PYCLs:Talk about wells! How can we “launch out into the deep and let down [our] nets”–on the right side? Stop human perfectionism. See the world in a spiritual sense way — with no one left out.
Possible Younger Class Lesson ideas for the Christian Science Quarterly Bible Lesson on
“Reality”
for Sunday, March 26, 2023
by Kerry Jenkins, CS, of House Springs, MO
kerry.helen.jenkins@gmail.com • 314-406-0041
PYCL #1: Talk about wells!
How did they dig wells in Bible times?
How deep did they usually go?
How did they know where to dig (not all wells yield water, can you imagine digging 75 feet or more down and not hitting water?!)
Measure with a tape measure, and mark with chalk or place holders, the distance in your Sunday School or parking lot, the depth of a typical well, in what was then Philistine, so the children can get an idea of how deep they were digging.
What does water signify in the Bible?
Why was water so important?
What do you think “depth” signifies?
Consider how we can “…look deep into realism instead of accepting only the outward sense of things.” (cit. S1/129:22-24.
Can we be “thirsty” for Good? (cit. B2/Ps.63:1,2.)
I would bring in videos and pictures of wells (ancient ones) plus some descriptions to share of how they would have dug them. Consider how long it would have taken to dig one, assuming that it reached to the water table.
Now, go to the story of Isaac in Section 3, citation B10/Gen. 26:1,12,16,17,19-22, 26-28, 31. Would you have the patience and peace to dig three different wells before being allowed to stay and use one for his people and cattle? What made it so that Isaac refused to become warlike with these different people that claimed each of the wells he dug for themselves? In the end, the king of the Philistines as well as some other powerful people came to see him to have him sign a peace treaty with them.
Why did they seek him out for this? Maybe their own spiritual sense made them aware that Isaac was inspired by something greater. After all, Mary Baker Eddy tells us in citation S6/505:20-28 that “Spiritual sense is the discernment of spiritual good.”
Is there a limit to who can discern spiritual good? No!
Discuss Isaac’s spiritual sense that must have led him to each place where he dug a successful well. What might his thought process have been in handling anger and frustration over having to leave each well.
What kind of leader must he have been that he could inspire all his followers to leave each well peacefully?
In this story, what does real power turn out to look like?
PYCL #2: How can we “launch out into the deep and let down [our] nets”–on the right side?
Bring in some fabric to represent nets, you could use sheets or anything that a smaller person can handle easily. Tell and discuss the story in citation B13/Luke 5:1,2 (to:), 3-7 (to 1st.), 11,15.
Why did Peter not at once go out when Jesus asked him to let down his nets?
What if we are all being asked to “let down our nets” and what does that mean, can it be a symbol? If so, what is it a symbol of?
Jesus later tells these disciples that he will make them “fishers of men”, so I think he was trying to help them see the limitless possibilities of spiritual pursuits, versus the limits of “toil in the dark”.
Set up chairs in a sort of “train”, front to back in a row, and have the children sit in them…this is their boat. Then they can try throwing “nets” over the side of the boat. Practice pulling in the heavy nets. If you want you could bring goldfish crackers for them to share after their fishing labors are over.
Nets can mean a way to bring in people to follow Jesus, but they can also symbolize getting tangled up in material pursuits and forsaking spiritual ones. If we are just “fishing in shallow/material” waters/pursuits.How do we go deep and throw our own spiritual “nets” on the right side?
What does that look like on a daily basis?
PYCL #3: What does “perfect” mean in the Bible (and in Mary Baker Eddy’s writings)?
Does perfect have anything to do with doing everything just right? Or being great at everything? No!
In the Bible it means “whole” or “complete”.
This is such an important distinction to make for young people who grow up hearing the phrase that they are “God’s perfect child”, or that they are spiritually “perfect”.
Human perfectionism is nothing we should ever aspire to. That is just looking for perfection in matter and there is none there, so we end up feeling anxious and frustrated or depressed whenever we try! Instead we can understand more, with spiritual sense, about our spiritual wholeness.
There is nothing we are adding to ourselves when we pray, there is nothing we are removing either. Now read the story in citation B16/John 5:2-9 about the man by the pool of Bethesda who couldn’t walk and had been there waiting for help for 38 years. That’s a long time!
Why did he give Jesus excuses when Jesus asked him if he wanted to be “made whole”?
Maybe he thought there were no other options?
Do we sometimes feel like that– out of options?
The Science and Health portions of this section talk a lot about perfection, how it “underlies reality”–cit. S22/353:16-18, cit. S23/476:32-5, and cit, S24/259:11–all include statements about God’s and man’s perfection.
Jesus saw this man’s completeness or wholeness, he didn’t “make” this man whole, rather, the Christ that he embodied and shared gave him the spiritual insight to discern the man’s inherent spiritually whole nature. For children a bit older, this points to an important idea.
We don’t have to merit wholeness. We didn’t necessarily do something “wrong” that we are in a certain position!
Perfection or wholeness is ours and it is ours to see in others. This is spiritual reality!
PYCL #4: What does this lesson mean by “reality”?
This is so much more than a conversation about what is “real” and what is not. We don’t need to do a list of things like sickness that are not real, and health that is real. When we had the lesson on substance and on matter we got to dig into these ideas about what lasts/endures and what fades away. This is a refinement of that which is discerned through our spiritual sense.
Talk a little more about spiritual sense and what it means. This is how we perceive God around us, or within us. When we look for spiritual good like beauty, love, generosity, kindness, intelligence, joy, and we acknowledge these things as evidence of God’s presence and activity right here and now, then we are using our spiritual sense. What does this do for us?
We find we are more joyful, more grateful, we get inspiration when we are looking at the world around us in this spiritual sense way. We find intelligence that we might need, to solve problems. Spiritual reality is Truth, and don’t we all want to know what is true?
PYCL #5: Where is the kingdom of God?
We know that Jesus tells us it is within each of us. (cit. B19/Luke 17:20,21.)
So then, is it “my” kingdom? Is it “your” kingdom? No, it’s the kingdom! It is what connects us to one another and to God.
It is spiritual reality within each of us.
And because it is not inside of a physical body, but inside consciousness, there are no boundaries that make it impossible to get into. There are no people that are left out or excluded.
In citation S32/276:9 Mary Baker Eddy writes “Man and his Maker are correlated in divine Science…”
If we are correlated to God, then we must also be correlated to one another. It is through that kingdom within that we best find that correlation. You can look that up together with the children. It can also be sort of “taken apart”, though that is probably not totally scientific, to see that it also looks like “co related” with God and each other 🙂
Have fun in Sunday School this week!
