Vacations with Order and Progress

"Christian Science demands order and truth." So writes our Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, on page 215 of her book "Miscellaneous Writings." Vacations may bring a change of scenery, a change of association, a change of activity, but order and truth are perpetual demands which should characterize every event of human experience. The vacation season, which in some countries falls largely in the months of July and August, is likely to bring some changes in the routine work of the Sunday School, particularly in the larger schools in the metropolitan areas, where a number of pupils leave the city in the summer, and in the smaller ones in the resort districts, where the attendance sometimes is greatly increased, and where pupils, officers, and teachers come and go. When these changes are given attention sufficiently in advance, they do not interrupt the work or interfere with the high standard which the Sunday School should maintain.

In this column, under date of May 17, 1947, a plan was mentioned for organizing summer classes so that the work might continue through the vacation season with sustained regularity, interest, and inspiration. While the plan was not presented as an ideal one for all Sunday Schools, a number of churches have tried it and have reported excellent results. Summer attendance was improved, and interest in the lessons continued uninterrupted. Systematic condensing of classes brought a sense of order into the Sunday School which was reflected in the work of the pupils.

The vacation months afford an excellent opportunity for personal contact with those of the pupils who remain at home for the season. Many active children in the summer are on the lookout for something interesting with which to occupy their time, and a child who has been lax about attending Sunday School may become actively interested when approached on the subject by an understanding teacher or superintendent. With no school-work to do, he may find the way open for more attention to the Sunday School lessons and in this way learn to value the lessons and continue to study them throughout the year.

Many Sunday School teachers recommend that pupils do some special home reading during vacation time. As a result some pupils in the summer have read the textbook through consecutively for the first time. Others have read one or more of the biographies of Mary Baker Eddy, one or more of the Gospels, or other portions of Scripture or of the writings of our Leader.

Of special interest to little children are the following pamphlets:

Children of Light
A Pamphlet for Small Boys and Girls
A Child's Own Pamphlet (printed in
French and German with accompanying English text)

And the pamphlets entitled "Capabilities and Possibilities of Youth" and "Youth Chooses" appeal especially to teen-age boys and girls. These pamphlets are sometimes made available to the pupils through the Sunday School lending library along with other authorized works on Christian Science.

One branch church at vacation time kept in touch with its Sunday School pupils who were away for an extended period by regularly mailing to them copies of the Christian Science Sentinel and The Christian Science Monitor. Both older and younger pupils on their return to Sunday School expressed gratitude for the periodicals, and some who had not before accepted copies which wore available to them at the close of the Sunday School session were eager to receive them.

Happy indeed are vacations that are orderly and profitable.

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