PYCL: Separate thought from a material basis to experience heavenly harmony

[PYCL: Separate thought from a material basis to experience heavenly harmony (3)]
Possible Younger Class Lessons for the Christian Science Bible Lesson on

"Spirit"
for February 11, 2018

by Kerry Jenkins, CS, House Springs, MO
kerry.helen.jenkins@gmail.com (314) 406-0041

Pycl #1: I think it would be fun to build off the introduction to Rick Stewart's CedarS Met this week and talk about singing wrong words to songs, since that's also a tendency of some of the younger children. (We are thinking here of the Golden Text and the underlying theme in this lesson of understanding that is brought by Spirit.) I know I asked my 10-year-old a couple of months ago what a certain pop artist was saying in a popular song and he said, quite seriously, I think she's saying "my back is itchy". I'm quite certain that is not what the lyrics were, though we all got a really good laugh out of it. At any rate, the idea that we glean more from something when we really understand it is key to growing in our ability to heal and feel God's/Spirit's love for us! Likewise, when we are sharing ideas, whether through singing or speaking or action, the impact will be much more significant if we understand more deeply what we are sharing. This I know from singing in many different languages, some of which I don't know well. I have to translate each word so I know how I should sing within a sentence so that it really makes sense. Then, even if those listening are not familiar with the language, there is a sense of genuine, intelligent and inspired communication. There may be something the children can add concerning hymns they have memorized incorrectly at some point. Of course, if this gets too silly, or starts to make anyone feel bad, you will have to reign it in! The point here is, that without understanding, life in matter is pretty much nonsense, so we really need to listen for what Spirit is telling us.

Pycl #2: Discuss citation B1. What is a "void"? What if you think of looking into a room (you can do this with a simple box with them putting their eye up to a hole in such a way that there is no light coming into the box and their view is therefore blank darkness) with no light at all. If there are no sources of light, the room will be utterly blank/empty to our eye if we have no flashlight. You can also experiment with flashlights in a room, such as your furnace room in church, if you have one of those, where there are generally no windows or outside light source. If there are things in the room with you, do you know where they are without ever having seen them? This is like trying to understand Spirit, or Spirit's creation without spiritual sense—the true light, that clarifies like the firmament in citation B1. Light is symbolic of understanding and it is a beautiful symbol of understanding. Also, I liked that the "MyBibleLesson" pointed out that "moved" from citation B1 comes from a word that means much the same as "to brood" over, like a bird over her eggs or hatchlings. Think about Spirit "brooding" over the waters, cherishing this early part of the creative process, and the water being like a mirror, reflecting Spirit's nature. This way, all of creation begins when the light causes the water to reflect Spirit. I am just saying that I'd never thought of it this way, don't know at all that this is a legitimate view of this passage, but it seems like it is interesting to ponder in this context!

Pycl #3: How are "firmament" and "heaven" connected? Look through the first section and find all the links between firmament/understanding and heaven/harmony. Material sense/conception is separated from spiritual understanding or harmony. When we are looking at everything materially, we find a lot of inharmony. It takes a willingness to separate our thought from matter as the basis of reality to really experience the harmony of heaven that Jesus tells us is within each of us! (And here we can connect to the 2nd Pycl by pointing out that we cannot "see" in the dark, so light, understanding is necessary in this process of finding harmony. That means, practicing Christian Science takes more than blind faith.

Pycl #4: Praising Spirit happens best when we know and love Spirit. Likewise, Spirit gives glory to that which is spiritual, not material. Matter is not God's creation. Citation B7 says it this way: "I am the Lord: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images." I'm sure your littler students have discussed "graven images" when working on the Commandments. In this case, we can broaden this concept to include anything that is material that we find more attention-grabbing than we do Spirit. Even if our attention is drawn to friends in a distracting way, or toward an activity that is not expressing Spirit in some way. Can we make a list of "graven images" that might attract our attention today? How might we express our love for Spirit in a way that replaces these false "images"? How would this "replacement" make us happier?

Pycl #5: There are a couple of opportunities in this lesson to think about how Spirit communicates to us. We can use the example in the Section 3 with Joseph interpreting Pharaoh's dream [as in the attached downloadable poem], and the example in the Section 5 of Philip listening to God to help the man trying to understand Scripture [as in W’s PS#8].
In Joseph's case we can see how a more correct understanding of Spirit (notice that all Pharaoh's people couldn't interpret his dream), helps us to discern how we can help and heal mankind. (Didn't Jesus do this in Section 4?!) And in Philip's case we are learning how an understanding of the Bible can help us to understand Spirit [and how to be instantly obedient when the Spirit moves us so that we too show up on cue as needed like Philip did at just the right time]. Is there anything else in the Bible stories in this lesson that we can use today to apply to our work/play as we go along? This morning I was sharing some thoughts on a Bible story with one of my sons. It occurred to us that the story (not from this lesson) was actually pointing out how we need to approach each activity with our entire love and commitment. What a new view of that story, and an inspiring approach to our day we gleaned through that spiritual understanding! The Bible is full of this kind of up-to-date freshness to bring to our daily lives. Spirit supplies us with all the ideas we need!

Have a great Sunday!!