Service for Sunday, Feb. 23, 2014

Subject: Mind

 Hymn 85 

 Edith Gaddis Brewer

 God of Truth, eternal good,

   Lift our hearts to revelation,

 That Thou mayst be understood,

   Thou, the Rock of our salvation;

 All Thy love we have for loving,

 All Thy truth is ours for proving.

 Open now our eyes to see,

   As the clouds of sense are riven,

 We behold reality,

   Know the glory of Thy heaven;

 So we seek Thy perfect healing

 Through the Truth of Thy revealing.

 All the way that we must go

   We will take at Thy direction,

 Where the floods of trouble flow

   Find Thy perfect, calm reflection;

 On the path that has no turning,

 Patience, courage, meekness learning.

The scriptural selection is from Isaiah.

Isaiah 40:1,3‑5,9‑11,13,14,18,26,28‑31

Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. 

#The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.  Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. 

#O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God!  Behold, the Lord God will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him: behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him.  He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young. 

Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord, or being his counseller hath taught him?  With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and shewed to him the way of understanding? 

#To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto him? 

Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth. 

#Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.  He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.  Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

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 304

 "Feed My Sheep" – Mary Baker Eddy

 Shepherd, show me how to go

   O'er the hillside steep,

 How to gather, how to sow,‑‑

   How to feed Thy sheep;

 I will listen for Thy voice,

   Lest my footsteps stray;

 I will follow and rejoice

   All the rugged way.

 Thou wilt bind the stubborn will,

   Wound the callous breast,

 Make self‑righteousness be still,

   Break earth's stupid rest.

 Strangers on a barren shore,

   Lab'ring long and lone,

 We would enter by the door,

   And Thou know'st Thine own;

 So, when day grows dark and cold,

   Tear or triumph harms,

 Lead Thy lambkins to the fold,

   Take them in Thine arms;

 Feed the hungry, heal the heart,

   Till the morning's beam;

 White as wool, ere they depart,

   Shepherd, wash them clean.

Solo: “Lead Me, Lord”              

Explanatory Note

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 282 

 Author Unknown

 Praise the Lord, ye heavens, adore Him;

   Praise Him, angels, in the height;

 Sun and moon, rejoice before Him,

   Praise Him, all ye stars of light;

 Praise the Lord, for He hath spoken,

   Worlds His mighty voice obeyed;

 Laws that never shall be broken

   For their guidance hath He made.

 Praise the Lord, for He is glorious;

   Never shall His promise fail;

 God hath made His saints victorious,

   Sin and death shall not prevail.

 Praise the God of our salvation;

   Hosts on high, His power proclaim;

 Heaven and earth, and all creation,

   Laud and magnify His name.

"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

Isaiah 55:12 ye

 ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.