PYCLs— 1) WHAT IS ATOMIC FORCE? 2) GOD’S POWER ILLUSTRATED. 3) IS THE POWER OF JESUS ALL IN THE PAST? 4) LOVE’S POWER OVER OUR BODIES. 5) CELEBRATE THE FREEDOM FROM SLAVERY THAT GOD’S POWER BRINGS.
CedarS PYCLs, Possible Younger Class Lessons, for the Christian Science Quarterly Bible Lesson:
“Is the Universe, including Man, Evolved by Atomic Force?”
for June 19, 2022
by Kerry Jenkins, CS, House Springs, MO
kerry.helen.jenkins@gmail.com (314) 406-0041
PYCL #1: WHAT IS ATOMIC FORCE?
With the younger children I always start with questions and answers about the title. What’s it all about? What are atoms? What is the whole science behind the theory of, for example, “the big bang” (which came out after Mary Baker Eddy’s time— but this lesson subject displays her forward-looking and inspired view of what we need to understand).
This whole lesson is about power. What is powerful, what isn’t. So, we can explain the theories about how the universe was created, and we can think together about how that energy got there…and then we get into the impossible questions about which came first…? This is why we can safely say that God/Life/Love/ and so on has to be the “first” or “always”.
But did God start matter into being, and then back away and let it do its thing over the billions of years that our solar system came into being. I love that the exact quantities and types of things needed to support life as we know it on earth, came into being. The probability that all these exact things (carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, among other things) came together in the exact proportions needed to form life, is so improbably small that it would seem impossible— unless we know that these things are really just hinting at the divine universe.
Life’s universe is filled with variety, wonder, beauty, intelligence, love, and so on. What we see around us is like an amazing, glorious, hint at the spiritual universe of Love. As we appreciate, care for, understand, that which we see around us, we are slowly opening the door in our consciousness to see the ever-unfolding universe of Love that is indestructible.
PYCL #2: GOD’S POWER ILLUSTRATED.
There are great stories we can use in this lesson to illustrate Life’s power, Mind’s power, Love’s power. The first is from 2nd Kings 4:1-7/citation B9. Here we have the widow woman who is instructed by Elisha to pour out one jar of oil into many borrowed vessels to pay off her debt.
Tell this story to your students. Talk about the laws that are present in this lesson.
Is there a material law that allows for this kind of multiplication?
Was this a “magic trick”?
Did Love create material laws and then break them in certain circumstances deemed “worthy”?
r, was Elisha seeing that what this woman announced that she had “in her house” (her consciousness) was “Consecration; charity; gentleness; prayer; heavenly inspiration.” as Mary Baker Eddy writes on p. 592:25 where she defines “Oil” in Science and Health.
Are these qualities valuable?
Were they manifest for her as oil, a commodity she could sell to pay off her debt and live on with her sons?
It’s an amazing and beautiful thought that qualities of God are always manifest in valuable and valued ways.
We just have to acknowledge their presence in order to make use of them!
Another great story to tell is from the 3rd section which shares from Luke 8:22-25 about Jesus asleep in the boat that is going through a storm and filling with water. This is not a story about Jesus sleeping through a storm, or how we can be spiritually minded enough to feel calm in stormy situations. This is a good ability to have, but what Jesus expressed was even higher. He was not experiencing a storm. And in line with that thought, he didn’t “calm” a storm either.
Jesus helped the disciples realize that there was no storm, nothing to oppose God, Spirit. At CedarS this week we worked a lot with the idea that Jesus was “…the most scientific man that ever trod the globe.”/citation S11. In particular, we focused on the last part of that citation which explains that “He plunged beneath the material surface of things, and found the spiritual cause.”
Think of how a storm works on the surface of the water, but if you go down 6 or 10 feet, it will be calm! It is matter that gets riled up— it is our material sense of things, not spiritual reality. We focused on finding ways that we can “dive” below the material surface of whatever is happening, to find the calm truth of any circumstance, whether it is illness, unhappiness of any kind, anger, etc. that we are diving beneath. This is finding the true spiritual power behind life and being! Have the youngest ones mime this “dive” below the material surface of things.
PYCL #3: IS THE POWER OF JESUS ALL IN THE PAST?
Look at citation S17/494:11 where Mary Baker Eddy states outright that we shouldn’t think that Jesus’ demonstrations are something that only a few people during a small time period were privileged to partake of. No! The love and power that he expressed during his mission are available to us today!
Bring in a few Christian Science Journals and Sentinels with testimonies of healing flagged in them. Show them how many healings are happening today and ask if they think even this represents all the healing that is happening? (Obviously, we are not all writing in to share our healings!). And what about Wed. night testimony meetings? You may want to highlight the titles of each healing in these periodicals, just so they can see at a glance what is being healed. This is the power of Christ today. Can the children write up a testimony to share, or prepare one to share on Wednesday evening?
PYCL #4: LOVE’S POWER OVER OUR BODIES.
In Section 4 Jesus heals a leper (Luke 5:12-17/ citation B16). Here we learn that Love is not only powerful but full of tenderness (just as in the section with the widow woman who so desperately needed to pay her debts—2nd Kings 4:1-7/citation B9).
Explain a little about the “unclean” nature of a disease like leprosy, where the person would have been living on the outskirts of society, no one would touch them. Have them try to imagine if no one would touch you at all, no hugs, no hand-holding, and mostly no one at all coming near to you. What would that be like? And, by the way, if you did touch someone who was unclean, you would have to go through a pretty long period of ritual cleansing that included some isolation, in order to move back into society.
Yet Jesus reached out and touched this man covered with the outward evidence of leprosy.
Do the children think that he had to touch him in order to heal him?
Did he touch everyone he healed? (There are several stories of him sending people away telling them that their son/daughter/servant was healed without ever seeing the “patient”).
Why do they think that Jesus touched him?
I also like that he didn’t say to the man that he was “whole”, as he did in many of his healings; he said “be thou clean”. This was a recognition of the man’s years-long stigma of feeling “unclean”, impure, outcast, and so on.
You can point out that this too is an example of how we can heal today by going beneath the material surface to discern or understand what really needs to be healed–a material condition? – or perhaps a feeling of isolation, impurity, or some other mental challenge.
PYCL #5: CELEBRATE THE FREEDOM FROM SLAVERY THAT GOD’S POWER BRINGS.
We have a new/old holiday that we are celebrating as a nation for the second year now. It is “Juneteenth” and occurs on this Sunday, though it is observed on Monday as a federal holiday. Look up the history of it if you are unfamiliar.
Consider looking at this same section where the leprous man was healed and check out 2nd Kings 4:1-7/citations B9, S19/224:31 and S20/55:15. See how these two statements of Love’s power can free us not just from the chains of physical or mental illnesses, but also can literally unshackle society from slavery of all kinds.
How can we continue to forward the amazing freeing power of Love?
What kinds of shackles can we remove every day from our thought?
Share ideas about some things we might like to find freedom from.
How might we pray about them in light of this week’s Bible lesson on God’s infinite, tender, power?
Have fun in Sunday School this week!
