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, December 7, 2025
Unless otherwise indicated, Scriptural quotations are from the King James Version of the Bible.
Susan Booth Mack Snipes, First Reader
Robert Witney, Second Reader
Subject: GOD THE ONLY CAUSE AND CREATOR
Prelude:
Stephen Loher, Assistant Organist
Voluntary on Gloaming (Hymn 160)
Hymn 160
Mary Baker Eddy, words
John Stainer, music
It matters not what be thy lot,
So Love doth guide;
For storm or shine, pure peace is thine,
Whate’er betide.
And of these stones, or tyrants’ thrones,
God able is
To raise up seed—in thought and deed—
To faithful His.
Aye, darkling sense, arise, go hence!
Our God is good.
False fears are foes—truth tatters those,
When understood.
Love looseth thee, and lifteth me,
Ayont hate’s thrall:
There Life is light, and wisdom might,
And God is All.
The centuries break, the earth-bound wake,
God’s glorified!
Who doth His will—His likeness still—
Is satisfied.
Scriptural Selection
John 1:1–5
Ephesians 3:14–21
I John 1:5
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 123
“K” in Rippon’s Selection, 1787 adapted, words
18th Century, music
How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith in His excellent Word.
What more can He say than to you He hath said,
To you who to God for your refuge have fled:
Fear not, I am with thee, O be not dismayed,
For I am thy God, I will still give thee aid;
I’ll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand,
Upheld by My gracious, omnipotent hand;
When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie,
My grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply;
The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design
Thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine.
Notices
Solo
Kendra Fogg, Soloist of The Mother Church
God of Creation
God of creation and Lord of my soul,
Be to me ever my One and my All.
Your presence surrounds me by day and by night;
While waking or sleeping, I live in Your light.
You are my wisdom, and You are my wealth,
You are my substance, my joy, and my health,
My Father and Mother, my haven of peace,
My comfort, my healer, my place of release.
You and You only are first in my heart;
Ours is a union that never will part.
And held in Your love, without doubt, without fear,
I know now within me that heaven is here.
Words by Fenella Bennetts
Music is an Irish melody, arranged by Ryan Vigil
Explanatory Note
Golden Text and Responsive Reading
Golden Text:
John 3:21 he
. . . he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
Responsive Reading:
Genesis 1:3 God, 11
Luke 8:5 (to ;), 6 (to ;), 7 (to ;), 8 (to 1st .), 11–15, 17
Gen. 1:3 . . . God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
11 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.
Luke 8:5 A sower went out to sow his seed: and as he sowed, some fell by the way side;
6 And some fell upon a rock;
7 And some fell among thorns;
8 And other fell on good ground, and sprang up, and bare fruit an hundredfold.
11 Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.
12 Those by the way side are they that hear; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.
13 They on the rock are they, which, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away.
14 And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection.
15 But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience.
17 For nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest; neither any thing hid, that shall not be known and come abroad.
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
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Voluntary on Sursum Voices (Hymn 282)
Hymn 282
Author Unknown, words
H. Elliot Button, music
Praise the Lord, ye heavens, adore Him;
Praise Him, angels, in the height;
Sun and moon, rejoice before Him,
Praise Him, all ye stars of light;
Praise the Lord, for He hath spoken,
Worlds His mighty voice obeyed;
Laws that never shall be broken
For their guidance hath He made.
Praise the Lord, for He is glorious;
Never shall His promise fail;
God hath made His saints victorious,
Sin and death shall not prevail.
Praise the God of our salvation;
Hosts on high, His power proclaim;
Heaven and earth, and all creation,
Laud and magnify His name.
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:
Philippians 1:2, 6
Postlude
Voluntary on Adeste Fideles (Hymn 123)
Copyright
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 licences:
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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