Theme: Hope
Hymn 7
Bertha H. Woods – Based on hymn by H. F. Lyte
Abide with me; fast breaks the morning light;
Our daystar rises, banishing all night;
Thou art our strength, O Truth that maketh
free,
We would unfailingly abide in Thee.
I know no fear, with Thee at hand to bless,
Sin hath no power and life no wretchedness;
Health, hope and love in all around I see
For those who trustingly abide in Thee.
I know Thy presence every passing hour,
I know Thy peace, for Thou alone art power;
O Love divine, abiding constantly,
I need not plead, Thou dost abide with me.
Readings from the Bible.
Job 11:7‑9,13‑19 (to ;)
Canst thou by searching find
out God? canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection? It is as high as heaven; what canst thou do?
deeper than hell; what canst thou know?
The measure thereof is longer than the earth, and broader than the
sea.
If thou prepare thine heart,
and stretch out thine hands toward him; If iniquity be in thine hand, put it
far away, and let not wickedness dwell in thy tabernacles. For then shalt thou lift up thy face without
spot; yea, thou shalt be stedfast, and shalt not fear: Because thou shalt
forget thy misery, and remember it as waters that pass away: And thine age
shall be clearer than the noonday; thou shalt shine forth, thou shalt be as the
morning. And thou shalt be secure,
because there is hope; yea, thou shalt dig about thee, and thou shalt take thy
rest in safety. Also thou shalt lie
down, and none shall make thee afraid;
Psalms 16:1,5‑9
Preserve me, O God: for in
thee do I put my trust.
The Lord is the portion of
mine inheritance and of my cup: thou maintainest my lot. The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant
places; yea, I have a goodly heritage. I
will bless the Lord, who hath given me counsel: my reins also instruct me in
the night seasons. I have set the Lord
always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory
rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope.
Psalms 31:1‑5,14‑16 I
trusted,19,23,24
In thee, O Lord, do I put my
trust; let me never be ashamed: deliver me in thy righteousness. Bow down thine ear to me; deliver me
speedily: be thou my strong rock, for an house of defence to save me. For thou art my rock and my fortress;
therefore for thy name's sake lead me, and guide me. Pull me out of the net that they have laid
privily for me: for thou art my strength.
Into thine hand I commit my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O Lord God of
truth.
I trusted in thee, O Lord: I
said, Thou art my God. My times are in
thy hand: deliver me from the hand of mine enemies, and from them that
persecute me. Make thy face to shine
upon thy servant: save me for thy mercies' sake.
Oh how great is thy goodness,
which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee; which thou hast wrought for
them that trust in thee before the sons of men!
O love the Lord, all ye his
saints: for the Lord preserveth the faithful, and plentifully rewardeth the
proud doer. Be of good courage, and he
shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord.
Psalms 33:18‑22
Behold, the eye of the Lord
is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy; To deliver their
soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine. Our soul waiteth for the Lord: he is our help
and our shield. For our heart shall
rejoice in him, because we have trusted in his holy name. Let thy mercy, O Lord, be upon us, according
as we hope in thee.
Psalms 71:1‑5,16‑19
In thee, O Lord, do I put my
trust: let me never be put to confusion.
Deliver me in thy righteousness, and cause me to escape: incline thine
ear unto me, and save me. Be thou my
strong habitation, whereunto I may continually resort: thou hast given
commandment to save me; for thou art my rock and my fortress. Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the
wicked, out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man. For thou art my hope, O Lord God: thou art my
trust from my youth.
I will go in the strength of
the Lord God: I will make mention of thy righteousness, even of thine only. O God, thou hast taught me from my youth: and
hitherto have I declared thy wondrous works.
Now also when I am old and greyheaded, O God, forsake me not; until I
have shewed thy strength unto this generation, and thy power to every one that
is to come. Thy righteousness also, O
God, is very high, who hast done great things: O God, who is like unto
thee!
Psalms 130:5‑7
I wait for the Lord, my soul
doth wait, and in his word do I hope. My
soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning: I say,
more than they that watch for the morning.
Let Israel hope in the Lord: for with the Lord there is mercy, and with
him is plenteous redemption.
Jeremiah 17:7,8
Blessed is the man that
trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the
waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when
heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year
of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.
Lamentations 3:24‑26
The Lord is my portion, saith
my soul; therefore will I hope in him.
The Lord is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh
him. It is good that a man should both
hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord.
Romans 5:1‑5
Therefore being justified by
faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we
have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of
the glory of God. And not only so, but
we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And
patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed;
because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is
given unto us.
Romans 8:24 we,25
we are saved by hope: but
hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope
for? But if we hope for that we see not,
then do we with patience wait for it.
Romans 12:9‑14
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.
I John 3:1‑3
Behold, what manner of love
the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God:
therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it
doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear,
we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him
purifieth himself, even as he is pure.
Readings from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy.
14:12
Become conscious for a single moment that
Life and intelligence are purely spiritual,‑‑neither in nor of matter,‑‑and the
body will then utter no complaints. If
suffering from a belief in sickness, you will find yourself suddenly well. Sorrow is turned into joy when the body is
controlled by spiritual Life, Truth, and Love.
Hence the hope of the promise Jesus bestows: "He that believeth on
me, the works that I do shall he do also; . . . because I go unto my
Father,"‑‑[because the Ego is absent from the body, and present with Truth
and Love.] The Lord's Prayer is the
prayer of Soul, not of material sense.
40:8‑14,31
Divine Science adjusts the balance as Jesus
adjusted it. Science removes the penalty
only by first removing the sin which incurs the penalty. This is my sense of divine pardon, which I
understand to mean God's method of destroying sin. If the saying is true, "While there's
life there's hope," its opposite is also true, While there's sin there's
doom.
The nature of Christianity is peaceful and
blessed, but in order to enter into the kingdom, the anchor of hope must be
cast beyond the veil of matter into the Shekinah into which Jesus has passed
before us; and this advance beyond matter must come through the joys and
triumphs of the righteous as well as through their sorrows and
afflictions. Like our Master, we must
depart from material sense into the spiritual sense of being.
66:6
Trials teach mortals not to lean on a
material staff,‑‑a broken reed, which pierces the heart. We do not half remember this in the sunshine
of joy and prosperity. Sorrow is
salutary. Through great tribulation we
enter the kingdom. Trials are proofs of
God's care. Spiritual development germinates not from seed sown in the soil of
material hopes, but when these decay, Love propagates anew the higher joys of
Spirit, which have no taint of earth.
Each successive stage of experience unfolds new views of divine goodness
and love.
109:11
For three years after my discovery, I sought
the solution of this problem of Mind‑healing, searched the Scriptures and read
little else, kept aloof from society, and devoted time and energies to dis‑covering
a positive rule. The search was sweet,
calm, and buoyant with hope, not selfish nor depressing. I knew the Principle of all harmonious Mind‑action
to be God, and that cures were produced in primitive Christian healing by holy,
uplifting faith; but I must know the Science of this healing, and I won my way
to absolute conclusions through divine revelation, reason, and demonstration. The revelation of Truth in the understanding
came to me gradually and apparently through divine power. When a new spiritual idea is borne to earth,
the prophetic Scripture of Isaiah is renewedly fulfilled: "Unto us a child
is born, . . . and his name shall be called Wonderful."
125:12
As human thought changes from one stage to
another of conscious pain and painlessness, sorrow and joy,‑‑from fear to hope
and from faith to understanding,‑‑the visible manifestation will at last be man
governed by Soul, not by material sense.
Reflecting God's government, man is self‑governed. When subordinate to the divine Spirit, man
cannot be controlled by sin or death, thus proving our material theories about
laws of health to be valueless.
297:32
A mortal belief fulfils its own
conditions. Sickness, sin, and death are
the vague realities of human conclusions.
Life, Truth, and Love are the realities of divine Science. They dawn in faith and glow full‑orbed in
spiritual understanding. As a cloud
hides the sun it cannot extinguish, so false belief silences for a while the
voice of immutable harmony, but false belief cannot destroy Science armed with
faith, hope, and fruition.
367:24‑9
The infinite Truth of the Christ‑cure has
come to this age through a "still, small voice," through silent
utterances and divine anointing which quicken and increase the beneficial
effects of Christianity. I long to see
the consummation of my hope, namely, the student's higher attainments in this
line of light.
Because Truth is infinite, error should be
known as nothing. Because Truth is
omnipotent in goodness, error, Truth's opposite, has no might. Evil is but the counterpoise of
nothingness. The greatest wrong is but a
supposititious opposite of the highest right.
The confidence inspired by Science lies in the fact that Truth is real
and error is unreal. Error is a coward
before Truth. Divine Science insists that time will prove all this. Both truth and error have come nearer than
ever before to the apprehension of mortals, and truth will become still clearer
as error is self‑destroyed.
446:18 In
In the Science of Mind‑healing,
it is imperative to be honest, for victory rests on the side of immutable
right. To understand God strengthens
hope, enthrones faith in Truth, and verifies Jesus' word: "Lo, I am with
you alway, even unto the end of the world."
451:8
Students of Christian Science, who start with
its letter and think to succeed without the spirit, will either make shipwreck
of their faith or be turned sadly awry.
They must not only seek, but strive, to enter the narrow path of Life,
for "wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction,
and many there be which go in thereat."
Man walks in the direction towards which he looks, and where his
treasure is, there will his heart be also.
If our hopes and affections are spiritual, they come from above, not
from beneath, and they bear as of old the fruits of the Spirit.
566:1
As the children of Israel were guided
triumphantly through the Red Sea, the dark ebbing and flowing tides of human
fear,‑‑as they were led through the wilderness, walking wearily through the
great desert of human hopes, and anticipating the promised joy,‑‑so shall the
spiritual idea guide all right desires in their passage from sense to Soul,
from a material sense of existence to the spiritual, up to the glory prepared
for them who love God. Stately Science
pauses not, but moves before them, a pillar of cloud by day and of fire by
night, leading to divine heights.
Silent prayer followed by the audible repetition of the Lord’s Prayer.
Hymn 30
Love – Mary Baker Eddy
Brood o'er us with Thy shelt'ring wing,
'Neath which our spirits blend
Like brother birds, that soar and sing,
And on the same branch bend.
The arrow that doth wound the dove
Darts not from those who watch and love.
If thou the bending reed wouldst break
By thought or word unkind,
Pray that his spirit you partake,
Who loved and healed mankind:
Seek holy thoughts and heavenly strain,
That make men one in love remain.
Learn, too, that wisdom's rod is given
For faith to kiss, and know;
That greetings glorious from high heaven,
Whence joys supernal flow,
Come from that Love, divinely near,
Which chastens pride and earth‑born fear,
Through God, who gave that word of might
Which swelled creation's lay:
"Let there be light, and there was
light."
What chased the clouds away?
'Twas Love whose finger traced aloud
A bow of promise on the cloud.
Thou to whose power our hope we give,
Free us from human strife.
Fed by Thy love divine we live,
For Love alone is Life;
And life most sweet, as heart to heart
Speaks kindly when we meet and part.
Sharing of experiences, testimonies and remarks by members of the congregation.
Hymn 148
Anna L. Waring*
In heavenly Love abiding,
No change my heart shall fear;
And safe is such confiding,
For nothing changes here.
The storm may roar without me,
My heart may low be laid;
But God is round about me,
And can I be dismayed?
Wherever He may guide me,
No want shall turn me back;
My Shepherd is beside me,
And nothing can I lack.
His wisdom ever waketh,
His sight is never dim;
He knows the way He taketh,
And I will walk with Him.
Green pastures are before me,
Which yet I have not seen;
Bright skies will soon be o'er me,
Where darkest clouds have been.
My hope I cannot measure,
My path in life is free;
My Father has my treasure,
And He will walk with me.
