Service for Sunday, Dec. 18, 2011

Subject: Is the Universe, Including Man, Evolved by Atomic Force?

 Hymn 204 

 Based on the Swedish of Lina Sandell Berg

 O Father, Thy kingdom is come upon earth,

   Thou rulest in all Thy creation;

 Thou sendest Thy witnesses, telling Thy worth,

   To call and entreat every nation,

     With news of Thy mighty salvation.

 They lift up a light amid shadows of fear,

   And Love is Thy banner above them;

 No trouble shall touch them, no foes that appear

   Shall e'er from their loyalty move them;

     'Tis Thou dost uphold and approve them.

 They go in Thy strength, and they speak in Thy name,

   With power of Thy promise forth faring,

 And during the battle the victory claim,‑‑

   Their trust in Thy truth is their daring,

     Salvation to all men declaring.

The scriptural selections are from Psalms.

Psalms 24:1‑6 (to 1st .),7‑10 (to 1st .)

The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.  For he hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods.  Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in his holy place?  He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.  He shall receive the blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.  This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face, O Jacob.

Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.  Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle.  Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.  Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory.

Psalms 72:18,19 (to ;)

Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things.  And blessed be his glorious name for ever: and let the whole earth be filled with his glory;

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 65 

 Frances R. Havergal – Adapted

 From glory unto glory,

   Be this our joyous song;

 From glory unto glory,

   'Tis Love that leads us on;

 As wider yet and wider,

   The rising splendors glow,

 What wisdom is revealed to us,

   What freedom we may know.

 The fullness of His blessing

   Encompasseth our way;

 The fullness of His promise

   Crowns every dawning day;

 The fullness of His glory

   Is shining from above,

 While more and more we learn to know

   The fullness of His love.

 From glory unto glory,

   What great things He hath done,

 What wonders He hath shown us,

   What triumphs Love hath won.

 From glory unto glory,

   From strength to strength we go,

 While grace for grace abundantly

   Doth from His fullness flow.

Solo: "Satisfied" with words by Mary Baker Eddy.

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 82 

 Arthur C. Ainger

 God is working His purpose out

   As year succeeds to year,

 God is working His purpose out

   And the time is drawing near;

 Nearer and nearer draws the time,

   The time that shall surely be,

 When the earth shall be filled with the glory of God

   As the waters cover the sea.

 What can we do to work God's work,

   To prosper and increase

 The brotherhood of all mankind,

   The reign of the Prince of Peace?

 What can we do to hasten the time,

   The time that shall surely be,

 When the earth shall be filled with the glory of God

   As the waters cover the sea?

 March we forth in the strength of God

   With the banner of Christ unfurled,

 That the light of the glorious Gospel of truth

   May shine throughout the world;

 Fight we the fight with sorrow and sin,

   To set their captives free,

 That the earth may be filled with the glory of God

   As the waters cover the sea.

"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

Psalms 104:31

The glory of the Lord shall endure for ever: the Lord shall rejoice in his works.