Service for Sunday, April 6, 2014

Subject: Unreality

 Hymn 120 
 Benjamin Gough*

 How beauteous on the mountains
   The feet of him that brings,
 Like streams from living fountains,
   Good tidings of good things;
 That publishes salvation;
   From error gives release
 To every tribe and nation:
   God's reign of joy and peace.

 Break forth in hymns of gladness,
   O waste Jerusalem;
 Let songs instead of sadness,
   Thy jubilee proclaim;
 The Lord, in strength victorious,
   Upon thy foes has trod;
 Behold, O earth, the glorious
   Salvation of our God.

The scriptural selection is from Psalms.

Psalms 37:3‑11,18,19,23,24,29‑31,37
Trust in the Lord, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.  Delight thyself also in the Lord; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.  Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.  And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday.  Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass.  Cease from anger, and forsake wrath: fret not thyself in any wise to do evil.  For evildoers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the earth.  For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be: yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be.  But the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace. 

The Lord knoweth the days of the upright: and their inheritance shall be for ever.  They shall not be ashamed in the evil time: and in the days of famine they shall be satisfied. 

The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord: and he delighteth in his way.  Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand. 

The righteous shall inherit the land, and dwell therein for ever.  The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom, and his tongue talketh of judgment.  The law of his God is in his heart; none of his steps shall slide. 

Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace.
           
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 161
 Satisfied – Mary Baker Eddy

 It matters not what be thy lot,
     So Love doth guide;
 For storm or shine, pure peace is thine,
     Whate'er betide.

 And of these stones, or tyrants' thrones,
     God able is
 To raise up seed‑‑in thought and deed‑‑
     To faithful His.

 Aye, darkling sense, arise, go hence!
     Our God is good.
 False fears are foes‑‑truth tatters those,
     When understood.

 Love looseth thee, and lifteth me,
     Ayont hate's thrall:
 There Life is light, and wisdom might,
     And God is All.

 The centuries break, the earth‑bound wake,
     God's glorified!
 Who doth His will‑‑His likeness still‑‑
     Is satisfied.

This being the first Sunday of the month, Article VIII , Section 1, is read from the Manual of The Mother Church:
A Rule for Motives and Acts.
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: "Come to the Waters"


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 181 
 Rosemary B. Hackett

 Loving Father, we Thy children
   Look to Thee in fear's dark night
 While the angels of Thy presence
   Guide us upward to the light.

 Then we feel the power that lifts us
   To Thy holy secret place,
 Where our gloom is lost in glory
   As we see Thee face to face.

 We would learn, O gracious Father,
   To reflect Thy healing love.
 May we all awake to praise Thee
   For Thy good gifts from above.

 Make us strong to bear the message
   To Thy children far and near:
 Fear shall have no more dominion.
   God is All, and heaven is here.

"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 18:2

The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.

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