PYCLs— 1) LEARN AND SING THE SYNONYM SONG! 2) WHAT ARE LAWS, RULES, AND GOD’S LAWS?3) GREAT OPPORTUNITY TO REVIEW THE 10 COMMANDMENTS & 2 GREAT COMMANDMENTSTHAT STEM FROM THEM. 4) GOD DOESN’T BEGIN & NEITHER DO YOU! 5) BRING IN A LAMP.
CedarS PYCLs, Possible Younger Class Lessons, for the Christian Science Quarterly Bible Lesson:
“God”
for July 3, 2022
by Kerry Jenkins, CS, House Springs, MO
kerry.helen.jenkins@gmail.com (314) 406-0041
PYCL #1: LEARN AND SING THE SYNONYM SONG!
In the LISTEN link is a recording of a few of our wonderful Whippoorwill campers “singing” just the first part of the “Seven Names for God” song. What they lack in pitch they make up for with enthusiasm! The original song was written and performed by the Solo Committee on their album “G is for God”, the song is “Seven Names for God”. It can be heard in full and purchased online at this link. I’m sure this album is also in most Reading Rooms. It should be pretty easy to teach this refrain and then see how fast you can sing it together once they’ve learned it! Here are the words to the song: “Principle, Mind, Soul, Spirit, Life, Truth, and Love. (sing twice) God has seven names we say to help us learn him all the way, Principle, Mind, Soul, Spirit, Life, Truth, and Love.”
PYCL #2: WHAT ARE LAWS, RULES, AND GOD’S LAWS?
Ask what they think about rules and then, if they are old enough to know a game of some kind, bring in a game set up. This could be done with a card game of some sort, or a board game, or even an active game like “red light green light”. The point here is that you get to rig the game so that you easily win each time because you are making up your own rules, not following the rules of the game. This needs to be a game that they are very familiar with, so that they instantly recognize that you are not following the rules.
You all can laugh together about how it would be no fun at all to play a game where the rules are always broken! Then think about laws like traffic laws.
Christie Hanzlik in this week’s CedarS’ metaphysical, shares the scenario where one town that is next to another town has different laws concerning traffic signals. In one town red means stop, but in the town next door red means go! What would happen when people crossed back and forth between these towns?! There are so many examples when you start to think about it, all sports games have laws. What would happen if someone grabbed a soccer ball and carried it to the opposite goal and threw it in? Then there is the law of Love, Truth, Life, and so on–God’s law. This law can’t really be broken or skewed toward one person or another! This law governs the universe of Spirit in harmony, peace, safety, health, life, justice, and so on.
We can find this universe of Spirit right within ourselves when we look to God/Spirit, instead of material sense. Human laws are good, they definitely tend to reflect Principle and Love. They can bring order, peace, and even prosperity when they are good laws. But they are not always just, or always loving, and that’s when we need to remember that we can tap into that divine Law of Love that governs the universe of Spirit! When we look to the kingdom of God within, that Jesus told us dwells there, we start to experience healing, joy, peace, even when it might seem that things are unfair in the world around us. We might, for example, see someone else get more of something than they were supposed to have. But if we turn to look into Love’s abundance for us, we can begin to feel peace that comes from being reassured that Love’s goodness is infinite for us, that there is no limit to the blessings of Love.
We might not have gotten as many cookies, or opportunities, or turns, but the more we refuse to feel deprived or “cheated”, we are opening the door to the infinite blessings that come from infinite Good. We may not know how they will take form, but they definitely come to us, because this is the law of Love!
PYCL #3: IDEAL OPPORTUNITY TO REVIEW THE 10 COMMANDMENTS & “TWO GREAT COMMANDMENTS” THAT STEM FROM THEM.
Loving God, and loving our neighbor as ourselves are key commands to living a joyful and satisfied life. It’s worth doing some review for this. We have pretty much discussed the “why” of these laws, but it’s helpful to think of them as “fences” around black pits that we do not want to fall into–rather than rules that we shouldn’t break or disobey.
Look at the Responsive Reading together. There is a cool statement (Deut. 4:39; 27:1-3, 8-10; 6:4,5) about how we should write the words of this law on great stones that we plaster with plaster. Talk about what that might be for? What would they look like today? Can we put up this kind of immovable kind of stone in our thought to remind us that these laws are bringing us infinite freedom and joy, not limitation? Then read down further to see that these stones are set up on the border of “a land filled with milk and honey”. That would be the Promised land, a place of prosperity, peace, joy, and so on. Sounds like the kingdom of God that we mentioned above right? This is what comes into view when we practice obedience to the laws of Love, we find that we are in this land of “milk and honey”. Talk about what milk and honey represent.
PYCL #4: GOD DOESN’T BEGIN AND NEITHER DO YOU!
Bring in anything that is circular. Show that it has no beginning or end. Now look at citation S1/SH 502:22-27 where Mary Baker Eddy discusses the beginningless-ness of God. It speaks of the eternal unity of God and man…so each of us is infinite in being as well. It may look like we just popped into being a few years ago, but that’s just our perception of self. Our true being is eternal, like the circle you brought, no beginning, no end. You can link this idea to the statement in section 2, S7/303:25-30 where it is made clear that God must be expressed at all times by His image, or God would be a non-entity! We cannot be separated, ever, throughout eternity, from God!
PYCL #5: BRING IN A LAMP.
Bible citation 22/Prov. 6:23 (to 2nd;) is a great one to end with. “For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light;”. This would be for smaller children who don’t yet understand symbolism. What does it mean that a commandment is a lamp and a law a light? How does light stand for understanding? When we turn on a light in a dark room everything gets clear. We can see where the furniture is and we don’t bump into things. When we have a flashlight on a dark trail, we can see where we are going, it is like a guide along the way. How then, are God’s laws or commandments like these kinds of light?
Have a great week in Sunday School!
