3-01-09

DEDICATION OF A CHURCH


MINISTER:  “The Lord is in His Holy Temple” (Psalms 11:4)

MINISTER:  “In this service we now declare the purpose of Unity of Richardson”

CONGREGATION:  “We now declare that this Unity of Richardson is a holy place.”

MINISTER:  “It is made holy by the Presence of God, dwelling within us and expressing through us, who declare Truth here.”

CONGREGATION:  “We now declare that this Unity of Richardson  is set apart to God’s service and is made sacred by God’s presence within us.”

MINISTER:  “The ground whereon Unity of Richardson stands is now dedicated to God and to God’s service.”

CONGREGATION:  “The ground whereon Unity of Richardson stands is now dedicated to God and to God’s service.”

MINISTER:  “Every room in Unity of Richardson is now dedicated to God and to God’s service.”

CONGREGATION:  “Every room in Unity of Richardson is now dedicated to God and to God’s service.”

MINISTER:  “All the furnishings and equipment of Unity of Richardson are now dedicated to God and to God’s service.”

CONGREGATION:  “All the furnishings and equipment of Unity of Richardson are now dedicated to God and to God’s service.”

MINISTER:  “All who serve in Unity of Richardson are now consecrated to God and to God’s service.”

CONGREGATION:  “All who serve in Unity of Richardson are now consecrated to God and to God’s service.”

MINISTER:  “All who pray, study or worship in Unity of Richardson are consecrated to God and to God’s service.”

CONGREGATION:  “All who pray, study or worship in Unity of Richardson are consecrated to God and to God’s service.”

MINISTER:  “We acknowledge God as the Spirit and fulfillment of the ministry of   Unity of Richardson.”

CONGREGATION:  “We acknowledge God as the Spirit and fulfillment of the ministry of  Unity of Richardson.”

MINISTER:  “We acknowledge Jesus Christ as the head of this ministry of Truth and Love.”

CONGREGATION:  “We acknowledge Jesus Christ as the head of this ministry of Truth and Love.”

MINISTER:  “All praise to God, the Good.”




COMMUNION SERVICE WITH CONGREGATIONAL RESPONSE

MINISTER:  “Holy One as we meet together in prayer, we pray the prayer of Thanksgiving for the abundant peace Spirit manifests now and always in our lives.”

MINISTER:  “Divine Power, unto whom our hearts and minds are open, all our desires known, recreate and purify our hearts; cleanse and renew our minds through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, that we may love perfectly and magnify Divine Love.  Unto Love we give all praise and thanks through Christ Consciousness.  Amen.”

MINISTER:  “This ceremony we identify as Communion, or The Last Supper.  The taking of bread and wine are symbols of Substance and Spirit.  They are the omnipresent substance and energy of God.”  

“Some people recognize God within as indwelling purity and holiness.”  

“Others recognize and accept the God within as the life of the body.”  

“The person who recognizes the indwelling God as their holiness, and who recognizes the God as their health, is made both holy and physically well by their recognition and acceptance.”  

“We must come to see and understand that this same indwelling God who is our holiness and our health is also our sustenance, support and supply.”  

“The natural impulse of Divine Being is to flow forth through us into all things.  We are natural conduits for the energy of God.”

“This ceremony of Communion reminds us that God is All-Sufficiency in all things.  “God is the idea and its manifestation as well.  God is both cause and effect.”  

Matt. 21:22  “‘Whatever you ask in prayer you will receive if you have faith.’  There is no limit!”

“God said, ‘Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you’” Josh. 1:3

“Anything we can imagine already is.  To have it manifest in our lives, we only have to ask for it believing we can have it.”  

“God is the concept and the manifestation of the concept, the wine and the bread, the Spirit and the Spirit formed.”  

“Our personal holiness, or understanding of God, is not acquired by outside works of purifying ourselves, rather it is acquired by turning within and letting Spirit flow through our human nature until we become saturated with Holy Spirit.”

“This ceremony is only a reminder.”  

“Abundant supply is ours, even more than we can ask or think.  After all, God gives not according to our need, but God gives because it is God’s Nature to give all.”  

“God is our health and our healer.  God is our supply and our supplier.  God is the giver and the gift, the idea and its manifestation, the bread and the wine.”  

MINISTER:  “Universal Power Almighty God, to whom our hearts and minds are open and all our desires known, in Your wisdom, all secrets are revealed.  Recreate and purify our hearts; cleanse and renew our minds through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit that we may love perfectly.  Unto God we give all praise and thanks.  Amen.”  

RESPONSIVE READING
MINISTER:  “Hear what our Way-Shower Jesus Christ says,  ‘The Lord our God, the Lord is One; and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength.’”  (Mark 12:29,30)

“‘This is the great and first commandment.  And the second like unto it is this, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.”  On these two commandments the whole law hangeth, and the prophets.’”  (Matt. 22:38)

CONGREGATION:   “There is but one Presence and one Power, God, the Good, Omnipotent.  We love the Lord our God with all our hearts, with all our soul, with all our mind, and with all our strength.  We love the Lord God in our neighbor as ourselves.  

MINISTER:  “You who do truly and earnestly repent of your errors and are in love with and have charity for your neighbors and intend to lead this way of life, following the commandments of God and walking henceforth in His holy ways, draw near to Him in your heart and take this holy sacrament to your comfort.”  

CONGREGATION:  “Holy Spirit cleanse our thoughts that they may be one with truth and purity.  Help us to make our body a fit temple for Divine indwelling Presence, in order that mortality may put on immortality and pure substance of Divine Being may be manifested in us.”

MINISTER:  “Holy Divine, we know that Divine action in humankind is love, therefore, we open our hearts and minds and claim that Divine Love.  We are ready to forgive and forget all hard thoughts.”

CONGREGATION:  “Almighty God, we now forgive all who may ever have offended us; we forgive all people all things.”  

MINISTER:  “If we have offended others, we must claim their forgiveness.”  

CONGREGATION:  “Almighty God, we must claim and accept Your forgiveness.  O Christ, Your forgiving love fills us now.  We are immersed in the forgiving love of Christ.”

MINISTER:  “And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and broke it; and He gave to the disciples, and said, ‘Take, eat this is my body.’” (Matt. 26:26)

“Do this in remembrance of Me.”  (Luke 22:19)

“Holy One, we know that the bread Jesus offered His disciples symbolizes spiritual substance, Your invisible essence of mind out of which all things are made.  This we eat; this we appropriate, and by partaking of it we become one with Your radiant, living substance.

CONGREGATION:  “We are one with the radiant, living substance of God.  We are healed in soul and in body.”  

(Pause for a reasonable silence of meditation for the receipt of the bread spiritually)

MINISTER:  (Uncover bread) “If there are any who would like to receive this bread of life, come now and by your own hand receive it unto yourself.  By partaking this bread, you become one with the Radiant Living Substance.”

“This bread is received in the remembrance of the divine Christ, the Perfect Idea manifest.”  

“This is the symbol of the Christ manifest – This is the Omnipresent Substance.”


MINISTER:  (After all have been served and silence has been achieved.)  “In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.  Holy One, we are lifted into the realm of Thy Spirit.  We have appropriated the Substance of Thy Spirit and are now radiant Beings.  The invisible essence of Your mind has made us whole…we once again remember ‘what’ we are and we are blessed.”  

MINISTER:  “And Jesus took a cup, and gave thanks, and gave to them, saying ‘Drink ye all of it, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.’”  (Matt. 26: 27,28)

“Do this in remembrance of me.”  (Luke 22:19)

“Almighty God, we know that the wine Jesus offered to His disciples as His blood, symbolizes life, the very Spirit of God.  We know that as we appropriate this idea of Spirit Life, we are quickened and made new.”

CONGREGATION:  “We are filled with the quickening life of Spirit.  We are made new in soul and in body.”  

MINISTER:  “Let us repeat this statement once more, after which we shall take it deep into the silence and so appropriate the quickening life of Spirit.”  

CONGREGATION:  “We are filled with the quickening life of Spirit.  We are made new in soul and in body.”

(Cover Bread and Uncover Wine)

MINISTER:  “If there are any who would like to receive this cup, come ye now and by your own hand receive it.  This cup is given freely in remembrance of our brother Christ.   Do not take it in part, take ye all of it.”

“This cup is offered in remembrance of the Elder Brother.”

“This cup represents the Omnipresent Energy and Eternal Life of Spirit.”

“Be quickened and made whole in spirit and in body…drink in the quickening life of Spirit.”

(Cover the wine after all have received.)

MINISTER:  “In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.”  

“Holy One we are lifted into the realm of Spirit.  We are now filled with the quickening life of Spirit and are made new in soul and body.”

“We again remember that we are the omnipresent energy and eternal life of God’s Spirit.”  

“For this we are most humbly grateful.  ‘To this end have we been born…’  ‘The Christ now lives in us’  (Gal. 2:30) and ‘We bear witness to the truth’ (Jn. 18:37).  Amen.”

(Returning to the Responsive Reading)

MINISTER:  “In prayer and in the silence we have appropriated the Substance and Life of Spirit.  We have felt the inspiration of the indwelling Christ lifting our thoughts to a higher plane of understanding.  We now go forth consecrating our thoughts and activities to Christ service.”

CONGREGATION:  “‘To this end have I been born and to this end am I come into the World, that I should bear witness unto the truth.’” (John 18:37)

MINISTER:  “We consecrate ourselves through recognizing our purpose to bear witness to Truth; to speak Truth, to hear Truth, and to see Truth to be the best of our understanding and ability.  In so doing we express the healing presence of the Christ within.”  

CONGREGATION:  “‘It is no longer that I live, but Christ liveth in me.’”  (Gal. 2:20)

MINISTER:  “The same Christ that was the Christ in Jesus dwells in us.  The Christ substance and the Christ life we have appropriated moves in us now to will and to do what our heavenly Father would have us do, and to be what They would have us be.”

CONGREGATION:  “‘Let the words of my mouth
And the meditation of my heart,
Be acceptable in Thy sight,
O Jehovah,
My rock and my redeemer.”  (Psalms 19:14)  

BENEDICTION