SUNDAY SCHOOL April 20, 1946 Issue

Preparation for the Class

[From the Field]

Of vital importance are those precious moments each Sunday morning when teacher and pupil meet together in the Sunday school to listen for the voice of Truth, and together share the resulting unfoldment. That which is implanted in the child's thought, if it be of God, will inevitably come to fruition. Therefore the work of teaching in a Christian Science Sunday School is at once a sacred responsibility, a joyous privilege, and a wonderful opportunity.

As a rule I find the available time seems all too short, but I am learning that here, as in human experience generally, quality is preferable to quantity. One session of inspired teaching is far more effective than many sessions of routine reading and uninspired discussion. I am learning, too, that the success of the teaching depends not only on the preparatory work of the week but also on the teacher's mental state at the commencement of the instruction, and often after the week's work. I find my final preparation on Sunday morning resolving itself into a quiet pondering of the opening verse of our Leader's poem feed My Sheep"' (Poems, p. 14). For how true it is of each of us that, as Jesus said of himself (John 5:30), "I can of mine own self do nothing"!

In the classwork I always try to give the instruction from the general background of the question, "What does the Lesson mean for us here at this moment?" Although many Bible passages are either somewhat archaic in wording or symbolic or metaphorical in expression, the children need to be shown that the spiritual teachings of the Bible are just as applicable to us as they were to those who lived in the times to which it refers, and that, far from being old-fashioned, they not only keep pace with events, but are ever ahead of them, as far as individual demonstration is concerned.

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