PYCLs of At-One-ing – Put Jesus’ life into action. Show the pull toward God’s goodness… Roll away lies to be more fearless, loving… Tear away the veil… We can never measure infinity!
Possible Younger Class Lesson ideas for the Christian Science Quarterly Bible Lesson on
“DOCTRINE OF ATONEMENT”
for Sunday, October 15, 2023
by Kerry Jenkins, CS, of House Springs, MO
kerry.helen.jenkins@gmail.com • 314-406-0041
PYCL #1: Explain the doctrine of atonement and about celebrating it by putting what we see of Jesus’ life into action..
So, with the littlest ones this isn’t important, but for the slightly older children it’s helpful to have a sense of what Atonement means in traditional Christian churches. One of the things I love about Christian Science is that we don’t throw out these traditional ideas, but we celebrate them in action. We demonstrate these doctrines. In this case we look at what Jesus did with his life, what he taught us about overcoming sin (loving our enemies, not judging wrongly, worshiping without hypocrisy, following the true spirit of the Commandments and more).
Then, we put what we see of his life into action. This is how we show our true gratitude for the sacrifice he made for us by allowing himself to be crucified. Our own “crucifixion” comes as we sacrifice our own resentments, hatreds, judgments, etc. for love, understanding, kindness, and righteous/right judgement.
So this lesson usually focuses on really demonstrating what Jesus came to show us, including healing.
PYCL #2: Atonement and at-one-ment. Show everyone’s built-in pull toward God’s goodness, harmony, joy…
It is fun to look at this doctrine with the idea of being one with God. This was such a central message of Jesus’ ministry–that we are one with God, not separate sick or sinful men and women.
Do you own a magnetic “pin cushion”? It’s a magnetic dish that keeps pins in one place. If you have one you could empty it and bring it with the pins separate, or you could use paper clips.
You can scatter the pins on the table and then talk about how we are all one with God and attracted to God, divine Love, naturally. There is a pull toward God’s goodness, harmony, joy and so on. Pull out your magnetic pin dish (or paper clip container) and start waving it over the pins/paperclips. Have the children try it too. You could use a strong magnet of any type for this.
A second idea is to have a glass of water and a straw. Lift a few drops of water from the glass by dipping the straw and holding your finger over the top of the straw. You can use an eyedropper if you have one. Talk about how the water in the straw is separate from the water in the glass, but when you drop it back in the glass can you see it as separate?
This is how we are with Love. We can be individual, but we are one with Love. Have the kids try it for themselves.
PYCL #3: What gets in the way of feeling one with Love? [Roll away limits & lies to be more fearless, more loving… ]
In citation S29/45:16 Mary Baker Eddy tells us that “…Christ hath rolled away the stone from the door of human hope and faith, and through the revelation and demonstration of life in God, hath elevated them to possible at-one-ment with the spiritual idea of man and his divine Principle, Love.”
Talk about the stone that they rolled in front of Jesus’ tomb. How did it get rolled away?
Did Jesus get really strong and push it out of the way?
What does that stone represent in our thinking, what keeps us from healing, from being fearless, from loving everyone? From feeling our oneness with God?
Can we roll it out of our way? What does that take?
Set up a space with something that represents the stone over Jesus’ tomb and have them take turns “rolling it away” from the tomb. What are we setting free when we do this? (You could just use a chair, a beanbag chair, a box…whatever you have) Jesus was freed when the stone was moved, are we setting our thought free to be more fearless, more loving?
Are we unlimiting ourselves from feeling less capable in some way?
PYCL #4: Tear away the veil [and look straight at our oneness with Love!]
One of the things that happened when Jesus was crucified was that the veil in the temple was torn from top to bottom. This veil was thick and heavy and it took many men to hang it as it was some thirty feet tall. It kept people separate from the holiest part of the temple where it was thought that God dwelled. We can think about the symbolism here where Jesus came to teach us that we are never separate from God.
Jesus’ teaching was manifest in this tearing of the symbol of a doctrine that was widely believed in the Jewish temple. He came to show us that we are one with God, the veil is just “matter” that seems to separate us from Spirit. You can bring in varying levels of fabric to illustrate the way we can get clearer and clearer views of truth the more we move that veil away from us. So, you could bring in a piece of felt that is totally opaque, a white sheet that you might see shadows through in strong light, and a thin, see-through scarf to represent the thinnest layer of “matter”. But the best thing is to get rid of all of them and look straight at our oneness with Love!
PYCL #5: Have some fun with cit. B14/Eph. 3:14-19 — We can get totally “full” of Christ, but we can never measure infinity!
This passage tells us that when we are “rooted and grounded in love” that we might be able to understand the “breadth, and length, and depth, and height” of this Love that is in Christ.
Bring in a number of things to measure with. Read this passage in a few different translations or tell it in your own words to the younger children. Ask them if they can measure the love of Christ.
Can they measure it with this tape measure if they stand on a chair? Can they measure it in a measuring cup? A tablespoon? Give them tape measures and rulers and have them experiment. We can get totally “full” of Christ, but we can never measure infinity!
Have fun in Sunday School this week!
