[PYCL: Be glad and rejoice even in challenging parts of your days! (2) Throw out all disbelief! (3) List how to walk as a child of light! (5)
Possible Younger Class Lessons for the Christian Science Bible Lesson on
"Reality"
For March 26, 2017
by Kerry Jenkins, CS, House Springs, MO
kerry.helen.jenkins@gmail.com (314) 406-0041
Pycl #1: Ask the children if they have ever seen how insects are attracted to a light at night. (I do realize that this is an analogy that MBE uses to describe thoughtless activity/attraction, but it might be helpful here as well.). Why would a light be attractive? Can they imagine if they were lost in a forest, or anywhere in the wilderness, what it would mean to them if they saw a light in the distance? Wouldn't they head toward it? When we make a bonfire outside, don't we tend to crowd around it–especially if we're at CedarS making S'mores! Light illuminates, it represents comprehension/understanding. It can lead us and show us things. You can explain that in this lesson, light represents what is real, and when we see the difference between light and darkness, we are separating the real from what is unreal. Feel free with the younger children to illustrate this concept by taking them into a dark space in your church, if there is one. Bring one of those tiny pen lights and have them stand a small distance from you. Turn on your pen light and see how it shines and makes it easy to see where you are. Or let one of them do this. This is how God's goodness and truth are for man. He gives us only good, only light, only harmony and perfection. (See citations B5 and B6)
Pycl #2: I often quote this to my boys, and maybe it's more annoying to them than inspiring, but it inspires me! Consider sharing the passage in the Responsive Reading "This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it." I love that it is a promise and a command at the same time! And it is short enough to memorize right there in Sunday School; have them repeat it a few times in the beginning, and then review before dismissal! What does it have to do with this week's subject? Why would we rejoice in each day? What would God's day be like? If it is 100% good, then what does that mean for the things that we might not be looking forward to as much? They must be good in reality, as well! So how do we get to the point where we feel that goodness when doing a chore, or homework, or something less appealing? Maybe you could come up with a list of things that help us shine a light on the present goodness in any activity. For example, maybe we don't relish cleaning the bathroom (a chore my kids do for us regularly!). What light can we bring to that project: make a list. It might include the thought that when using the bathroom, we might enjoy seeing that the floor is clean and shiny, no animal fur or human… Maybe it's nice to see a clean reflection in the mirror. Do we feel gratitude for being able to use a bathroom? We lived many years in Alaska, through many, many winters, with no plumbing…. let me tell you, I do appreciate the bathroom! Think about the old days when you had to carry in water and pour it over a toothbrush, or stand in a wash tub of water to bathe… you can make up some things here. Now, I realize that nearly everyone has plumbing and this might seem silly, but you can use this as a jumping off place. If they have ever been in a really dirty bathroom, then they will be able to compare this as well. Do we feel more at home, more at peace when things are tidier or cleaner? Feel free to come up with a better chore or analogy! The goal is to think about how this day is only good, filled with the goodness of God in every activity. Maybe it's even just the sense of accomplishment, unselfishness, contributing to the family–that makes us rejoice.
Pycl #3: Citation S2 tells us that Mind doesn't even make a "symbol" of discord or decay, of evil or darkness. Ask them if the sun has maybe just a little bit of dark in it. Maybe the sun can just shine a tiny ray of darkness? This is how God is. There is no evil in Him at all; He doesn't produce or make or even tolerate one tiny bit of evil. So whatever we see of evil or bad, is not true about man. This is hard to accept sometimes. But that's because we are thinking from a material basis. Look at Section 4 to build on this idea (a pretty radical concept). Section 4 contains the story of how Jesus went to his hometown and was met with disbelief and disdain because they knew that he was "just Joseph's son"; how could he be important? They couldn't see the truth, the reality of his identity. We have to throw out our own disbelief of what seems "outrageous" to our thought, or we will find that we are just like those people in his home town! Citation S15 gives us a recipe for this, helping us see that Christian Science, when understood, takes those human beliefs away and makes room for spiritual truth. Have the kids think of a really cluttered room. What would they have to do if they wanted to put in new furniture? Would they just keep bringing in new stuff? Or would they have to make some room and get rid of the old junky things?
Pycl #4: I'm calling this #4 but it's kind of a continuation of 3….The same story in citation B16, linked to verse 29 of B14 gives the kids a great visual. Think of running through a troop and leaping over a wall (define "troop"). Isn't this what Jesus does in this story? How did he do that? Why didn't the people see him? Does it have something to do with the fact that they couldn't recognize him for who he was in the first place? Didn't they think "hey, this is just Joseph's boy, I've known him since he was a kid, that's not going to be the "Messiah", I mean really?" This is how it is for us when we try to understand spiritual reality from a material basis (S16). Matter does not explain Spirit! We can't look at sickness, and then try to understand God from the basis of being a sick person. We have to start from God as the All and only reality. Then we see and experience this reality and we call it "healing". Material viewpoints make us skeptical, and make God "hard to understand". Christian Science explains God and His goodness, sheds light!
Pycl #5: Look together at Section 5, citation B18. If you haven't done this before you can make a "breastplate of faith and love" from a paper grocery bag. You cut head and arm holes and can have them write relevant qualities on it. Improvise a helmet of salvation, same idea. We can think together about being prepared, alert, ready for the suggestions that come that would make us doubt God's goodness and reality. Connect this with Mrs. Eddy's quote of Jesus in citation S24. How can they be "a city on a hill"? Discuss why that analogy, the fact that we are more prepared when we can see all around us, etc. Confirm that as Christian Scientists this passage is talking about each of us! We are that city on the hill, that light of the world! We can shine that light on the wonderful nature of God's reality by living as Jesus showed us. Make a list of how we can walk "as children of light" (B20).
Have a great Sunday!
