‑the reflection of God,‑‑has come with some
measure of power and grace to all prepared to receive Christ, Truth. Abraham, Jacob, Moses, and the prophets
caught glorious glimpses of the Messiah, or Christ, which baptized these seers
in the divine nature, the essence of Love.
The divine image, idea, or Christ was, is, and ever will be inseparable
from the divine Principle, God. Jesus
referred to this unity of his spiritual identity thus: "Before Abraham
was, I am;" "I and my Father are one;" "My Father is
greater than I." The one Spirit
includes all identities.
340:15
"Thou shalt have no other gods before
me." (Exodus xx. 3.) The First Commandment is my favorite text. It demonstrates Christian Science. It inculcates the tri‑unity of God, Spirit,
Mind; it signifies that man shall have no other spirit or mind but God, eternal
good, and that all men shall have one Mind.
The divine Principle of the First Commandment bases the Science of being,
by which man demonstrates health, holiness, and life eternal. One infinite God, good, unifies men and
nations; constitutes the brotherhood of man; ends wars; fulfils the Scripture,
"Love thy neighbor as thyself;" annihilates pagan and Christian
idolatry,‑‑whatever is wrong in social, civil, criminal, political, and
religious codes; equalizes the sexes; annuls the curse on man, and leaves
nothing that can sin, suffer, be punished or destroyed.
469:30
With one Father, even God,
the whole family of man would be brethren; and with one Mind and that God, or
good, the brotherhood of man would consist of Love and Truth, and have unity of
Principle and spiritual power which constitute divine Science. The supposed existence of more than one mind
was the basic error of idolatry. This
error assumed the loss of spiritual power, the loss of the spiritual presence
of Life as infinite Truth without an unlikeness, and the loss of Love as ever
present and universal.
497:13 We
We acknowledge Jesus'
atonement as the evidence of divine, efficacious Love, unfolding man's unity
with God through Christ Jesus the Way‑shower; and we acknowledge that man is
saved through Christ, through Truth, Life, and Love as demonstrated by the
Galilean Prophet in healing the sick and overcoming sin and death.
502:24
The infinite has no beginning. This word beginning
is employed to signify the only,‑‑that
is, the eternal verity and unity of God and man, including the universe. The creative Principle‑‑Life, Truth, and Love‑‑is
God. The universe reflects God. There is but one creator and one
creation. This creation consists of the
unfolding of spiritual ideas and their identities, which are embraced in the
infinite Mind and forever reflected.
These ideas range from the infinitesimal to infinity, and the highest
ideas are the sons and daughters of God.
515:16‑8
The eternal Elohim includes the forever
universe. The name Elohim is in the
plural, but this plurality of Spirit does not imply more than one God, nor does
it imply three persons in one. It
relates to the oneness, the tri‑unity of Life, Truth, and Love. "Let them
have dominion." Man is the family
name for all ideas,‑‑the sons and daughters of God. All that God imparts moves in accord with
Him, reflecting goodness and power.
Your mirrored reflection is your own image or
likeness. If you lift a weight, your
reflection does this also. If you speak,
the lips of this likeness move in accord with yours. Now compare man before the mirror to his
divine Principle, God. Call the mirror
divine Science, and call man the reflection.
Then note how true, according to Christian Science, is the reflection to
its original. As the reflection of
yourself appears in the mirror, so you, being spiritual, are the reflection of
God. The substance, Life, intelligence,
Truth, and Love, which constitute Deity, are reflected by His creation; and
when we subordinate the false testimony of the corporeal senses to the facts of
Science, we shall see this true likeness and reflection everywhere.
Silent prayer followed by the audible repetition of the Lord’s Prayer.
Hymn 196
Jane Borthwick
Now is the time approaching,
By prophets long foretold,
When all shall dwell together,
One Shepherd and one fold.
Now Jew and Gentile, meeting
From many a distant shore,
Around one altar kneeling,
One common Lord adore.
Let all that now divides us
Remove and pass away,
Like shadows of the morning
Before the blaze of day.
Let all that now unites us
More sweet and lasting prove,
A closer bond of union,
In a blest land of love.
Sharing of experiences, testimonies and remarks by members of the congregation.
Hymn 236
Irving C. Tomlinson
O peace of the world, O hope in each breast,
O Bethlehem star that ages have blest,
A day of fresh promise breaks over the land,
Gaunt warfare is doomed, and God's kingdom at
hand!
From cannon and sword shape tillers of soil,
No more let dire hate man's spirit despoil,
Let Truth be proclaimed, let God's love be
retold,
That men of good will may their brethren
uphold.
As stars in their courses never contend,
As blossoms their hues in harmony blend,
As bird voices mingle in joyful refrain,
So God's loving children in concord remain.
Our God is one Mind, the Mind we adore;
Ineffable joy His love doth outpour;
Let nations be one in a union of love,
God's bountiful peace, all earth's treasures
above.
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