Theme: Willing
Hymn 58
Elizabeth C. Adams
Father, we Thy loving children
Lift our hearts in joy today,
Knowing well that Thou wilt keep us
Ever in Thy blessed way.
Thou art Love and Thou art wisdom,
Thou art Life and Thou art All;
In Thy Spirit living, moving,
We shall neither faint nor fall.
Come we daily then, dear Father,
Open hearts and willing hands,
Eager ears, expectant, joyful,
Ready for Thy right commands.
We would hear no other voices,
We would heed no other call;
Thou alone art good and gracious,
Thou our Mind and Thou our All.
In Thy house securely dwelling,
Where Thy children live to bless,
Seeing only Thy creation,
We can share Thy happiness,
Share Thy joy and spend it freely.
Loyal hearts can feel no fear;
We Thy children know Thee, Father,
Love and Life forever near.
Readings from the Bible.
I Chronicles 28:2‑10 David
David the king stood up upon his feet, and
said, Hear me, my brethren, and my people: As for me, I had in mine heart to
build an house of rest for the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and for the
footstool of our God, and had made ready for the building: But God said unto
me, Thou shalt not build an house for my name, because thou hast been a man of
war, and hast shed blood. Howbeit the
Lord God of Israel chose me before all the house of my father to be king over
Israel for ever: for he hath chosen Judah to be the ruler; and of the house of
Judah, the house of my father; and among the sons of my father he liked me to
make me king over all Israel: And of all my sons, (for the Lord hath given me
many sons,) he hath chosen Solomon my son to sit upon the throne of the kingdom
of the Lord over Israel.
And he said
unto me, Solomon thy son, he shall build my house and my courts: for I have
chosen him to be my son, and I will be his father. Moreover I will establish his kingdom for
ever, if he be constant to do my commandments and my judgments, as at this day. Now therefore in the sight of all Israel the
congregation of the Lord, and in the audience of our God, keep and seek for all
the commandments of the Lord your God: that ye may possess this good land, and
leave it for an inheritance for your children after you for ever.
#And thou, Solomon my son, know thou the God
of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind: for
the Lord searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the
thoughts: if thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him,
he will cast thee off for ever. Take
heed now; for the Lord hath chosen thee to build an house for the sanctuary: be
strong, and do it.
Isaiah 1:16‑19
#Wash you, make you clean;
put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; Learn
to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead
for the widow. Come now, and let us
reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be
as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat
the good of the land:
Matthew 26:36‑41
#Then cometh Jesus with them
unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here,
while I go and pray yonder. And he took
with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very
heavy. Then saith he unto them, My soul
is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me. And he went a little further, and fell on his
face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass
from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt. And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth
them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one
hour? Watch and pray, that ye enter not
into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.
II Corinthians 5:1‑8 we
we know that if our earthly house of this
tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with
hands, eternal in the heavens. For in
this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is
from heaven: If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan,
being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that
mortality might be swallowed up of life.
Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath
given unto us the earnest of the Spirit.
Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home
in the body, we are absent from the Lord: (For we walk by faith, not by sight:)
We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to
be present with the Lord.
II Corinthians 8:9‑15 ye
ye know the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that
ye through his poverty might be rich.
And herein I give my advice: for this is expedient for you, who have
begun before, not only to do, but also to be forward a year ago. Now therefore perform the doing of it; that
as there was a readiness to will, so there may be a performance also out of
that which ye have. For if there be
first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not
according to that he hath not. For I
mean not that other men be eased, and ye burdened: But by an equality, that now
at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want, that their
abundance also may be a supply for your want: that there may be equality: As it
is written, He that had gathered much had nothing over; and he that had gathered
little had no lack.
I Timothy 6:12‑19
Fight the good fight of
faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast
professed a good profession before many witnesses. I give thee charge in the sight of God, who
quickeneth all things, and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate
witnessed a good confession; That thou keep this commandment without spot,
unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ: Which in his times
he shall shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and
Lord of lords; Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man
can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and
power everlasting. Amen. Charge them
that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in
uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to
enjoy; That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute,
willing to communicate; Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation
against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.
Readings from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy.
9:17‑16
Dost thou "love the Lord thy God with
all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind"? This command includes much, even the
surrender of all merely material sensation, affection, and worship. This is the El Dorado of Christianity. It involves the Science of Life, and
recognizes only the divine control of Spirit, in which Soul is our master, and
material sense and human will have no place.
Are you willing to leave all for Christ, for
Truth, and so be counted among sinners?
No! Do you really desire to
attain this point? No! Then why make long prayers about it and ask
to be Christians, since you do not care to tread in the footsteps of our dear
Master? If unwilling to follow his
example, why pray with the lips that you may be partakers of his nature? Consistent prayer is the desire to do
right. Prayer means that we desire to
walk and will walk in the light so far as we receive it, even though with
bleeding footsteps, and that waiting patiently on the Lord, we will leave our
real desires to be rewarded by Him.
The world must grow to the spiritual
understanding of prayer. If good enough
to profit by Jesus' cup of earthly sorrows, God will sustain us under these
sorrows. Until we are thus divinely
qualified and are willing to drink his cup, millions of vain repetitions will
never pour into prayer the unction of Spirit in demonstration of power and
"with signs following." Christian Science reveals a necessity for
overcoming the world, the flesh, and evil, and thus destroying all error.
Seeking is not sufficient. It is striving that enables us to enter. Spiritual attainments open the door to a
higher understanding of the divine Life.
11:21
Petitions bring to mortals only the results
of mortals' own faith. We know that a
desire for holiness is requisite in order to gain holiness; but if we desire holiness
above all else, we shall sacrifice everything for it. We must be willing to do this, that we may
walk securely in the only practical road to holiness. Prayer cannot change the unalterable Truth,
nor can prayer alone give us an understanding of Truth; but prayer, coupled
with a fervent habitual desire to know and do the will of God, will bring us
into all Truth. Such a desire has little
need of audible expression. It is best
expressed in thought and in life.
24:4
Acquaintance with the original texts, and
willingness to give up human beliefs (established by hierarchies, and
instigated sometimes by the worst passions of men), open the way for Christian
Science to be understood, and make the Bible the chart of life, where the buoys
and healing currents of Truth are pointed out.
33:27‑17
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?
If all who ever partook of the sacrament had
really commemorated the sufferings of Jesus and drunk of his cup, they would
have revolutionized the world. If all
who seek his commemoration through material symbols will take up the cross,
heal the sick, cast out evils, and preach Christ, or Truth, to the poor,‑‑the
receptive thought,‑‑they will bring in the millennium.
216:28
When you say, "Man's body is
material," I say with Paul: Be
"willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the
Lord." Give up your material belief
of mind in matter, and have but one Mind, even God; for this Mind forms its own
likeness. The loss of man's identity
through the understanding which Science confers is impossible; and the notion
of such a possibility is more absurd than to conclude that individual musical
tones are lost in the origin of harmony.
271:20‑5
Our Master said, "But the Comforter . .
. shall teach you all things." When
the Science of Christianity appears, it will lead you into all truth. The Sermon on the Mount is the essence of
this Science, and the eternal life, not the death of Jesus, is its
outcome.
Those, who are willing to leave their nets or
to cast them on the right side for Truth, have the opportunity now, as
aforetime, to learn and to practise Christian healing. The Scriptures contain it. The spiritual import of the Word imparts this
power. But, as Paul says, "How
shall they hear without a preacher? and how shall they preach, except they be
sent?" If sent, how shall they
preach, convert, and heal multitudes, except the people hear?
The spiritual sense of truth must be gained
before Truth can be understood. This
sense is assimilated only as we are honest, unselfish, loving, and meek.
323:28
The effects of Christian Science are not so
much seen as felt. It is the
"still, small voice" of Truth uttering itself. We are either turning away from this
utterance, or we are listening to it and going up higher. Willingness to become as a little child and
to leave the old for the new, renders thought receptive of the advanced
idea. Gladness to leave the false
landmarks and joy to see them disappear,‑‑this disposition helps to precipitate
the ultimate harmony. The purification
of sense and self is a proof of progress.
"Blessed are the pure in heart:
for they shall see God."
382:24‑11
One whom I rescued from seeming spiritual
oblivion, in which the senses had engulfed him, wrote to me: "I should
have died, but for the glorious Principle you teach, ‑‑supporting the power of
Mind over the body and showing me the nothingness of the so‑called pleasures
and pains of sense. The treatises I had
read and the medicines I had taken only abandoned me to more hopeless suffering
and despair. Adherence to hygiene was useless. Mortal mind needed to be set right. The ailment was not bodily, but mental, and I
was cured when I learned my way in Christian Science."
We need a clean body and a clean mind,‑‑a
body rendered pure by Mind as well as washed by water. One says: "I take good care of my
body." To do this, the pure and exalting influence of the divine Mind on
the body is requisite, and the Christian Scientist takes the best care of his
body when he leaves it most out of his thought, and, like the Apostle Paul, is
"willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the
Lord."
493:28
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.
570:14‑21 np
Millions of unprejudiced minds‑‑simple
seekers for Truth, weary wanderers, athirst in the desert‑‑are waiting and
watching for rest and drink. Give them a
cup of cold water in Christ's name, and never fear the consequences. What if the old dragon should send forth a
new flood to drown the Christ‑idea? He
can neither drown your voice with its roar, nor again sink the world into the
deep waters of chaos and old night. In
this age the earth will help the woman; the spiritual idea will be
understood. Those ready for the blessing
you impart will give thanks. The waters
will be pacified, and Christ will command the wave.
When God heals the sick or the sinning, they
should know the great benefit which Mind has wrought. They should also know the great delusion of
mortal mind, when it makes them sick or sinful.
Many are willing to open the eyes of the people to the power of good
resident in divine Mind, but they are not so willing to point out the evil in
human thought, and expose evil's hidden mental ways of accomplishing
iniquity.
Why this backwardness, since exposure is
necessary to ensure the avoidance of the evil?
Because people like you better when you tell them their virtues than
when you tell them their vices. It
requires the spirit of our blessed Master to tell a man his faults, and so risk
human displeasure for the sake of doing right and benefiting our race. Who is telling mankind of the foe in
ambush? Is the informer one who sees the
foe? If so, listen and be wise. Escape from evil, and designate those as
unfaithful stewards who have seen the danger and yet have given no
warning.
At all times and under all circumstances,
overcome evil with good. Know thyself,
and God will supply the wisdom and the occasion for a victory over evil. Clad in the panoply of Love, human hatred
cannot reach you. The cement of a higher
humanity will unite all interests in the one divinity.
Silent prayer followed with the audible repetition of the Lord’s Prayer.
Hymn 311
Robert Ellis Key
So brightly burns Love's holy glow,
So constant shines its light,
That none can claim he doth not know
The pathway through the night,
For see, 'tis lit by Love divine
To trace for us His wise design.
The lambs who wander by the way,
He taketh in His arm;
For in the darkness they did stray
Unconscious of their harm:
So cometh He to all who roam,
To lead them safely, surely home.
To God then praises let us sing
With glad and willing mind
For all the gifts His hand doth bring
To us and all mankind:
Forever doth His gift of love
Pour warmth and radiance from above.
Sharing of experiences, testimonies and remarks by members of the congregation.
Hymn 388
James Montgomery – Adapted
When like a stranger on our sphere
The lowly Jesus sojourned here,
Where'er he went affliction fled,
The sick were healed, the hungry fed.
With bounding steps the halt and lame
To hail their great deliverer came;
For him the grave could hold no dread,
He spoke the word and raised the dead.
Through paths of loving‑kindness led,
Where Jesus triumphed we would tread;
To all with willing hands dispense
The gifts of our benevolence.
