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PYCLs— 1) TRY TO MAKE YOURSELF TALLER. 2) BRING IN GOLDFISH CRACKERS AND A LOAF OF BREAD. 3) WHAT IS A YOKE? 4) MAKE BIBLE STORIES “OUR” STORIES.5) RIGHT “STARTING POINTS” “CLEAR THE PATH”.
CedarS PYCLs, Possible Younger Class Lessons, for the Christian Science Quarterly Bible Lesson:
“God the Preserver of Man”
for June 12, 2022
by Kerry Jenkins, CS, House Springs, MO
kerry.helen.jenkins@gmail.com (314) 406-0041
PYCL #1: TRY TO MAKE YOURSELF TALLER.
Measure each student against the wall or divider in your classroom. Ask if they wish they were taller. Probably many will say yes. So then tell them to think really hard about getting taller right now…Measure them again. Go through this a few times. Then read together from the Responsive Reading in Luke 12:24-32.
You can find a modern translation so that measurements are not in “cubits” and the language in general is more accessible. See if they can explain to you, after you share this reading, what it means to them.
You can link this whole study to the Section 4 story of Jesus feeding the multitudes as an example of how Life and Love can provide for man. You can also link it to the recounting of the Children of Israel’s escape from Egypt and years in the wilderness from Section 1 Neh.9:7,9,11,12,15,21.
PYCL #2: BRING IN GOLDFISH CRACKERS AND A LOAF OF BREAD.
It’s fun to read this story from Mat. 15:30, 30-32 about Jesus, not only feeding the multitudes, but healing and preaching for three days!! Do they have any thoughts on why Jesus preached and healed, in this case, out of town far enough that he felt it was compassionate to feed them before sending them home?
How does this story prove Jesus’ statements in the Responsive Reading? (Luke 12:24-32)
Can you share an example from your life where you saw this kind of provision?
If you want to, there is a link in the CedarS’ metaphysical for this week to a lovely story of provision that even includes literal fish and bread. Here is the link to the met. https://cedarscamps.org/inspiration/article/13634/ The link in the met involves a Sentinel article.
When you are done sharing ideas about this story, feel free to pass around some goldfish crackers to represent “fish” and pull out some bread. (You can bring jam or honey if you want to make it a little sweeter— honey is something that people in the Bible lands would have been familiar with).
PYCL #3: WHAT IS A YOKE (NOT A YOLK)?
This is in reference to Section 6 where the Bible citations consist of Gal. 6:2, 9 and Mat. 11:1, 15, 28-30. It never occurred to me that there was confusion here, but then one of my kids wondered about the “yolk being easy”, so I thought we might want to clarify. Show them pictures of the wooden yokes that oxen would wear. Explain how a yoke works to spread out the load and, in the case of more than one animal, to team them together for optimal pulling power. There is a nifty explanation in the Bible Lens for this week that tells us that the word “easy” here means “well fitted”.
In other words, these yokes were made to fit the specific animal that wore them.
So, what is Jesus telling us when he says that we should take his yoke upon us, and that his yoke is “easy”?
It means that whatever it is our task to carry out, it is “well suited or fitted” to us. It cannot chaffe, irritate, or overload us. (One consideration here is to ask whether a particular task is really “ours” to do? If it belongs to someone else, or to another day, then any chaffing we might feel is because we have taken a task that isn’t ours, and so isn’t “fitted” to us!).
PYCL #4: MAKE BIBLE STORIES “OUR” STORIES.
Retell the story of the Children of Israel’s escape from slavery. Go through all the different challenges they faced in their wilderness journey. Talk about what wilderness means (Mary Baker Eddy’s definition in the Glossary of SH).
Have any of us ever experienced a “parting of seas” that allowed us to move forward in something that seemed “blocked”? How about receiving provision when we needed it? This could be in the form of needing a friend, a smile of encouragement, a home, etc. These are our Red Sea experiences, or Manna experiences. This is true for most of the Bible stories. Otherwise they are just fabulous tales of adventure that belong to a bygone era. Consider the Sentinel story that was shared above as a modern day loaves and fishes story, for example. Have the children pick a Bible story and choose how it has played out in their lives. You may have to get the ball rolling. You can make suggestions such as the boys in the fiery furnace, Daniel, Joseph, Nehemiah, Elisha, Jesus and many more! Try writing up your stories in the form of testimonies and illustrating the parallels between the Bible story and their own healing. They could send these into the periodicals and share them on Wednesday testimony meetings.
PYCL #5: RIGHT “STARTING POINTS” “CLEAR THE PATH”.
In our first section there are two passages that we could work with in our class this week. The Bible citation is from Proverbs (and they can memorize it together) “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” I particularly enjoyed how this translates in the Contemporary English Version of the Bible. For example the last line is “…and he will clear the road for you to follow.” The passage from Science and Health is from p.275:6 “The starting point of divine Science is that God, Spirit, is All-in-all, and that there is no other might nor Mind,–that God is Love, and therefore He is divine Principle.”
I love thinking about how we “start” anything. At CedarS Camps we start each activity with a short “met” or metaphysical idea. What if we approach life more along these lines? It’s like thinking about the purpose of what we are doing each time we start something.
You could even have the students put together a short “met” for Sunday School.
Why are we here? What do you want to bring home?
Can we think of something to inspire that intention that we have set?
As we are conscious about our activities as much and as often as possible, we find that our “road” is cleared for us by our loving, compassionate, intelligent, kind intentions, or conscious acknowledgement of Love (as it more or less says in the Proverbs verse right? “In all thy ways acknowledge him”…“).
With the younger crowd you can focus on how we might start on a hike.
Knowing where the hike starts so we can see the trail is a good way to begin right?
What if I dropped you off in the woods and said just head “that way” and maybe you’ll hit the trail?
If we know that we always “start” with God, we can tell when something is worth listening to or not.
Like if a friend says something that isn’t very kind, we can ask ourselves if that was really from God?
If it was meant to correct something we need to change, maybe it is from God, if not, then we can let it pass, knowing that Truth is not the source, therefore it doesn’t really touch us.
Our path to joy, peace, health, is cleared for us when we always start with God!
Have a great week in Sunday School!
