First Church of Christ, Scientist, Chattanooga

Welcome to First Church of Christ, Scientist

Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA

Welcome, and thank you for visiting First Church of Christ, Scientist, Chattanooga online. We love the fact that you are taking a genuine interest in finding out more about Christian Science. We are here to help you make your journey a pleasant and joyful one!

We offer Sunday Services and Sunday School, Wednesday evening testimony meetings, a service on Thanksgiving Day morning, childcare at all in-person services, a Christian Science Reading Room, and an annual talk on Christian Science.

Attend a service

Our services include gathering in-person

as well as by video- and tele-conference on

Sunday morning, Wednesday evening, and Thanksgiving Day.

Sunday School is in-person only at the same time as the Sunday service.

The weekly Bible Lessons in the Christian Science Quarterly offer ideas and inspiration that comfort, heal, and lead to a deeper understanding of God’s goodness. Each year the Quarterly includes a special Thanksgiving Lesson, which is studied by individuals and shared at Thanksgiving church services around the world. The Chattanooga Thanksgiving Service is on Thanksgiving Day at 10am ET. Join by phone or online here.

In the Thanksgiving Lesson, we discover God as the source of all good and see how natural it is to experience and rejoice in His daily gifts of mercy, grace, and abundance. You're invited to dive in, explore, study, and share this special message of love with family, friends, and neighbors.

Download the Thanksgiving Bible Lesson, read or listen to it online in English, German, Spanish, or French here.

Listen to The Mother Church Thanksgiving service (from 11:30a - 12:30p ET) here.

Read an article by the Research Staff of The Mary Baker Eddy Library, giving the historical background of the creation of this special service called "The Thanksgiving Day Service and 'the good already received' " here.

SOLO

"Blessings Overflowing"

Sung by Ann Stephan

Blessings Overflowing CD

Thanksgiving Service - Read Full Text

ORDER OF SERVICES

THANKSGIVING DAY

1. Hymn.

2. Reading the Thanksgiving Proclamation of the President of the United States, or the Governor of the state, or both.

3. Reading a Scriptural Selection.

4. Silent Prayer, followed by the audible repetition of the Lord's Prayer with its spiritual interpretation.

5. Hymn.

6. Reading the Explanation Note on the first leaf of the Quarterly.

7. Announcing the subject of the Lesson-Sermon, and reading the Golden Text.

8. Responsive Reading by the First Reader and the congregation.

9. Reading the Lesson-Sermon prepared by the Bible Lesson Committee.

10. Solo.

11. Testimonies by Christian Scientists, appropriate for the occasion.

12. Hymn.

13. Reading the Scientific Statement of Being, and the correlative Scripture according to I John 3:1-3.

14. Pronouncing Benediction.

Hymn 586

REFRAIN
This is the day, this is the day,
This is the day that God has made!

Open, now open the doorways of justice,
Let us be glad as we pass through those gates.
There is the place where the righteous may enter,
Singing to God with thanksgiving and praise.

REFRAIN
I will sing praises because You have heard me,
Offering salvation with grace upon grace.
Turning the stone that the builders rejected,
Into the cornerstone, rock of our faith.

REFRAIN
It is the Lord who has done all these wonders;
I have seen marvelous, marvelous things.
This is the day that the Lord has created;
Join the rejoicing as every heart sings.

REFRAIN

Hymn 342

This is the day the Lord hath made;
Be glad, give thanks, rejoice;
Stand in His presence, unafraid,
In praise lift up your voice.
All perfect gifts are from above,
And all our blessings show
The amplitude of God’s dear love
Which every heart may know.

The Lord will hear before we call,
And every need supply;
Good things are freely given to all
Who on His word rely.
We come today to bring Him praise
Not for such gifts alone,
But for the higher, deeper ways
In which His love is shown.

For sin destroyed, for sorrow healed,
For health and peace restored;
For Life and Love by Truth revealed,
We thank and bless the Lord.
This is the day the Lord hath made,
In praise lift up your voice.
In shining robes of joy arrayed,
Be glad, give thanks, rejoice.

Hymn 520

Let all things now living
A song of thanksgiving
To God our creator triumphantly raise;
Who fashioned and made us,
Protected and stayed us,
By guiding us forward throughout all our days.
God’s angels are o’er us,
Pure light goes before us,
A pillar of fire shining forth in the night:
Till shadows have vanished,
All fearfulness banished,
As forward we travel from light into Light.

By law God enforces,
The stars in their courses
And sun in its orbit obediently shine;
The hills and the mountains,
The rivers and fountains,
The depths of the ocean proclaim God divine.
We, too, should be voicing
Our love and rejoicing
With glad adoration, a song let us raise:
Let all things now living
Unite in thanksgiving,
To God in the highest, hosanna and praise. ~~~