Theme: Inspiration
Hymn 104
Duncan Sinclair
Help us, O Lord, to bear the cross,
The cross our Master bore;
To brave the senses' angry shock,
Our faith secure upon the rock
Of Christ, forevermore.
Grant us, O Love, the strength to drink
Thy cup on earth below,
The inspiration that it brings,
The hope serene that from it springs
To lighten every woe.
Give us, O Truth, Thou light of men,
Thy benediction rare,
That courage may sustain our way
Out of the darkness into day,
Thy day, celestial, fair.
Thus shall our Spirit, Mind divine,
Lead us to heaven's bowers:
The cross laid down; the victory won
O'er sense and self; revealed the Son;
The crown forever ours.
Readings from the Bible.
Psalms 10:17
Lord, thou hast heard the
desire of the humble: thou wilt prepare their heart, thou wilt cause thine ear
to hear:
Psalms 35:23,24,27,28
Stir up thyself, and awake to
my judgment, even unto my cause, my God and my Lord. Judge me, O Lord my God, according to thy
righteousness; and let them not rejoice over me.
Let them shout for joy, and
be glad, that favour my righteous cause: yea, let them say continually, Let the
Lord be magnified, which hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servant. And my tongue shall speak of thy righteousness
and of thy praise all the day long.
Psalms 67:1‑7
God be merciful unto us, and
bless us; and cause his face to shine upon us;
That thy way may be known upon earth, thy saving health among all
nations. Let the people praise thee, O
God; let all the people praise thee. O
let the nations be glad and sing for joy: for thou shalt judge the people
righteously, and govern the nations upon earth.
Let the people praise thee, O God; let all the people praise thee. Then shall the earth yield her increase; and
God, even our own God, shall bless us.
God shall bless us; and all the ends of the earth shall fear him.
Psalms 71:1‑8,12‑19,21‑24 (to
:)
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. By thee have I been
holden up from the womb: thou art he that took me out of my mother's bowels: my
praise shall be continually of thee. I
am as a wonder unto many; but thou art my strong refuge. Let my mouth be filled with thy praise and
with thy honour all the day.
O God, be not far from me: O
my God, make haste for my help. Let them
be confounded and consumed that are adversaries to my soul; let them be covered
with reproach and dishonour that seek my hurt.
But I will hope continually, and will yet praise thee more and
more. My mouth shall shew forth thy
righteousness and thy salvation all the day; for I know not the numbers thereof. 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!
Thou shalt increase my
greatness, and comfort me on every side.
I will also praise thee with the psaltery, even thy truth, O my God:
unto thee will I sing with the harp, O thou Holy One of Israel. My lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing
unto thee; and my soul, which thou hast redeemed. My tongue also shall talk of thy
righteousness all the day long:
Psalms 80:3,7,17,19
Turn us again, O God, and
cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.
Turn us again, O God of
hosts, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.
Let thy hand be upon the man
of thy right hand, upon the son of man whom thou madest strong for
thyself.
Turn us again, O Lord God of
hosts, cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.
Psalms 143:1,6 (to 1st .),8‑11
Hear my prayer, O Lord, give
ear to my supplications: in thy faithfulness answer me, and in thy
righteousness.
I stretch forth my hands unto
thee: my soul thirsteth after thee, as a thirsty land.
Cause me to hear thy
lovingkindness in the morning; for in thee do I trust: cause me to know the way
wherein I should walk; for I lift up my soul unto thee. Deliver me, O Lord, from mine enemies: I flee
unto thee to hide me. Teach me to do thy
will; for thou art my God: thy spirit is good; lead me into the land of
uprightness. Quicken me, O Lord, for thy
name's sake: for thy righteousness' sake bring my soul out of trouble.
Proverbs 8:10‑18,20,21
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. I wisdom dwell with prudence, and find out
knowledge of witty inventions. The fear
of the Lord is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the
froward mouth, do I hate. Counsel is
mine, and sound wisdom: I am understanding; I have strength. By me kings reign, and princes decree
justice. By me princes rule, and nobles,
even all the judges of the earth. I love
them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me. Riches and honour are with me; yea, durable
riches and righteousness.
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.
Isaiah 30:30 (to 1st ,)
And the Lord shall cause his
glorious voice to be heard,
Isaiah 58:13,14
If thou turn away thy foot
from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath
a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing
thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:
Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon
the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy
father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.
Isa 61:1‑11
The Spirit of the Lord God is
upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the
meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the
captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; To proclaim the
acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort
all that mourn; To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them
beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the
spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the
planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified. #And they shall build the old wastes, they
shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities,
the desolations of many generations. And
strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the alien shall be
your plowmen and your vinedressers. But
ye shall be named the Priests of the Lord: men shall call you the Ministers of
our God: ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory shall ye
boast yourselves. #For your shame ye
shall have double; and for confusion they shall rejoice in their portion:
therefore in their land they shall possess the double: everlasting joy shall be
unto them. For I the Lord love judgment,
I hate robbery for burnt offering; and I will direct their work in truth, and I
will make an everlasting covenant with them.
And their seed shall be known among the Gentiles, and their offspring
among the people: all that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the
seed which the Lord hath blessed. I will
greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath
clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of
righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride
adorneth herself with her jewels. For as
the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are
sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise
to spring forth before all the nations.
Readings from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy.
33:18‑9
When the human element in him struggled with
the divine, our great Teacher said: "Not my will, but Thine, be
done!"‑‑that is, Let not the flesh, but the Spirit, be represented in
me. This is the new understanding of
spiritual Love. It gives all for Christ,
or Truth. It blesses its enemies, heals
the sick, casts out error, raises the dead from trespasses and sins, and
preaches the gospel to the poor, the meek in heart.
Christians, are you drinking his cup? Have you shared the blood of the New
Covenant, the persecutions which attend a new and higher understanding of God? If not, can you then say that you have
commemorated Jesus in his cup? Are all
who eat bread and drink wine in memory of Jesus willing truly to drink his cup,
take his cross, and leave all for the Christ‑principle? Then why ascribe this inspiration to a dead
rite, instead of showing, by casting out error and making the body "holy,
acceptable unto God," that Truth has come to the understanding? If Christ, Truth, has come to us in
demonstration, no other commemoration is requisite, for demonstration is
Immanuel, or God with us; and if a
friend be with us, why need we memorials of that friend?
53:25‑17
Jesus bore our sins in his body. He knew the mortal errors which constitute
the material body, and could destroy those errors; but at the time when Jesus
felt our infirmities, he had not conquered all the beliefs of the flesh or his
sense of material life, nor had he risen to his final demonstration of
spiritual power.
Had he shared the sinful beliefs of others,
he would have been less sensitive to those beliefs. Through the magnitude of his human life, he
demonstrated the divine Life. Out of the
amplitude of his pure affection, he defined Love. With the affluence of Truth, he vanquished
error. The world acknowledged not his
righteousness, seeing it not; but earth received the harmony his glorified
example introduced.
Who is ready to follow his teaching and
example? All must sooner or later plant
themselves in Christ, the true idea of God.
That he might liberally pour his dear‑bought treasures into empty or sin‑filled
human storehouses, was the inspiration of Jesus' intense human sacrifice. In witness of his divine commission, he
presented the proof that Life, Truth, and Love heal the sick and the sinning,
and triumph over death through Mind, not matter. This was the highest proof he could have
offered of divine Love.
65:1
Experience should be the school of virtue,
and human happiness should proceed from man's highest nature. May Christ, Truth, be present at every bridal
altar to turn the water into wine and to give to human life an inspiration by
which man's spiritual and eternal existence may be discerned.
161:5
Holy inspiration has created
states of mind which have been able to nullify the action of the flames, as in
the Bible case of the three young Hebrew captives, cast into the Babylonian
furnace; while an opposite mental state might produce spontaneous combustion.
242:21
The vesture of Life is Truth. According to the Bible, the facts of being
are commonly misconstrued, for it is written: "They parted my raiment
among them, and for my vesture they did cast lots." The divine Science of
man is woven into one web of consistency without seam or rent. Mere speculation or superstition appropriates
no part of the divine vesture, while inspiration restores every part of the
Christly garment of righteousness.
281:27
Divine Science does not put new wine into old
bottles, Soul into matter, nor the infinite into the finite. Our false views of matter perish as we grasp
the facts of Spirit. The old belief must
be cast out or the new idea will be spilled, and the inspiration, which is to
change our standpoint, will be lost.
Now, as of old, Truth casts out evils and heals the sick.
319:15‑3
The varied doctrines and theories which
presuppose life and intelligence to exist in matter are so many ancient and
modern mythologies. Mystery, miracle,
sin, and death will disappear when it becomes fairly understood that the divine
Mind controls man and man has no Mind but God.
The divine Science taught in the original
language of the Bible came through inspiration, and needs inspiration to be
understood. Hence the misapprehension of
the spiritual meaning of the Bible, and the misinterpretation of the Word in
some instances by uninspired writers, who only wrote down what an inspired
teacher had said. A misplaced word
changes the sense and misstates the Science of the Scriptures, as, for
instance, to name Love as merely an attribute of God; but we can by special and
proper capitalization speak of the love of Love, meaning by that what the
beloved disciple meant in one of his epistles, when he said, "God is
love." Likewise we can speak of the
truth of Truth and of the life of Life, for Christ plainly declared, "I am
the way, the truth, and the life."
581:4
ANGELS.
God's thoughts passing to man; spiritual intuitions, pure and perfect;
the inspiration of goodness, purity, and immortality, counteracting all evil,
sensuality, and mortality.
589:4
JACOB.
A corporeal mortal embracing duplicity, repentance, sensualism. Inspiration; the revelation of Science, in
which the so‑called material senses yield to the spiritual sense of Life
and Love.
592:25
OIL. Consecration; charity; gentleness; prayer;
heavenly inspiration.
596:11‑19
URIM. Light.
The rabbins
believed that the stones in the breast‑plate of the high‑priest had
supernatural illumination, but Christian Science reveals Spirit, not matter, as
the illuminator of all. The illuminations
of Science give us a sense of the nothingness of error, and they show the
spiritual inspiration of Love and Truth to be the only fit preparation for
admission to the presence and power of the Most High.
599:6‑7
ZION. Spiritual foundation and superstructure;
inspiration; spiritual strength.
Silent prayer followed by the audible repetition of the Lord’s Prayer.
Hymn 421
Violet Hay
From these Thy
children gathered in Thy name,
From hearts
made whole, from lips redeemed from woe,
Thy praise, O
Father, shall forever flow.
Alleluia! Alleluia!
O perfect Life,
in Thy completeness held,
None can beyond
Thy omnipresence stray;
Safe in Thy
Love, we live and sing alway
Alleluia! Alleluia!
O perfect Mind,
reveal Thy likeness true,
That higher
selfhood which we all must prove,
Joy and
dominion, love reflecting Love.
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Thou, Soul,
inspiring‑‑give us vision clear,
Break earth‑bound
fetters, sweep away the veil,
Show the new
heaven and earth that shall prevail.
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Sharing of experiences, testimonies and remarks by members of the congregation.
Hymn 266
Attributed to
Thomas Cotterill – Adapted
Our God is
Love, and all His sons
His image
bear, we know;
The heart with
love to God inspired,
With love to
man will glow.
Teach us to
love each other, Lord,
As we are
loved by Thee;
None who are
truly born of God
Can live in
enmity.
Heirs of the
same immortal bliss,
Our hopes and
aims the same,
In bonds of
love our hearts unite,
To praise His
holy name.
So may we all
with one accord
Learn how
true Christians love;
And glorify our
Father's grace,
And seek that
grace to prove.
