Subject: Substance
Hymn 115
John M. Neale – Adapted
Holy Father, Thou hast taught us
We should live to Thee alone;
Year by year, Thy hand hath brought us
On through dangers oft unknown.
When we wandered, Thou hast found us;
When we doubted, sent us light;
Still Thine arm has been around us,
All our paths were in Thy sight.
We would trust in Thy protecting,
Wholly rest upon Thine arm,
Follow wholly Thy directing,
Thou our only guard from harm.
Keep us from our own undoing,
Help us turn to Thee when tried,
Still our strength in Thee renewing,
Keep us ever at Thy side.
The scriptural selections are from Psalms.
Psalms 16:1‑3,5‑11
Preserve me, O God: for in
thee do I put my trust. O my soul, thou
hast said unto the Lord, Thou art my Lord: my goodness extendeth not to thee;
But to the saints that are in the earth, and to the excellent, in whom is all
my delight.
The Lord is the portion of
mine inheritance and of my cup: thou maintainest my lot. The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant
places; yea, I have a goodly heritage. I
will bless the Lord, who hath given me counsel: my reins also instruct me in
the night seasons. I have set the Lord
always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory
rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope.
For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine
Holy One to see corruption. Thou wilt
shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand
there are pleasures for evermore.
Psalms 18:30‑32
As for God, his way is
perfect: the word of the Lord is tried: he is a buckler to all those that trust
in him. For who is God save the
Lord? or who is a rock save our God? It is God that girdeth me with strength, and
maketh my way perfect.
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 207
Mother's Evening Prayer – with words by Mary
Baker Eddy
O gentle presence, peace and joy and power;
O Life divine, that owns each waiting hour,
Thou Love that guards the nestling's faltering
flight!
Keep Thou my child on upward wing tonight.
Love is our refuge; only with mine eye
Can I behold the snare, the pit, the fall:
His habitation high is here, and nigh,
His arm encircles me, and mine, and all.
O make me glad for every scalding tear,
For hope deferred, ingratitude, disdain!
Wait, and love more for every hate, and fear
No ill,‑‑since God is good, and loss is
gain.
Beneath the shadow of His mighty wing;
In that sweet secret of the narrow way,
Seeking and finding, with the angels sing:
"Lo, I am with you alway,"‑‑watch
and pray.
No snare, no fowler, pestilence or pain;
No night drops down upon the troubled
breast,
When heaven's aftersmile earth's tear‑drops
gain,
And mother finds her home and heav'nly rest.
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 176
Based on the Danish of Nikolaj F. S. Grundtvig
Long hast thou stood, O church of God,
Long mid the tempest's assailing,
Founded secure on timeless rock
Rises thy light, never failing;
Shining that all may understand
What has been wrought by God's command,
O'er night and chaos prevailing.
Let there be light, and light was there,
Clear as the Word that declared it;
Healing and peace to all it gave,
Who in humility shared it.
Ah, they were faithful, they who heard,
Steadfast their trust in God's great Word,
Steadfast the Love that prepared it.
Let there be light, the Word shines forth,
Lo, where the new morning whitens;
O church of God, with Book unsealed,
How its page beacons and brightens.
Living stones we, each in his place,
May we be worthy such a grace,
While Truth the wide earth enlightens.
"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 50:2
Out of Zion, the perfection
of beauty, God hath shined.
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