Younger Class Lesson ideas for Sunday School on “(N)Everlasting Punishment”
Possible Younger Sunday School Class Lesson ideas for the Christian Science Quarterly Bible Lesson on
“Everlasting Punishment”
for Sunday, May 5, 2024
by Kerry Jenkins, CS, of House Springs, MO
kerry.helen.jenkins@gmail.com • 314-406-0041
PYCL #1: No matter the age you teach it is great to use this lesson topic as a way to dig a little deeper into our concept of God.
The littlest ones can think together about what God “does”. Is God a person-like being that checks out what you are doing and then rewards or punishes you based on what you do/don’t do? If not, what is God, exactly?
Can you find ways to “see” God around you in Sunday School? Maybe you notice that Mind is there because there is intelligence and humor around you. Or we can see Love in the kindness and affection that we see and feel, or Soul in the beauty of the trees outside or the decor in the Sunday School. These are how God is expressed in action and how we humanly feel and experience God as Love, Truth, Life, etc.
With the older children we can do the above, but we can really dig into this idea of punishment, worth, deserving. If God does not punish us for wrongdoing, then why do we feel like we are punished?
What is happening when things go wrong? Look at the Golden Text from Romans 8:38, 39. What is “separation”? (It’s sin, the belief that we can be separated from Good/God).
How do we feel oneness with good? Have we ever noticed that we feel uneasy, not fully happy, anxious, or not at peace when we are engaged in something that isn’t our highest sense of right?
Sometimes we don’t feel this unease until we pause at the end, or in the midst. In that quiet moment, we suddenly notice our discomfort, whereas, in the thick of things we might be surrounded by too much excitement or action to fully be conscious of the nature of what we are doing. This does not have to be some “big bad” thing.
Maybe our doing less than our highest sense of right is just procrastinating when we are asked to do something. But usually we just don’t feel a free sense of joy. This is our experience of feeling separated from Good. How do we change that feeling? Can we just “pray about it”?
What has to happen for us to feel peaceful? Yup, we have to change what we are doing, or at least try to! Is this because God is “punishing” us? No! It’s because we have “created” a feeling of separation by procrastinating, or whatever we are doing that isn’t our highest right. Some of this can be useful with the littler classes as well, just feel it out!
PYCL #2: If we resist the good that we are being asked to do,
we are really tying ourselves up.
If you worked a bit with PYCL #1, you can try a little experiment. Bring some rags or rope and ask if anyone wants to volunteer to try this after you explain. You could try tying hands behind backs or tying feet together. If you do the feet, just be really careful about where and how they move around! You could take the class outside on grass or something soft.
Talk about what they can and cannot do with these limbs tied up. We are really limited in a lot of things. If their arms are tied try handing them a ball or frisbee. Or maybe a piece of candy, hahaha. Explain that when we aren’t listening to what the universe of God is telling us, if we resist the good that we are being asked to do, we are really tying ourselves up. We are really limiting ourselves, causing anxiety, sadness, disappointment, anger and so on.
But when we are truly tuned into all that Love is asking, we find ourselves feeling freedom and joy. Then we are able to “run” and “throw” and so on! But it was never God “tying us up”. It is our own thoughts and behaviors that limit us, and these thoughts and behaviors aren’t even natural or normal for us to have!!
PYCL #3: Here’s another way to focus on how we think of God.
Here are citations that we can work with to deepen our understanding of God: citation S5/230:11-15, cit. S6/322:26-30, cit. S7/357:1-5, cit. S13/522:30-1, and cit. S14/516:12-13, 16-19 The basic theme is that it makes no sense that a creator would make something that can be evil, and then punish that person for doing things that God made them able to do in the first place.
This goes to the concept of there being no duality, which is tricky for any of us struggling with what it means to be human and practicing something that deals wholly in Spirit. With the littler ones especially, you can use the idea of the sun shining on all the earth. It does not decide that some people aren’t worthy of sunshine and withhold its warmth and light from those people. It just gives this light and warmth to all.
In the same way, God/Love sees creation as Love’s manifestation, always worthy and cherished. We can look at what we perceive as “bad” people, as those that just don’t understand their true nature and are behaving contrary to it.
With older children, one way to think about the idea of no duality — good and evil — is to think about what we perceive as evil. Doesn’t it always lead us to something higher…eventually? Citation S6/322:26-30 is a statement that might help in understanding the role that what we label “evil” might play.
The parable of the Prodigal Son is one that illustrates man’s need to understand that there is no reward or satisfaction in a life of duality. Once he came home, he wasn’t scolded or punished, because to the Father/God, he had never left his status. The son merely needed to understand that through his human experience to see it clearly. So, if “evil” leads us to a higher understanding of spiritual reality and Love, is it actually evil?
PYCL #4: Talk about what prayer is and isn’t.
Is it something where we beg for forgiveness?
Make deals with God?
Ask for things?
Bible citation B17/Ps. 38:9 and Science & Health citations S18/1:11, S19/11:22, S20/15:9,26-30 are all citations that help us to define prayer.
With the littles you can walk them through some prayers.
What kinds of “desires” do we share in prayer? (Are we asking for new toys?…)
If our prayers seem more material in their desires, how can we elevate them?
How do we “trust God” with our prayers?
A key ingredient is to be humble and at peace in our knowledge that all good is infinite and shining down on us already.
Notice the passage “Self-forgetfulness, purity, and affection are constant prayers.” What does that mean?
What does it mean to “…desire holiness above all else…”?
What is holiness?
PYCL #5: I love how the parable of the Pharisee and the publican teaches us about the nature of God. (cit. B23/Luke 18:9-14)
What kind of prayer brings healing and why? Is the humble prayer of the publican something that Love “hears” better?
Or, is it that humility causes us to see and experience the nature of Love around us, while a proud and self-righteous prayer blinds us to divine Love’s presence and power?
What does this say about what God is?
Have a wonderful week in Sunday School!!!
