Service for Sunday, Jan. 30, 2011

Subject: Love

 Hymn 53 

 Based on a hymn by John R. Macduff

 Everlasting arms of Love

 Are beneath, around, above;

 God it is who bears us on,

 His the arm we lean upon.

 He our ever‑present guide

 Faithful is, whate'er betide;

 Gladly then we journey on,

 With His arm to lean upon.

 From earth's fears and vain alarms

 Safe in His encircling arms,

 He will keep us all the way,

 God, our refuge, strength and stay.

The scriptural selection is from Psalms.

Psalms 62:1,2,6‑8 (to 1st .),11,12

Truly my soul waiteth upon God: from him cometh my salvation.  He only is my rock and my salvation; he is my defence; I shall not be greatly moved. 

He only is my rock and my salvation: he is my defence; I shall not be moved.  In God is my salvation and my glory: the rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God.  Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us.

God hath spoken once; twice have I heard this; that power belongeth unto God.  Also unto thee, O Lord, belongeth mercy: for thou renderest to every man according to his work. 

Psalms 91:1‑4,9‑11

He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.  I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.  Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.  He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler. 

Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation; There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.  For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. 

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.

 Hymn 253

 Christ My Refuge – Mary Baker Eddy

 O'er waiting harpstrings of the mind

       There sweeps a strain,

 Low, sad, and sweet, whose measures bind

       The power of pain,

 And wake a white‑winged angel throng

       Of thoughts, illumed

 By faith, and breathed in raptured song,

       With love perfumed.

 Then His unveiled, sweet mercies show

       Life's burdens light.

 I kiss the cross, and wake to know

       A world more bright.

 And o'er earth's troubled, angry sea

       I see Christ walk,

 And come to me, and tenderly,

       Divinely talk.

 Thus Truth engrounds me on the rock,

       Upon Life's shore,

 'Gainst which the winds and waves can shock,

       Oh, nevermore!

 From tired joy and grief afar,

       And nearer Thee,‑‑

 Father, where Thine own children are,

       I love to be.

 My prayer, some daily good to do

       To Thine, for Thee;

 An offering pure of Love, whereto

       God leadeth me.

Solo: “The Gift of Love”

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 123 

 "K" in Rippon's Selection, 1787 – Adapted

 How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,

 Is laid for your faith in His excellent Word.

 What more can He say than to you He hath said,

 To you who to God for your refuge have fled:

 Fear not, I am with thee, O be not dismayed,

 For I am thy God, I will still give thee aid;

 I'll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to

           stand,

 Upheld by My gracious, omnipotent hand;

 When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie,

 My grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply;

 The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design

 Thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine.

"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

Deuteronomy 33:27 (to :)

The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms: