[PSST: Eagerly accept all God’s special blessings for you and feel true peace!]
Possible Sunday School Topics (PSSTs) for the Christian Science Quarterly Bible Lesson:
“Soul”
for August 9-15, 2021
prepared by Merrill Boudreaux, C.S.
pegasus6524@gmail.com • 314-308-1059
P.S.S.T. Golden Text (GT) [Count the reasons you should bless & be thankful to God!]
Psalms 104:1: Bless the Lord, O my soul. O Lord my God, thou art very great; thou art clothed with honour and majesty.
What are some reasons why you should bless/praise/be thankful to God?
Perhaps:
- She created me
- She is my intelligence, my Mind
- She cares for me
- She provides for me
- She protects me
- She guides me, my going out and my coming in
- She can be counted on, forever
P.S.S.T. Responsive Reading (RR): [Accept God’s special blessings for you and feel true peace!]
Numbers 6:22-26; Psalms 103:19-22; 3:3,4,8
In Numbers 6:24-26 is given the Aaronic Blessing. This is the blessing Moses gave to his brother, Aaron, to bless the children of Israel. This is a wonderful memory opportunity. Look up the spiritual definition of “Children of Israel” in the Glossary of Science and Health, p. 583:5. You are included in the Children of Israel, therefore this blessing is for you.
P.S.S.T. Section 1 – [Have students write for themselves a request they would make of God.]
What is the request that Jabez made of the Lord in citation B3/I Chronicles 4:10? Ask students to quietly consider, and write down for their eyes only, what request they would make of the Lord?
Now see cit. B4/Psalms 116:7 for the assurance that their request is heard. Why is this so?
See what Mary Baker Eddy states in citation S1/SH 60:29-31.
Does God keep Her infinite resources to Herself? No!
It is Soul’s great pleasure to give you the kingdom.
P.S.S.T. Section 2 – [Apply for yourself the laws/blessings of God that Elisha proved!]
How is the Lord identified in citation B6/Psalm 121:5,7?
- The Lord is your keeper
- The Lord is your shade
- The Lord shall preserve you from all evil
- He shall preserve your soul
Read together the Bible story in citation B7/II Kings 4:38-41. How do the questions just mentioned fit this story? How were Elisha and the other men preserved and protected? What laws/blessings of God were presented in this Bible story? Because man is governed by Soul.
P.S.S.T. Section 3 – [Point out the significance of the ripple effect of doing good!]
What do your students know of the story of Ruth, a portion of which is shared in this section? Help students see the connection between Ruth and them. That is, because Ruth was honorable to her mother-in-law, Naomi, she set in motion a direct link to us. Ruth and Boaz begat Obed, whose line descended to Jesse the father of David, whose line descended to Joseph and Mary who begat Jesus, whose line descends to all followers of Jesus.
Do you see the significance of the ripple effect of doing good? See citation B11/I Peter 1:22, “see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:…” Ruth could be considered a spiritual guide for us, a hero of sorts. Read S16/SH 58:7-12 – it’s filled with qualities that could apply to Ruth and as guidance to us.
P.S.S.T. Section 4 – [Find ways to be blessed by seeing and supplying your brother’s need.]
Do you feel that God is daily loading you with benefits? (cit. B13/Psalm 68:19)
Citation B14/Psalm 107:8 affirms that we should “praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men! For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness.”
How was this truth demonstrated by Jesus feeding the 5,000 in cit. B15/Matthew 14:14-21?
Remember citation S1/SH 60:29-31? “Soul has infinite resources with which to bless mankind, and happiness would be more readily attained and would be more secure in our keeping, if sought in Soul.”
Read also citation S19/SH 507:3-6, “Spirit duly feeds and clothes every object, as it appears in the line of spiritual creation, thus tenderly expressing the fatherhood and motherhood of God.”
What do you think these people felt at the end of a long day to be fed and filled? Is there a way for your students to volunteer for a service project where they may help prepare and feed the hungry?
Citation S22/SH 518:15-21 states in part, “The rich in spirit help the poor in one grand brotherhood… and blessed is that man who seeth his brother’s need and supplieth it…”
P.S.S.T. Section 5 – [Share recent healings or demonstrations class members have witnessed.] Once again, in citation B18/Mark 7:31-37 there is a Bible story of Jesus blessing [by low-key healings without fanfare in Gentile territory]. Jesus was demonstrating the statement found in citation B19/III John 1:2, “Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.”
Ask students to share any recent demonstrations or healings they have had or been a witness to.
P.S.S.T. Section 6 – [Identify reasons to bless/praise/be thankful to God.]
In reading this section, ask students to identify in it some reasons why they should bless/praise/be thankful to God?
- The Lord will bless His people with peace
- The heavens declare His righteousness, and all the people see His glory
- I will rejoice over them to do them good
- I will plant them in the land assuredly
- God has blessed you forever
- Love, redolent with unselfishness, bathes all in beauty and light
- Man and woman as coexistent and eternal with God forever reflect, in glorified quality, the infinite Father-Mother God
- To those leaning on the sustaining infinite, to-day is big with blessings
Read together Hymn 280 from the Christian Science Hymnal (printed here):
Praise, my soul, the King of heaven;
To His feet thy tribute bring.
Ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven,
Who like us His praise should sing?
Praise Him, praise Him, praise Him, praise Him,
Praise the everlasting King.
Fatherlike, He tends and spares us,
Well our daily needs He knows;
In His hand He gently bears us,
Rescues us from all our foes.
Praise Him, praise Him, praise Him, praise Him,
Widely as His mercy flows.
Praise Him for His grace and favor
To our fathers in distress;
Praise Him still the same forever,
Slow to chide, and swift to bless.
Praise Him, praise Him, praise Him, praise Him,
Glorious in His faithfulness.
(Christian Science Hymnal, No. 280:1–3)
You are, indeed, blessed of the Lord!
