Listen live on Sundays at 10 am Eastern time or hear a replay until midnight Saturday night (ET). The service lasts one hour and an organ prelude and postlude extend 7–10 minutes before and after the service. An audio replay is available within 30–60 minutes after the service ends.
Sunday services are conducted by a First and Second Reader and include music, hymns, prayer, and readings from the Bible and Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy. Unless otherwise indicated, Scriptural selections are from the King James Version of the Bible.
Sunday, April 6, 2025
Unless otherwise indicated, Scriptural quotations are from the King James Version of the Bible.
Mimi Oka, First Reader
Don Wallingford, Second Reader
Subject: UNREALITY
Prelude
Bryan Ashley, Organist of The Mother Church
My Heart is Ever Yearning, BWV 727 (Hymn 252) by Johann Sebastian Bach
My Heart is Ever Yearning, Nos. 9 & 10 Op. 122 by Johannes Brahms
Hymn 270
Frederic W. Root, words
English Traditional Melody, music
Our God is Love, unchanging Love,
And can we ask for more?
Our prayer for Love’s increase is vain;
’Twas infinite before.
Ask not the Lord with breath of praise
For more than we accept;
The open fount is free to all,
God’s promises are kept.
Our God is Mind, the perfect Mind,
Intelligence divine;
Shall mortal man ask Him to change
His infinite design?
The heart that yearns for righteousness,
With longing unalloyed,
In such desire sends up a prayer
That ne’er returneth void.
O loving Father, well we know
That words alone are vain,
That those who seek Thy will to do,
The true communion gain.
Then may our deeds our pure desire
For growth in grace express,
That we may know how Love divine
Forever waits to bless.
Scriptural Selection
Mark 8:27 Jesus (to :), 31, 32 (to 1st .)
John 19:16 And, 41
John 20:1, 2, 19, 20, 24–29
John 12:46
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 69
James J. Rome, words
Orlando Gibbons, music
Give me, O Lord, an understanding heart,
That I may learn to know myself in Thee,
To spurn the wrong and choose the better part
And thus from sinful bondage be set free.
Give me, O Lord, a meek and contrite heart,
That I may learn to quell all selfish pride,
Bowing before Thee, see Thee as Thou art
And ’neath Thy sheltering presence safely hide.
Give me, O Lord, a gentle, loving heart,
That I may learn to be more tender, kind,
And with Thy healing touch, each wound and smart
With Christly bands of Love and Truth to bind.
Notices
Solo
Josh Henn, Soloist of The Mother Church
Create In Me A Clean Heart, O God
Create in me a clean heart, O God;
and renew a right spirit within me.
Wash me throughly from mine iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin.
Behold Thou desireth truth in the inward parts;
And in the hidden part Thou shalt make me to know wisdom.
For Thou desireth not sacrifice; else would I give it;
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
A broken and contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise.
Create in me a clean heart, O God;
and renew a right spirit within me.
Words from Psalm 51
Music by Merle Miller
© 1951 R.D. Row Music Co., Boston, MA, Intern. Copyright Secured
Courtesy of Watchfire Music, all rights reserved
Explanatory Note
Golden Text and Responsive Reading
Golden Text:
James 3:10 blessing
. . . blessing and cursing come pouring out of the same mouth. Surely, my brothers and sisters, this is not right!
The Golden Text is from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation.
Responsive Reading:
James 1:16, 17, 19, 20
Numbers 22:1 the, 4–6 Balak; 23:5, 8, 20
James 1:16 Do not err, my beloved brethren.
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.
19 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:
20 For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.
Num. 22:1 . . . the children of Israel set forward, and pitched in the plains of Moab on this side Jordan by Jericho.
4 . . . Balak the son of Zippor was king of the Moabites at that time.
5 He sent messengers therefore unto Balaam the son of Beor to Pethor, which is by the river of the land of the children of his people, to call him, saying, Behold, there is a people come out from Egypt: behold, they cover the face of the earth, and they abide over against me:
6 Come now therefore, I pray thee, curse me this people; for they are too mighty for me: peradventure I shall prevail, that we may smite them, and that I may drive them out of the land: for I wot that he whom thou blessest is blessed, and he whom thou cursest is cursed.
23:5 And the Lord put a word in Balaam’s mouth, and said, Return unto Balak, and thus thou shalt speak.
8 How shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed? or how shall I defy, whom the Lord hath not defied?
20 Behold, I have received commandment to bless: and he hath blessed; and I cannot reverse it.
The Bible Lesson-Sermon, the Explanatory Note, Golden Text and Responsive Reading are from the Christian Science Quarterly Bible Lesson, a publication copyrighted by the Christian Science Publishing Society.
Offertory and collection
During the offertory you're invited to participate in the collection via PayPal using a PayPal account or a credit card if you do not have a PayPal account.
Blessed Jesu, At Thy Word by J.S. Bach
Hymn 85
Edith Gaddis Brewer, words
Johann R. Ahle, music
God of Truth, eternal good,
Lift our hearts to revelation,
That Thou mayst be understood,
Thou, the Rock of our salvation;
All Thy love we have for loving,
All Thy truth is ours for proving.
Open now our eyes to see,
As the clouds of sense are riven,
We behold reality,
Know the glory of Thy heaven;
So we seek Thy perfect healing
Through the Truth of Thy revealing.
All the way that we must go
We will take at Thy direction,
Where the floods of trouble flow
Find Thy perfect, calm reflection;
On the path that has no turning,
Patience, courage, meekness learning.
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.
I Thess. 5:5 (to :)
Postlude
Adagio (from Organ Symphony No. 3) by Louis Vierne
Copyright.
The Golden Text for "Unreality" is from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Please note that the words to certain hymns and solos cannot be republished without permission due to copyright restrictions. Copyrighted Music included in today's streaming church service, including display of lyrics on this page if applicable, is either owned by the Church, directly licensed, or covered by one or more of the following licenses:
ONE LICENSE - Streaming/Podcast License #A-700000
Christian Copyright Solutions - WORSHIPcast License #5885
Christian Copyright Licensing International - CCLI Streaming License #3949277
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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.