Wednesday Evening Readings, March 25, 2015
What do we possess?
Introduction
Pul. 3:7-11
Know, then, that you possess sovereign power to think and act rightly, and that nothing can
dispossess you of this heritage and trespass on Love. If you maintain this position, who or what
can cause you to sin or suffer?
(this quote was part of the research--didn't actually read it) This and Adam Dickey's article on
Possession were the inspiration for the readings.
Hymn 42
JONATHAN EVANS*
REGENT SQUARE
HENRY SMART
Come, Thou all-transforming Spirit,
Bless the sower and the seed;
Let each heart Thy grace inherit;
Raise the weak, the hungry feed;
From the Gospel, from the Gospel
Now supply Thy people’s need.
O, may all enjoy the blessing
Which Thy holy word doth give;
Let us all, Thy love possessing,
Joyfully Thy truth receive;
And forever, and forever
To Thy praise and glory live.
Hymn 455:1-3
LAFFERTY
Karen Lafferty
Karen Lafferty Copyright 1972CCCM Music and
Maranatha Music.(Admin. by Music Services)
ASCAPAll Rights Reserved. Used by Permission.
Seek ye first the kingdom of God
And His righteousness,
And all these things shall be added unto you.
Allelu, alleluia!
Ask and it shall be given unto you.
Seek and ye shall find,
Knock and the door shall be opened unto
you.
Allelu, alleluia!
DESCANT Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia,
Alleluia!
Hymn 10
FREDERIC W. ROOT
Based on hymn by Martin Luther
EIN’ FESTE BURG
MARTIN LUTHER
All power is given unto our Lord,
On Him we place reliance;
With truth from out His sacred word
We bid our foes defiance.
With Him we shall prevail,
Whatever may assail;
He is our shield and tower,
Almighty is His power;
His kingdom is forever.
Rejoice, ye people, praise His name,
His care doth e’er surround us.
His love to error’s thralldom came,
And from its chains unbound us.
Our Lord is God alone,
No other power we own;
No other voice we heed,
No other help we need;
His kingdom is forever.
O then give thanks to God on high,
Who life to all is giving;
The hosts of death before Him fly,
In Him we all are living.
Then let us know no fear,
Our King is ever near;
Our stay and fortress strong,
Our strength, our hope, our song;
His kingdom is forever.
The Bible
Ps. 24:1
THE earth is the LORD’S, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.
Prov. 8:22
The LORD possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old.
Ex. 3:11, 12 (to ;)
¶ And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring
forth the children of Israel out of Egypt? And he said, Certainly I will be with thee;
Ex. 4:1
AND Moses answered and said, But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my
voice: for they will say, The LORD hath not appeared unto thee.
Ex. 4:10 1st And, 11 (to 1st ?)
And Moses said unto the LORD, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou
hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue. And the LORD said
unto him, Who hath made man’s mouth?
Ex. 4:12
Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say.
Gen. 1:27
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female
created he them.
I Pet. 4:10, 11 (to 1st .)
As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards
of the manifold grace of God. If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man
minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified
through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever.
James 1:17
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights,
with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
Luke 15:11-13, 14, 17-19
¶ And he said, A certain man had two sons: And the younger of them said to his father, Father,
give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living. And not
many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country,
and there wasted his substance with riotous living. ... And when he had spent all, there arose a
mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want. ... And when he came to himself, he said,
How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with
hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against
heaven, and before thee, And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy
hired servants.
Luke 15:20 when
when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on
his neck, and kissed him.
Luke 15:22 1st the, 23
the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his
hand, and shoes on his feet: And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be
merry:
Luke 15:25, 28, 29, 30, 31
Now his elder son was in the field: and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard music
and dancing. ... And he was angry, and would not go in: therefore came his father out, and
entreated him. And he answering said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither
transgressed I at any time thy commandment: and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might
make merry with my friends: ... But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy
living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf. And he said unto him, Son, thou art
ever with me, and all that I have is thine.
Matt. 6:19-21
¶ Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where
thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither
moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your
treasure is, there will your heart be also.
Matt. 6:27-30, 31, 32, 33
Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for
raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And
yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the
oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? ... Therefore take no thought,
saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For
after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need
of all these things. ... But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these
things shall be added unto you.
Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy
SH 12:31
In divine Science, where prayers are mental, all may avail themselves of God as “a very present
help in trouble.” Love is impartial and universal in its adaptation and bestowals. It is the open
fount which cries, “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters.”
SH 475:13
Man is idea, the image, of Love; he is not physique. He is the compound idea of God, including
all right ideas; the generic term for all that reflects God’s image and likeness; the conscious
identity of being as found in Science, in which man is the reflection of God, or Mind, and
therefore is eternal; that which has no separate mind from God; that which has not a single
quality underived from Deity; that which possesses no life, intelligence, nor creative power of his
own, but reflects spiritually all that belongs to his Maker.
SH 516:19
Man, made in His likeness, possesses and reflects God’s dominion over all the earth. Man and
woman as coexistent and eternal with God forever reflect, in glorified quality, the infinite FatherMother God.
SH 76:22-26
The sinless joy, — the perfect harmony and immortality of Life, possessing unlimited divine
beauty and goodness without a single bodily pleasure or pain, — constitutes the only veritable,
indestructible man, whose being is spiritual.
SH 138:17-22
Jesus established in the Christian era the precedent for all Christianity, theology, and healing.
Christians are under as direct orders now, as they were then, to be Christlike, to possess the
Christ-spirit, to follow the Christ-example, and to heal the sick as well as the sinning.
SH 322:31
It is easier to desire Truth than to rid one’s self of error. Mortals may seek the understanding of
Christian Science, but they will not be able to glean from Christian Science the facts of being
without striving for them. This strife consists in the endeavor to forsake error of every kind and
to possess no other consciousness but good.
SH 323:13-18
In order to apprehend more, we must put into practice what we already know. We must recollect
that Truth is demonstrable when understood, and that good is not understood until demonstrated.
If “faithful over a few things,” we shall be made rulers over many; but the one unused talent
decays and is lost.
SH 331:11 The
The Scriptures imply that God is All-in-all. From this it follows that nothing possesses reality nor
existence except the divine Mind and His ideas. The Scriptures also declare that God is Spirit.
Therefore in Spirit all is harmony, and there can be no discord; all is Life, and there is no death.
Everything in God’s universe expresses Him.
SH 449:13-16 (to ;)
You should practise well what you know, and you will then advance in proportion to your
honesty and fidelity, — qualities which insure success in this Science;
SH 488:21
Nerves have no more sensation, apart from what belief bestows upon them, than the fibres of a
plant. Mind alone possesses all faculties, perception, and comprehension. Therefore mental
endowments are not at the mercy of organization and decomposition, — otherwise the very
worms could unfashion man. If it were possible for the real senses of man to be injured, Soul
could reproduce them in all their perfection; but they cannot be disturbed nor destroyed, since
they exist in immortal Mind, not in matter.
SH 550:4-10
Matter surely does not possess Mind. God is the Life, or intelligence, which forms and preserves
the individuality and identity of animals as well as of men. God cannot become finite, and be
limited within material bounds. Spirit cannot become matter, nor can Spirit be developed through
its opposite.
SH 89:18
Mind is not necessarily dependent upon educational processes. It possesses of itself all beauty
and poetry, and the power of expressing them. Spirit, God, is heard when the senses are silent.
We are all capable of more than we do. The influence or action of Soul confers a freedom, which
explains the phenomena of improvisation and the fervor of untutored lips.
SH 143:26-31
Mind is the grand creator, and there can be no power except that which is derived from Mind. If
Mind was first chronologically, is first potentially, and must be first eternally, then give to Mind
the glory, honor, dominion, and power everlastingly due its holy name.
SH 315:3
That saying of our Master, “I and my Father are one,” separated him from the scholastic theology
of the rabbis. His better understanding of God was a rebuke to them. He knew of but one Mind
and laid no claim to any other. He knew that the Ego was Mind instead of body and that matter,
sin, and evil were not Mind; and his understanding of this divine Science brought upon him the
anathemas of the age.
SH 269:9
Human philosophy has made God manlike. Christian Science makes man Godlike. The first is
error; the latter is truth. Metaphysics is above physics, and matter does not enter into
metaphysical premises or conclusions. The categories of metaphysics rest on one basis, the
divine Mind. Metaphysics resolves things into thoughts, and exchanges the objects of sense for
the ideas of Soul.
SH 491:11
Matter cannot connect mortals with the true origin and facts of being, in which all must end. It is
only by acknowledging the supremacy of Spirit, which annuls the claims of matter, that mortals
can lay off mortality and find the indissoluble spiritual link which establishes man forever in the
divine likeness, inseparable from his creator.
SH 247:19-21 Being
Being possesses its qualities before they are perceived humanly.
SH 264:7
Mortals must look beyond fading, finite forms, if they would gain the true sense of things. Where
shall the gaze rest but in the unsearchable realm of Mind? We must look where we would walk,
and we must act as possessing all power from Him in whom we have our being.
SH 576:21
This kingdom of God “is within you,” — is within reach of man’s consciousness here, and the
spiritual idea reveals it. In divine Science, man possesses this recognition of harmony
consciously in proportion to his understanding of God.