PSST: Let “The Week that Changed the World,” also Change You & Yours!! (5)
Possible Sunday School Topics (PSSTs)for The Christian Science Quarterly Bible Lesson:
“Unreality”
for March 27-April 2, 2023
prepared by Merrill Boudreaux, C.S., for CedarS Camps
pegasus6524@gmail.com • 314-308-1059
Ask students to note how in the order of the lesson-sermons “Reality” comes before “Unreality”. Why do you suppose that is? Perhaps, because the supposed unreal can only come as a suggestion about something that is real and was there first.
What happens to the unreal suggestion when the focus is on the real? It is not or null and void. That which is real eliminates even the suggestion of something not like itself and all that remains is that which was always there.
P.S.S.T. Golden Text (GT)/I John 4:1: “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God.”
How do you test whether something is true or from spirit?
Here are three questions to ask:
- Is it permanent?
- Is it useful?
- Is it universal?
Choose the approach you will use to side with reality. See Joshua 24:15, “…choose you this day whom ye will serve… but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
Responsive Reading/Jeremiah 29:8,9,11-14; Philippians 2:13-16 & 4:1
What is a prophet? See Science & Health 593:4 for the scientific definition.
What does it mean to be aware of false prophets?
What are some false prophets insisting on our attention today?
Perhaps, individuals with loud voices, those with millions of likes, those with spotlights in the media, those designated as superstars.
Ask students if they know of any prophets from the scriptures? What does the RR tell us of the role prophets play?
Some scriptural prophets might be Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Samuel, Elijah, Elisha, John, among others.
P.S.S.T. Section 1 – How did the prophet Jeremiah identify God, the one true God for the people to follow? See citation B1/Jer.10:16. What are key words in that passage? True, living, everlasting.
Following the one true, living, everlasting God helps you not be deceived, not turn aside to see other gods, not focus on the unreal. Why? See citation B3/Psalm 84:11,12. Memorize “…blessed is the man that trusteth in thee.” The prophets were often known by the words they spoke and their acts.
If you were a prophet today, what words of truth might you speak?
Read together the Science & Health portion of this section for some hints:
- God is natural good
- Everything good or worthy God made
- Whatever is valueless He did not make
- God strips off the disguises of unreality – like sin, sickness, death
- We should become more familiar with good
- Evil is a negation, the absence of truth
Is it possible for truth to ever be absent?
But the presence of truth removes the presence of the lie called evil, sin, sickness, death.
P.S.S.T. Section 2 – Here is a good role play in the story of Moses in this section.
What are some prophet qualities exhibited by Moses?
- He talked with God
- He was humble and listened
- He was wise
- He handled the serpent, he did not ignore the evil suggestion, but opined the truth and the evil disappeared and did not/could not harm him
How did Moses apply the test for truth, for reality of is it permanent, is it universal, is it useful?
P.S.S.T. Section 3 – How do we show that we trust in the Lord, like the prophets we are?
Citation B11/Galatians 5:17-23, tells us to “be led of the Spirit” as shown in our actions of “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.” Nothing can stand against these qualities.
Since we consider Jesus as our way-shower, ask students to share examples of how Jesus exhibited these qualities. What shall we believe, accept, and use – the testimony of the Spirit, or the testimony of the material senses?
Read together the argument set forth in citations S8 and S9, SH 252:15-18,31-8, & SH 205:15. See also the call to action in Science & Health 249:1.
P.S.S.T. Section 4 – See how Mary Baker Eddy applied the test for truth, for reality in citation S19/486:23-26: “Sight, hearing, all the spiritual senses of man, are eternal. …cannot be lost. …reality and immortality are in Spirit…”
What then can we conclude about that which purports to be inharmonious? It is unreal (cit. S20/276:12). Therefore, discord of any kind is unreal.
There is comfort in Hymn 196 from the Christian Science Hymnal. Read it together. (words printed here)
Hymn 196
Now is the time approaching, By prophets long foretold, When all shall dwell together, One Shepherd and one fold. Now Jew and Gentile, meeting From many a distant shore, Around one altar kneeling, One common Lord adore.
Let all that now divides us Remove and pass away, Like shadows of the morning Before the blaze of day. Let all that now unites us More sweet and lasting prove, A closer bond of union, In a blest land of love.
P.S.S.T. Section 5 – Let “the week that changed the world,” also change you & yours! (See a special P.S. opportunity.)
What do your students know of Palm Sunday?
Review with them Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem, how he was received by the people, and what he knew was to come toward the end of that week?
See Matthew 21, or Mark 11, or John 12 [and a link in the PS to an awesome talk.]
P.S.S.T. Section 6 – If you question the reality of these prophets and your role in their legacy, see what Mary Baker Eddy tells us in cit.S30/506:10, “The calm and exalted thought or spiritual apprehension is at peace. Thus the dawn of ideas goes on, forming each successive stage of progress.”
Thus are you happy in your role as a prophet.
See Science & Health 57:18: “Happiness is spiritual, born of Truth and Love. It is unselfish; therefore it cannot exist alone, but requires all mankind to share it.”
Warren’s P.S. Below is an Easter-season offer for Sunday School teachers — and others — to see for free the outstanding BibleRoads Easter talk that Christie Hanzlik recommends in her Met this week!
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BACKGROUND of BONUS GIFT OFFER: Here are some of the excellent questions posed in this talk with a link whereby non-members can watch it and, if they wish, share their gratitude.
Christie Hanzlik recommended in her CedarS Met this week: “Consider watching Bible Scholar Madelon Maupin’s talk “The Week that Changed the World,” that she gave on March 25, 2023. In the talk, Madelon poses poignant and life-transforming questions raised by the Easter story such as,
• “How do I show devotion to Christ, including whatever needs to be sacrificed, and put that affection into practice?”
• “How can I be more receptive to Christ and remove whatever would downgrade or contaminate my sense of worship and church?”
• “How can I stay spiritually alert to detect how the antichrist would try and have me deny Christ—the Truth of myself and others—today?”
“Madelon poses several other meaningful questions, and the talk is well worth a deep dive. I bookmarked this talk and plan to ponder it often.” (Click on https://seeker.bibleroads.com/twtctw-rbr23 )