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PSST: Be Mindful of Thoughts from God & Let them Guide You!
Possible Sunday School Topics (PSSTs) for The Christian Science Quarterly Bible Lesson:
“Mind”
for August 15-21, 2022
prepared by Merrill Boudreaux, C.S.
pegasus6524@gmail.com • 314-308-1059
P.S.S.T. Golden Text (GT)/Psalm 115:12, “The Lord hath been mindful of us: he will bless us;”
Ask students what the Golden Text means to them; that is, what do they think it means that God, Mind, knows them? What other words might they substitute for “knows” to more clearly express how they might answer that question? Perhaps –- cares, acknowledges, is aware of, watches out for, guides, corrects, governs, “has your back”.
Responsive Reading (RR)/Deuteronomy 32:9-12; Philippians 4:4,6-8,9
What do your students know of Jacob and his experience in the wilderness, Genesis 32:24?
What statements in the RR show how God was mindful of Jacob?
- Jacob received his inheritance from the Lord
- The Lord found Jacob in a desert land
- He led him about
- He kept him as the apple of his eye
- He led him
What is the statement for your further guidance in the RR, found in Philippians?
What should you think of each day to prepare your thought to be ever mindful of God?
P.S.S.T. Section 1 – Be aware of thoughts from God and let them guide you! What is a key takeaway in citation B1/Psalm 94:19? “In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul.”
Perhaps, “With all that presents itself to my consciousness, let me be aware of the thoughts that come from God and let them guide me, as they were guides to Jacob.” See also Psalm 139:23,24, “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”
There is a good memorization prayer in citation B2/Ps.139:7-11.
Ask students if they can feel the care, or mindfulness, of God to them in citation B2/Ps.139:17, and in citation B3/Jer.29:11, “…I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.”
P.S.S.T. Section 2 – What do you think it means to be inspired?
Where does inspiration come from? See citation B5/Proverbs 1:23, “…behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you.”
Ask students to share any inspiration experience they have had that point to God being mindful of them, caring for them.
How did Eli show inspiration in the Bible story in citation B6/I Samuel 3?
Do you fit into this story? See the answer in citation B7/Isaiah 54:13, “And all thy children shall be taught of the LORD; and great shall be the peace of thy children.”
Read together citation S6/Science & Health 470:16, “The children of God have but one Mind.” Look to this section for statements of how Spirit, Mind, guides you:
- Spirit imparts the understanding which uplifts consciousness
- Spiritual understanding unfolds Mind
- This understanding is not intellectual, is not the result of scholarly attainments
- Spirit, God, gathers unformed thoughts into their proper channels
P.S.S.T. Section 3 – What do you suppose it means to “cry” unto the Lord?
How does God respond? See citation B9/Ps.107:29, “He made the storm be still” (International Children’s Bible, ICB). Why?
Because “God is not a God of confusion but a God of peace” (cit. B11/I Cor.14:33, ICB).
Read together Hymn 269 from the Christian Science Hymnal (words printed here). Pay particular attention to Verse 2.
Hymn 269, 270
Our God is Love, unchanging Love, And can we ask for more?
Our prayer for Love’s increase is vain; ‘Twas infinite before.
Ask not the Lord with breath of praise For more than we accept;
The open fount is free to all, God’s promises are kept.
Our God is Mind, the perfect Mind, Intelligence divine;
Shall mortal man ask Him to change His infinite design?
The heart that yearns for righteousness, With longing unalloyed,
In such desire sends up a prayer That ne’er returneth void.
O loving Father, well we know That words alone are vain,
That those who seek Thy will to do, The true communion gain.
Then may our deeds our pure desire For growth in grace express,
That we may know how Love divine Forever waits to bless.
Can a “cry” also be considered a prayer? How did Jacob “cry” to the Lord in the Bible story referenced in Genesis 32? What was the result? God sent angels to Jacob. See Mary Baker Eddy’s spiritual definition of “angels” in Science & Health 581:4
ANGELS. God’s thoughts passing to man; spiritual intuitions, pure and perfect; the inspiration of goodness, purity, and immortality, counteracting all evil, sensuality, and mortality.
P.S.S.T. Section 4 – “God …gave us a spirit of power and love and self-control”
Read together citation B13/II Timothy 1:7, “God did not give us a spirit that makes us afraid. He gave us a spirit of power and love and self-control” (ICB). What Bible characters do you know of who proved that statement? Extra credit for names outside “the biggies” we normally think of. How about Abraham in his early days. See Gen.11:28, Gen.15:7, and Neh.9:7 as an example.
P.S.S.T. Section 5 – What is the 6th Tenet of Christian Science? See SH 497:24,
“6. And we solemnly promise to watch, and pray for that Mind to be in us which was also in Christ Jesus; to do unto others as we would have them do unto us; and to be merciful, just, and pure.”
This tenet is also based on citation B15/Phil.2:5, “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus”.
Challenge yourself as to who sustains you; who provides your strength, your courage, your foresight, your protection? See the statement in citation S26/SH 62:13-16,
“Taking less ‘thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink’; less thought ‘for your body what ye shall put on,’ will do much more for the health of the rising generation than you dream.”
Where should our thought be to be mindful of this Mind who is mindful of us? See Science & Health 264:9,
“Where shall the gaze rest but in the unsearchable realm of Mind? We must look where we would walk, and we must act as possessing all power from Him in whom we have our being.”
P.S.S.T. Section 6 – Enjoy a Hymn Sing of smiling! (see Hymn 217:2 below)
Read the summarizing statement in citation B18/Ps.115:12, “The Lord remembers us and will bless us” (ICB), which repeats the Golden Text.
Do you have the mind of God, the mind of Christ? Read together a powerful prayer for all mankind found in citation S29/SH 469:30-5 and citation S30/SH 467:13:
“With one Father, even God, the whole family of man would be brethren; and with one Mind and that God, or good, the brotherhood of man would consist of Love and Truth, and have unity of Principle and spiritual power which constitute divine Science” (SH 469:30–5).
“Having no other gods, turning to no other but the one perfect Mind to guide him, man is the likeness of God, pure and eternal, having that Mind which was also in Christ” (SH 467:13).
Read together Hymn 217 from the Christian Science Hymnal (words printed here). Pay particular attention to the second verse.
Hymn 217
O, he whom Jesus loved has truly spoken, That holier worship, which God deigns to bless, Restores the lost, and heals the spirit broken, And feeds the widow and the fatherless.
Then, brother man, fold to thy heart thy brother, For where love dwells, the peace of God is there: To worship rightly is to love each other; Each smile a hymn, each kindly deed a prayer.
Follow with reverent steps the great example Of him whose holy work was doing good; So shall the wide earth seem our Father’s temple, Each loving life a psalm of gratitude.
