'Trust in God and Live'

''Trusting God wholeheartedly,'' says Christian Science lecturer Bettie B. Thompson, ''is a way of life.'' The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston , sponsored Mrs. Thompson's lecture, ''Trust in God and Live,'' given yesterday at the Strand Theater in the Dorchester section of Boston. As the lecturer sees it, genuine trust, ''a simple, sincere admission'' of God's power and goodness, brings ''a sense of his nearness.'' Trusting God, she adds, is more than wishful thinking; ''it's trusting the very source of our existence, the only power, indestructible divine Love. . . . This triumphant trust empowers us to receive our God-given blessings of freedom and health.''

After careers as a college professor and a personnel and administrative manager, Mrs. Thompson began devoting full time to the public healing ministry of Christian Science in 1974. She is lecturing throughout the United States as a member of The Christian Science Board of Lectureship.

Stephen Vincent, a local member of The Mother Church, introduced her.

An abridged text of the lecture follows:

If you would visit the chambers of the United States Capitol in Washington, you'd see on the wall this inscription: ''In God We Trust.'' This motto was first used on the 2-cent piece in 1864 to show the source of America's strength. And, of course, it's being printed on all United States currency today. After I saw the inscription, I began to question the concept of trust. Accepting God's absolute power

What is trust?

I'm sure everyone here trusts something or someone, be it mother, father, spouse, friend, or oneself. Now, what do you trust?

Many advertisers would have us trust their products. Many people place their trust in money. Some place their trust in precious stones, diamonds, pearls, and even gold. Others place their trust in high walls and strong shelters. Does trust in any of these things guarantee our well-being? I am sure your answer is no! Then we need to protect ourselves from the intruding thought of such artificial trusting. Let's think together on this subject of genuine trust, which is so very important to our joyful and victorious living. Trusting God wholeheartedly improves the quality of our experience. In fact, it is a way of life.

The Bible declares that God is the creator of man; that man is made in His image. We can certainly trust our creator. We'll do so more completely and effectively as we are willing to accept God's absolute power.

Why trust God when we've never seen him? The Bible explains why. And the writings of Mary Baker Eddy, who discovered Christian Science, shed light on the Bible teachings and inspire an unfaltering trust in God. These books explain what He is: incorporeal, limitless, good. God, good, is really All-in-all. The nature of His being is expressed in terms used or implied in the Bible - terms such as Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, and Love. Trust rules out fear

Trust in God is supreme trust. It's trusting the very source of our existence , the only power, indestructible divine Love. We grasp the thought that God is our Shepherd. He loves us and never stops providing for us. He never stops maintaining the harmony of His creation. That's why we should trust Him.

But as you know, sometimes we find this hard to do. Even Jesus' disciples fell short here. On one occasion Jesus reprimanded them for ''their unbelief and hardness of heart'' (Mark 16:14). They didn't believe or trust the report of those who had seen him after the resurrection. They didn't fully trust God's power to preserve man's life.

A simple, sincere admission of His power and infinitude brings a sense of His nearness, a knowing that ''thou art with me.'' Then we're willing to walk with Him, fearing nothing.

Trust knows courage, but not its opposite, fear. Trust in God opens our thought to His power, which lifts us out of undesirable conditions. It is God's constant provision for man that enables us to feed the family and to pay the mortgage. God, Love, empowers us to have dominion over sickness and sin.

Trust in God advances our spiritual growth. It transforms a belief of helplessness into an understanding of the absolute unity of God and man.

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