Possible Sunday School Topics for the Christian Science Quarterly Bible Lesson on
“Love”
for Sunday, July 31, 2022
By Tom Evans, former staff member and a big fan of CedarS
Use this Sunday School class as an opportunity to love more clearly and confidently.
PSST Golden Text & Responsive Reading
By my count, the lesson uses the word “love” 67 times this week–but double check my math. 🙂 There are over 20 instances of the word love in the Golden Text and Responsive Reading alone. Have your students count how many times they see the word love or loveth in the Golden Text and Responsive Reading.
PSST for Section 1: Know Love
In citation B2 (1 Corinthians 2:12) what else is on this list of free gifts from God besides love? Citation S1 provides a starting point from God.
Citations S2 through S5 build on this idea of love as the foundation of God’s being. Why is love able to impart might and immortality to the least spiritual idea (citation S4, 518:19-21) and at the same time fill all space (citation S5, 520:3-5)?
PSST for Section 2: Realize love is powerful
How do you think Daniel was praying as he watched the plot of the other governors falsely put blame on him for prayer? (see cit. B6, Dan. 6:1-27)
How many times a day did Daniel pray?
Some people set reminders on their cell phone or watch to pray a few times during the day. Do you have reminders for yourself to recenter your thought on God? Maybe when you get to school, or when you eat.
When you wake up in the morning, before your feet hit the ground, set your thoughts straight. Double check: are you going forth with gratitude and love? Have your students write a note for themselves and put it by their bed.
Look at citation S8 (514:26) about realizing Love’s control over all.
How was love helpful for Daniel?
Why do we have to consciously realize Love is omnipotent?
It may be worth a conversation here about the synonyms and thinking of God as Love itself.
PSST for Section 3: Hold perpetually that Love corrects and governs
How did Love, not ego or greed, correct and govern Zacchaeus (citation B11, Luke 19:2-10)? Give an example in your own experience, or think of Jesus’s recognition that Zacchaeus was “also a son of Abraham”. Jesus didn’t see Zacchaeus as a sinner. Why?
In citation S14 (231) why is it “wise” to “hold yourself superior to [sin] sickness and death?”
Discuss citation S16 (494:15). Why is grace no miracle to Love?
How does the story of Zacchaeus exemplify citation S16?
PSST for Section 4: You too can love and heal as Jesus taught
Think through Mary Baker Eddy’s statement in citation S20 that “the substance of all devotion is the reflection and demonstration of divine love, healing sickness and destroying sin.” (241:19)
What is the substance of devotion?
How are you more dedicated to God by demonstrating what Jesus taught?
Section 4 focuses on demonstration. Peter demonstrates what Jesus taught him and heals Aeneas (cit. B14, Acts 9:32-35). Passages from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy center around following Jesus’ example (citation S17) and Jesus empowers everyone to heal as he did (citation S18). What demonstrations have you experienced in your life? This week? Where can you find a record of demonstrations of healing written down (hint: the Sentinel, Journal, and Herald)?
PSST for Section 5: Love your neighbor, Love more genuinely
Section 5 focuses on all-inclusive love for all of mankind. How can you better apprehend the statement from 2nd Timothy (1:7) in citation B16 that God has given us power and love and a sound mind? Why is it important to first cast out fear in order to love? What is “the true incentive in both healing and teaching”? (Hint, see citation S22, 454:17)
PSST for Section 6: Live Love
In citation B20 (2 Cor. 13:11, 14), what is Paul’s closing message to the Corinthians? How is love involved? Is Paul’s farewell how you greet one another and depart? Are you really seeing everyone without judgment?
In citation S27 (516:4) we see this continual theme of subordinating “the false testimony of the corporeal senses”. Why is it so crucial to see God’s creation through the lens of love?
Looking at the closing statements in Science and Health, how can we more clearly love? How can we see God’s creation as described in section 6?
Hymn 460 verse 2 captures the sense of love the lesson brings out. The end of the verse says “When we all serve one another, Then our heaven is begun.” Are you serving others with divine Love?
“Come, O fount of every vision,
Lift our eyes to what will come.
See the lion and the young lamb
Dwell together in Your home.
Hear the cries of war fall silent,
Feel our love glow like the sun.
When we all serve one another,
Then our heaven is begun.”
(Hymn. 460:2)
