PYCLs: Synonym project. Integrity. How was Solomon’s request one of integrity? How does Truth free us? What makes Truth, specifically, different from any other synonyms?
Possible Younger Class Lesson ideas for the Christian Science Quarterly Bible Lesson on
“Truth”
for Sunday, July 23, 2023
by Kerry Jenkins, CS, of House Springs, MO
kerry.helen.jenkins@gmail.com • 314-406-0041
PYCL #1: Synonym project.
Whenever the synonyms come up it’s fun to have an ongoing project to be working on. It could be, as in past PYCLs, a cardboard set of “train cars” with a synonym on each car filled with qualities of that particular synonym.
Or, it could be a mobile with Principle as the top hanger and other synonyms hanging in balance. It could be a poster board drawing of a tree with branches as synonyms, a trunk as Principle, leaves and roots as qualities…Your imagination at work…
PYCL #2: Integrity.
I love thinking of integrity as a quality of Truth. It summons up the idea of structural integrity, having no voids or weaknesses. You can use this imagery in thinking together of challenging times. For example, during an earthquake, buildings of great structural integrity may suffer no damage.
You can talk about foundations, deep, below ground, as structural elements. In reinforced concrete buildings, steel “rebars” add bending strength to the compressive strength of concrete to maximize stability.
How do these ideas become metaphors for how we are living so that we can withstand the “earthquakes” of life — big changes, challenges, sadness, and so on?
How is man created inherently with such integrity? Go back to the Genesis 1 description of man. We are not “building” ourselves in integrity, we are already created this way and are only discovering these truths about ourselves!
You can bring in some kind of building blocks or even some things that are less stable like card decks and have the children try building small structures to see what makes something sound, what does not.
PYCL #3: How was Solomon’s request one of integrity?
What makes King Solomon’s request one that actually gives him more than even he ever asked for, and why? Is it really because God “rewards” us when we ask for the right things? God isn’t a “being” that evaluates our desires and then decides to give us good or not. This certainly is how God is portrayed, but only because we don’t have words to imagine God in other ways. This is why we are given synonyms!
God or Truth known to us, to man, reveals deeper wisdom and wealth that is always ours. When we ask for understanding, we are asking to understand God, to understand spiritual reality, beyond the material appearance of things. This is a view of man’s infinite abundance, joy, intelligence. No wonder Solomon experienced these things. We can too! We just need to start with a desire to know Truth.
PYCL #4: How does Truth free us?
On many of our Church walls we have Jesus’ statement “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
What does Truth do that frees us, and what does it free us from?
Do a quick check of the stories in the Bible lesson this week and see if you can find examples of people receiving freedom of one kind or another.
Solomon receives the freedom to understand how to govern a nation well. Jesus frees a woman who has been bent over in pain for 18 years.
Are there other kinds of freedom that are mentioned?
Can your students think of other stories in the Bible where Truth, especially, set people “free”?
Perhaps Daniel’s truthful and faithful worship of God?
Or the three Hebrew boys in the furnace?
Was Joseph always truthful? Did it always look like he was set free by his honesty?
Or did he sometimes seem to suffer for it?
Ultimately, what was the freedom he brought to many nations?
How did Truth eventually set Jacob free from a life of deceit?
How can Truth and a truthful approach to life set us free?
Can anyone think of an example where they were not truthful and it led to a feeling of “imprisonment”? I sure can! Share your own examples. It can even be more of a lie of omission, than outright dishonesty, that can bring us restriction and “imprisonment”.
PYCL #5: What makes Truth, specifically, different from any other synonyms?
Many qualities that describe each synonym will overlap as we study the synonyms. But there are seven for a reason.
Truth is necessary to give us a complete picture of God.
What makes it part of God’s completeness that no other synonym can replace? This might take some thought.
What do we know of God as Truth.
Take some time to prayerfully ponder this in class… Make some lists.
Have a great week in Sunday School!!
