Welcome! We invite you to join a Thanksgiving Day service on Thursday, November 28.
The in-person service will be held in The Mother Church at 10 a.m. ET.
The online service will be held here at noon ET.
Both the in-person and online services offer music, singing, and readings, and also heartfelt testimonies of gratitude and healing submitted by attendees.
A replay of the online service will remain available until 5 p.m. Sunday, December 1, 2024.
Read the Thanksgiving Bible Lesson
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Listen live to the online Thanksgiving service at 12 p.m. Eastern time.
Order of service for The Mother Church on Thursday, November 28, 2024
Mimi Oka, First Reader
Don Wallingford, Second Reader
Subject: THANKSGIVING
Prelude
Bryan Ashley, Organist for The Mother Church
xxx
Hymn 422
Nemi Robertson, words
L. van Beethoven, arr., music
Grace for today, O Love divine,
Thee to obey and love alone;
Losing the mortal will in Thine,
Find we a joy before unknown.
Grace for today, Thou Love divine,
Famishing hearts and hopes to feed;
Blot out all fear, let Thy light shine
With tender warmth on all our need.
Grace for today, Thou Love divine,
Patient of heart his way to trace
Whose pure affections Thee define
In tender love and perfect grace.
Thanksgiving Proclamation
Thanksgiving Proclamation 2024 (LINK PENDING)
Scriptural Selection
II Chron. 5:1 all (to :), 2, 5, 10, 11 (to 1st :), 12–14
Prayer
Silent prayer, followed by the audible repetition of the Lord’s Prayer with its spiritual interpretation by Mary Baker Eddy (Read in context)
Hymn 463
Josiah Conder, alt., words
Yoruba melody; arr. Emmanuel Badejo, music
Day by day the manna fell:
O, to learn this lesson well.
Still by constant mercy fed,
Give me, Lord, my daily bread.
Day by day the promise reads,
Daily strength for daily needs:
Cast foreboding fears away;
Take the manna of today.
Lord, my times are in Your hand:
All my highest hopes have planned,
I will yield with joy to You;
What You ask, that will I do.
You will show my task each day;
I will follow and obey:
So shall every year fulfill
Not my own, my dear God’s will.
Music arrangement © Emmanuel Badejo.
Explanatory Note
Golden Text and Responsive Reading
Golden Text: Psalms 30:4
Sing praise to the Lord, all you who belong to Him. Give thanks to His holy name.
The Golden Text is from the New Life Version.
Responsive Reading:
Psalms 118:1, 14, 16, 21–24, 27 (to :), 28
I Chronicles 29:11–13
Ps. 118:1 O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good: because his mercy endureth for ever.
14 The Lord is my strength and song, and is become my salvation.
16 The right hand of the Lord is exalted: the right hand of the Lord doeth valiantly.
21 I will praise thee: for thou hast heard me, and art become my salvation.
22 The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner.
23 This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvellous in our eyes.
24 This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.
27 God is the Lord, which hath shewed us light:
28 Thou art my God, and I will praise thee: thou art my God, I will exalt thee.
I Chron. 29:11 Thine, O Lord, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and thou art exalted as head above all.
12 Both riches and honour come of thee, and thou reignest over all; and in thine hand is power and might; and in thine hand it is to make great, and to give strength unto all.
13 Now therefore, our God, we thank thee, and praise thy glorious name.
Bible Lesson-Sermon
Solo
Christa Seid-Graham, Guest Soloist of The Mother Church
Praise, My Soul
Praise, my soul, the King of heaven, heaven;
To His feet thy tribute bring.
Ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven,
Who like us His praise should sing.
Praise Him! Praise Him! Praise Him! Praise Him!
Praise the everlasting King.
Fatherlike, He tends and spares us,
well our daily needs He knows
In His hand He gently bears us,
rescues us from all our foes.
Praise Him! Praise Him! Praise Him! Praise Him!
Widely as His mercy flows.
Praise Him! Praise Him! Praise Him! Praise Him!
Widely as His mercy flows.
Praise Him for His grace and favor
to our fathers in distress
Praise Him still the same forever
slow to chide, and swift to bless
so praise Him! Praise Him! Praise Him, Praise Him!
Glorious in His faithfulness.
Adapted from Hymn text by Henry Francis Lyte
Music by Rebecca Minor
Copyright 2016 Rebecca Minor can print with permission
Testimonies
To submit your testimony go to the testimonies section of the main webpage below.
Hymn 522
para. Psalm 24 Georg Weissel; verses 1, 2 eng. tr. Catherine Winkworth, adapt.; verse 3 eng. tr. CSPS, words
German melody, Freylinghausen’s Gestreiches Gesangbuch, 1704; harm. Annette Ruth Söllinger, music
Lift up the door, the mighty gates,
Behold, the King of Glory waits!
Our King of kings is drawing near;
The Maker of the world is here.
Life and salvation He will bring,
A cause for us to gladly sing!
We sing our praise to You,
Creator, wise and true.
A God of help, integrity,
Whose chariot’s humility,
His kingly crown is holiness,
His scepter, mercy, all to bless –
To ev’ry woe an end He’ll bring;
A cause for us to gladly sing!
We thank You, Spirit true,
For mighty deeds from You.
Oh, bless the nation, bless the town,
That holds this King in high renown.
Oh, bless alike the heart and mind
Whose love for God together bind.
His righteousness will always bring
A cause for us to gladly sing!
Exalt our God above—
Who comforts with pure love.
English translation adaptation verses 1, 2, English translation verse 3, Music harmonization © 2017 The Christian Science Board of Directors.
Scientific Statement of Being
From Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, p.468, line 8
Correlative Scripture
I John 3:1-3
Benediction
Eph. 1:3, 4
Postlude
xxx
Copyright
The Golden Text for "Thanksgiving" is from the New Life Version, copyright © 1969 and 2003. Used by permission of Barbour Publishing, Inc., Uhrichsville, OH 44683. All rights reserved.
The copy of the Thanksgiving Bible lesson from the Christian Science Quarterly™ is licensed for your own personal use and may not be distributed electronically or in print, except as described in the Copyright Terms and Conditions at eBibleLesson.com. Christian Science Quarterly is a trademark owned by The Christian Science Publishing Society. Study references are from the Bible (King James Version) and the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science.
Due to third party copyright ownership, not all hymn words from the Christian Science Hymnal and the Christian Science Hymnal Supplement Hymns 430-462 are posted. Copyright to many hymns is owned by The Christian Science Board of Directors. Hymn words may not be used or reprinted without permission. For more information email permissions@csps.com.
Feel free to submit testimonies and gratitude comments using the Thanksgiving testimony/comment form before or during the Thanksgiving service. Read our testimony guidelines. We'd love it if you would include your name and location so we can embrace our global audience. As you write up your testimony, please remember that we have listeners from many different backgrounds, with varying degrees of familiarity with Christian Science. We do not air all submissions and submissions may be slightly edited before airing.
If your testimony has never been published before, you are invited to submit a longer version of it to The Christian Science Journal, Christian Science Sentinel, or The Herald of Christian Science at JSH Submissions. Further guidelines for submitting testimonies to the periodicals are also available here.
Meet The Pastor
The Bible and Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy together serve as pastor for Sunday church services and Wednesday testimony meetings at all Christian Science churches, societies, and informal groups around the world. |