Sunday July 4, 2010

Subject: God

Hymn 83

James Montgomery – Adapted

God made all His creatures free;

Life itself is liberty;

God ordained no other bands

Than united hearts and hands.

One in fellowship of Mind,

We our bliss and glory find

In that endless happy whole,

Where our God is Life and Soul.

So shall all our slavery cease,

All God's children dwell in peace,

And the newborn earth record

Love, and Love alone, is Lord.

The scriptural selection is from Isaiah.

Isaiah 61:1‑6 (to 2nd :),8‑11

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:

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.

Silent prayer, followed by the audible repetition of the Lord’s prayer, with its spiritual interpretation as given in the Christian Science textbook.

Our Father which art in heaven,

Our Father-Mother God, all-harmonious,

Hallowed be Thy name.

Adorable One.

Thy kingdom come.

Thy kingdom is come; Thou art ever-present.

Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

Enable us to know – as in heaven, so on earth

God is omnipotent, supreme.

Give us this day our daily bread;

Give us grace for today; feed the famished affections;

And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

And Love is reflected in love;

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil;

And God leadeth us not into temptation, but delivereth us from sin, disease, and death.

For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever.

For God is infinite, all-power, all Life, Truth, Love, over all, and All.

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Hymn 201

Charles Parsons

O do not bar your mind

Against the light of good;

But open wide, let in the Word,

And Truth will be your food.

Truth will from error free

Your long enslaved mind,

And bring the light of liberty

Where it shall be enshrined.

Hid treasures it reveals

To all who know its power;

And all who will may light receive

In this most gracious hour.

Then open wide your heart

To Truth and Light and Love;

You then shall know your life is hid

With Christ in God above.

A Rule for Motives and Acts

This is from Article VIII, Section 1, of the Manual of the Mother Church, and is read as part of the service of the first Sunday in each month.

“Neither animosity nor mere personal attachment should impel the motives or acts of the members of The Mother Church. In Science, divine Love alone governs man; and a Christian Scientist reflects the sweet amenities of Love, in rebuking sin, in true brotherliness, charitableness, and forgiveness. The members of this Church should daily watch and pray to be delivered from all evil, from prophesying, judging, condemning, counseling, influencing or being influenced erroneously.”

Solo: Be of Good Courage

The lesson-sermon from the Bible and the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy, read by the First and Second Readers.

The content of the Lesson Sermon may be found in the Christian Science Quarterly. You may also read the Lesson-Sermon for this week online by clicking here.

Hymn 371

Margaret Morrison

We lift our hearts in praise,

O God of Life, to Thee,

And would reflect in all our ways

Thy purity.

Thy thoughts our lives enfold,

And free us from all fear;

All strife is stilled, all grief consoled,

For Thou art here.

We lift our hearts in praise,

O God of Truth, to Thee,

And find within Thy perfect law

Our liberty.

We bless Thy mighty name

In this exalted hour,

And to the world in faith proclaim

Thy healing power.

We lift our hearts in praise,

O God of Love, to Thee,

With joy to find through darkened days

Thy harmony.

O Father‑Mother Love,

We triumph 'neath Thy rod,

We glory in Thy light, and prove

That Thou art God.

"The Scientific Statement of Being" (S&H p. 468} and the correlative scripture according to I John 3:1-3.

There is no life, truth, intelligence, nor substance in matter. All is infinite Mind and its infinite manifestation, for God is All-in-all. Spirit is immortal Truth; matter is mortal error. Spirit is the real and eternal; matter is the unreal and temporal. Spirit is God, and man is His image and likeness. Therefore man is not material; he is spiritual.

Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p.468

1John.3

[1] 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.

[2] 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.

[3] And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.

Benediction

James 1:25 whoso

whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.