Article November 20, 1954 Issue

Assignments for Home Study

"He advances most in divine Science who meditates most on infinite spiritual substance and intelligence." So states our Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, on page 309 of her book "Miscellaneous Writings." Hence one purpose of our Sunday School is to help our boys and girls to cultivate regular and systematic habits of study and to learn to meditate on the great spiritual facts of being. To this end home assignments are helpful in all age groups. Without such assignments the child may fall into a theoretical sense of his religion. He may think of it merely as an interesting subject to be given attention only on Sunday, instead of regarding it as a great well of living water on which to draw for daily spiritual sustenance.

Even the tiniest pupils are happy to receive a slip of paper containing citations from the Bible or Mrs. Eddy's writings, which they may ask someone in the home to read to them. A teacher substituting in a primary class observed that a two-year-old pupil was restless and inattentive and asked several times for a certain story which at that time was popular with children. In pondering the situation after Sunday School the teacher asked herself, "Why not give the child a Bible story to be read to her at home so that she may look forward to talking about it next Sunday in class?" So the teacher wrote each child a note, referring to citations with regard to the birth of Jesus (Luke 2: 8—18and Matt. 2:1—11) and asking that he have the story read to him so that he could talk about it the next Sunday.

The following Sunday, before the session opened, the child who before appeared to be interested most of all in a certain popular story began enthusiastically to talk about "the little baby Jesus." The assignment not only gave the child something of permanent value to think about during the week, but it also established in her thought a purpose for coming to Sunday School. And it provided the teacher an excellent background for teaching first lessons, that is, the Ten Commandments, the Lord's Prayer, with its spiritual interpretation given on pages 16 and 17 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy, and the Beatitudes.

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