PYCL: Find key Golden Text words in each section—and identity, purpose in God, not matter.
Possible Younger Class Lesson ideas for the Christian Science Quarterly Bible Lesson on
“God”
for June 28 thru Sunday, July 4, 2021
by Kerry Jenkins, CS, of House Springs, MO
kerry.helen.jenkins@gmail.com • 314-406-0041
Pycl #1: Freedom comes in all kinds of ways!
I can’t remember a Sunday that fell on the celebration of Independence Day in the U.S. If you are in the U.S., (and even if not!) it would be a great opportunity to talk about all the ways that our understanding of GOD brings us freedom! What kind of freedom are we talking about? Freedom comes in all kinds of ways! Freedom from illness, from frustration, from sadness, from limitations of ANY kind! Freedom can be freedom of movement, political freedom, freedom to express yourself without fear, freedom FROM fear! The list can go on. Discuss how a knowledge and understanding of God can bring this kind of freedom.
It is wonderful to see all the ways that God is manifested in this week’s lesson. Looking at the Golden Text we have them listed in order and showing up in this order through each section: power, glory, victory, majesty, and in God’s kingdom. These are the visible manifestations or evidence of God among us, surrounding us. But…if we don’t see these visible manifestations or attribute their beauty, power, goodness, etc. to God, then we usually don’t enjoy the powerful freedom that comes with them. This is not because God is judging us or withholding good from us because we aren’t praising God! Rather, it’s because if we don’t realize where the good comes from, we are attributing good to chance, to miracle, to randomness. Can we count on any of these things? Nope!
When we recognize the regularity, power and presence of divine Love in our lives and acknowledge that this is where it comes from, we can then avail ourselves of this power at all times. It’s fun to liken this to a huge bank account. If you had millions of dollars in a bank account but didn’t know you had it, you might feel stressed, struggle to make ends meet, spend hours of labor at jobs—maybe jobs you don’t enjoy. You could even be homeless. Maybe once in a while you find a few bucks by chance and can buy a hamburger, but normally you have to work super hard or depend on others for their generosity. But, once you find out that there is this bank account, you might lose your stress over where your next meal is coming from, etc.! (obviously, this is a limited analogy, we all know that money won’t solve all our problems:-). God is like that “fat” bank account. When we acknowledge that our limitless freedom comes from God, we are able to draw on Love’s, Life’s, Mind’s, infinite good, vigor, intelligence! That’s freedom!!
Not to go on too long in just the first Pycl, but Warren referenced a lovely short article by Phil Davis in one of the CedarS emails this week. It really clarified this idea of the importance of acknowledging God and involves the story of the ten lepers in Section 3 (cit. B14/Luke 17:12-16) . The author points out the importance of recognizing and being grateful to God for healing, not simply being grateful! Here is a link to the short article.
https://journal.christianscience.com/shared/view/2pl5ue2yiyk?s=e You could even talk about giving testimonies in church. What should we include? (At least one mention of God in there!!) What should we exclude? You can use the Church Manual for some of this information. Another way to think about this idea of gratitude is by asking “how do we praise God” (lots of that going on in this Lesson!)
Pycl #2: Explore use of key words from the Golden Text in every section!
As mentioned above, the Golden Text includes words that describe God, a word for each section. Have the pupils go section by section (bring some paper copies of the lesson and hand each student a section, or a couple of sections). Have them underline the appropriate word from the Golden Text, for example, underline or highlight all the places where it mentions the word “power” in the second section. Sometimes the key word from the Golden Text will stem from a root word like “glory” and have derivatives like “glorified” and “glorious liberty”. What do these words tell us about God? What do they tell us about man—God’s expression?
Pycl #3: Look to your divine source instead of looking to matter for your identity & purpose.
How can we see ourselves more clearly as we learn more about God in this week’s Lesson? In our very first section we have the definition of God, his allness spoken of, his role as the creator, “…the Principle of all that represents Him and of all that really exists.”(cit. S3/272:29) We also have this wonderful passage in citation S6/264:15 “When we realize that Life is Spirit, never in nor of matter, this understanding will expand into self-completeness, finding all in God, good, and needing no other consciousness.” This “complete”, whole, sense of who we are, of “selfness”, can only be discovered as we have a truly spiritual sense of deity. That means we are no longer thinking of God as a spiritual version of a “person”.
If God is thought of as the synonyms, as the law of Love or Truth, as the consciousness of these names and their governing laws, then we understand better how man can be ‘not’ material, but spiritually expressing all of this intelligence, power, energy, joy, peace, because we are not reflecting it in matter—and matter merely must conform to our rising thought. This subject is probably harder to talk about with the younger children. But we can include in this discussion, with all ages, this quote from Miscellany 165:18 “Thus may each member of this church rise above the oft-repeated inquiry “What am I”, to the scientific response: I am able to impart truth, health, and happiness, and this is the rock of my salvation, and my reason for existing.” This is such a powerful reminder to turn back to our source and purpose as divine rather than to constantly inquire after matter for our sense of self and reason for our existence. Matter cannot answer this question with any satisfaction!
Pycl #4: Use each synonym to help you recognize your true, inner selfhood.
For the younger children we can look straight at the synonyms to help us with this kind of self-identification. For example, how does understanding God as Truth help us see man more clearly? More than the simple answer: “man is honest”, can you find examples of how that knowledge healed you, or someone else? I read a testimony one time, for example, where a woman watched someone pick up someone’s dropped wallet on the street. As he pocketed the wallet, she prayed to know that this man was honest, upright, an expression of Truth. She held to this recognition of the man’s honesty as coming from Truth/God as he suddenly raced forward, handed the man his wallet, and pointed to the woman behind him saying “this woman told me to return this to you”. She never spoke a word! Who told the man this truth? I love this idea that we can help ourselves and others recognize our inner, true selfhood—rather than “make” someone be more honest! This can be tried with all the synonyms.
Pycl #5: Healings of sin, disease & death! (cits. B10/Mat. 9:2; B14/Luke 17:12;B19/Luke 7:11)
Of course, you will want to retell or read each of the healings included in this lesson and how they point to the freedom God gives man from this triad of enslaving fables!
Pycl #6: Acknowledge God’s presence and jump for joy that God’s expressed in beauty & life!
In Section 5 we are given beautiful, poetic, praises of how God is expressed in majesty, in beauty, etc. This is one of my favorite ways to understand, feel, and acknowledge God’s presence with us. With the littles, if you have good weather, take a walk and find this kind of evidence of this majesty around you. It can be in buildings and bridges if you are in the city, it can be in spaces between leaves where sunshine peeks through, shadows that a railing makes on the ground, birds singing, a beetle crawling. These are indications of Soul, of Life, of Mind’s intelligence and variety! Let’s rejoice and jump for joy, literally even, that God is expressed in beauty and life!!
Have fun in Sunday School this week!
