PYCLs: HOW CAN WE SEE SPIRITUAL SUBSTANCE HUMANLY? SHOW BUTTERFLY TRANSFORMATIONS. BRING IN BROOMS. SHARE STORY OF PETER AND JOHN WITH THE MAN AT THE TEMPLE.
Possible Younger Class Lesson ideas for the Christian Science Quarterly Bible Lesson on
“SUBSTANCE”
for Sunday, March 12, 2023
by Kerry Jenkins, CS, of House Springs, MO
kerry.helen.jenkins@gmail.com • 314-406-0041
PYCL #1: WHAT IS SUBSTANCE?
Bring in a variety of objects (or use what you have in your class). Display them purposefully on the table so that the children can wonder what they are there for. Include some things like a rock, or something that seems very “solid” or indestructible. Then talk about the word substance, ask for their thoughts. Littles won’t participate on this level so you can hold things up and talk about it. “If substance is lasting, how long will ‘this’ last?” “Is there anything on this table that is eternal?” Older children will usually say that substance is something that you can see, feel, touch, maybe hear. Compare these answers with some of the passages in our lesson that talk about substance: S25/124:25-26, what Moses turned aside to see and where that led for an entire nation–Responsive Reading Ex. 3:1-5, S1/468:17-18, S3/286:21-22, B10/Heb. 11:1,3,8-10 and so much more!
PYCL #2: IF SUBSTANCE IS SPIRITUAL, HOW CAN WE SEE OR EXPERIENCE IT HUMANLY?
This is the Christly intersection between the divine and human that Jesus so flawlessly demonstrated through healing. But we can see this intersection in our ability to “pause and consider”. Maybe we can call this the “Moses principle”? Throughout our days we can pause and be still long enough to look around. What evidence do we see or feel that God is present, that Love, Truth, Life, is present? Maybe the evidence comes through something in the natural world around you, but it certainly is not restricted to that world! I hope you can share some personal examples of how you see the substance of Spirit every day. Maybe, if the weather is nice, you can go for a little walk while you talk about this learning to recognize God’s presence. Take a few steps and then deliberately pause and look around, close your eyes (invite the children to), what do they see/feel/hear that reminds them that Love is present, or Life, or Soul?When we learn to identify and “bask” in this pause and “considering” regularly, we find that we can also keep our tongue in line and say kinder, more accurate and peaceful things.
PYCL #3: BRING IN PICTURES OF CATERPILLAR/CHRYSALIS/BUTTERFLY TRANSFORMATIONS, OR SHOW A TIME LAPSE VIDEO OF IT.
I share some thoughts on this in my “met” for this week’s lesson, found here: https://cedarscamps.org/inspiration/article/the-beautiful-substance-of-spiritual-thought/ This beautiful metaphor is so helpful. We probably can’t time things right to raise a butterfly in our Sunday School, but you can explain how it all works, or take your class to a butterfly house in your local area sometime outside Sunday School. There are so many ways to think of this in our experience. For one thing, the process of going from chrysalis to butterfly is hidden. We cannot watch the transformation. The butterfly itself only starts to become visible in the last short hours before it escapes its surroundings! Then we have the metaphor of the transparency that the chrysalis takes on during that time. This is so similar to the way we find healing at times. It might look like nothing is happening when we only regard the “outer picture”. But nonetheless that transformation is moving apace! If we were to cut open the chrysalis at any time though, (get impatient with the growth process that sometimes is necessary in healing) we would not only ruin the butterflies chance to live, but we would find nothing more than a bunch of goop. This is because the caterpillar does not gradually “turn into” a butterfly, it liquifies, and the DNA rearranges into a butterfly. The metaphors abound, as I said. With the littles you can show the pictures or video and talk about how we all have the capacity to see our own nature as lovely spiritual ideas. Give them, or make with them, paper butterfly headbands to wear out of Sunday School. (There are various designs online)
PYCL #4: BRING IN BROOMS.
Even if you have done this before, when the children are very young it’s fun to talk about how we “…sweep away the false and give place to the true…” S17/428:8. This is a good passage to ponder alongside Jesus throwing the money changers out of the temple. You can share that story first (cit. B14/Mat 21:12-14), explaining why Jesus did this.
Why did he get so violent about this instead of politely asking them to leave?
How does this relate to how we sometimes need to be firmer in our approach to “cleaning out” error?
What does the word “temple” also mean in the Bible?
How does that expand the meaning of this story to include us?
What are we “sweeping out” of our body or consciousness?
Now hand them a broom and have them mime “sweeping away erroneous thoughts”. If you wanted to you can write them on pieces of paper, scrunch them up, and sweep them off the table and into a trash can. Let each child take a turn. Are these erroneous qualities such as hypocrisy, pride, moodiness, and so on, substantial in some way? Or, are they characteristics that can be swept away simply by standing and “considering” whether the feelings we engage are from God or not…being very mindful?
Another cool way to illustrate this point is to use the analogy of something or someone getting muddy.
Is the mud really a part of that person or thing?
What happens when we put that thing or person in a shower?
The dirt is not a substantial part of the person or thing.
You can certainly illustrate this with a tub of water and some dirty items that can be simply rinsed off in that tub.
PYCL #5: READ AND SHARE STORY OF PETER AND JOHN WITH THE MAN AT THE TEMPLE.
Citation B18/Acts 3:1-8 is a wonderful example of substance in so many ways. First of all, instead of the substance of money which the lame man was looking for, Peter and John shared the substance of Life, Truth, and Love, and healed the man. Little children may not be aware, but muscles that have never been used, bones that have never functioned (it specifies that the man was lame from his mother’s womb/born lame), would not humanly be able to support someone walking who never had walked before, much less “leaping up”! This illustrates that the substance of even the body, is thought. When we recognize the presence of Christ, the power of Love to transform, we have all that we need.
What kinds of possibilities does this knowledge open to us?
What hinders us from freedom under any circumstance?
What do we need to work on…our bodies?
Or our understanding of spiritual substance?
(If your students are older and you enjoy this kind of thing, this is a good opportunity to go into quantum mechanics which tells us more about the substance of thought versus matter.)
