PSST: Make Bible characters’ experiences your own as you let Life live YOU!
Possible Sunday School Topics (PSSTs) for The Christian Science Quarterly Bible Lesson:
“Life”
for January 10-16, 2022
prepared by Merrill Boudreaux, C.S.
pegasus6524@gmail.com • 314-308-1059
P.S.S.T. Golden Text (GT)/ How to stay close to God from Deuteronomy 30:20: “Love the Lord your God. Obey him. Stay close to him. He is your life.” (International Children’s Bible)
What does it mean to you to stay close to God? Does it mean
- to listen for His voice,
- to walk with Him in all your activities,
- to acknowledge Him as your Creator, Redeemer, and Soulmate?
Read together Hymn 503 from the Christian Science Hymnal (printed below).
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.
“Let’s walk with Love along the way, And talk with Love and Love obey. God’s healing truth is free to all, And Spirit answers every call; ‘Tis 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.”
Do you trust God to always be there for you?
P.S.S.T. Responsive Reading (RR)/Deut. 30: Blessings of staying close to God:
What are some key statements in the RR that show the blessings of staying close to God?
- God will bring thee into the land your fathers possessed
- He will do thee good
- He will multiply thee
- Will make thee plenteous in every work of thine hand
- Will rejoice over thee with good
- His commandments are not hidden from thee
- He is thy life, and the length of thy days
Read together Psalm 23 from the scriptures. Pay particular attention to these two phrases:
- He leadeth me
- Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.
P.S.S.T. Section 1 – Put yourself mentally in Moses’ audience!
Imagine that you are one of the children of Israel listening to Moses.
What is he sharing with you in citation B4/Deut.6?
How did Enoch benefit from walking with God as stated in citation B5/Gen.5? Enoch’s life aligns with Mary Baker Eddy’s statement in citation S3/Science & Health 203:31-32, “God, divine good, does not kill a man in order to give him eternal life…”
P.S.S.T. Section 2 – Acknowledge God in our past, in our present, in our future.
What was the Christianly Scientific prayer employed by Hezekiah when he was sick, as stated in citation B8/Isa.38? What was God’s word to Isaiah to share with Hezekiah, that also brought healing to him? God knows all and the instruments of his will, Hezekiah, Isaiah, David, Habakkuk in this section knew for certain the truth of the prayer in citation B10/Eccl.3:15, “That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been; and God requireth that which is past.” Therefore, we also can acknowledge God in our past, in our present, in our future.
Read together Hymn 213 from the Christian Science Hymnal (words printed here):
Hymn 213
“O God, our help in ages past, Our hope for time to come, Our shelter from the stormy blast, And our eternal home.
“Before the hills in order stood, Or earth received her frame, From everlasting Thou art God, To endless years the same.
“A thousand ages in Thy sight Are like an evening gone, Short as the watch that ends the night Before the rising sun.
“O God, our help in ages past, Our hope for time to come, Thou art our guard while ages last, And our eternal home.”
P.S.S.T. Section 3 – Read together and practice NOW citation S16/SH 246:27: “Life is eternal. We should find this out, and begin the demonstration thereof. Life and goodness are immortal. Let us then shape our views of existence into loveliness, freshness, and continuity, rather than into age and blight.”
When should we begin this great work? NOW!
Especially if we want to be like Enoch and Methuselah.
P.S.S.T. Section 4 – Make your own Bible characters’ experiences & guidance. “What is man, that thou art mindful of him?” (citation B15/Psalm 8:4)
Who are you that God is mindful of you?
When reading scripture stories about Bible characters, replace their names with your own so that their experiences and guidance be also your own.
Answer the question posed in citation B16/Isa.53:1, “Who hath believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?” [Answer: It is I.]
Read also the 1st Tenet of Christian Science, found in Science & Health 497:3:
“1. As adherents of Truth, we take the inspired Word of the Bible as our sufficient guide to eternal Life.”
Do you desire to be guided to eternal life?
If you are concerned about an issue, or suffering from some belief, look to the scriptures and Science & Health with Key to the Scriptures for answers, for healing, for guidance. Two citations in this section of the Lesson may be helpful:
“Become conscious for a single moment that Life and intelligence are purely spiritual, — neither in nor of matter, — and the body will then utter no complaints.” (cit. B20/SH 14:12–15)
“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.” (cit. B23/SH 264:15)
P.S.S.T. Section 5 – With divine dominion your days will multiply, not diminish.
Read together Hymn 60 from the Christian Science Hymnal (words below).
Hymn 60
“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.”
What does it mean to you to “fight the good fight”? (cit. B20/I Tim.6:12)
What was Jesus’ promise to those “that believeth in me”? (cit. S24/SH 324:32-2)
Do you desire to live forever? Can it be otherwise?
What was said of Enoch – who walked with God? In citation B6/Heb.11:5, it says “…he pleased God.”
Read together citation S30/SH 406:20-25, “no more fear that we shall be sick and die.”
Our days will multiply, not diminish. Why? Because God gives man (you) dominion over all the earth.
P.S.S.T. Section 6 –Stay at one with God, listen, follow, obey, live forever!
If “goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life” as said in Psalm 23:6/cit. B24, what is the result? “I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.” What is another word for “house” in that phrase? Consciousness.
So, we come full circle to the Golden Text – stay close to God, be at one with him, listen, follow, obey, live forever.
Mary Baker Eddy poses a good question for your guidance in citation S32/SH 496:9-13. Read it together: “Am I living the life that approaches the supreme good? Am I demonstrating the healing power of Truth and Love?”
Choose ye. Choose life.
