PSST: Study as REAL only the “spiritual, harmonious, immutable, immortal, divine, eternal”
Possible Sunday School Topics for the Christian Science Quarterly Bible Lesson on
“Reality”
for classes on September 26, 2021
Questions by former CedarS Program Director, Steve Henn, C.S. steven.henn@gmail.com
PSST GOLDEN TEXT: “…stand still & consider the wondrous works of God.” (Job 37:14)
Standing & stillness could be the focus of your entire Sunday School class.
What does it mean to stand? To take a stand, stand up, stand for, stand firm.
How is standing a helpful position for spiritual growth?
How can your students learn how to stand more often in alignment with reality?
What does stillness look and sound like?
How do we find stillness in a world that so often feels anything but stillness?
How can your students practice stillness this week?
What is so valuable about stillness?
How do standing and stillness together help us to see and be grateful for all the wondrous works of God? Take a moment to practice stillness in your class and see how many of God’s wonderful works your students can identify in that stillness; then work with your students to carefully consider each one (see what Webster’s 1828 dictionary has to say about what it means to consider). [The 1st of 10 is: “To fix the mind on, with a view to a careful examination; to think on with care; to ponder; to study; to meditate on.”]
How does this practice help us to understand better, love more fully, have more confidence in, and be grateful for the immeasurable goodness of God?
POSSIBLE SUNDAY SCHOOL TOPICS (PSSTs) FOR RESPONSIVE READING:
“Wondrous &/or works” are mentioned in Ps. 86:8; 10; 92:4, 5; 104:24, 31
What do these citations identify as specific elements of God’s wonderful work?
How can you translate those Biblical references to aspects of life that feel relevant and familiar to your students’ lives in 2021?
How does God relate to His wonderful works?
Do your students recognize that one of God’s greatest and most wonderful works is them?
How does that consideration impact their view of their relationship to God and their opportunities to express God’s perfection?
[Warren: Section 1 (cit. S5/335:27-28) ends with a sentence that keys all six sections: “Reality is spiritual (1ST s.), harmonious(2nd), immutable(3rd), immortal (4th), divine (5th), eternal (6th).”
PSSTs for SECTION 1 [with its focus on the SPIRITUAL aspect of REALITY]
How does knowing and following God’s law result in demonstration of spiritual power?
What is the law of God? How does this law operate?
What is the basis of God’s law?
How does understanding His law help us to understand and discern what is real?
How does God’s spiritual law(s) lead to harmony?
PSSTs for SECTION 2 [with its focus on the HARMONIOUS aspect of REALITY]
In the midst of what looks to be a fatal dis-ease how does Hezekiah reach out to the Lord?
What does Hezekiah’s prayer [in citation B7/2nd Kings 20:2-5] teach us about praying to God?
Does God really listen to Hezekiah’s prayer and choose to help him?
Is that how God works – a divine being who chooses whether or not someone is to be healed? What are some other ways to consider mankind’s relationship to God?
How can we grow in confidence with our prayers to arrive at the certainty of divine demonstration evident in Mary Baker Eddy’s writings? [i.e. “Mentally insist that harmony is the fact…” (cit. S7/412:23]
PSSTs for SECTION 3 [with its focus on the IMMUTABLE aspect of REALITY]
Unchangeable constancy, sameness – what do these qualities have to do with reality?
How do your students respond to the idea that Christ is the same always? [cit. B10/Heb. 13:8]
[W: In my GEMs, see a link to a realistic, onsite reenactment of Jesus healing the man born blind & how his showing contempt for the dust man that must be washed from us all. John 9:1-7]
What qualities do your students want to be consistent? [“now, as in Jesus’ time…” cit. S12/ix:9]
How can we grow towards the harmony, healing and consistency promised in this section?
How does an understanding of harmony and Christ’s consistency lead towards demonstration?
PSSTs for SECTION 4 [with its focus on the IMMORTAL aspect of REALITY]
What do your students notice about Peter’s prayer [in Acts 9:40] that raised the dead?
[Note that Peter was following the pattern he witnessed when Jesus raised Jairus’ daughter as Cobbey Crisler described in Warren’s GEMs.]
What does this teach us about the nature and quality of our prayers?
How does Peter’s Prayer compare or contrast with Hezekiah’s? [in cit. B7/2nd Kings 20:2-5]
Which form of prayer is more attractive to your students?
Which could they consider practicing this week?
PSSTs for SECTION 5 [with its focus on the DIVINE aspect of REALITY]
What is truly divine in life that rejoices your heart? [cit. B15/1st Thes. 5:16]
What does it mean to quench the Spirit, and how do we avoid doing that? [1st Thes. 5:19]
What do we have to prove, and how can we go about proving it? [1st Thes. 5:21]
How do we hold fast to the good? [1st Thes. 5:21] What does all of this teach us about Reality?
What is the starting point of divine Science? What really exists? [cit. S26/275:6-12]
Make a chart and have your students think of all that they see and hear in a single day, or week and then discuss which of those start from the starting point of the provable Science of divinity, and which can be connected to a different starting point. Then ask your students what to do about the items on the chart that do not start from divine Science.
Discuss what this teaches about reality and our demonstration of it.
PSSTs for SECTION 6 [with its focus on the ETERNAL aspect of REALITY]
How do we learn to clearly see reality as only that which is eternal? [citation B21/Romans 1:20] [W: Consider wrapping up with citation S31 which has in a single sentence four (bolded) words or concepts of the six words that characterize reality: “The relations of God and man, divine Principle and idea, are indestructible in Science; and Science knows no lapse from nor return to harmony, but holds the divine order or spiritual law, in which God and all that He creates are perfect and eternal, to have remained unchanged in its eternal history.”(Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 470:32)
