Wandering down memory lane, revisiting my Sunday School days, I’ve realized just how valuable the time I spent as a student in the Christian Science Sunday School was. Every Sunday morning Dad would back the Ford Falcon out of the garage and shout, “Hurry up, we can’t be late, I’m ushering today!” My brother and I would come running out of the house carrying our Sunday School books, the Holy Bible and Science and Health with to the Scriptures, by Mary Baker Eddy.
On the way to church, we would probably be thinking of things like what kind of penny candy we would pick out at the corner store after church or whether Dad would take us for a ride in the rowboat later on. When we arrived at Sunday School, however, there were more important things to think about. We were learning what it meant to be a spiritual child of God and that an understanding of this would bring healing to problems we might encounter on life’s journey.
The subject of God was such a big one, but Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer of Christian Science, made it easier to understand with her definition of God: “The great I am; the all-knowing, all-seeing, all-acting, all-wise, all-loving, and eternal; Principle; Mind; Soul; Spirit; Life; Truth; Love; all substance; intelligence” (Science and Health, p. 587).
Our loving and very dedicated Sunday School teachers always brought the characters in the Bible to life. They showed us how these individuals reflected God in ways brought out by the various synonyms for God. For example, Jesus’ healing of the ten lepers brought out man’s unblemished purity in Soul (see Luke 17:12–19); Daniel’s great courage and trust in God during his night in the lions’ den showed the protective power of divine Love (see Daniel 6:16–23). Jesus’ feeding of the multitude illustrated God as abundant and unlimited Spirit (see Matthew 14:14–21).
Our teachers followed Mrs. Eddy’s instruction in the Manual of The Mother Church in Article XX, Section 2, which says, “The Sabbath School children shall be taught the Scriptures …” and in Section 3, “The first lessons of the children should be the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:3–17), the Lord’s Prayer (Matt 6:9–13), and its Spiritual Interpretation by Mary Baker Eddy, Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:3–12).
We learned that the characters in the Bible were faced with many of the same problems that we had to deal with, and that it was their faith, trust, and understanding of God that brought solutions and salvation from their trials.
We learned how Principle, another synonym for God, governs man harmoniously and how obedience to God’s laws, as applied to humanity in the Ten Commandments given to Moses, establishes order in society.
After leaving Sunday School, I came to learn how the Commandments also provide protection. In my early 20s, I worked as a receptionist for a real estate agency. One day one of the real estate developers came into the office. He was a very charming man, and he started coming into the office more frequently. He would always come over to my desk and say something to make me laugh. It was obvious that he was flirting with me.
Before long, he invited me to go to Italy with him on vacation, all expenses paid. He mentioned taking me to see some beautiful cathedrals there. Since I had never been out of the United States, I was tempted. When I told my boss about it, he said, “Well, you know that he is married, don’t you?” The next time this man came into the office, I told him that I couldn’t go to Italy with him. He told me that his marriage really didn’t mean anything to him anymore, so it would be all right for me to go.
It took until that moment for my Sunday School training to kick in. I remembered the Seventh Commandment, “Thou shalt not commit adultery” (Exodus 20:14). I told this man that joining him on this trip would violate the law of God. From that point on our relationship was cordial but more businesslike. I later found out that he and several of his friends took a trip to Italy every year, where they played poker and visited wineries. Seeing the cathedrals of Europe was never on the agenda. I feel certain that obedience to the Commandments protected me from what might have been a very upsetting and immoral situation.
Today, when Sunday mornings are often filled with sports practices and other activities for children, the value of a spiritual education may not always be appreciated. But what could be more important? Remembering to keep the Sabbath day holy by making Sunday School a priority is a valuable blessing to our children—both now and in the years to come. And this spiritual foundation can only bless society and all mankind as well!
Anne Holway Higgins
