PSST: STAND UP for the foundational truths you live your life by!
Possible Sunday School Topics (PSSTs) for the Christian Science Quarterly Bible Lesson:
“Matter”
for September 13-19, 2021
prepared by Merrill Boudreaux, C.S.
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P.S.S.T. Golden Text (GT) [If you don’t stand up for something, you’re likely to fall for almost anything.] “Stand up, shake the dust off yourself!” (Isaiah 52:2)
What will you take a stand for or stand against? What are some foundational truths you use to live your life by?
PSST Responsive Reading (RR): “Fear not” Isa 41:10,15,16; 40:5,9,29-31; Gal 3:3:
What role does fear play in your decision-making? Do you ever begin a conversation with “I am afraid that…”? What tools are available to you to aid your decision-making as to what you will believe or how you will act? What is your “sharp threshing instrument”? What is the reason for employing/deploying such an instrument? To separate fable from fact? Have you ever read Science & Health all the way through, or even read one chapter consecutively?
See Revelation 10:8-11 and Science & Health 559:16-21(to 2nd.). See the declaration in the RR about you, your wellbeing, and the power you have to make right choices and benefit your life and all mankind: Isaiah 40:29-31.
You are strong and able to battle against the phrase, “I am afraid that….”
There are 54 passages in the King James Bible that state “Be not afraid”, and 144 passages that declare “Fear not”. You might look up some of them. (Use Concord or a Concordance)
P.S.S.T. Section 1 –Take the little book that profits you.
Jeremiah declared in Jer. 2:13, “for my people have… forgotten me…” and he followed that with Jer. 2:31, “O generation, see ye the word of the Lord.” (citation B1) The word of the Lord is your daily aid. Look to your Pastor, the Bible and Science & Health, as your daily and minute-by-minute guide. Take the little book that profiteth thee. Will you look to matter, the physical sense testimony, or the voice of Spirit to stem your fear and guide you? Read together citation S7/SH 123:12.
P.S.S.T. Section 2 – You’re never alone, never left alone, struggling alone.
Moses asked a profound question in citation B3/Exodus 3:11, “Who am I,…?” Fear often stops us from taking a step forward or making progress. If that ever happens to you, then think about the rest of the statement in citation B3/Ex. 3:12: “Certainly I will be with thee;” You might understand that to mean you are never alone, never left alone, struggling alone.
Read together the power of God with Moses in the scripture story in citation B4/Ex. 4:1-8. Read also citation S10/SH 191:16-17, “The human thought must free itself from self-imposed materiality and bondage.” In other words, be not afraid.
P.S.S.T. Section 3 – What prayer do you use to anchor your day’s activities?
How do you begin your day, what prayer do you use to anchor your day’s activities? Your Leader has prepared such a prayer for you. See Church Manual 41:19, “Daily Prayer. Sect. 4. It shall be the duty of every member of this Church to pray each day: ‘Thy kingdom come;’ let the reign of divine Truth, Life, and Love be established in me, and rule out of me all sin; and may Thy Word enrich the affections of all mankind, and govern them!”
See also citation B7/Ps. 5:3, “My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord: in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up.”
Read together Hymn 475 from the Christian Science Hymnal (printed here):
Hymn 475
Forget not who you are, O child of God,
For God demands of you reflection pure;
Your heritage is goodly, and your home,
In Spirit’s warm embrace, is safe, secure.
You are the child of Spirit, sinless, pure-
Yours is a perfect beauty, born of Soul-
Complete with health, vitality, and grace.
For is not God, your Father, perfect, whole?
Your understanding, too, comes straight from God.
For in that Mind, magnificent and clear,
You are conceived by Love, a perfect child,
Unhampered by the flesh, or doubt, or fear.
So now look up to God’s pure holy light
And greet with fearless joy each coming day.
Of royal birth, you are a King’s own child-
And God is yours, and you are God’s alway.
P.S.S.T. Section 4 – What questions might you be asking Jesus?
Imagine if you were with Jesus at Peter’s house in the story in citation B10/Matthew 8:14,15. What questions might you be asking yourself or asking Jesus? Look to the earlier portions of Matthew 8. What events had just occurred during Jesus’ journey to Peter’s house/ Now what questions might you have for Jesus, being a witness to such events/healings? What can you also do when fear is not part of your thought? See the guidance and demand from your Leader in Miscellany 210:1-11:
“WHAT OUR LEADER SAYS
“Beloved Christian Scientists, keep your minds so filled with Truth and Love, that sin, disease, and death cannot enter them. It is plain that nothing can be added to the mind already full. There is no door through which evil can enter, and no space for evil to fill in a mind filled with goodness. Good thoughts are an impervious armor; clad therewith you are completely shielded from the attacks of error of every sort. And not only yourselves are safe, but all whom your thoughts rest upon are thereby benefited.”
Jesus answer to your questions might be summed up in Mary Baker Eddy’s statement in citation S18/SH 476:32. This is a great memory opportunity, “Jesus beheld in Science the perfect man….” She also tells us in citation S19/SH 496:15, to “Hold perpetually this thought,…”
P.S.S.T. Section 5 – Christian Science can & does heal all issues related to food.
Jesus further answers your questions about his healing ability in citation B15/Matt. 6:32,33 and citation B16/Mark 16:17,18. Mary Baker Eddy speaks of one of her own healing experiences in citation S22/SH 228:20. Read it together.
Have you ever heard of Graham crackers? Can you imagine that such would be your only food for many years? This brings forward the belief in diets, or the fear about eating certain foods, or eating disorders. As in the case Mary Baker Eddy shares, Christian Science can and does heal all such beliefs, as we have already seen in this Lesson.
See also Isaiah 45:22, “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.”
P.S.S.T. Section 6 – How freeing to side with Spirit; knowing matter no power!
What key words might you find in cit. B17/Psalms 8 about you as summarized in this Lesson? Perhaps:
- Thou art mindful of me
- Dominion over the works of thy hands
- Put all things under his feet…
You are called upon to stand firm, to stand up to fear, to realize you have dominion over false beliefs, and that you stand on the side of Spirit; therefore, matter and physical sense have no power. How freeing is that???
