PSST: Lift Thought to an Unfallen YOU! (and ALL!!)
Possible Sunday School Topics (PSSTs) for The Christian Science Quarterly Bible Lesson:
“Adam and Fallen Man”
for May 1-7, 2023
prepared by Merrill Boudreaux, C.S., for CedarS Camps
pegasus6524@gmail.com • 314-308-1059
P.S.S.T. Golden Text (GT)/I Kings 18:21: “…How long will you falter between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him;” (NKJV).
The question in the Golden Text sets up a key discussion: Who or what will you follow as the way of life; either God and man as stated in Genesis 1, or another creation doomed for all eternity as identified in Genesis 2? Read these two chapters side by side and set up your own comparison: Which is real to you, in which shall you trust, which shall be your model man to follow?
Responsive Reading (RR)/Romans 6, I Corinthians 15, Jude 1 –
Here is another great question: Who will you obey? Your Creator who made you free, or the Adam dream that punishes, makes you suffer and leads to death? Read together in the RR/Jude 1:24, “Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,…”
Read together Hymn 275 from the Christian Science Hymnal (printed here).
Hymn 275
Praise now creative Mind,
Maker of earth and heaven;
Glory and power to Him belong,
Joy of the sun and skies,
Strength where the hills arise,
So let us praise with joy and song.
Ages have seen His might,
Father we call His name;
Nights of our mourning and sorrow end,
Light blesses opened eyes,
Joys like the dawns arise
As we see Him our God and Friend.
Saviour from death is He;
Life is our heritage;
Mercy and goodness forever guide;
Ours is the risen Christ,
Daily we keep our tryst,
And evermore in Love confide.
Recommit and rededicate your life as one who praises God, the God of Genesis 1.
P.S.S.T. Section 1 – If the scriptures “were written aforetime… for our learning,” (citation B1/Romans 15:4), what is recorded as the roadmap or way for your life? Be mindful that every day and every moment we can be and are mindful of what God has in store for you. How do you know this? See cit. B3/Genesis 1:26, “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness:…” And again in Genesis 1:31, “And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good.” Not just good, but VERY good. That is you and all. So, what will you hear, what will you listen to, which of the “distinct documents” in Genesis will be your guide?
See what Mary Baker Eddy says in cit.S4/Science & Health 522:3, “The Science of the first record proves the falsity of the second. If one is true, the other is false, for they are antagonistic.”
P.S.S.T. Section 2 – Use Concord to research the phrase, “Be of one mind”. What do you read in Romans 12:16 and II Corinthians 13:11? See also Philippians 2:5, “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.” See also the 6th Tenet of Christian Science in Science & Health 497:24.
So will you be double-minded (cit. B9/James 1:8), therefore unstable, vacillating between Genesis 1 and Genesis 2? Or shall you be a follower of Christ Jesus?
Read together citation S11/279:26.
P.S.S.T. Section 3 – The allegory of the serpent in the garden of Eden is an interesting story. It reveals what?
- Who are we listening to
- Is there both good and evil
- What is pleasant to you
- Choice of life or death
Read cit. B12/Luke 21:8: “Take heed that ye be not deceived:”
Read from Science & Health 360:13, “Dear reader, which mind-picture or externalized thought shall be real to you, — the material or the spiritual?” How will you answer that question?
There is a big issue today facing us all as relates to social media and what to believe and trust. See the guidance from Mary Baker Eddy in citation S16/196:31-7. Do you know why she established the Christian Science Monitor? “To injure no man, but to bless all mankind.” See also cit.S17,
“We should prevent the images of disease from taking form in thought, and we should efface the outlines of disease already formulated in the minds of mortals.” (SH 174:32)
Think about Christ Jesus and what he was able to accomplish because he had one Mind, not two.
P.S.S.T. Section 4 – This section of the Lesson should be a wakeup call, an eye-opener as to what we shall choose to follow. The path may not always be clear, it could be misty, murky, foggy. What then shall we do? See Science & Health 254:10-12, “When we wait patiently on God and seek Truth righteously, He directs our path.”
Read together Hymn 9 from the Christian Science Hymnal (printed here). Pay close attention to Verse 3.
Hymn 9
All glory be to God most high, And on the earth be peace,
The angels sang, in days of yore, The song that ne’er shall cease,
Till all the world knows peace.
God’s angels ever come and go, All winged with light and love;
They bring us blessings from on high, They lift our thoughts above,
They whisper God is Love.
O longing hearts that wait on God Through all the world so wide;
He knows the angels that you need, And sends them to your side,To comfort, guard and guide.
O wake and hear the angel-song That bids all discord cease,
From pain and sorrow, doubt and fear, It brings us sweet release;
And so our hearts find peace.
So the question is, Did God curse man, man’s life, and all that man touched? The call is for us to wake up from this dream. To what end? See Science & Health vii:2-10:
“The wakeful shepherd beholds the first faint morning beams, ere cometh the full radiance of a risen day. So shone the pale star to the prophet-shepherds; yet it traversed the night, and came where, in cradled obscurity, lay the Bethlehem babe, the human herald of Christ, Truth, who would make plain to benighted understanding the way of salvation through Christ Jesus, till across a night of error should dawn the morning beams and shine the guiding star of being.”
Do you desire to be a wakeful shepherd or stay in cradled obscurity”? The call in this Lesson is to wake up!
P.S.S.T. Section 5 – What is your task? See Science & Health vii:23, “It is the task of the sturdy pioneer to hew the tall oak and to cut the rough granite.”
See also the benefits of your work, O sturdy pioneer, as stated in cit.S25/423:8.
Once again, what are you holding in thought, the man of God’s creating, or the Adam dream? Psalms 37:37/cit.B20 tells us “Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace.”
Read the prayer of peace as found in Hymn 276 in the Christian Science Hymnal (printed here).
Hymn 276 (& 277)
Peace be to this congregation; Peace to every heart therein;
Peace, the earnest of salvation; Peace, the fruit of conquered sin;
Peace, that speaks the heavenly Giver; Peace, to worldly minds unknown;
Peace, that floweth as a river From th’ eternal source alone.
O Thou God of peace, be near us, Fix within our hearts Thy home;
With Thy bright appearing cheer us, In Thy blessed freedom come.
Come with all Thy revelations, Truth which we so long have sought;
Come with Thy deep consolations, Peace of God which passeth thought.
P.S.S.T. Section 6 – What is the great truth revealed in Science & Health and through the study of Christian Science? See cit.S28/200:16.
Also, there is a good memorization opportunity in cit. S31/249:1:
“Let us accept Science, relinquish all theories based on sense-testimony, give up imperfect models and illusive ideals; and so let us have one God, one Mind, and that one perfect, producing His own models of excellence.”
