Possible Sunday School Topics (PSSTs) for The Christian Science Quarterly Bible Lesson:
“Substance”
for September 9-15, 2024
prepared by Merrill Boudreaux C.S., for CedarS Camps
pegasus6524@gmail.com • 314-308-1059
P.S.S.T. Golden Text (GT) —What about the hymns point to “how great are thy works!”?
“It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, and to sing praises unto thy name, O most High: …O Lord, how great are thy works!
And thy thoughts are very deep.” (GT/Psalm 92:1, 5)
“Sing praises.” Ask students what are their favorite hymns from the Christian Science Hymnal? Then read those hymns together.
What is meaningful to them about these hymns?
What about the hymns point to “how great are thy works!”?
P.S.S.T. Responsive Reading — (RR)/Isaiah 40:5,21,25,26;
Psalm 33:4,9,11; Ps.72:7,8,17-19
Where do you see “the glory of the Lord” revealed in your life?
From the basic – that you are alive; to the more monumental – that something is going on that’s right in your life now? How is your life a blessing? From where does this blessing come? God spoke it, it was done, it flourishes, it has dominion. Who is this “it”? Why, you are one of God’s most perfect, beautiful, bountiful, glorious creations.
Read together Hymn 65 from the Christian Science Hymnal (words supplied here):
Hymn 65
From glory unto glory, / Be this our joyous song; / From glory unto glory, / ’Tis Love that leads us on; / As wider yet and wider, / The rising splendors glow, / What wisdom is revealed to us, / What freedom we may know.
The fullness of His blessing / Encompasseth our way; / The fullness of His promise / Crowns every dawning day; / The fullness of His glory / Is shining from above, / While more and more we learn to know / The fullness of His love.
From glory unto glory, / What great things He hath done, / What wonders He hath shown us, / What triumphs Love hath won. / From glory unto glory, / From strength to strength we go, / While grace for grace abundantly / Doth from His fullness flow.
P.S.S.T. Section 1 – Read together citation B3/Psalm 139:1,7,14,17. How can you look beyond the surface of things, of words or material elements that are such counterfeits of the invisible universe and spiritual you?
As students you already know how to do this. It is your daily lifework right now.
See also this guidance in Science & Health, p.195:19, “Academics of the right sort are requisite. Observation, invention, study, and original thought are expansive and should promote the growth of mortal mind out of itself, out of all that is mortal.”
Read together Hymn 90/488 from the Christian Science Hymnal (words supplied here)
Hymn 90/488
Guide me, O Thou great Jehovah, / Pilgrim through this barren land: / I am Thine, and Thou art mighty, / Hold me with Thy powerful hand. / Bread of heaven! Bread of heaven! / Feed me now and evermore.
Open is the crystal fountain, / Whence the healing waters flow; / And the fiery cloudy pillar / Leads me all my journey through. / Strong Deliverer! Strong Deliverer! / Still Thou art my strength and shield.
You are fed, you are strong, you are delivered, you are shielded.
P.S.S.T. Section 2 – Living and walking in the Spirit is what Enoch and Methuselah did in citation B7/Genesis 5:21-24.
Do you desire to be like them? Is it even possible today?
What substance must you have, like that which sustained Enoch?
The citation states, “And Enoch walked with God…” What do you think that means – to walk with God?
Read together Hymn 59 from the Christian Science Hymnal (words supplied here)
Hymn 59, 60, & 61
Fight the good fight with all thy might, / Christ is thy strength, and Christ thy right; / Lay hold on Life, and it shall be / Thy joy and crown eternally.
Run the straight race through God’s good grace, / Lift up thine eyes, and seek His face; / Life with its way before us lies, / Christ is the path, and Christ the prize.
Faint not nor fear, His arms are near; / He changeth not, and thou art dear; / On Him rely and thou shalt see / That Christ is all in all to thee.
Also, Hymn 264 is a favorite of many Sunday School students.
Was Enoch’s perception based on matter or Spirit? How can you cultivate the things of Spirit in your life? What does “cultivate” even mean?
How can cultivation, or tending to our thoughts, lead to an awakening of that which is substantial and eternal in our lives?
P.S.S.T. Section 3 – “we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen:..” (cit. B9/II Corinthians 4:18).
Read also citation B13/Luke 6:38, “Give, and it shall be given unto you;..” Examine yourself. What do you have to give?
What is the world most in need of?
Read together Hymn 139 from the Christian Science Hymnal (words supplied here)
Hymn 139, 427, 503
I walk with Love along the way, / And O, it is a holy day; / No more I suffer cruel fear, / I feel God’s presence with me here; / The joy that none can take away / Is mine; I walk with Love today.
Who walks [Let’s walk] with Love along the way, / Shall [And] talk with Love and Love obey; / God’s healing truth is free to all, / Our Father [And Spirit] answers every call; / ’Tis He [God] dispels the clouds of gray / That all may walk with Love today.
Come, walk with Love along the way, / Let childlike trust be yours today; / Uplift your thought, with courage go, / Give of your heart’s rich overflow, / And peace shall crown your joy-filled day. / Come, walk with Love along the way.
Never be ashamed to look to God, to Spirit, for your substance.
It is written in I John 2:28, “And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming.”
You are called upon to “come out from the material world and be separate” (Science & Health cit. S16/451:2-4,6,14).
P.S.S.T. Section 4 – How was it possible that “Jesus went about all the cities and villages… and healing every sickness and every disease among the people”? (cit. B16/Matthew 9:35, 36).
And wow, over 2,000 years later we still marvel at him and his works. That is truly substantial, truly long-lasting. Why is this so? Because “substance is that which is eternal and incapable of discord and decay” (cit. S17/468:17-18).
Read together Hymn 217 from the Christian Science Hymnal (words supplied
here). These words are from a poem by John Greenleaf Whittier.
Hymn 217
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.
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.
Follow 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.
Now read citation S24/418:5-9, 22, as further guidance.
Stick to it, be guided, employ the truths you understand, be inspired.
These are all aspects of giving a Christian Science treatment.
You will win, you will heal.
P.S.S.T. Section 5 – Do you know of others who have beheld – in advance of others – ideas or views that have transformed the world?
It helps often to close one’s eyes to silence the material senses, as you behold what is truly substantial. Do you know of others who have beheld – in advance of others – ideas or views that have transformed the world? Think of notable inventors or scientists. Christian Science is an advanced science, teaching truth far beyond what the material senses grasp. You are a Scientist in advance of others.
See what Mary Baker Eddy says of this advanced Science:
Miscellaneous Writings 6:14, “At no distant day, Christian healing will rank far in advance of allopathy and homœopathy; for Truth must ultimately succeed where error fails.”
Miscellaneous Writings 21:11, “As the ages advance in spirituality, Christian Science will be seen to depart from the trend of other Christian denominations in no wise except by increase of spirituality.”
Miscellaneous Writings 359:20, “The methods of our Master were in advance of the period in which he personally appeared; but his example was right, and is available at the right time. The way is absolute divine Science: walk ye in it; but remember that Science is demonstrated by degrees, and our demonstration rises only as we rise in the scale of being.”
Miscellaneous Writings 366:1-4, “If the Bible and ‘Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures’ had in our schools the time or attention that human hypotheses consume, they would advance the world.”
See also a statement of the benefit of seeing things in advance of others by the Discoverer of Christian Science, and how our church continues to benefit – Miscellaneous Writings 139:18-1:
“On December 10, 1889, I gave a lot of land — in Boston, situated near the beautiful Back Bay Park, now valued at $20,000 and rising in value — for the purpose of having erected thereon a church edifice to be called The Church of Christ, Scientist.
“I had this desirable site transferred in a circuitous, novel way, at the wisdom whereof a few persons have since scrupled; but to my spiritual perception, like all true wisdom, this transaction will in future be regarded as greatly wise, and it will be found that this act was in advance of the erring mind’s apprehension.
“As with all former efforts in the interest of Christian Science, I took care that the provisions for the land and building were such as error could not control.”
Now read Hymn 176 in the Christian Science Hymnal as a bonus (words supplied here)
Hymn 176
Long hast thou stood, O church of God, / Long mid the tempest’s assailing, / Founded secure on timeless rock / Rises thy light, never failing; / Shining that all may understand / What has been wrought by God’s command, / O’er night and chaos prevailing.
Let there be light, and light was there, / Clear as the Word that declared it; / Healing and peace to all it gave, / Who in humility shared it. / Ah, they were faithful, they who heard, / Steadfast their trust in God’s great Word, / Steadfast the Love that prepared it.
Let there be light, the Word shines forth, / Lo, where the new morning whitens; / O church of God, with Book unsealed, / How its page beacons and brightens. / Living stones we, each in his place, / May we be worthy such a grace, / While Truth the wide earth enlightens.
P.S.S.T. Section 6 – “The Lord hath done great things for us; whereof we are glad” (cit. B25/Psalm 126:3).
There is much for which to be grateful in this Lesson.
What is a key takeaway for you?
How might you tell your parents what you learned from this Lesson – O, you who have perceived in advance of others?
[W: Here’s a related challenge (underlining added) for us to remember each Sunday when we close with “the Scientific Statement of Being” (SH 468): “St. Paul said to the Athenians, “For in Him we live, and move, and have our being.” This statement is in substance identical with my own: “There is no life, truth, substance, nor intelligence in matter.” It is quite clear that as yet this grandest verity has not been fully demonstrated, but it is nevertheless true. If Christian Science reiterates St. Paul’s teaching, we, as Christian Scientists, should give to the world convincing proof of the validity of this scientific statement of being. Having perceived, in advance of others, this scientific fact, we owe to ourselves and to the world a struggle for its demonstration.” Retrospection & Introspection (Ret.) 93:17)
Read together Hymn 56 from the Christian Science Hymnal (words supplied here)
Hymn 56
Father, Thou joy of loving hearts, / Thou Fount of life, Thou Light of men, / From all the best that earth imparts, / We turn unfilled to Thee again.
Ever our longings turn to Thee, / O Thou on whom our care we cast; / Rejoicing when Thy smile we see, / And blest when faith can hold Thee fast.
Thy truth unchanged hath ever stood; / Thou savest those that on Thee call; / To them that seek Thee Thou art good; / To them that find Thee, All in all.
Amen to you all.
