[PYCL: Consider Easter from all angles & show what “He is Risen!” means to you!]
CedarS PYCLs–Possible Younger Class Lessons for:
"REALITY"
The Christian Science Bible Lesson for March 31, 2013
by Kerry Jenkins, CS, House Springs, MO (314) 406-0041 [Bracketed inserts by Warren Huff]
[PYCL #1: Bring depth & life to the Easter story by considering the story from all angles!]
Tell the Easter story in your own words. If the kids are a bit older, have them tell it. Together you can fill in the details, either from the lesson or from your knowledge of all the aspects that surround the complete story. What is important about the story? Why? Looking at the subject of the lesson, why do you think that Christian Scientists emphasize the resurrection and ascension of Jesus? Do we ignore the horror of the crucifixion? Telling the story in your own words to younger children can give you the opportunity to ask questions as you proceed and really give all of you the chance to imagine yourselves in the position of the disciples, of Jesus, of the soldiers who came to arrest Jesus (what do you think that soldier that Jesus healed thought after his healing?), of the Pharisees, of Pilate, and so on. It can really bring some depth to the story if we take the time to consider the story from all these angles, even the way that Judas might have felt. All this is not done in order to “humanize” the story, rather to bring it to life for us today. It is not bad to really have a sense for the dread that Jesus felt the night before in the garden, to wonder why the disciples couldn't stay awake and pray for their Master, or to imagine what it might have been like to go to his tomb on the Sunday morning and find him missing and discover that “he is risen!”
[PYCL #2: Healing shows us right here & now reality, the kingdom of heaven, Life eternal!]
How do the kids think that Jesus was able to raise himself from the dead? What must we do to follow in his footsteps? Everything in this lesson points to how demonstration or healing leads us to see reality right here and now. So Jesus' life, comprised of healing, brought reality into his view so vividly that he could see the kingdom of heaven clearly, and that includes the presence of Life eternal. So if we are demonstrating/ healing, we are moving towards seeing more and more of the present kingdom of God.
[PYCL #3: On clothing articles list ways to express RR qualities! Bind with love’s yarn!]
Try working together on the Responsive Reading (R.R.). Check out the last part where Paul asks us to clothe ourselves with tenderhearted mercy (what's that?), kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, and above all love. Discuss these qualities. What does it mean to be clothed with them? You could certainly bring in some “clothes” (scarves, hats, simple shirts and the like, even belts or shoes, paper crowns, capes, aprons, etc.). Each item of clothing could represent a quality. You can tag each item with a quality and the kids can add to the list as well. Have them tell you what they might actually do that would be gentle, or kind etc. As they come up with actual ways in which they can express these qualities they could put on an article of clothing that represents this quality. I have an idea too that may be too silly, but you could bring in some golden yarn or rope and label it Love/love and if they are feeling fairly peaceful you could illustrate the idea of love binding us in harmony by gently encircling all of you together in a circle that represents that circle of Love. How does love bind us (what does bind mean?)? What kind of bond does it make?
[PYCL #4: Act out how healing blows away the insubstantial chaff while “catching” truths!]
As I mentioned, the lesson emphasizes the fact that demonstration or healing reveals reality, the present Kingdom of Heaven. In the first section the idea of a fan and its function in Biblical days of sifting chaff from wheat is introduced. In citation S1 Mrs. Eddy tells us that Jesus' demonstrations are the fan… that is they separate reality from unreality, or Spirit/things spiritual, from matter. Talk about this analogy. Show them pictures of how wheat and chaff were separated by tossing them into the air with a [fork-shaped] “fan” and allowing the breeze to blow the chaff away as the wheat or grain falls to the basket. How is this like discerning reality or truth when we are praying? Why does healing help us understand the truth or tell what is real so vividly? Share a clear healing and talk about it in the light of this analogy. Ask if they can share a healing of their own that might be like a process of separating fact from fiction. It's interesting to remember that the chaff is light, it is blown away by the slightest breeze, it is without true substance (remember recent lessons?). Draw the parallel together between the insubstantial/light weight nature of chaff, and the nature of error, sickness, etc. You can practice with the little ones, “blowing away” the bad and “catching” the truths. The really young ones might enjoy this kind of dramatization.
[PYCL #5: Help pupils get a handle on heaven & overcome false witnesses to reveal reality!]
What did Jesus mean by the kingdom of God being within us? Have a good conversation about heaven. What is heaven? Is it a place? Is it real? These seem obvious to us, but we learned about these ideas at some point! Can we be in heaven now or do we have to wait until we die or some future time? How can we “be in heaven” or experience heaven more in our lives? How about when we clothe ourselves with those qualities we talked about in the R.R? In your discussion of the Kingdom of Heaven you can talk about the “false witnesses” from section 2. What are they and how do they hide the Kingdom from view? Citation S8 gives us some thoughts about how false witnesses are overcome. Also in citation S9 you have the analogy of the sun being temporarily hidden by the clouds. Does that mean that the sun isn't up there shining away? Just so, God is healing away, always revealing the real man, the true nature of where we dwell, even if the false witnesses of material sense hide that truth sometimes by a convincing mask of pain, sadness, anger, etc.
[PYCL #6: Jesus gave his all to help us understand our link to God, our oneness with Love!]
Finally, I love that the Easter story tells us how Jesus' teachings culminated in the event that helped us to really understand God and His goodness. We are “linked” to God by “Science”, our leader tells us in citation S17. Why Science? Because Science helps us sift fact from fiction, truth from error… and that is what our Master did for us and Mrs. Eddy did centuries later. We are linked, bound to Love by love! What a great thought. And Jesus lived and died, and rose and ascended… all to help us understand our link to God, our oneness with Love.
Have a great Easter Sunday!
Lots of love, Kerry
