PSST: Use angel, treasure-hunt clues to find heaven’s climate un-changed!

[PSST: Use angel, treasure-hunt clues to find heaven’s climate un-changed!]

Possible Sunday School Topics (PSSTs)

for the Christian Science Quarterly Bible Lesson:

“Is the Universe, Including Man, Evolved by Atomic Force?”

for December 14-20, 2020

prepared by Merrill Boudreaux, C.S.

pegasus6524@gmail.com • 314-308-1059

P.S.S.T. Golden Text (GT), [Heavenly Climate un-changed!]
Deuteronomy 10:14:

Is it appropriate to think about the earth and the current climate changes from a spiritual standpoint?
What questions might you ask God about the earth, the heavens, the universe? Does God see our earthly home the way we humanly do, or is it a different view?

P.S.S.T. Responsive Reading (RR) – Aid your home-base treatments!
I Chronicles 29:11; Psalms 89:1,8,11,13-17

What key words in the opening of the Responsive Reading indicate the view God might have of our earthly home? – Greatness, power, glory, victory, majesty

Take each of these words as qualities and apply to our present climate concerns for our earthly home. Create a prayer statement that uses each of those words that aligns with a spiritual view.

For example, how would “greatness” apply when the climate problems seem so overwhelming and numerous? Are there examples from the scriptures of how the earth obeyed the spiritual view? Think of Jesus stilling the storm, of Moses parting the sea, of Moses finding water in a rock and feeding the people in the desert, and of Jesus feeding the 5,000 with a few loaves and fishes.

Look to the Responsive Reading to aid your prayer treatments. God does not know the problem, but always knows the solution. You are God’s witness, God’s agent, in the work.

P.S.S.T. Section 1 –Find ever-present help in earthly circumstances

Think of the work outlined for you to do in citation B2 (Isa 42:5-8): to open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners, to bring others out into the light.

Do we do so by “telling” or by “showing,” – that is, by example?
How does citation S5 guide as to where to look for an ever-present help in our earthly circumstances? (Science & Health 262:9)

P.S.S.T. Section 2 – [How to walk with courage all the way.]

Jesus often began his prayer treatments with the words, “Be not afraid.” Isaiah in citation B5 (Isa 43:5-7) tells us the same: “Fear not.” Why? God is ever-present, always with us.

Read together Hymn 278 from The Christian Science Hymnal (words printed here).

Hymn 278 (& 279):

Pilgrim on earth, home and heaven are within thee,

Heir of the ages and child of the day.

Cared for, watched over, beloved and protected,

Walk thou with courage each step of the way.

Truthful and steadfast though trials betide thee,

Ever one thing do thou ask of thy Lord,

Grace to go forward, wherever He guide thee,

Gladly obeying the call of His word.

Healed is thy hardness, His love hath dissolved it,

Full is the promise, the blessing how kind;

So shall His tenderness teach thee compassion,

So all the merciful, mercy shall find.

If God made the universe, and He did, He would have made it from what He knew, from the elements he had close by. In other words, God-stuff.

In approaching the prayer treatments, we begin by asking, What is ever-available from God as part of the solution? [Greatness, power, glory, victory, majesty]

As the offspring of Spirit, living where Spirit planted us, what do we have at hand to aid us in our work as witness, as agent, of God? Citation S9 (SH 63:5).

These are laws of the universe, including of our earthly home, and applicable to any problem we are working on.

P.S.S.T. Section 3 – [There’s always a solution to every problem!]

Read the scripture story in citation B9 (Luke 1:5-25). What was the problem Elisabeth and Zacharias were working out? How did the laws of Spirit set aside the earthly beliefs? What was the result? How did this “miracle” assure us that there is always an answer, a solution, to any problem we are faced with?

Read what distinction Mary Baker Eddy makes between miracles and spiritual power in citation S10 (SH 83:12). The solution of the problem for Elisabeth and Zacharias was necessary in preparation for the birth of their son John’s cousin, Jesus. Both of these births of John and Jesus were revelations of God ever with us with greatness, power, glory, victory, and majesty.

P.S.S.T. Section 4 – [Angels always come with solutions.]

Read the scripture story in citation B11 (Luke 1:26-47). What role did the angel play in this revelation? See the definition of “angels” in Science & Health 581:4. Angels always come with solutions.

P.S.S.T. Section 5 – [Who from the Bible & today is God well-pleased?]

John and Jesus’ meeting in citation B13 (Matthew 3:13-17) was a validation of each other. Jesus validated John’s voice in preparing the people for the coming of the Messiah. John validated Jesus as the Messiah. Not the material, but the spiritual universe declared it: “And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

Ask students to list other people from the scriptures with whom God was well pleased. Do they know people from their lives with whom they think God is well pleased?

P.S.S.T. Section 6 – [How do angels assure us to fear not.]

In your prayer treatments for our earthly home, what truths have stood out to you? What is the answer to the question: Is the Universe, Including Man, Evolved by Atomic Force?

How has God declared greatness, power, glory, victory, majesty as qualities of our earthly home? How do angels assure us to fear not?

Read together citations S30 and S31 (SH 261:4, SH 509:24). The spiritual nature of our earthly home must continue to appear, never to disappear. Along with this appearance come the solutions to present-day climate change challenges.