Service for Sunday, Jan. 27, 2013

Subject: Truth

 Hymn 423

 James J. Rome

 Give me, O Lord, an understanding heart,

   That I may learn to know myself in Thee,

 To spurn the wrong and choose the better part

   And thus from sinful bondage be set free.

 Give me, O Lord, a meek and contrite heart,

   That I may learn to quell all selfish pride,

 Bowing before Thee, see Thee as Thou art

   And 'neath Thy sheltering presence safely hide.

 Give me, O Lord, a gentle, loving heart,

   That I may learn to be more tender, kind,

 And with Thy healing touch, each wound and smart

   With Christly bands of Love and Truth to bind.

The scriptural selection is from Psalms.

Psalms 147:1‑6 (to :),7‑9,11‑19,20 Praise

Praise ye the Lord: for it is good to sing praises unto our God; for it is pleasant; and praise is comely.  The Lord doth build up Jerusalem: he gathereth together the outcasts of Israel.  He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds.  He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names.  Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite.  The Lord lifteth up the meek:

Sing unto the Lord with thanksgiving; sing praise upon the harp unto our God: Who covereth the heaven with clouds, who prepareth rain for the earth, who maketh grass to grow upon the mountains.  He giveth to the beast his food, and to the young ravens which cry.

The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy.  Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem; praise thy God, O Zion.  For he hath strengthened the bars of thy gates; he hath blessed thy children within thee.  He maketh peace in thy borders, and filleth thee with the finest of the wheat.  He sendeth forth his commandment upon earth: his word runneth very swiftly.  He giveth snow like wool: he scattereth the hoarfrost like ashes.  He casteth forth his ice like morsels: who can stand before his cold?  He sendeth out his word, and melteth them: he causeth his wind to blow, and the waters flow.  He sheweth his word unto Jacob, his statutes and his judgments unto Israel. 

Praise ye the Lord. 

Silent prayer, followed by the audible repetition of the Lord’s prayer, with its spiritual interpretation as given in the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy

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 157 

 Violet Hay

 Jesus' prayer for all his brethren:

   Father, that they may be one,

 Echoes down through all the ages,

   Nor prayed he for these alone

   But for all, that through all time

         God's will be done.

 One the Mind and Life of all things,

   For we live in God alone;

 One the Love whose ever‑presence

   Blesses all and injures none.

   Safe within this Love we find all

         being one.

 Day by day the understanding

   Of our oneness shall increase,

 Till among all men and nations

   Warfare shall forever cease,

   So God's children all shall dwell

         in joy and peace.

Solo: “Give Me An Understanding Heart”             

Friends:
The Bible and the Christian Science textbook are our only preachers. We shall now read Scriptural texts, and their correlative passages from our denominational textbook; these comprise our sermon.

The canonical writings, together with the word of our textbook, corroborating and explaining the Bible texts in their spiritual import and application to all ages, past, present, and future, constitute a sermon undivorced from truth, uncontaminated and unfettered by human hypotheses, and divinely authorized.

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 332 

 Based on the Danish of Nikolaj F. S. Grundtvig

 The Lord is in His holy place,

 Let all the earth be still,

 Be still and know that He is God,

 And wait to do His will.

 We need a sacred watchfulness,

 An earnest deep desire for grace,

 Our lives with true content to fill.

 So hear and heed His faithful Word,

 And trust His promise long,

 For they who seek Him Life shall find,

 And shall in Him be strong;

 We need a perfect faith in Him,

 With understanding never dim,

 To fill our daily lives with song.

"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 119:169

Let my cry come near before thee, O Lord: give me understanding according to thy word.