Article October 13, 1934 Issue

Sunday School Lessons

ANNIE R. KINMAN

One who accepts the privilege of teaching in the Christian Science Sunday School assumes at the same time a certain responsibility. His is the opportunity of presenting the subjects, as provided for in the Manual, to the receptive and unbiased thought of children, many of whom receive no other instruction in Christian Science than that given them during the brief Sunday school period each week. The conscientious teacher has the definite desire to help the children form habits of right thinking and apply Christian Science in their everyday lives; to see developed in them an appreciation of the Bible and such an understanding of Truth as will prove an unfailing defense against the foes they may encounter in their human experience; to help prepare them to take their places in God's vineyard and do their part toward spreading the truth to all mankind.

While acknowledging that God, infinite Mind, supplies all wisdom, we must be alert to the fact that much consecrated preparation is required to shut out the suggestions of mortal mind and to let divine intelligence alone direct the teaching. In order properly to present the truth to others, the teacher must clear his own thought of materiality; he must see himself and his pupils as they really are, witnessing only to Truth. He must discard any thought of either self-sufficiency or lack of wisdom, knowing that whatever of good he has to present is inspired by Love, the only source from which real thoughts come. Careful planning of the lesson in this spirit of humble confidence insures a presentation that will surely bear fruit.

In the Church Manual (Art. XX, Sect. 3) Mrs. Eddy stipulates that as "first lessons" the children shall be taught the Ten Commandments, the Lord's Prayer with its spiritual interpretation given in our textbook, and that part of the Sermon on the Mount which we term the Beatitudes. These fundamentals cannot be too thoroughly studied, but let us never confuse mere repetition with study. Simply to repeat the Ten Commandments each Sunday would be uninteresting; but with the most wonderful book in the world at hand—the Bible—in which to find illustrations of the points under discussion, no lesson need be monotonous. Since our Leader does not limit the study to these specified passages, but also says, "The Sabbath School children shall be taught the Scriptures" (ibid., Art. XX, Sect. 2), we are not limited in lesson material; and we can therefore teach portions of the Scriptures in connection with the "first lessons."

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