PSST: Permit only Christ to reign in your thinking & acting!
Possible Sunday School Topics for The Christian Science Quarterly Bible Lesson:
“Soul and Body”
for November 15-21, 2021
prepared by Merrill Boudreaux, C.S.
pegasus6524@gmail.com • 314-308-1059
P.S.S.T. Golden Text (GT) – I Corinthians 6:20: “…glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.”
- Who made you? God
- Why did God make you? To show forth good, to glorify (express) good in everything you say and do
- To whom does your body, your being, your identity, belong? To God, as the only Creator
Let us then consider how to use your body, your being, your identity for good and only for good.
P.S.S.T. Responsive Reading – only permit Christ to reign
As we consider our daily work, look to the Responsive Reading to answer these questions:
- What is to be lifted up to the top of the mountain?
- What is to be bowed down or brought low?
- What is to be exalted?
- What is to be abolished?
- What remains when our earthly house is dissolved?
Think of these questions metaphorically, examining our identity and being willing to put off anything that relates to that which is not good. In other words, how do we purify our house (consciousness) to permit only the Christ to reign in our thinking and acting?
See the definition of “Christ” in Science & Health 583:10. Therefore looking for God manifest (present) in you and in everyone. Discuss how seeing God’s presence in you must cast out anything not like God, Good.
Read together in the RR, II Corinthians 5:17.
P.S.S.T. Section 1 – How long have you lived in God, as God’s expression? (citation B1/Psalms 90:1) Even when you might have lost sight of it, good was still your reason for being, ever available to you so that you could relate to God. If you ever doubt this, then pray (ask God) to show it to you as is stated in cit. B1/Ps. 90:17, “let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us.”
Be assured this prayer is and will be answered.
What is one answer to such a prayer, told in Isaiah 43:1? “Fear not… I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine.” The ‘fear not’ statement is very important because Isaiah 43:21 states, “This people have I formed for myself; they shall show forth my praise.” That is you – formed by God, formed for good, as part of the universe peopled by God.
See citation B5/Jeremiah 32:38,41. What are key takeaways in that passage?
- God rejoices over you, is glad for you
- God does only good for you
- God has given all things for your care
- God’s whole heart and whole soul looks with favor on you
P.S.S.T. Section 2 – Citation B9/I Cor. 3:17 states, “the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.”
What is the definition of “temple”? The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) says in part, “A building devoted to the worship, or regarded as a dwelling place, of a god…”
Do you consider yourself such a place, do you consider your body or being as a place devoted to God, to good? Do you realize how special you are? How important is it to not defame such a place by placing within it anything unlike good? Think in terms of placing within envy, hypocrisy, selfishness, mean-spiritedness, jealousy. Your body, being, identity, is better than that, is not fit, or outfitted, for such lies. You are made for good.
P.S.S.T. Section 3 – Read together the scripture story of the man at the pool of Bethesda in citation B11/John 5:2-9,14. How did Jesus identify the temple or body of the man? Compare how the man was identifying himself before Jesus showed him the truth of his identity.
See Mary Baker Eddy’s explanation of what Christian Science brings to each of us in citation S15/SH 162:4, as Jesus brought to the man at the Bethesda pool. This is a truth you can use when praying for yourself or others, about body, being, identity. You can speak as one having authority because God gave you dominion over all things (cit. S17/SH 307:25-26).
P.S.S.T. Section 4 – Once again, pray with affirmation that God has prepared you for good, knowing only good, being only good, and this permits you to speak with authority to any challenge, whether it be age, doubt, fear, accident, envy, anger, lack – by acknowledging that your temple is pure and remains pure. That is, that you are clear about who you are, who made you, and why.
See citation S21/SH 194:8, “When one’s false belief is corrected, Truth sends a report of health over the body.” Why? Because you are special, and… oh, by the way, so is everyone else!
Read together Hymn 382 from the Christian Science Hymnal (printed here):
Hymn 382
What is thy birthright, man, / Child of the perfect One; / What is thy Father’s plan / For His beloved son?
Thou art Truth’s honest child, / Of pure and sinless heart; / Thou treadest undefiled / In Christly paths apart.
Vain dreams shall disappear / As Truth dawns on the sight; / The phantoms of thy fear / Shall flee before the light.
Take then the sacred rod; / Thou art not error’s thrall; / Thou hast the gift of God— / Dominion over all.
P.S.S.T. Section 5 – Read together the scripture portion of this section – citations B15/I Cor. 6:19,20; B16/I Cor. 9:24-27; & B17/Romans 12:1,2.
What is stated there to you about how to care for your temple, body, being, identity? What are you to think, to know, to speak or declare, to present, about your temple, body, being, identity?
There is a good memorization opportunity in citation S25/SH 393:10:
“Take possession of your body, and govern its feeling and action. Rise in the strength of Spirit to resist all that is unlike good. God has made man capable of this, and nothing can vitiate the ability and power divinely bestowed on man.”
P.S.S.T. Section 6 – Now this Lesson has led us to the command to prove what has been shared. To put into practice your role as a child of God created for good, as one who sees and follows the light.
What does Christian Science call these proofs? “demonstrations”
This is the scientific method – to apply or practice knowledge gained, Truth seen.
See Paul’s statement to the Thessalonians in citation B19/I Thess. 5:5,21,23:
- Ye are the children of light…
- Prove all things…
- And the very God of Peace sanctify…
Ask your students:
- What do you trust?
- Who do you trust?
- Who made you? Why?
- What is your desire when studying Christian Science?
- What do you know about yourself as a temple?
See the answer to the question, “What are body and Soul?” in Science & Health 477:19-25:
“Answer. — Identity is the reflection of Spirit, the reflection in multifarious forms of the living Principle, Love. Soul is the substance, Life, and intelligence of man, which is individualized, but not in matter. Soul can never reflect anything inferior to Spirit.”
