Hollywood Temple Sunday School and Teen Group
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Family & Youth
Hollywood Temple Sunday School and Teen Group
Sunday School: Sundays · 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Teen Group: 2nd Sunday of each month · 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Our classes include a short period of meditation along with instruction in Paramahansa Yogananda’s how-to-live principles.
To register your child or teen in our Sunday School/Teen Program, please contact the Sunday School Chair Matt Shea at Matt.Shea@voluntaryleague.org.
“It isn’t academic education alone that makes people happy. It is ‘how-to-live’ education — how to develop a harmonious, moral life, stronger will power, and spiritual understanding — that will bring happiness.”
- Paramahansa Yogananda, Self-Realization Fellowship Lessons
The teachings of Paramahansa Yogananda for all ages
It was under Paramahansa Yogananda’s direct guidance that the first Self-Realization Fellowship Sunday School was formed in the 1940s — classes that met every week here at Hollywood Temple to learn and absorb the Self-Realization teachings.
Hollywood Temple continues to offer Sunday School classes to all children interested in learning about the SRF teachings and way of life; no prior experience with the SRF teachings is required. To register your child, please come directly to the Sunday School building. Parents are invited to join the 11:00 a.m. Inspirational Service in the Temple while their children attend Sunday School.
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A Parent and Child Room is also available in the Sunday School building for parents with small children who wish to view the Inspirational Service. There is a live video of the Service for adults and toys for children, providing a peaceful and accommodating space for all families.
Purpose of Sunday School
The purpose of SRF Sunday Schools is to inspire children to seek God and love Him above all else, and to share His love with all. In this way they come to understand that inner peace and security is found through an inner relationship with God and not through "the things of this world." The children thus learn at an early age how to live happy, balanced lives by bringing God into their daily activities and developing a personal relationship with Him through meditation.
Class Format
1. Pre-Service
Children and Parents are welcomed to the Sunday School. The children are engaged in a pre-service activity (craft, game, etc.) creating a sense of unity and loving exchange and are given an introduction to the lesson of the class.
3. Meditation
This is the heart of each Sunday School class where children learn how to still their bodies, calm their breath and turn their minds inward in meditation.
- The usual sequence for this part of the class is: opening prayer, offertory, chanting, affirmation, sitting in silence and meditation, closing chant and closing prayer.
5. Activity (optional)
This phase is connected to the lesson. It brings the lesson to a hands-on level, giving the children an opportunity to relate to it through an object they create themselves.
- Here the children become familiar with the line of Self-Realization Fellowship Gurus and their teachings, as well as the "How-to-Live" principles taught by Paramahansa Yogananda.
- A special emphasis is placed on making the material interesting, age-appropriate, and applicable to the children's daily lives.
2. Energization Exercises
The children assemble either indoors or outdoors to learn and practice the technique of drawing energy into their bodies as taught by Paramahansa Yogananda. They say an opening prayer and do several exercises together.
4. Lesson
Each week's class has a special spiritual theme and objective which is presented through a story, an object lesson, a puppet show, role playing, discussion, etc.
- Here the children become familiar with the line of Self-Realization Fellowship Gurus and their teachings, as well as the "How-to-Live" principles taught by Paramahansa Yogananda.
- A special emphasis is placed on making the material interesting, age-appropriate, and applicable to the children's daily lives.
6. Closing Prayer
The children finish Sunday School class with a prayer and a moment of silence, remembering God even in the midst of activity.
- This is also a time of informal conversation, facilitating a deeper understanding in the children of the lesson.
Note to parents: Please escort your children to their classroom and pick them up after class.