Service for Wednesday, July 2, 2014

Theme: Fulfillment

 Hymn 180 
 Based on the Danish of  Jens N. L. Schjorring

 Love the Lord thy God:
 Love is staff and rod
   For heart and soul and mind.
 In this command forever strong,
 To silence thoughts of wrong
   All laws fulfillment find.

 Here we rest content:
 Good from God is sent
   Where seeds of Love are sown.
 Who as himself his neighbor loves,
 By constant purpose proves
   His neighbor's good his own.

 They whose every thought
 Still from Love is sought
   In Soul, not flesh, abide.
 Love's presence gives a joy untold:
 Now may we all behold
   The Spirit and the bride.

Readings from the Bible.

Matthew 5:13‑18
#Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.  Ye are the light of the world.  A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.  Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.  Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.  #Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.  For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.

Luke 4:14‑21 Jesus
Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and there went out a fame of him through all the region round about.  And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all.  #And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.  And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias.  And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.  And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.  And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.

Luke 21:25‑32 there
there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.  And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.  And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.  And he spake to them a parable; Behold the fig tree, and all the trees; When they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand.  So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand.  Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled.

Romans 8:1‑4
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.

Psalms 145:8‑20 (to :)
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:

Philippians 2:1,2
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.

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

41:14‑30
  The proofs of Truth, Life, and Love, which Jesus gave by casting out error and healing the sick, completed his earthly mission; but in the Christian Church this demonstration of healing was early lost, about three centuries after the crucifixion.  No ancient school of philosophy, materia medica, or scholastic theology ever taught or demonstrated the divine healing of absolute Science. 
  Jesus foresaw the reception Christian Science would have before it was understood, but this foreknowledge hindered him not.  He fulfilled his God‑mission, and then sat down at the right hand of the Father.  Persecuted from city to city, his apostles still went about doing good deeds, for which they were maligned and stoned.  The truth taught by Jesus, the elders scoffed at.  Why?  Because it demanded more than they were willing to practise.

55:15‑29
  Truth's immortal idea is sweeping down the centuries, gathering beneath its wings the sick and sinning.  My weary hope tries to realize that happy day, when man shall recognize the Science of Christ and love his neighbor as himself,‑‑when he shall realize God's omnipotence and the healing power of the divine Love in what it has done and is doing for mankind.  The promises will be fulfilled.  The time for the reappearing of the divine healing is throughout all time; and whosoever layeth his earthly all on the altar of divine Science, drinketh of Christ's cup now, and is endued with the spirit and power of Christian healing. 
  In the words of St. John: "He shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever."  This Comforter I understand to be Divine Science. 

108:19‑27 np
  When apparently near the confines of mortal existence, standing already within the shadow of the death‑valley, I learned these truths in divine Science: that all real being is in God, the divine Mind, and that Life, Truth, and Love are all‑powerful and ever‑present; that the opposite of Truth,‑‑called error, sin, sickness, disease, death,‑‑is the false testimony of false material sense, of mind in matter; that this false sense evolves, in belief, a subjective state of mortal mind which this same so‑called mind names matter, thereby shutting out the true sense of Spirit. 
  My discovery, that erring, mortal, misnamed mind produces all the organism and action of the mortal body, set my thoughts to work in new channels, and led up to my demonstration of the proposition that Mind is All and matter is naught as the leading factor in Mind‑science. 
  Christian Science reveals incontrovertibly that Mind is All‑in‑all, that the only realities are the divine Mind and idea.  This great fact is not, however, seen to be supported by sensible evidence, until its divine Principle is demonstrated by healing the sick and thus proved absolute and divine.  This proof once seen, no other conclusion can be reached. 
  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 discovering 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."

463:12
A spiritual idea has not a single element of error, and this truth removes properly whatever is offensive.  The new idea, conceived and born of Truth and Love, is clad in white garments.  Its beginning will be meek, its growth sturdy, and its maturity undecaying.  When this new birth takes place, the Christian Science infant is born of the Spirit, born of God, and can cause the mother no more suffering.  By this we know that Truth is here and has fulfilled its perfect work. 

568:24‑14
  For victory over a single sin, we give thanks and magnify the Lord of Hosts.  What shall we say of the mighty conquest over all sin?  A louder song, sweeter than has ever before reached high heaven, now rises clearer and nearer to the great heart of Christ; for the accuser is not there, and Love sends forth her primal and everlasting strain.  Self‑abnegation, by which we lay down all for Truth, or Christ, in our warfare against error, is a rule in Christian Science.  This rule clearly interprets God as divine Principle,‑‑as Life, represented by the Father; as Truth, represented by the Son; as Love, represented by the Mother.  Every mortal at some period, here or hereafter, must grapple with and overcome the mortal belief in a power opposed to God. 
  The Scripture, "Thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many," is literally fulfilled, when we are conscious of the supremacy of Truth, by which the nothingness of error is seen; and we know that the nothingness of error is in proportion to its wickedness.  He that touches the hem of Christ's robe and masters his mortal beliefs, animality, and hate, rejoices in the proof of healing,‑‑in a sweet and certain sense that God is Love.

473:26‑23
  Jesus established what he said by demonstration, thus making his acts of higher importance than his words.  He proved what he taught.  This is the Science of Christianity.  Jesus proved the Principle, which heals the sick and casts out error, to be divine.  Few, however, except his students understood in the least his teachings and their glorious proofs,‑‑namely, that Life, Truth, and Love (the Principle of this unacknowledged Science) destroy all error, evil, disease, and death. 
  The reception accorded to Truth in the early Christian era is repeated to‑day.  Whoever introduces the Science of Christianity will be scoffed at and scourged with worse cords than those which cut the flesh.  To the ignorant age in which it first appears, Science seems to be a mistake,‑‑hence the misinterpretation and consequent maltreatment which it receives.  Christian marvels (and marvel is the simple meaning of the Greek word rendered miracle in the New Testament) will be misunderstood and misused by many, until the glorious Principle of these marvels is gained. 
  If sin, sickness, and death are as real as Life, Truth, and Love, then they must all be from the same source; God must be their author.  Now Jesus came to destroy sin, sickness, and death; yet the Scriptures aver, "I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil." Is it possible, then, to believe that the evils which Jesus lived to destroy are real or the offspring of the divine will? 

572:12
  Love fulfils the law of Christian Science, and nothing short of this divine Principle, understood and demonstrated, can ever furnish the vision of the Apocalypse, open the seven seals of error with Truth, or uncover the myriad illusions of sin, sickness, and death.  Under the supremacy of Spirit, it will be seen and acknowledged that matter must disappear. 

232:16‑7
  In our age Christianity is again demonstrating the power of divine Principle, as it did over nineteen hundred years ago, by healing the sick and triumphing over death.  Jesus never taught that drugs, food, air, and exercise could make a man healthy, or that they could destroy human life; nor did he illustrate these errors by his practice.  He referred man's harmony to Mind, not to matter, and never tried to make of none effect the sentence of God, which sealed God's condemnation of sin, sickness, and death. 
  In the sacred sanctuary of Truth are voices of solemn import, but we heed them not.  It is only when the so‑called pleasures and pains of sense pass away in our lives, that we find unquestionable signs of the burial of error and the resurrection to spiritual life. 
  There is neither place nor opportunity in Science for error of any sort.  Every day makes its demands upon us for higher proofs rather than professions of Christian power.  These proofs consist solely in the destruction of sin, sickness, and death by the power of Spirit, as Jesus destroyed them.  This is an element of progress, and progress is the law of God, whose law demands of us only what we can certainly fulfil. 

483:22
  Because the Science of Mind seems to bring into dishonor the ordinary scientific schools, which wrestle with material observations alone, this Science has met with opposition; but if any system honors God, it ought to receive aid, not opposition, from all thinking persons.  And Christian Science does honor God as no other theory honors Him, and it does this in the way of His appointing, by doing many wonderful works through the divine name and nature.  One must fulfil one's mission without timidity or dissimulation, for to be well done, the work must be done unselfishly.  Christianity will never be based on a divine Principle and so found to be unerring, until its absolute Science is reached.  When this is accomplished, neither pride, prejudice, bigotry, nor envy can wash away its foundation, for it is built upon the rock, Christ. 

435:19
  Watching beside the couch of pain in the exercise of a love that "is the fulfilling of the law,"‑‑doing "unto others as ye would that they should do unto you,"‑‑this is no infringement of law, for no demand, human or divine, renders it just to punish a man for acting justly.  If mortals sin, our Supreme Judge in equity decides what penalty is due for the sin, and Mortal Man can suffer only for his sin.  For naught else can he be punished, according to the law of Spirit, God. 

485:14
  Emerge gently from matter into Spirit.  Think not to thwart the spiritual ultimate of all things, but come naturally into Spirit through better health and morals and as the result of spiritual growth.  Not death, but the understanding of Life, makes man immortal.  The belief that life can be in matter or soul in body, and that man springs from dust or from an egg, is the result of the mortal error which Christ, or Truth, destroys by fulfilling the spiritual law of being, in which man is perfect, even as the "Father which is in heaven is perfect."  If thought yields its dominion to other powers, it cannot outline on the body its own beautiful images, but it effaces them and delineates foreign agents, called disease and sin. 

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


  Hymn 416
  Kate L. Colby – Adapted

 Be true and list the voice within,
   Be true unto thy high ideal,
 Thy perfect self, that knows no sin,
   That self that is the only real.

 God is the only perfect One:
   My perfect self is one with Him;
 So man is seen as God's own son,
   When Truth dispels the shadows dim.

 True to our God whose name is Love,
   We shall fulfill our Father's plan;
 For true means true to God above,
   To self, and to our fellow man.

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


 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.

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