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PSSTs: Be set free to master the infinite idea. Stop playing handcuffed! (5)
P
ossible Sunday School Topics (PSSTs)for The Christian Science Quarterly Bible Lesson:

“Soul and Body”
for November 14-20, 2022

prepared by Merrill Boudreaux, C.S., St Louis MO area
pegasus6524@gmail.com   •   314-308-1059


P.S.S.T.  Golden Text (GT)/Psalms 34:2, “My whole being praises the Lord.” (International Children’s Bible)

What constitutes your whole being? Some would say we are a combination of a physical body with a soul inside. How do you identify? What percentage of you is physical body and what percentage of you is soul? How do your friends identify you? By voice, height, weight, hair color, skin color, academic ability, athletic talents? We should be careful to examine ourselves through the lens that God sees us, that is, through the being created by God and known as reflection.

Mary Baker Eddy clearly guides us in Science & Health, page 477:19, with the question and answer: “What are body and Soul?” Note that she does not spend any time examining or explaining the physical body. She cuts right through to its pure definition, with the word “Identity.” She then even more clearly provides clarity around what identity is. She states, “Identity is the reflection of Spirit, the reflection in multifarious forms of the living Principle, Love.”

In this explanation no one is left out, nothing is inferior to Spirit. Therefore no one is inferior to another. So we can praise God for every idea that exists and celebrate the infinite nature, identifying each as their share of reflection.


Responsive Reading (RR)/I Corinthians 9:24-27; Romans 12:1,2:  What prize are you running to achieve? That is, what qualities do you wish to see embodied in your experience; and then, how do you go about achieving them? Look for key words in the RR for guidance: run, receive the prize, strive for mastery, obtain an incorruptible crown, “control” the body, present your body as a living sacrifice, and be not conformed to this world but transformed, prove what is the “good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”

Read together Hymn 138 from the Christian Science Hymnal (words printed here).

Hymn 138
I praise Thee, Lord, for blessings sent To break the dream of human power;
For now, my shallow cistern spent, I find Thy font and thirst no more.
I take Thy hand and fears grow still; Behold Thy face and doubts remove;
Who would not yield his wavering will To perfect Truth and boundless Love?
That Truth gives promise of a dawn Beneath whose light I am to see,
When all these blinding veils are drawn, Thy love has always guided me.


P.S.S.T.  Section 1 – Look for further guidance as to how we identify ourselves & all others in this section:

  • What is the command in citation B1/Deuteronomy 6:1,4,5?
  • Can you ever be less than holy? cit. B2/Leviticus 19:2
  • You are My witnesses. cit. B4/Isaiah 43:10,21
  • I will triumph in the works of Your hands. cit. B5/Psalms 92:4
  • Because you coexist with God, you “forever reflect, in glorified quality, the infinite Father-Mother God.” (cit. S6/SH 516:21)

P.S.S.T.  Section 2 – A key question in this section – Who do you serve?

Is our service with a physical body? Ask students to share their views of the difference between the man of God’s creating and the man of flesh. Here is a big question.

See S10/SH 228:14-16: “Mortals will some day assert their freedom in the name of Almighty God. Then they will control their own bodies through the understanding of divine Science.”


P.S.S.T.  Section 3 – Read God’s word to you in Isaiah, cit. B11/Isa.42:1:

“Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.”

How did Jesus identify the centurion’s servant in B13/Luke 7:2-10? Read it together.

What do you say to this: Has the time come to recognize Soul, and you as its substance?

How direct is the call to action in S18/SH 14:12-18? —

“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.”


P.S.S.T.  Section 4 – Once again, God is speaking directly to you!
“Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health….”
cit. B14/III John 1:2

How cool is that? This is a promise with no expiration date. Mrs. Eddy echoes that sentiment with her own guidance in S22/SH 261:2. Read it together:

“Look away from the body into Truth and Love, the Principle of all happiness, harmony, and immortality. Hold thought steadfastly to the enduring, the good, and the true, and you will bring these into your experience proportionably to their occupancy of your thoughts.”

Read also Hymn 146 from the Christian Science Hymnal (words printed here):

Hymn 146 (& 147):
In God I find a precious gift That knows no fear, no feud,
That glows so still, serene and pure: The gift of gratitude.
It brightens all the paths of earth, Reflecting Truth and right,
For gratitude doth steadfastly Abide in heavenly light.
With confidence it hails each task, With courage undismayed,
For naught against Infinity Can ever be arrayed.
In seamless gratitude I weave A silent, healing prayer,
With shining threads of ceaseless joy; For man is God’s great heir.


P.S.S.T.  Section 5 – What do it means that “the fetters of man’s finite capacity are forged by the illusion that he lives in body instead of in Soul…”? (cit. S24/223:3). [W. It’d be like playing handcuffed!] 

What do you think it means to “Take possession of your body, and govern its feeling and action.” (cit. B14/III John 1:2S28/SH 393:4)


P.S.S.T.  Section 6 – Where is your gaze resting? (cit. S30/264:7)

Are you clapping your hands for these truths shared? (cit. B22/Ps. 47:1)
Are you feeling sanctified, saintly? (cit. B23/ Dan. 7:18)
Are you feeling faithful to Him who has called you?  (cit. B24/I Thes. 5:23, 24)

So, we come full circle, from the Golden Text to this last citation (cit. B14/III John 1:2S31/SH 90:24-25): “The admission to one’s self that man is God’s own likeness sets man free to master the infinite idea.”

Are you feeling free?

 

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