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CedarS Metaphysical Application Ideas for: “Doctrine of Atonement”
The Christian Science Bible Lesson for October 16, 2011
by Dan Carnesciali, CS of St. Louis, MO 314.374.5616 dancarne@gmail.com
[Bracketed italics by Warren Huff, CedarS Director and Newsletter Editor]

[Editor's Note: Your financial support is needed and much appreciated especially since CedarS weekly “Mets” or Metaphysical Newsletters, Possible Sunday School Topics (PSSTs) and Possible Younger Class Lessons (PYCLs) are all provided free of charge to the 1,200 campers and staff blessed each summer at CedarS –as well as to thousands of CedarS alumni, families, Sunday School teachers and friends who weekly find these “Mets”, PSSTs and PYCLs on our website or through CS Directory.  The following application ideas for this week and the possible Sunday School ideas that will follow are offered primarily to help us all see and demonstrate the great value of daily study and application of the Christian Science Bible lessons year-round, not just at camp! You can sign up to have them emailed to you free — in English by Monday each week, or by each Wednesday you can get a FREE TRANSLATION in French thanks to Pascal, in German thanks to Helga and Manfred or in Spanish thanks to a team of Ana, Erick, Claudia and Patricio. YOU CAN SIGN UP at 
www.cedarscamps.org/newsletters]
 
There is a lot of change going on in the world. The Mideast is experiencing very rapid political changes. The world is experiencing rapid technological change. For example, since the 1700s the U.S. has relied on sending letters through the Post Office. However, the Post Office is rapidly becoming less relevant. The Bible is a book about change. Reading the Bible we witness a progression from very small villages, to kingdoms and then empires. But one thing doesn't change in the Bible. What doesn't change is that there is only one God and our need for oneness/unity with God. The word doctrine means teaching. The doctrine of atonement is a teaching about becoming reconciled with God, requiring the pardoning of sins. This lesson will then help us remove [all sense of] separation from God. Jesus discovered who God was and shared it with us. He felt tenderly loved by God and called him [Abba,} his Father, his [Daddy or] Pappy. Jesus was also clear that God's nature as loving, powerful, intelligent and healing was his nature. Let's all experience and feel our oneness with the true God, Life this week.
 
Golden Text:
You could read this passage [“there is one God and one mediator…the man Jesus Christ;'] as Jesus is the only way to God. Or, you could read it that Jesus is one way, the best way to God. As you ponder this, you should know that while 1st and 2nd Timothy are considered scripture they are not considered an authentic Pauline letters by scholars. That means that someone wrote these letters in the name of Paul, with the authority of Paul. Would you believe there is a word for that? It's pseudegraphy. In Science and Health, Mary Baker Eddy mentions that we “adore” Jesus. (pg. 26:1) I know we appreciate him, but do we love him? She asks, “Who is ready to follow his teaching and example?  All must sooner or later plant themselves in Christ, the true idea of God.” 
 
Responsive Reading:
This text from Deuteronomy is key to our understanding of God. It's key to Judaism and Christianity because it declares that there is only one God and this God is Lord. Jesus quoted this passage and said that it is the most important commandment. We don't love God with all our hearts for a moment. We love God with all our hearts for a lifetime. We are constantly tempted to bow down to other gods.   These gods come with names like frustration and hatred, or as flu and headache, or as [any number of] sins [or ways to miss the mark]. But, how is God seeing you and perceiving you right now? This is different than how you are seeing God. God made spiritual ideas in God's image and God's likeness. We are God's reflection. God didn't make humans. There are no perfect humans. As you read this lesson, watch for the word man. Sometimes it means mortal or human man, and sometimes it means the image and likeness of God.
 
Section 1 – Our Rock!
“As mortals give up the delusion that there is more than one Mind, more than one God, man in God's likeness will appear, and this eternal man will include in that likeness no material element.” (S-3)  A delusion is a deception. “Listen, Heavens, I have something to tell you. Attention, Earth, I've got a mouth full of words. My teaching, let it fall like a gentle rain, my words arrive like morning dew, Like a sprinkling rain on new grass, like spring showers on the garden.  For it's God's Name I'm preaching – respond to the greatness of our God! The Rock: His works are perfect, and the way he works is fair and just; A God you can depend upon, no exceptions, a straight-arrow God.” (B-3) (The Message)  When will man in God's likeness appear? It happens when we give up the mistake or misconception of more than one Mind.
 
Section 2- Fired Up To Worship God
When the Israelites moved into the Promised Land, they lived among people (Canaanites) that worshipped many gods. Some of the Israelites started worshipping these gods. Throughout the Old Testament the prophets of Judah and Israel were called by God to tell the people that they must worship only one God. (B-8)  Let's see … what does it mean to worship? It's what you think is worthy of your time. By taking time to read the Lesson, to pray, you are worshipping God. You are also making an investment in understanding the real you.  How you identify yourself greatly influences the effectiveness of your prayers.  Seek the real you (the child of God) that Jesus saw and honored. In I Kings, Elijah puts the choice about worshipping multiple gods bluntly. He asks the people (which includes us) why they were trying to worship multiple gods.  Elijah said you could worship Baal. The word Baal means “Lord”. Scholars are not sure which god was being referred to here in I Kings. Elijah said if you are going to worship the one God, then worship God. We are talking about the God whose nature is absolute good, infinite Love. Worshipping one God is a simple concept, but not easy to practice. Jesus talked about this too. He said that we can't serve two masters. He said we will end up loving one and hating the other.
 
Section 3 – Dig Deep
Jesus was anointed to preach the gospel to the poor [receptive], us. He was anointed to change the world forever. What about you? What have you been anointed to do? What does it mean to be anointed? Its spiritual meaning is that you have been chosen or called by God. Spend time getting to know the you of God's creating. All of us have been anointed by Christ to become something very special, for a very special purpose. Jesus was called to heal. Jesus healed the blind, and there are examples of Christian Science healing blindness today. Can you imagine what it meant to be blind in biblical times?  In the Bible, blindness is also figurative, symbolic. It is symbolic of spiritual ignorance. Sight is symbolic of understanding. (B-12)  If I say, “See as God sees, see only what God is seeing, see with God's eyes,” I am talking about perception not physical sight. Speaking of blindness, let's not be arrogant and think Jesus is talking about someone else's blindness. It is our blindness he is speaking of. Pray that your eyes cannot be closed to Truth. Pray that your eyes be opened to who God is and who Jesus really was. Jesus gives us a parable about two men who build a house. The unwise man builds his house quickly and economically. The wise man digs deep and builds his house upon a stone foundation. This is more expensive and requires hard work. I have told Sunday School classes that you will encounter storms (hard times) in life. If you want to be able to survive those storms, build your life upon the truths in the Bible.  Let's be wise. Shortcuts are temptations. Don't take shortcuts in your quest for understanding and demonstration. Dig deep and find the real you that God made. Dig deep until you hit bedrock, the Rock or Christ that Jesus was talking about when he told Peter, “Now I tell you that you are Peter the rock, and it is on this rock that I am going to found my Church, and the powers of death will never prevail against it.” (JB Phillips translation) If God gave Jesus authority over sin, sickness, and death, haven't you been given the same authority? Get to know the real you (that God made). The good that you desire is not out there. It's really already within you. That's why Jesus said the kingdom of heaven is within you.
 
Section 4 – Jesus and Atonement
Isaiah 53 is the last of the four Songs of the Suffering Servant. If you read Isaiah 53, you will see what appear to be obvious connections to Jesus. Many Christians view the entire chapter, especially passages of the servant suffering and the resulting forgiving of sins as prophecies of Jesus' crucifixion. Having said that, some Jewish scholars reject that, saying Isaiah 53 is not talking about Jesus, but about the kingdom of Israel as a whole in exile. (The Exile is a period when the Jews were attacked by the Babylonians and many of them were taken to Babylonia. This was a terrible period for the Jews. But they grew a lot from the experience.) For example, Isaiah 53:4 is also quoted in Matthew 8:17 (in reverse order), as a sign of Jesus' healing ministry prophesied. (neverthirsty.org) Isaiah 53:4 refers to the suffering servant bearing our griefs. In Hebrew, grief is another word for disease. Isaiah 53 is viewed as important to the concept of atonement, because it is thought that through the atonement, sins are healed.  But, that can get tricky because to some the doctrine of Atonement teaches that healing is not permanent until one reaches heaven. This reminds me that Science and Health calls the doctrine of Atonement a “hard problem in theology”. (Science and Health, pg. 23:8) The verse from Isaiah is an example of what is termed Messianic prophecy. Christians believe the passage to be a prophecy fulfilled by Christ Jesus. What that means is that, knowing the life of Jesus, it is possible to look back at passages in the Old Testament and say, “Aha! That's talking about the life of Jesus, even though it was written hundreds of years before he was alive. It's is a prophecy about Jesus' mission.” Whether the hundreds of passages believed to be Messianic prophecies are truly prophecies is an issue that is far from settled. If you do a search on the Internet for “messianic prophecies”, you will find enough to keep you reading for quite a while. For more on this topic you may enjoy these links: http://www.jewsforjesus.org/answers/prophecy/isaiah53chart, http://bible.org/article/messianic-prophecieshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaiah_53. Reading the passage from Acts, see how the author says that the trial, the crucifixion, the resurrection were foretold. “Now, listen to what I have to say about Jesus from Nazareth. God proved that he sent Jesus to you by having him work miracles, wonders, and signs. All of you know this. God had already planned and decided that Jesus would be handed over to you. So you took him and had evil men put him to death on a cross. But God set him free from death and raised him to life. Death could not hold him in its power. What David said are really the words of Jesus, “I always see the Lord near me, and I will not be afraid with him at my right side.  Because of this, my heart will be glad, my words will be joyful, and I will live in hope. The Lord won't leave me in the grave.  I am his holy one, and he won't let my body decay. He has shown me the path to life, and he makes me glad by being near me.” (CEV) Does Christian Science teach that Jesus suffered for our sins? See the first sentence of citation 18. This next passage is even more direct: “Jesus suffered for our sins, not to annul the divine sentence for an individual's sin, but because sin brings inevitable suffering.” (S&H, 11:18) “We acknowledge Jesus' atonement as the evidence of divine, efficacious Love, unfolding man's unity with God through Christ Jesus the Way-shower; and we acknowledge that man is saved through Christ, through Truth, Life, and Love as demonstrated by the Galilean Prophet in healing the sick and overcoming sin and death.” (S-21, [the 4th Tenet of Christian Science]) We acknowledge that mankind is saved through Christ as demonstrated by Jesus. We acknowledge that Jesus illustrated our unity with God and His great Love. Acknowledge – it's a great word and a great concept to use in your prayers. It means to accept something as valid, true and having authority. 
 
Section 5 – One in Christ
The doctrine (teaching) of Christian Science is that divine Love cannot be robbed or stripped of its manifestation. Doesn't that make sense? God, divine Love, being all cannot be separated from its expression.  How could infinite Love be without its complete expression? How could Love's expression be without its divine Parent? (S-24) Let's see what St. John had to say about this. “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.” (NIV) Jesus' expressed unconditional love. We like to receive unconditional love, but we find it hard to give.  Human nature is an odd thing. Let's try to pattern our giving and love for others after Jesus. That's radical, but it's what Christianity is all about. (B-19) Paul knew his statement in the 20th citation in the Bible was Jesus-patterned, but he took a lot of heat for it. This idea was not well-received by the Jewish Christians. In the first few decades after Jesus' ascension, there were no Christians, they were Jewish followers of Jesus. Paul declared that one could be a follower of Jesus without being Jewish. At the time, this was quite revolutionary! Although we don't have to be Jewish to follow Jesus, we still haven't fully achieved the equality that Paul talked about in this statement. “There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus.”  (Gentile means non-Jew.) (B-20) We can demonstrate oneness in the following way. If you are having a hard time getting along with someone, see the Christly nature of the person. Your Christly nature and the other person's Christly nature are already in tune with each other. That's because they aren't two, they are one. (You are both expressions of the same God.) It is a wonderful thing to witness this God-nature, or Godlike individuality in others because then you can witness it in yourself. “And this is the plan: At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ-everything in heaven and on earth.” (New Living Translation, B-21) “We also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ …” Did God express Godself through Jesus?  Is that accurate?  “Christ, Truth, was demonstrated through Jesus to prove the power of Spirit over the flesh, – to show that Truth is made manifest by its effects upon the human mind and body, healing sickness and destroying sin.” “The person who doesn't love does not know God, because God is love. This is how the love of God is revealed to us: God has sent his only Son into the world so that we can live through him.” (B-19, Common English Bible) Did you think that Christian Science works for others, but not for you? That is so bogus. Christian Science is the laws of Truth and Love. That means it is universally available. Don't fall for the temptation that the healing and saving Truth is not available to you. Jesus came so you would have a perfect relationship with God so that you could live! 

 
 [If you have been blessed by any of CedarS 3 weekly inspirational newsletters (our Mets or our PSSTs and PYCLs for Sunday School teachers), now would be a perfect time to share your appreciation. Your 50th Anniversary gift–as generous as divine Love directs-will play a needed part in CedarS important, year-round work for our own Sunday School students. CedarS new Fall-season outreach (that is fostering a proper understanding of Christian Science) is the giving of tours of our new Bible Lands Park that demonstrate to Bible-loving churches and youth groups of other denominations how Christian Scientists love and “take the inspired Word of the Bible as our sufficient guide to eternal Life.” (S&H 497:3)]

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 [Camp Director's Note: This sharing is the latest in an ongoing, 11-year series of CedarS Bible Lesson “Mets” (Metaphysical application ideas) contributed weekly by a rotation of CedarS Resident Practitioners and occasionally by other metaphysicians.  (Ask and look for “Possible Sunday School Topics “and “Possible Younger Class Lessons” in subsequent emails.) These weekly offerings are intended to encourage further study and application of ideas in the lesson and to invigorate Sunday School participation by students and by the budding teachers on our staff. Originally sent JUST to my Sunday School students and to campers, staff and CedarS families who wanted to continue at home and in their home Sunday Schools the same type of focused Lesson study, application and inspiration they had felt at camp, CedarS lesson “mets “and Sunday School ideas are in no way meant to be definitive or conclusive or in any way a substitute for daily study of the lesson. The thoughts presented are the inspiration of the moment and are offered to give a bit more dimension and background as well as new angles (and angels) on the daily applicability of some of the ideas and passages being studied. The weekly Bible Lessons are copyrighted by the Christian Science Publishing Society and are printed in the Christian Science Quarterly as available at Christian Science Reading Rooms or online at eBibleLesson.com or myBibleLesson.com. The citations referenced (i.e.B-1 and S-28) from this week's Bible Lesson in the “Met” (Metaphysical application ideas) are taken from the Bible (B-1 thru B-24) and the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health With Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy (S-1 thru S-30). The Bible and Science and Health are the ordained pastor of the Churches of Christ, Scientist. The Bible Lesson is the sermon read in Christian Science church services throughout the world. The Lesson-Sermon speaks individually through the Christ to everyone, providing unique insights and tailor-made applications for each one. We are glad you requested this metaphysical sharing and hope that you find some of the ideas helpful in your daily spiritual journey, in your deeper digging in the books and in closer bonding with your Comforter and Pastor.]
 
 
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Possible Sunday School Topics by Merrill Boudreaux
for the Christian Science Bible Lesson: “Doctrine of Atonement”
for October 16, 2011
 
P.S.S.T. – Golden Text  – How many Gods are there? One. How many of you are there? Only one you. Do you need a mediator between you and God? No. What is the role of the Christ, then, as exemplified by Christ Jesus? Try revelator or Wayshower. Be clear with your students about the difference between atonement and at-one-ment. Does man need to atone for something? Share S & H 340:28 to see that which “annuls the curse on man”.
 
P.S.S.T. –  Responsive Reading –  Why is man, you, not condemned? After all who would condemn man, you? What in the world could you possibly do for which God would condemn you? What does Spirit witness as so about you? Here is a good memorization opportunity in verses 38 and 39. Can you ever be separated from God? Place any synonym you know for the word God and then answer the question, Can you ever be separated from….?
 
P.S.S.T. – Section 1 – Read, and maybe sing aloud the words from Hymn 444 in the Christian Science Hymnal Supplement. What do those words reveal about you and God together? Read aloud citation S1. What should we hear in citation S5?
 
P.S.S.T. – Section 2 – If you were a packaged product or item for sale on the shelf, what would be the instructions for your use (your life)? Use citation B7 and create or design a package or display for yourself. What are the ingredients? What are the directions for use? Can you be washed clean? What kind of soap should be used? Water temperature? Dry cleaning? What should the temperature be for drying? Use the citations in this section to aid your package design.
 
P.S.S.T. – Section 3 – What were the passages Jesus read aloud from Esaias? (B12) Who was Jesus reading about from this Old Testament text? Himself. Could it also be about you reading aloud about yourself? When you do or follow this instruction you too will be like the man who built his house, or consciousness, on the rock.  What do you think “rock” means in citation B14? Because Jesus was so solid in his understanding – so firm in standing on the rock, what was the natural outcome? (B15)  What are other words serving as synonyms for rock? Truth, the way of Life, pure affection, dear-bought treasures, proof. All found in citation S17.
 
P.S.S.T. – Section 4 – Because God loved the world what did he do? (B18) Does his begotten son come for atonement or at-one-ment? What did at-one-ment reveal? (S21)
 
P.S.S.T. – Section 5 – Because God loves you, what are you able to do? Read Hymn 164. Why can you afford to be joyful? Here is also joy expressed in the doctrine of Christian Science in citation S24. Do you recognize yourself in this doctrine? Do you see yourself as one with God? Governed by God, you are therefore what? Sinless and eternal. Worthy of a shout of Halleluiah, don't you think?


[PYCL: Look up! Stop practicing and reacting to the “Blame Game”!]
CedarS PYCL–
Possible Younger Class Lessons for:  
Doctrine of Atonement”
The Christian Science Bible Lesson for October 10-16, 2011
by Kerry Jenkins, CS, House Springs, MO (314) 406-0041
[bracketed italics by Warren Huff, CedarS Director & Editor of Mets, PSSTs & PYCLs]
 
[PYCL for Discussion of Subject:]
Take some time with your pupils (especially those in second grade or so and up) to talk about the different words in this week's lesson subject.  What does atonement mean?  Why is it an important concept?  What does doctrine mean?  (See section 5, citation S24 for Mrs. Eddy's statement about what the doctrine of Christian Science is; it is really very powerful!)  If you think of doctrine as dogma, then how is this statement different?  Is it more alive, vibrant?
 
[PYCL for Golden Text and Responsive Reading (RR): Be clear about Jesus' everyday role.]
Right away we see in the Golden Text the word “mediator”.  Can you look at that word and think about what that means to you in this statement?  Is that “mediator” gone?  The RR passage from Romans 8:38-39 is a really great one to memorize.  How does the mediator fit in that statement?  Do we properly value Christ Jesus in our thought?-or at least are we working in that direction?-or does Christ Jesus seem like a distant, though very good, figure in the Bible?  Let's think about how Christ Jesus plays a living role in our experience today; how is that is different from how we think about God?  Maybe these are questions that are too big for this age group, but I feel like it was a subject that was “danced around” in my experience as a Sunday School student.  We can afford to be clearer about Jesus' place in our day-to-day experience, of course being very clear about the difference between Jesus and the eternal Christ that he so beautifully embodied.
 
[PYCL for Section 1: Discuss the value of: gentle rain; translations; the 1st Commandment]
In citation B3 we have a moving poetic reference to doctrine.  Here God's word is likened to dew and gentle rain that brings life to the earth and the important crops that people rely on for food.  I can't help but see here a vivid and very much living sense of doctrine!  We may feel less dependent day to day on the weather to provide us with sustaining crops in a direct way.  Can you discuss with the kids what such a symbol might mean in today's terms?  How might God's word come to us as the perfect sustaining and gentle aid to our growth as Christian Scientists?  Can you write this passage or some part of it in your own words using different symbolism?  That might take some careful thought and we as teachers should make sure we do this first as always to see if it is workable for our age group.
My Bible Lesson shares the New International Version translation of citation B5.  You may enjoy having pupils look at these two translations side by side.  Do they know that there are many translations of the Bible?  Can they think of reasons why?  Do they realize that people read it in many languages and they have to come up with different words?  Do they know that the Bible was not originally written in English (or fill in your home language here!)?  This particular verse translates so beautifully for young people because what is asked of them becomes so very clear.

In this section you can really spend some time with the 1st Commandment.  It is a great opportunity to fold this important study into a weekly Bible lesson.  What does it really mean to them to have one God?  Does it just mean that we don't worship golden calves, or weird statues?  What are we tempted to worship today?  I especially love citation S4 where the importance of having one Mind to the exclusion of everything else that claims to be individual “minds”, is put very powerfully.  Mrs. Eddy says that: “This belief that there is more than one mind is as pernicious to divine theology as are ancient mythology and pagan idolatry.”  (Italics added).  Ask your students if they know what mythology or pagan idolatry is.  And see if they know that wonderful word, pernicious!  Do we stop ourselves when we run into conflict with friends, family or foes, if we are doing something on the level of worshiping mythological “deities” or are engaging in pagan idolatry?  I know that I hadn't quite seen it so clearly until I saw this statement as it is presented in the lesson this week.  It may sound extreme, but she says in the continuing paragraph that in essence “the brotherhood of man consists of [God]…”  That is our actual brotherhood; there can be no conflict in the oneness and allness of God.  So what we experience as conflict and strife must of necessity be the belief in more than one God-hence the importance of understanding the 1st Commandment.
 
[PYCL for Section 2: Discuss the 2nd Commandment & retell Elijah & the falling fire.]
We have a good example of the 2nd Commandment in the second section.  Citations B8 and B9 contains the story of Elijah and the contest he holds with the prophets of Baal.  This is a very dramatic story and fun to tell and hear for all ages.  You may want to ask some of the kids that are in third or fourth grade and up if anyone knows the story and can tell it to the class.  Maybe if you get it started others will start to pitch in.  What is the point of the story?  Do they understand the context?  You will probably want to skip the enormous slaughter that occurs after all is said and done, but you could see what happens after Queen Jezebel finds out and what Elijah does; how he finds out that there is more power in worshiping the one God; and also that there are more faithful followers than he at first thought.  How is God's power revealed to him at the cave?  Is this different than how it was revealed to him in the contest that he sets up in this week's lesson?  The S&H citations in this section are riddled with references to the fact that Spirit and matter cannot agree or support one another.  We can't live successfully in matter and Spirit both.  And citation S11 gives us a great measuring stick for our progress toward “at-one-ment” with God. [Share examples of Truth “overcoming error in your daily walk and conversation”. (S11)]
 
[PYCL for Section 3a: See spiritually by recognizing the presence of the Christ.]
Section 3 is a section about seeing spiritually. Can your students detect a relationship between: Jesus declaring himself the object of prophecy in citation B12; his beatitude about the pure in heart in citation B13; the house built on the rock in citation B14; and the healing of the bent-over woman in citation B15?  I see the common element as recognition of the presence of the Christ.  We recognize this presence when our thoughts are not clouded with thoughts of matter.  We build our lives on a solid foundation when we constantly make efforts to keep our thoughts in this realm of purity, watching that every action is founded on the eternal and solid work of the Christ.  Finally, the bent-over woman was lifted up to see something beyond her own feet.  The symbolism of being “made straight” could be discussed.
 
[PYCL for Section 3b: Stop looking down! Look up! Stand tall!]
I have mentioned in past PYCLs the idea for littler ones of trying out the view that this woman had of the world for eighteen years (no, don't try it out for 18 years, you know what I mean!)  They can walk bent over and talk about their view. What did Jesus do for her? What is different about her view of things once she is healed? Can she see the beauty around her better; can she see where she is going?  Is this a lot like being able to follow goodness and beauty in our own lives?  We can't see God's goodness if we are stuck looking down at our feet, or if our thoughts are “down” with sadness, meanness, etc.
 
[PYCL for Section 3c: Clean off the dirty glass! Put on “rose-colored glasses”.]
You can also work with the “pure in heart” beatitude because Jesus' Sermon on the Mount is another part of our core curriculum, or “the first lessons”, for Sunday School teaching. [Manual, 62-63]  What does purity mean?  You can try the clean and dirty pane of glass idea. Or refer to the colored window story. When we look through a dirty window, does that mean that what we see is actually dirty?  All we have to do is clean up our “window”, our thought, and then we see things as God made them.  You get the picture here.  The colored-window story comes from an old book that was available in the Reading Room and apparently is included currently in a volume; but I'm afraid I don't know what the book is.  The story is “The House with the Colored Windows”.  (I think that is the title).  But really you can do this with your own story too! [Maybe you could bring in some rose-colored, or yellow-tinted, sunglasses or some tinted gels to demonstrate that the lens through which one looks “colors” what is being viewed. Let's make sure to get rid of the gel that leaves one's “soul in hell” (B17) as the “Blame Game” would do.]
 
[PYCL for Section 4: Stop practicing and reacting to the “Blame Game”!]
[The 4th section addresses the blameless part of atonement–the part foreshadowed in the RR that states: “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 8:1) As citation B18 states: “God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.” (John 3:17) You may want to ask your students when was the last time that they played, or were caught in, the “Blame Game”. Who was blamed for making the family late to Sunday School? Whose fault was it that the toast was burnt? The milk was spilled? Who let the dog out? (“Who let the dogs out? Who? Who? Who?” as a song goes.) Whose fault is it that the other team scored the winning points? That we have high unemployment? A sluggish economy? … Whose fault was it that someone “was born blind” (John 9:2) or was born with another supposedly-hereditary defect or weakness? The common and seemingly-contagious practice of fault-finding and blaming need not spread “like wandering pollen … finding unsuspected lodgment, if virtue and truth build a strong defense.” (S&H 235:2) Practice with your students: how to turn around the common practices of “crying over spilled milk” and finger-pointing; how to build a strong defense against reacting to the “Blame Game”. Give opportunities to “not be moved”, not “see corruption” but to have a “glad tongue.” (B17)
 
[PYCL for Section 5: See clearly that atonement is all about God's love for us!]
The last section will give you many opportunities to see more clearly that atonement is all about God's love for us! There is a good definition that Mrs. Eddy gives of Atonement in citation S22.  But you will need to break it down for the kids.  What is “exemplification”?  Can you put this passage in easier words for them?
 
Have a great Sunday!
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