Possible Sunday School Topics (PSSTs)
for The Christian Science Quarterly Bible Lesson:
“Soul and Body”
for November 13-19, 2023
prepared by Merrill Boudreaux, C.S., for CedarS Camps
pegasus6524@gmail.com • 314-308-1059
Two questions for you this week:
- How do you identify yourself? and
- What are you called to do with your life?
P.S.S.T. Golden Text (GT)/Ephesians 4:4: “There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;”
- What does it mean to you to be one with God?
- How can you cultivate understanding what it means to be one with God?
- Do you set aside time each day to listen?
- Is listening only for a moment, or is it an ongoing activity?
Responsive Reading (RR)/Ezekiel 18:1-4; Psalm 42:1-4,8,11; Psalm 146:1
What are some key phrases in the RR you can use for guidance in active listening?
- The word of the Lord came unto me, saying…
- All souls are mine
- My soul thirsteth for God
- The Lord will command his lovingkindness
- His [the Lord’s] song shall be with thee [you!]
P.S.S.T. Section 1 –There are two great memorization opportunities –
- In the Responsive Reading: Psalm 42:11 – “Why art thou cast down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.” and
- In citation B2/Psalm 90:1,2 – “Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.”
Read together the question and answer incitation S4/Science & Health 477:19-2, “What are body and soul?” What words in this passage speak to your identity?
- § Reflection
- § Substance, Life, and intelligence
- § Not in matter
- § The expression of Soul
- § Gain the eternal unfolding of Life as immortality brought to light
P.S.S.T. Section 2 – How does the story of Moses in citation B4/Exodus 3 show the results of active listening?
Read together Hymn 317 from the Christian Science Hymnal (words supplied here).
Hymn 317
Still, still with Thee when purple morning breaketh, / When the bird waketh, and the shadows flee,
Fairer than morning, lovelier than the daylight, / Dawns the sweet consciousness, I am with Thee.
Alone with Thee, amid the changing shadows, / Solemn the hush of nature, newly born;
Alone with Thee, in breathless adoration, / In the calm dew and freshness of the morn.
So shall it ever be in the bright morning, / When hearts awaking see the shadows flee,
O, in that hour, and fairer than the dawning, / Rises the glorious thought, I am with Thee.
Take a few moments to pause, reflect, and then write down what is it you have questions about, and what answers do you desire to hear about who you are.
P.S.S.T. Section 3 – The question posed at the beginning of this Lesson – What are you called to do with your life? – may find an answer incitation B7/Deuteronomy 10:12-14 – “What doth the Lord thy God require of thee”?
Follow this with the question and answer in citation S11/467:1-7, “What are the demands of the Science of Soul?”
Do you know that the builder and maker of your body, your identity, is God? How can you cultivate knowing God better?
P.S.S.T. Section 4 – Here is an opportunity for role play in the story of Elijah in this section – cit. B9/I Kings 17.
How did Elijah and the widow woman show active listening? What about her son? How about the Lord?
- “…the Lord heard the voice of Elijah”
- “and the woman said unto Elijah”
See citation S18/427:1, “If it is true that man lives, this fact can never change in Science to the opposite belief that man dies….”
So, what then? Is Life a law of Soul?
Can Soul ever be without its representative? Who is that representative?
P.S.S.T. Section 5 – See an answer to that question in citation B10/Ezekiel 18:4, “Behold, all souls are mine;..”
What is a call to action stated in citation S27/91:5, “Let us rid ourselves of the belief that man is separated from God, and obey only the divine Principle, Life and Love.”
Here is life’s work: To know God and know yourself as the representative of Soul.
What about all the others in the world, how do they fit in to the equation of being One with God? Has God abandoned any of Her creation? Can anyone be left out? Can anyone be deaf to God’s voice?
Ask students to write a Christian Science prayer treatment to any issue of the day, affirming the Oneness of God and God’s manifestation (abbreviated “man”), and the fact that all can hear, and do hear, God speaking.
Can Love ever be less than Love?
Can Love, Soul’s idea, ever be less than loving or Soul-ful – full of Soul, full of love?
P.S.S.T. Section 6 – You are blessed of the Lord, blessed of Soul. Your identity as one with God is intact!
Ask students to speak a blessing on all mankind based on what they have learned in this Lesson.
Use the Aaronic blessing in Numbers 6:24-26 as a model.
Peace be upon you all.
