Theme: Improve
Hymn 105
Charles Wesley
Help us to help each other, Lord,
Each other's cross to bear;
Let each his friendly aid afford,
And feel his brother's care.
Help us to build each other up,
Our little stock improve;
Increase our faith, confirm our hope,
And perfect us in love.
Up unto Thee, our living Head,
Let us in all things grow;
Till Thou hast made us free indeed,
And spotless here below.
Readings from the Bible.
I Samuel 15:22 Samuel
Samuel said, Hath the Lord as great delight in
burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to
obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.
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 84:1‑12
How amiable are thy
tabernacles, O Lord of hosts! My soul
longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the Lord: my heart and my flesh
crieth out for the living God. Yea, the
sparrow hath found an house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may
lay her young, even thine altars, O Lord of hosts, my King, and my God. Blessed are they that dwell in thy house:
they will be still praising thee. Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee;
in whose heart are the ways of them. Who
passing through the valley of Baca make it a well; the rain also filleth the
pools. They go from strength to
strength, every one of them in Zion appeareth before God. O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer: give
ear, O God of Jacob. Behold, O God our shield, and look upon the face of thine
anointed. For a day in thy courts is
better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God,
than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.
For the Lord God is a sun and shield: the Lord will give grace and
glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly. O Lord of hosts, blessed is the man that
trusteth in thee.
Psalms 118:1‑9
O give thanks unto the Lord;
for he is good: because his mercy endureth for ever. Let Israel now say, that his mercy endureth
for ever. Let the house of Aaron now
say, that his mercy endureth for ever.
Let them now that fear the Lord say, that his mercy endureth for
ever. I called upon the Lord in
distress: the Lord answered me, and set me in a large place. The Lord is on my side; I will not fear: what
can man do unto me? The Lord taketh my
part with them that help me: therefore shall I see my desire upon them that
hate me. It is better to trust in the
Lord than to put confidence in man. It
is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes.
Proverbs 3:13‑26
#Happy is the man that
findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding. For the merchandise of it is better than the
merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold. She is more precious than rubies: and all the
things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her. Length of days is in her right hand; and in
her left hand riches and honour. Her
ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to them that lay hold
upon her: and happy is every one that retaineth her. The Lord by wisdom hath founded the earth; by
understanding hath he established the heavens.
By his knowledge the depths are broken up, and the clouds drop down the
dew.
#My son, let not them depart from
thine eyes: keep sound wisdom and discretion: So shall they be life unto thy
soul, and grace to thy neck. Then shalt
thou walk in thy way safely, and thy foot shall not stumble. When thou liest down, thou shalt not be
afraid: yea, thou shalt lie down, and thy sleep shall be sweet. Be not afraid of sudden fear, neither of the
desolation of the wicked, when it cometh.
For the Lord shall be thy confidence, and shall keep thy foot from being
taken.
Proverbs 8:1‑6,10,11,18‑21
Doth not wisdom cry? and
understanding put forth her voice? She
standeth in the top of high places, by the way in the places of the paths. She crieth at the gates, at the entry of the
city, at the coming in at the doors.
Unto you, O men, I call; and my voice is to the sons of man. O ye simple, understand wisdom: and, ye
fools, be ye of an understanding heart.
Hear; for I will speak of excellent things; and the opening of my lips
shall be right things.
Receive my instruction, and
not silver; and knowledge rather than choice gold. For wisdom is better than rubies; and all the
things that may be desired are not to be compared to it.
Riches and honour are with me;
yea, durable riches and righteousness.
My fruit is better than gold, yea, than fine gold; and my revenue than
choice silver. I lead in the way of
righteousness, in the midst of the paths of judgment: That I may cause those
that love me to inherit substance; and I will fill their treasures.
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.
4:17‑22
Simply asking that we may love God will never
make us love Him; but the longing to be better and holier, expressed in daily
watchfulness and in striving to assimilate more of the divine character, will
mould and fashion us anew, until we awake in His likeness.
6:3‑22
Divine Love corrects and governs man. Men may pardon, but this divine Principle
alone reforms the sinner. God is not
separate from the wisdom He bestows. The
talents He gives we must improve.
Calling on Him to forgive our work badly done or left undone, implies
the vain supposition that we have nothing to do but to ask pardon, and that
afterwards we shall be free to repeat the offence. To cause suffering as the result of sin, is
the means of destroying sin. Every
supposed pleasure in sin will furnish more than its equivalent of pain, until
belief in material life and sin is destroyed.
To reach heaven, the harmony of being, we must understand the divine
Principle of being.
"God is Love." More than this we cannot ask, higher we
cannot look, farther we cannot go. To
suppose that God forgives or punishes sin according as His mercy is sought or
unsought, is to misunderstand Love and to make prayer the safety‑valve for
wrong‑doing.
25:13‑32
Jesus taught the way of Life by
demonstration, that we may understand how this divine Principle heals the sick,
casts out error, and triumphs over death.
Jesus presented the ideal of God better than could any man whose origin
was less spiritual. By his obedience to
God, he demonstrated more spiritually than all others the Principle of
being. Hence the force of his
admonition, "If ye love me, keep my commandments."
Though demonstrating his control over sin and
disease, the great Teacher by no means relieved others from giving the
requisite proofs of their own piety. He
worked for their guidance, that they might demonstrate this power as he did and
understand its divine Principle.
Implicit faith in the Teacher and all the emotional love we can bestow
on him, will never alone make us imitators of him. We must go and do likewise, else we are not
improving the great blessings which our Master worked and suffered to bestow
upon us. The divinity of the Christ was
made manifest in the humanity of Jesus.
61:4
The good in human affections must have
ascendency over the evil and the spiritual over the animal, or happiness will
never be won. The attainment of this
celestial condition would improve our progeny, diminish crime, and give higher
aims to ambition. Every valley of sin
must be exalted, and every mountain of selfishness be brought low, that the
highway of our God may be prepared in Science.
The offspring of heavenly‑minded parents inherit more intellect, better
balanced minds, and sounder constitutions.
210:11
Knowing that Soul and its attributes were
forever manifested through man, the Master healed the sick, gave sight to the
blind, hearing to the deaf, feet to the lame, thus bringing to light the
scientific action of the divine Mind on human minds and bodies and giving a
better understanding of Soul and salvation.
Jesus healed sickness and sin by one and the same metaphysical
process.
239:5
Take away wealth, fame, and social
organizations, which weigh not one jot in the balance of God, and we get
clearer views of Principle. Break up cliques,
level wealth with honesty, let worth be judged according to wisdom, and we get
better views of humanity.
260:7‑21
The conceptions of mortal, erring thought
must give way to the ideal of all that is perfect and eternal. Through many generations human beliefs will
be attaining diviner conceptions, and the immortal and perfect model of God's
creation will finally be seen as the only true conception of being.
Science reveals the possibility of achieving
all good, and sets mortals at work to discover what God has already done; but
distrust of one's ability to gain the goodness desired and to bring out better
and higher results, often hampers the trial of one's wings and ensures failure
at the outset.
Mortals must change their ideals in order to
improve their models. A sick body is
evolved from sick thoughts.
285:32
It is essential to understand, instead of
believe, what relates most nearly to the happiness of being. To seek Truth through belief in a human
doctrine is not to understand the infinite.
We must not seek the immutable and immortal through the finite, mutable,
and mortal, and so depend upon belief instead of demonstration, for this is
fatal to a knowledge of Science. The
understanding of Truth gives full faith in Truth, and spiritual understanding
is better than all burnt offerings.
296:22
The knowledge obtained from the corporeal
senses leads to sin and death. When the
evidence of Spirit and matter, Truth and error, seems to commingle, it rests
upon foundations which time is wearing away.
Mortal mind judges by the testimony of the material senses, until
Science obliterates this false testimony.
An improved belief is one step out of error, and aids in taking the next
step and in understanding the situation in Christian Science.
371:22
No impossible thing do I ask
when urging the claims of Christian Science; but because this teaching is in
advance of the age, we should not deny our need of its spiritual
unfoldment. Mankind will improve through
Science and Christianity. The necessity
for uplifting the race is father to the fact that Mind can do it; for Mind can
impart purity instead of impurity, strength instead of weakness, and health
instead of disease. Truth is an
alterative in the entire system, and can make it "every whit whole."
442:16‑32
Neither animal magnetism nor hypnotism enters
into the practice of Christian Science, in which truth cannot be reversed, but
the reverse of error is true. An
improved belief cannot retrograde. When
Christ changes a belief of sin or of sickness into a better belief, then belief
melts into spiritual understanding, and sin, disease, and death disappear. Christ, Truth, gives mortals temporary food
and clothing until the material, transformed with the ideal, disappears, and
man is clothed and fed spiritually. St.
Paul says, "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling:"
Jesus said, "Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure
to give you the kingdom." This
truth is Christian Science.
Christian Scientists, be a law to yourselves
that mental malpractice cannot harm you either when asleep or when awake.
486:14
Jesus proved by the prints of the nails, that
his body was the same immediately after death as before. If death restores sight, sound, and strength
to man, then death is not an enemy but a better friend than Life. Alas for the blindness of belief, which makes
harmony conditional upon death and matter, and yet supposes Mind unable to
produce harmony! So long as this error
of belief remains, mortals will continue mortal in belief and subject to chance
and change.
493:17‑14
Mind must be found superior to all the
beliefs of the five corporeal senses, and able to destroy all ills. Sickness is a belief, which must be
annihilated by the divine Mind. Disease
is an experience of so‑called mortal mind.
It is fear made manifest on the body.
Christian Science takes away this physical sense of discord, just as it
removes any other sense of moral or mental inharmony. That man is material, and that matter
suffers,‑‑these propositions can only seem real and natural in illusion. Any sense of soul in matter is not the
reality of being.
If Jesus awakened Lazarus from the dream,
illusion, of death, this proved that the Christ could improve on a false
sense. Who dares to doubt this
consummate test of the power and willingness of divine Mind to hold man forever
intact in his perfect state, and to govern man's entire action? Jesus said: "Destroy this temple [body],
and in three days I [Mind] will raise it up;" and he did this for tired
humanity's reassurance.
Is it not a species of infidelity to believe
that so great a work as the Messiah's was done for himself or for God, who
needed no help from Jesus' example to preserve the eternal harmony? But mortals did need this help, and Jesus
pointed the way for them. Divine Love
always has met and always will meet every human need. It is not well to imagine that Jesus
demonstrated the divine power to heal only for a select number or for a limited
period of time, since to all mankind and in every hour, divine Love supplies
all good.
Silent prayer followed by the audible repetition of the Lord’s Prayer.
Hymn 329
Frederic W. Root
The heavens declare the glory
Of Him who made all things;
Each day repeats the story,
Each night its tribute brings.
To earth's remotest border
His mighty power is known;
In beauty, grandeur, order,
His handiwork is shown.
His law man's pathway brightens,
His judgments all are pure,
His Word the thought enlightens,
And ever shall endure.
To heed His testimony,
And Wisdom's way to hold,
Is sweeter far than honey,
And better far than gold.
In daily contemplation
Of Thee, I take delight;
O, let my meditation
Lay hold of Thee aright.
O, aid me in suppression
Of idle thought or word;
O, keep me from transgression,
Redeemer, strength, and Lord.
Sharing of experiences, testimonies and remarks by members of the congregation.
Hymn 322
Caroline Gilman – Adapted
Sweet hour of holy, thoughtful prayer,
Thy peace and calm may we improve,
And in God's healing service share
The truths revealed by His dear love.
Lord, may Thy truth upon the heart
Now fall and dwell as heavenly dew,
And flowers of grace in freshness start
Where once the weeds of error grew.
May prayer now lift her sacred wings,
Contented with that aim alone
Which bears her to the King of kings,
And rests her at His sheltering throne.
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