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PSST: Discover your spiritual identity and follow God!
Possible Sunday School Topics for the Christian Science Bible Lesson on
“Soul”
FEBRUARY 6–12, 2023
by Lindsey Biggs, C.S of Maryland Heights, MO
540 460 3515 biggs.lindsey@gmail.com
P.S.S.T. for Golden Text
“The Lord is my shepherd; . . . He restoreth my soul:” – Psalm 23:1
What are some roles that a Shepherd has? To lead, guide, feed, protect his flock. As we humbly yield to God, we feel our Shepherd guiding us and keeping us out of dark valleys.
What does “restore my soul” mean to your students? What is being restored? Our sense of self, dignity, hope, expectation of good, our ability to express God, our ability to be successful.
Soul can also refer to our spiritual sense. “Spiritual sense is a conscious, constant capacity to understand God.” (Science and Health, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 209)
So, God restores our ability to hear and know God clearly. This is very important because this is where our dominion comes from! This is what gives us mental clarity to discern good – the right path to walk in.
P.S.S.T. for Responsive Reading
“Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee:” Psalms 55:22
No one wants to feel burdened. We are spiritual ideas of God so it’s natural for us to feel light, radiant, and joyful. What is it that makes us not feel this way? Usually false material beliefs, and a belief that we are separated from God. What are some burdens your students are facing? Talk about practical ways they can cast those burdens on the Lord. This often helps us get self out of the way and yield to God’s love.
“Christ is the true idea voicing good, the divine message from God to men speaking to the human consciousness.” (Science and Health, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 332)
So it is never the Christ that causes us to feel burdened. Rather, the Christ causes us to feel light, joy, and hope. It’s our Christ-selfhood that we want to magnify. We want to get a false material selfhood out of the way.
“Shew me thy ways, O Lord; teach me thy paths.” Psalms 25:4
This prayer is a humble petition that illustrates the desire to get that false self out the way. It is the true selfhood that wants to do the right thing. That wants to be guided rightly by God. Notice the desire is to walk in God’s paths and God’s ways. How do these ideas relate to Jacob and Esau later on in this week’s Bible Lesson?
What are the benefits of sacrificing a false, material view of self?
This whole Responsive Reading contains many wonderful prayers to God. Psalms is such an excellent book because it’s like a book of prayers. We see how others who have gone before us have prayed to God and found blessings, and how we can have faith in God, too.
P.S.S.T. for Section 1 — Get to know your spiritual identity
“Soul is the substance, Life, and intelligence of man, which is individualized, but not in matter.” (citation S1, SH p. 477:22)
Soul is the Source of our identity. Our spiritual individuality. Each plant, animal and person has a spiritual identity. The good news is – it is never in matter! That means it has existed and will exist in Spirit forever!
The knowledge of our spiritual identity makes us more talented, more creative, more joyful, a transparency of divine light. So getting to know our true identity is really valuable and important – especially if we want to feel engaged and find a meaningful purpose.
“Absorbed in material selfhood we discern and reflect but faintly the substance of Life or Mind. The denial of material selfhood aids the discernment of man’s spiritual and eternal individuality…
(Science and Health, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 91)
“This scientific sense of being, forsaking matter for Spirit, by no means suggests man’s absorption into Deity and the loss of his identity, but confers upon man enlarged individuality, a wider sphere of thought and action, a more expansive love, a higher and more permanent peace.”
(Science and Health, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 265)
This TeenConnect article Who cares if I’m spiritual? expands on the value of being spiritual and what it can mean for our lives.
P.S.S.T. for Section 2 – Jacob and Esau
The story of Jacob and Esau contains many wonderful lessons. This week’s Bible Lesson includes elements of this story throughout a number of the sections.
Perhaps your students would enjoy an in-depth look at who Jacob and Esau were. If you want to get the family lineage, you could also explore Abraham sending his servant to his native land to find a wife (Rebekah) for his son Isaac. There are many online family trees for Abraham.
There is also a 5-part video series on ChristianScience.com (https://www.christianscience.com/youth/sunday-school-teachers) which has helpful info on the book of Genesis.
The video called “The Book of Genesis: Characters” includes a helpful family tree (start the video at 1:38 to reach the Patriarchs section).
The video “The book of Genesis: Main theme” includes many wonderful ideas, such as God’s promises are more powerful than their mistakes; God’s promises are more powerful than their brotherly strife.
Just scroll down to the bottom of the Sunday School teachers page (using the link above) to find this video collection.
P.S.S.T. for Section 3 – Jacob finds the courage to follow God
Bible Lens Research has some helpful background on the story of Jacob and Esau:
“While obedient to God’s charge to revisit his homeland (see 31:3, citation 10), Jacob yet fears reprisals from his brother. But whereas he previously relied on his own devices, now he is ready to trust God. His appeal in verses 9–12 is deemed a model prayer, beginning with humble reminders of God’s command to return home and His promise to protect him, and then adding a petition for deliverance.”
What was the promise that God made to Jacob? Would you have been able to trust and obey that God-given direction? Have you ever followed God’s direction and then immediately wondered if you made a mistake? You’re not alone! There are many characters in the Bible that felt the same way. It takes courage to follow God because it often requires something of us that we are not quite sure we are capable of doing.
“For we walk by faith, not by sight:” (II Corinthians 5:7)
“… for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.” (I Samuel 16:7)
What are some lessons your students can learn from Jacob’s example?
P.S.S.T. for Section 4 – Jacob hears a message from God
“The Soul-inspired patriarchs heard the voice of Truth, and talked with God as consciously as man talks with man.” (citation S15, p. 308)
Have your students ever heard God that clearly before? There are some neat examples of people receiving the angels in a variety of ways.
See if your students can retell this account of Jacob in their own words. (citation B13 / Genesis 32:24–28, 30)
Why was Jacob wrestling? What are some thoughts that he could have been thinking? What is it that helped him have a breakthrough? Look up the definition of wilderness in the Glossary. Would you say that Jacob was in the wilderness when he received this angel from God?
What are some other accounts of Bible characters that struggled similarly? What about Jonah in the whale? Or Jesus in Gethsemane?
What was the effect of this angel message? Notice the statements that Mary Baker Eddy makes: he saw the unreality of error, giving him the understanding of Truth, giving him spiritual strength. (S15, SH p. 308) Isn’t that the effect of God’s word no matter what the challenge may be – physical or emotional?
“He had conquered material error with the understanding of Spirit and of spiritual power.” (citation S15, SH p. 308)
How was his nature transformed? How did he behave or act differently after this experience? The next section will tell us more.
“If the disciple is advancing spiritually, he is striving to enter in. He constantly turns away from material sense, and looks towards the imperishable things of Spirit.” (citation S16 p. 21)
How can your students look more towards the imperishable things of Spirit?
P.S.S.T. for Section 5 – The reconciliation of Jacob and Esau
After the brothers embrace, how does Jacob address Esau – what does he call him?
“…my lord” (Genesis 33:8)
How does Esau respond – what does he call Jacob?
“…my brother” (Genesis 33:9)
What does this tell us about their view of each other? Are your students surprised at the outcome of this meeting? What does this show us about the ability of grace to transform and heal our relationships?
Do your students have a rift in a relationship that they would like to see mended? What examples can they gain from the story of Jacob and Esau that can help them pray about this situation?
Bible Lens Research adds:
“Jacob’s original purpose in bringing gifts is to appease his brother (see 32:1–20). But Esau’s greeting—“my brother”—likely assures Jacob that he is forgiven, so conciliation is no longer necessary. Jacob’s motive for presenting his gifts changes to gratitude, and Esau’s acceptance (see 33:11) proves his goodwill toward Jacob.”
P.S.S.T. for Section 6 – The light of the Christ
This section transfers thought towards Christ Jesus with citation 17 in Isaiah 42.
What are the ways that Jesus shone the Christ light? There are many!
He said of himself: “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” (John 9:5)
Jesus was like light because he always knew the Truth. He could always see – perceive spiritually – what was real and true.
How is the light of Christ still active and present in the world today? How can your students shine the Christ-light more clearly?
“Like our Master, we must depart from material sense into the spiritual sense of being.” (citation S29, p. 41)
That’s a great first step in healing! Mary Baker Eddy gives us another step: “Keep distinctly in thought that man is the offspring of God, not of man; that man is spiritual, not material” (citation S27, SH p. 396)
See if your students can help their friends find healing this week through putting these ideas into practice.
P.S.S.T. for Section 7 – From sense to Soul
Explore the definition of children of Israel together from the glossary in this week’s Lesson. (citation S30, SH p. 583)
Have you ever felt like the children of Israel?
As human thought is transformed…“the visible manifestation will at last be man governed by Soul, not by material sense.” (S31, SH p. 125:12–16) What is the effect of being governed by Soul? Harmony or inharmony? What is the effect of being governed by material sense?
What is the transformation of thought required in this passage? From pain, sorrow, and fear to hope, faith, understanding (including painlessness and joy).
What can we do to aid this transformation of thought?
What are the resources we have available to us?
How is Jacob a perfect example of this transformation of thought?
Enjoy your classes!
