A lesson · The One Way That Isn’t a Road
Age 21+The One Way That Isn’t a Road
Many of us carry a picture of one narrow road to God, with ourselves somewhere off to the side, squinting. What if the one way is a consciousness — and the narrow part is where we’re looking?
Assumptions & Caveats
Before you begin
What you should know
Plenty of thoughtful adults live with a low hum of “I’m doing it wrong” — in prayer, in parenting, in marriage, at work, in faith generally — without being able to say what “it” is. Underneath it is often a picture of one narrow road to heaven, learned somewhere along the way, and ourselves a little off to the side of it. The hum gets loudest in a hard or tired stretch, when the question “what do I need to learn here?” gets followed right away by “am I failing?”
This lesson reads Mary Baker Eddy’s “There is but one way to heaven” all the way to the end of the sentence, where the “one way” turns out to be a consciousness rather than a route. Then it holds two real tensions without rushing to resolve them: that this is more accountability, not less, and that self-condemnation isn’t the same thing as taking it seriously. It closes with the father’s honest cry, “Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief,” as a real place to begin — and a faith that keeps growing from there.
If you’re comfortable, the most powerful opening is your own honest current stretch — something real, shared at the depth you choose, not staged. You don’t need a resolution to share it. Nothing else to prep beyond reading the passages once.
What we're assuming
- The room holds a real range: lifelong Christian Scientists, people raised in traditions that teach one way to God, people of other faiths, people who’ve left religion and come back, and people who haven’t. Many sincere people hold a “one way” belief out of real love for God and a real wish not to get it wrong. Nobody’s tradition is the villain here. - Some adults carry religious shame or spiritual hurt from past communities. Don’t assume that, and don’t probe for it, but expect it may surface. - Some people in the room are in the middle of something hard right now — health, grief, work, family. Nobody is asked to name theirs.
Learning goals
What they walk away with
1. Can articulate the difference between “one way” as a route you can fall off and “one way” as a consciousness you can turn toward — and can hold it alongside other readings with respect. 2. Leaves with permission to be honest and unfinished, and a clearer sense that continued honest seeking — not self-condemnation — is the narrow way. 3. Has thought honestly about the accountability this asks for: “no one grades my homework except me and Truth, and Truth doesn’t grade on a curve.” 4. Names one real, current place — in prayer, family, work, or civic life — to carry the question “Which way am I facing?”
How to hold the room
Before you start talking
- Open with your own honesty, or with a simple line like: “I’m often tempted to think I’m doing it wrong. What exactly? I couldn’t tell you.” - Treat pushback and doubt as the lesson working. You’re not there to resolve the paradox neatly by the end of the hour. - Watch that the group doesn’t slide into critiquing other churches or relatives. When it starts, gently return to “what does this picture do to us?” - Anyone can pass on any question. Pair shares are always optional.
The lesson flow
Step by step
Each beat alternates a little input, a little doing, and a little reflecting. Skip, slow down, or stretch any of these to fit your group.
The squint
Share your opening, then ask people to turn to one other person: “Where do you most often catch yourself thinking you’re doing it wrong — and could you say exactly what ‘it’ is?” Two minutes each. Bring the group back and ask only: “Was it easy to name what ‘it’ was?” Often it isn’t. That’s worth noticing.
Where the picture came from, without blame
Ask: “Where did you pick up the picture of one narrow road?” Let answers come — a church, a parent, a hymn, a feeling, nowhere in particular. Name it plainly: “Maybe someone taught us. Maybe we picked it up and ran with it. Probably both. No shame or blame there — it usually comes from a real love of God and a real wish not to get it wrong.”
Reading the whole sentence
Read these slowly, with a pause between each:
There is but one way to heaven, harmony, and Christ in divine Science shows us this way. It is to know no other reality — to have no other consciousness of life — than good, God and His reflection, and to rise superior to the so-called pain and pleasure of the senses.
Science and Health, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 242:9–14
Christianity as Jesus taught it was not a creed, nor a system of ceremonies, nor a special gift from a ritualistic Jehovah; but it was the demonstration of divine Love casting out error and healing the sick, not merely in the name of Christ, or Truth, but in demonstration of Truth, as must be the case in the cycles of divine light.
Science and Health, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 135:26
The straight and narrow way is to see and acknowledge this fact, yield to this power, and follow the leadings of truth.
Science and Health, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 151:28–30
Ask: “What kind of ‘only’ is this?” Then: “See, yield, follow — is that a map or a posture?” Offer the sunrise picture if it helps: light that comes around again, looks different depending on where you stand, and doesn’t skip anybody. The narrow part isn’t the path. It’s where I’m looking — and what I’m honestly after.
Two ditches
Draw a road with a ditch on each side. Label one “Anything goes” and the other “Beat myself up.” Read:
Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
Philippians 2:12–13, KJV
Offer: “No one grades my homework except me and Truth — and Truth doesn’t grade on a curve.” Ask: “Which ditch do you tend to drift toward?” Then read:
A mental state of self-condemnation and guilt or a faltering and doubting trust in Truth are unsuitable conditions for healing the sick.
Science and Health, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 455:3–5
Ask: “What would it look like to take your spiritual life completely seriously, and still not condemn yourself?” Let the room sit with the harder half of that.
The honest father
Tell the story of the father in Mark 9 and read his cry: “Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.” (Mark 9:24, KJV). He had nothing figured out. He was honest, and his son was healed.
Honesty like his is a real place to begin, and it doesn’t have to stay where it started. Read:
Faith, advanced to spiritual understanding, is the evidence gained from Spirit.
Science and Health, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 23:17–19
Ask: “What might it look like for an honest ‘help my unbelief’ to grow, over time, into understanding? Where have you seen that happen — in yourself or someone else?”
Optional extension, if the group has energy: “Where else do we carry ‘one right road’ thinking — about how other people vote, parent, or worship? What happens when we look at them as off to the side, squinting?” Keep it about our own posture, never about a party or a group.
Keep facing east
Read:
Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.
Psalm 30:5, KJV
Say, in your own words: a tired stretch isn’t proof the light left. It might just be early morning. I don’t have to force the sunrise. I just keep facing east. I’d only be failing if I stopped seeking — quit asking, pretended, or went through the motions.
Close with private writing: “What am I honestly after right now? And what’s one way I’ll keep facing east this week?” Hand out the full handout and wallet card together.
What you'll need
The materials
- A whiteboard or big paper for the two-ditches drawing - Paper and pens, or a private digital note - This lesson’s printable full handout, “A Road or a Sunrise?”, for the closing reflection, and the wallet card, “Keep Facing East”, to carry
If it's not going well
When this one gets heavy
Silence is normal and often means people are being honest with themselves — let it breathe. Disagreement (“this sounds like it’s softening what Jesus said”) is welcome; thank the person and invite the room to respond rather than defending the lesson. If someone becomes emotional — spiritual hurt from a past community, or grief or exhaustion from something they’re in right now — pause, acknowledge it without trying to fix it, and offer a private check-in afterward. If someone discloses real harm — thoughts of self-harm, abuse (including spiritual or religious abuse), or a situation where they or someone else isn’t safe — stop facilitating. Respond as a caring person first, don’t try to work it through in the group, and follow the site’s mentor safety guidelines along with your own local mandatory-reporting and duty-to-warn obligations.
For the fuller tiered guidance — including what to do if someone discloses something serious — see For Mentors.
Help this get better
Teaching this to a group we haven't planned for?
Tell us — this only gets better with your eyes on it. We read every one of these.