PYCLs – Don’t fill your barn with unreality! Only say kind things! Bring a costume!
Possible Younger Class Lesson ideas for the Christian Science Quarterly Bible Lesson on
“UNREALITY”
for Sunday, October 1, 2023
by Chris Gordon, of St. Louis area, MO
chrisgordon46 • 314-477-1483
PYCL #1 – Don’t fill our barns with unreality!
Bring in an apple or another piece of fruit, probably one the kids would really like.
Talk about what it might have been like a long time ago, probably a lot of work and waiting to get some fruit or vegetables to grow from a tree.
Wouldn’t we want to store up a bunch so it would be easier?
Ask if they’ve ever had some fruit that went bad. Could that happen to food or other things?
Do we want to have “treasures laid up ‘where moth and rust doth corrupt’” (cit. S18/241:5-9)?
What other treasures could we store up that can’t go away?
Citation S22 (57:16-24) talks about happiness being from Truth and Love and being unselfish.
Can thinking about, helping, supporting others be that treasure?
PYCL #2 – Don’t give mean thoughts power! Only say kind things!
Citation B10 has that great quote from James, “Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter?” (James 3:5-18)
Bring in a water bottle (or even apple juice) and some cups.
Ask them what we could get out of there. Could you get milk? or pickle juice?
Likewise, the only thing that can come out of us is goodness. If we say/do something that isn’t nice, that’s not a part of who we are, that isn’t how God made us.
This includes saying not nice things about ourselves – “I’ll never understand math”, “I can’t swim”, or “My sister and I just don’t get along”.
If you or your Sunday School has the book “Filled up full” (an older book from the CSPS), this is a great story to go along with this thought,
Can things other people say hurt us? Look at the story from King David in citation B9 (II Samuel 16:5-14). Shimei was calling names and throwing stones. David’s friend offers to cut off his head (may need to soften this for younger ages), but David says that God wants him to respond to the cursing with love. Is that easy?
Have you ever had anyone call names? Could you respond kindly?
What happened to David when he was loving to them – him (and those with him) came weary, and left refreshed! Can being kind give us true strength and power?
PYCL #3 – Don’t be trapped by material laws!
This is a good one to act out if you have a bigger (maybe outdoor?) space.
In Matthew (cit. B15/Matt. 8:5-13) Jesus was walking, and a man came up saying his son needed to be healed. The man’s son was pretty far away.
Did Jesus need to come and get rid of the sickness?
Did he need to come and change the sick person for a healthy person?
Could Jesus even have to see, hear, or touch the son?
Jesus was willing to come and heal him, but the man’s faith was so strong he knew that God could heal without requiring the physical presence of Jesus.
How did Jesus do this? Did he have to replace sickness with health?
Or did he just know the perfection of the son because that was how we are all created!
Mary Baker Eddy says “sickness is a dream from which the patient needs to be awakened.” (cit. B25/417:20). Could we see the unreality of thoughts that say we aren’t ‘Divine image and likeness’? Could we just wake from that dream?
Citation S27 (393:12) promises that God gives us the ability to resist all bad things, and that nothing can get in the way of this.
PYCL #4 – Bring in a costume
Psalm 24 (cit. B16/Ps. 24:3-5) tells us we’ll be close to God when we have clean hands and a pure heart. Science and Health (cit. S29/296:9) talks about putting off the old man.
If we put on a scary costume, does that make us scary? Or, even if we put on a certain character costume, does that make us into that person? Similarly, if we do something bad, say something mean, etc, does that make us into a bad person? Of course not!
And just like we could easily remove the costume, we can just change our behavior, words, etc. Reality is that we’re God’s perfect reflection, and nothing can cover that up.
