Theme: Everlasting
Hymn 53
Based on a hymn by John R. Macduff
Everlasting arms of Love
Are beneath, around, above;
God it is who bears us on,
His the arm we lean upon.
He our ever‑present guide
Faithful is, whate'er betide;
Gladly then we journey on,
With His arm to lean upon.
From earth's fears and vain alarms
Safe in His encircling arms,
He will keep us all the way,
God, our refuge, strength and stay.
Readings from the Bible.
Deuteronomy 33:27 (to :)
The eternal God is thy
refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms:
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 90:1,2
Lord, thou hast been our
dwelling place in all generations. Before
the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the
world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.
Psalms 93:1‑5
The Lord reigneth, he is
clothed with majesty; the Lord is clothed with strength, wherewith he hath
girded himself: the world also is stablished, that it cannot be moved. Thy throne is established of old: thou art from
everlasting. The floods have lifted up,
O Lord, the floods have lifted up their voice; the floods lift up their
waves. The Lord on high is mightier than
the noise of many waters, yea, than the mighty waves of the sea. Thy testimonies are very sure: holiness
becometh thine house, O Lord, for ever.
Psalms 100:1‑5
Make a joyful noise unto the
Lord, all ye lands. Serve the Lord with
gladness: come before his presence with singing. Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is he
that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of
his pasture. Enter into his gates with
thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless
his name. For the Lord is good; his
mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.
Psalms 105:1‑10
O give thanks unto the Lord;
call upon his name: make known his deeds among the people. Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him: talk ye
of all his wondrous works. Glory ye in
his holy name: let the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord. Seek the Lord, and his strength: seek his
face evermore. Remember his marvellous
works that he hath done; his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth; O ye seed
of Abraham his servant, ye children of Jacob his chosen. He is the Lord our God: his judgments are in
all the earth. He hath remembered his
covenant for ever, the word which he commanded to a thousand generations. Which covenant he made with Abraham, and his
oath unto Isaac; And confirmed the same unto Jacob for a law, and to Israel for
an everlasting covenant:
Psalms 139:1‑18,23,24
O Lord, thou hast searched
me, and known me. Thou knowest my
downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying down,
and art acquainted with all my ways. For
there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O Lord, thou knowest it
altogether. Thou hast beset me behind
and before, and laid thine hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto
it. Whither shall I go from thy spirit?
or whither shall I flee from thy presence?
If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell,
behold, thou art there. If I take the
wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there
shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me;
even the night shall be light about me.
Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the
day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee. For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast
covered me in my mother's womb. I will
praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works;
and that my soul knoweth right well. My
substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously
wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book
all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet
there was none of them. How precious
also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they are more in
number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee.
Search me, O God, and know my
heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.
Isaiah 40:28‑31
#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.
Isaiah 60:19,20
The sun shall be no more thy
light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee: but
the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory. Thy sun shall no more go down; neither shall
thy moon withdraw itself: for the Lord shall be thine everlasting light, and
the days of thy mourning shall be ended.
Galatians 6:7,8
Be not deceived; God is not
mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the
flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit
reap life everlasting.
Readings from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy.
23:1
Wisdom and Love may require
many sacrifices of self to save us from sin. One sacrifice, however great, is insufficient
to pay the debt of sin. The atonement
requires constant self‑immolation on the sinner's part. That God's wrath should be vented upon His
beloved Son, is divinely unnatural. Such
a theory is man‑made. The atonement is a
hard problem in theology, but its scientific explanation is, that suffering is
an error of sinful sense which Truth destroys, and that eventually both sin and
suffering will fall at the feet of everlasting Love.
99:23
The calm, strong currents of true
spirituality, the manifestations of which are health, purity, and self‑immolation,
must deepen human experience, until the beliefs of material existence are seen
to be a bald imposition, and sin, disease, and death give everlasting place to
the scientific demonstration of divine Spirit and to God's spiritual, perfect
man.
216:3‑21
Who shall say that man is alive to‑day, but
may be dead to‑morrow? What has touched
Life, God, to such strange issues? Here
theories cease, and Science unveils the mystery and solves the problem of
man. Error bites the heel of truth, but
cannot kill truth. Truth bruises the
head of error‑‑destroys error.
Spirituality lays open siege to materialism. On which side are we fighting?
The understanding that the Ego is Mind, and
that there is but one Mind or intelligence, begins at once to destroy the
errors of mortal sense and to supply the truth of immortal sense. This understanding makes the body harmonious;
it makes the nerves, bones, brain, etc., servants, instead of masters. If man is governed by the law of divine Mind,
his body is in submission to everlasting Life and Truth and Love. The great mistake of mortals is to suppose
that man, God's image and likeness, is both matter and Spirit, both good and
evil.
256:13‑27
The everlasting I AM is not bounded nor
compressed within the narrow limits of physical humanity, nor can He be
understood aright through mortal concepts.
The precise form of God must be of small importance in comparison with
the sublime question, What is infinite Mind or divine Love?
Who is it that demands our obedience? He who, in the language of Scripture,
"doeth according to His will in the army of heaven, and among the
inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay His hand, or say unto Him, What
doest Thou?"
No form nor physical combination is adequate
to represent infinite Love. A finite and
material sense of God leads to formalism and narrowness; it chills the spirit
of Christianity.
290:1‑15
Life is the everlasting I AM,
the Being who was and is and shall be, whom nothing can erase.
If the Principle, rule, and demonstration of
man's being are not in the least understood before what is termed death
overtakes mortals, they will rise no higher spiritually in the scale of
existence on account of that single experience, but will remain as material as
before the transition, still seeking happiness through a material, instead of
through a spiritual sense of life, and from selfish and inferior motives. That Life or Mind is finite and physical or
is manifested through brain and nerves, is false. Hence Truth comes to destroy this error and
its effects,‑‑sickness, sin, and death.
To the spiritual class, relates the Scripture: "On such the second
death hath no power."
390:4‑26
We cannot deny that Life is self‑sustained,
and we should never deny the everlasting harmony of Soul, simply because, to
the mortal senses, there is seeming discord.
It is our ignorance of God, the divine Principle, which produces
apparent discord, and the right understanding of Him restores harmony. Truth will at length compel us all to
exchange the pleasures and pains of sense for the joys of Soul.
When the first symptoms of disease appear,
dispute the testimony of the material senses with divine Science. Let your higher sense of justice destroy the
false process of mortal opinions which you name law, and then you will not be
confined to a sick‑room nor laid upon a bed of suffering in payment of the last
farthing, the last penalty demanded by error.
"Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way
with him." Suffer no claim of sin
or of sickness to grow upon the thought.
Dismiss it with an abiding conviction that it is illegitimate, because
you know that God is no more the author of sickness than He is of sin. You have no law of His to support the
necessity either of sin or sickness, but you have divine authority for denying
that necessity and healing the sick.
410:4‑21
"This is life eternal," says Jesus,‑‑is, not shall be; and then he defines everlasting life as a present
knowledge of his Father and of himself,‑‑the knowledge of Love, Truth, and
Life. "This is life eternal, that
they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast
sent." The Scriptures say,
"Man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God," showing that
Truth is the actual life of man; but mankind objects to making this teaching
practical.
Every trial of our faith in God makes us
stronger. The more difficult seems the
material condition to be overcome by Spirit, the stronger should be our faith
and the purer our love. The Apostle John
says: "There is no fear in Love, but perfect Love casteth out fear. . . .
He that feareth is not made perfect in Love." Here is a definite and inspired proclamation
of Christian Science.
428:15‑29
We should consecrate existence, not "to
the unknown God" whom we "ignorantly worship," but to the
eternal builder, the everlasting Father, to the Life which mortal sense cannot
impair nor mortal belief destroy. We
must realize the ability of mental might to offset human misconceptions and to
replace them with the life which is spiritual, not material.
The great spiritual fact must be brought out
that man is, not shall be, perfect and immortal.
We must hold forever the consciousness of existence, and sooner or
later, through Christ and Christian Science, we must master sin and death. The evidence of man's immortality will become
more apparent, as material beliefs are given up and the immortal facts of being
are admitted.
568:24
For victory over a single sin, we give thanks
and magnify the Lord of Hosts. What
shall we say of the mighty conquest over all sin? A louder song, sweeter than has ever before
reached high heaven, now rises clearer and nearer to the great heart of Christ;
for the accuser is not there, and Love sends forth her primal and everlasting
strain. Self‑abnegation, by which we lay
down all for Truth, or Christ, in our warfare against error, is a rule in
Christian Science. This rule clearly
interprets God as divine Principle,‑‑as Life, represented by the Father; as
Truth, represented by the Son; as Love, represented by the Mother. Every mortal at some period, here or
hereafter, must grapple with and overcome the mortal belief in a power opposed
to God.
594:19
SPIRIT.
Divine substance; Mind; divine Principle; all that is good; God; that
only which is perfect, everlasting, omnipresent, omnipotent, infinite.
Silent prayer followed by the audible repetition of the Lord’s Prayer.
Hymn 247
Thomas H. Gill*
O walk with God along the road,
Your strength He will renew;
Wait on the everlasting God,
And He will walk with you.
Ye shall not to your daily task
Without your God repair,
But on your work His blessing ask
And prove His glory there.
Ye shall not faint, ye shall not fail;
In Spirit ye are strong;
Each task divine ye still shall hail,
And blend it with a song.
Sharing of experiences, testimonies and remarks by members of the congregation.
Hymn 374
John Randall Dunn
We thank Thee and we bless Thee,
O Father of us all,
That e'en before we ask Thee
Thou hear'st Thy children's call.
We praise Thee for Thy goodness
And tender, constant care,
We thank Thee, Father‑Mother,
That Thou hast heard our prayer.
We thank Thee and we bless Thee,
O Lord of all above,
That now Thy children know Thee
As everlasting Love.
And Love is not the author
Of discord, pain and fear;
O Love divine, we thank Thee
That good alone is here.
We thank Thee, Father‑Mother,
For blessings, light and grace
Which bid mankind to waken
And see Thee face to face.
We thank Thee, when in anguish
We turn from sense to Soul,
That we may hear Thee calling:
Rejoice, for thou art whole.
