See also John 13:34, “A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.” Section 1 – What is Moses’ guidance to the children of Israel, and by extension to us, found in citations B2/Deut.27:1, B3/Deut.29:10-15, & B4/Deut.6:4,5? Then, brother man, fold to thy heart thy brother, For where love dwells, the peace of God is there: To worship rightly is to love each other Each smile a hymn, each kindly deed a prayer.įollow with reverent steps the great example Of him whose holy work was doing good So shall the wide earth seem our Father’s temple, Each loving life a psalm of gratitude. O, he whom Jesus loved has truly spoken, That holier worship, which God deigns to bless, Restores the lost, and heals the spirit broken, And feeds the widow and the fatherless. Read together Hymn 217 from the Christian Science Hymnal (words printed here): Look to the Responsive Reading for guidance on how we are to “execute true judgment, and show mercy and compassions every man to his brother:”
P.S.S.T. Responsive Reading (RR)/Zechariah 7 & Isaiah 59 How can these statements guide us in our work and prayers to alleviate suffering and seeming punishment? See also Matthew, chapter 5, for part of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. Perhaps the Golden Rule is a good place to start. What does it mean to be righteous, to think and act righteously? Golden Text (GT)/Proverbs 14:34: “Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people.” That the earth may be filled with the glory of God As the waters cover the sea.
Ight we the fight with sorrow and sin, To set their captives free, That the light of the glorious Gospel of truth May shine throughout the world March we forth in the strength of God With the banner of Christ unfurled, When the earth shall be filled with the glory of God As the waters cover the sea? What can we do to hasten the time, The time that shall surely be, The brotherhood of all mankind, The reign of the Prince of Peace? What can we do to work God’s work, To prosper and increase When the earth shall be filled with the glory of God As the waters cover the sea. Nearer and nearer draws the time, The time that shall surely be, God is working His purpose out And the time is drawing near God is working His purpose out As year succeeds to year, Now read together Hymn 82 from the Christian Science Hymnal (words printed here): “Let us accept Science, relinquish all theories based on sense-testimony, give up imperfect models and illusive ideals and so let us have one God, one Mind, and that one perfect, producing His own models of excellence.” So, what can we do to aid in the cessation of apparent punishment? See Science & Health 249:1:
These disturbances will continue until the end of error, when all discord will be swallowed up in spiritual Truth.” ( Science & Health 96:4–20) The breaking up of material beliefs may seem to be famine and pestilence, want and woe, sin, sickness, and death, which assume new phases until their nothingness appears. On one side there will be discord and dismay on the other side there will be Science and peace. “This material world is even now becoming the arena for conflicting forces. Earth will become dreary and desolate, but summer and winter, seedtime and harvest (though in changed forms), will continue unto the end, - until the final spiritualization of all things. Before error is wholly destroyed, there will be interruptions of the general material routine. “Love will finally mark the hour of harmony, and spiritualization will follow, for Love is Spirit. Tyranny, intolerance, and bloodshed, wherever found, arise from the belief that the infinite is formed after the pattern of mortal personality, passion, and impulse.” (SH 94:12) “The eastern empires and nations owe their false government to the misconceptions of Deity there prevalent. I found the following passages from Science & Health, written by Mary Baker Eddy, of particular interest: When observing our world, one might be tempted to ask what have we done, or how have we sinned that we seem to be affected with punishment? Whether it be climate change, wars, political strife, economic disenfranchisement, or poverty.
Possible Sunday School Topics (PSSTs) for The Christian Science Quarterly Bible Lesson: PSST: Are climate change, wars, political strife, poverty… punishments?