Our Services

 

*      Introduction

*      Order of Sunday Service

*      Order of Wednesday Meeting

*      Order of Exercises for the Sunday School

*      Order of Thanksgiving Service

Introduction

 

Besides the Sunday Service (10:00 AM) there is also a Wednesday Meeting (7:30 PM). Both services last one hour, and child care is provided.

 

The Sunday School (for ages 3 to 19), meets at the same time as our Sunday Service.

 

The services are conducted by lay persons, known as the First Reader and Second Reader and are elected from the congregation. The Wednesday Meeting is conducted by the First Reader alone. They read without commentary from the Bible and Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. These two books are the dual pastors of our church, and there is no personal pastor or minister.

This is true for all the branch churches of The First Church of Christ, Scientist, located in Boston, Massachusetts (also known as the Mother Church). The services in every branch follow the same order of service which was established by Mary Baker Eddy, the Discover and Founder of Christian Science. Mrs. Eddy also provided for the formation of the Bible Lesson Committee which prepares the Lesson-Sermon read on Sunday. It is called a “Lesson-Sermon” because it is not only the Sunday sermon, it is a lesson studied by Christian Scientist during the week leading up to the service. The Lesson-Sermon of any given week is the same for all the Christian Science Churches throughout the world.

 

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Order of Sunday Services

  1. Sing Hymn
  2. Reading of scriptural selection from the Bible
  3. Silent Prayer followed by the audible repetition of the Lord's Prayer with its spiritual interpretation
  4. Sing Hymn
  5. Announcement of necessary notices
  6. Musical Solo
  7. Reading of the explanatory note from the Christian Science Quarterly
  8. Announcement of the subject of the Lesson-Sermon and the reading of the Biblical verse entitled the "Golden Text"
  9. Reading the Scriptural Selection from the Bible identified as “Responsive Reading,” alternating between the First Reader and the congregation
  10. Reading of the Lesson-Sermon. (After the Second Reader reads the Bible references of the First Section of the Lesson-Sermon, the First Reader reads the correlative passages for that section from the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. There are six sections to the Lesson-Sermon.)
  11. Collection
  12. Sing Hymn
  13. Reading of the "Scientific Statement of Being" followed by the correlative scripture from the Bible (I John 3:1-3).
  14. Pronouncing of the Benediction

On the first Sunday of each month, Article VIII, Sect. 1, A Rule for Motives and Acts, is also read as part of the service.

 

The order of service is slightly altered for the Communion Service in the branch churches, which is observed twice a year, on the second Sundays in January and July.

 

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Order of Wednesday Meetings

  1. Sing Hymn
  2. Readings from the Bible and correlative passages from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures
  3. Silent Prayer, followed by the audible repetition of the Lord’s Prayer (without the spiritual interpretation read on Sundays)
  4. Sing Hymn
  5. Announcement of necessary notices
  6. Open meeting for those attending to share experiences, testimonies, and remarks on Christian Science
  7. Sing Closing Hymn

No collection is taken at the Wednesday Meeting

 

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Order of Exercises for the Sunday School

 

  1. Call to order by the Sunday School Superintendent
  2. Sing Hymn
  3. Subject of the Lesson-Sermon is announced
  4.  The “Golden Text” is read aloud by the children, followed by the “Responsive Reading” which they alternate with the Sunday School Superintendent
  5. Silent prayer, followed by the audible repetition of the Lord’s Prayer
  6. Instruction in small individual classes about the Ten Commandments, the Lord's Prayer, the Sermon on the Mount and questions and discussions appropriate for the age level
  7. Entire school reassembles to sing Hymn
  8. Reading of the "Scientific Statement of Being" by the Sunday School Superintendent
  9. Sunday School is dismissed

 

If a collection is taken, it is done in the individual classes before they reassemble.

 

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Order of Thanksgiving Service

  1. Sing Hymn
  2. Reading of the Thanksgiving Proclamation of the President of the United States, or the Governor of the state, or both.
  3. Reading of scriptural selection from the Bible
  4. Silent Prayer followed by the audible repetition of the Lord's Prayer with its spiritual interpretation
  5. Sing Hymn
  6. Reading of the Explanatory Note from the Christian Science Quarterly
  7. Announcement of the subject of the Lesson-Sermon and the reading of the Biblical verse entitled the "Golden Text"
  8. Reading the Scriptural Selection from the Bible identified as “Responsive Reading,” alternating between the First Reader and the congregation
  9. Reading of the Lesson-Sermon. (After the Second Reader reads the Bible references of the First Section of the Lesson-Sermon, the First Reader reads the correlative passages for that section from the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures.)
  10. Musical Solo
  11. Testimonies by Christian Scientists, appropriate for the occasion
  12. Sing Hymn
  13. Reading of the "Scientific Statement of Being" followed by the correlative scripture from the Bible (I John 3:1-3).
  14. Pronouncing of the Benediction

 

There is no collection taken at the Thanksgiving Service. Our Thanksgiving service takes place during the national holiday of Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday in November. In Canada it takes place on the second Monday in October to coincide with their national holiday of Thanksgiving.

 

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