Sunday School Supplements

I often hear people say that the church is the same wherever you go. This is true for some of our more obvious practices-from our meeting protocols to the speech patterns we fall into when we talk about spiritual experience. It’s true in our deeper theology as well. We can walk into any Sunday service and be offered the same sacramental covenants and blessings, we read the same scriptures, and we find hope in the same Christ.

How do we continue when we are at our capacity? overwhelmed? terrified? When hope seems cruel? When grief has swallowed us whole? When the darkness closes in and light is a faint memory? When even just the thought of faith is too much to bare?

The Gospel Doctrine lesson #35 ; Doctrine and Covenants 4:3–7 ; 18:10–16 ; 52:40 ; 81:5–6 ; 138:58; 3 Nephi 18:31–32 ; Moroni 7:45–48 I appreciate that the stated intent of the lesson is to assert that the “gospel of Jesus Christ is a message of rescue.” When the Martin Handcart company was stuck, the prophet did not wait an extra day for the Sabbath to pass but immediately called on the Saints to organize a rescue mission. What I have learned from this story are three

When I moved to the Avenues neighborhood in Salt Lake City, I would frequently meander through the cemetery, making my way to large obelisks, figuring they marked the burial spots of those important in Salt Lake City history. This approach generally proved true, and they were always the grave markers of men with their wives’ and children’s much smaller headstones scattered around them.

The manual’s stated purpose for this lesson is, “[to] help class members recognize the need for our living prophet, understand his roles, and more faithfully obey his counsel.” Recognizing the need for a living prophet has never been an issue for me. I was born into the faith – having a living prophet is the only type of organizational structure I have personally know. I was born with a believing spirit. Believing in the authority and mantel of the prophet came easy to me.

Welfare is an important part of what we do at church. Until I served in ward leadership callings and watched my husband serve in them, I had no idea just how important it is. As Relief Society president I had expected to spend time thinking and praying about how to bring women to Christ (and I did do that!). But I found that I spent even more time figuring out how best to help families who didn’t have enough food, couldn’t pay rent or were suffering from serious mental or phy

My landlady came into my home last week to oversee the locksmith. We live in central Virginia, where folks are very open about religion, so we know she goes to a Christian church and she knows we are LDS. While we were chatting, she noticed a photograph on my wall which my husband had taken on a trip to Wales. She said, “Oh that has to be Wales! Which castle is it?” She said that she has been to Wales many times, visiting her family’s ancestral homes.

A few months ago our girls’ youth group had a family history night at the church. The girls had different levels of experience with this, so as adult leaders we decided we’d come prepared to help them with whatever they wanted to work on. Their experiences show the variety within family history work and showed me the inherent value of this endeavor.

“Much of the major growth that is coming to the Church in the last days will come because many of the good women of the world…will be drawn to the church in large numbers. This will happen to the degree that the women of the church are seen as distinct and different-in happy ways-from the women of the world.

Belief that God calls prophets today makes Latter-day Saints distinct to many of our neighbors. This belief is central, but how does it function in our lives? How is it that prophets receive revelation? How do we receive the word of the Lord? This lesson begins with words from the Lord’s preface to Doctrine and Covenants, “though the heavens and the earth pass away, my word shall not pass away, but shall all be fulfilled, whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servan

I have never been much of a super hero movie fan—all that beating people up, blowing stuff up, superheroes wearing ridiculous body armor, and that bad guy versus good guy stuff. That is, until I watched Wonder Woman. There was still a lot of beating people up, blowing stuff up, wearing ridiculous costumes, and that bad guy (and a gal) versus good guy (and lots of gals) stuff.

Ten years ago, I was wrestling with God about what it meant to be a woman in this church. I had acquired a lot of mistaken ideas along the way. I’d felt like being a Mormon woman meant knowingly shrinking yourself to allow others room to grow. I’d felt like we were given gifts and interests, yet scarce and rigid outlets to use them. I’d felt I was being asked to shove myself into a box where I didn’t really fit. I realize now that what I felt was not remotely based in doctrin

“The Family is Ordained of God” is not only the title of the lesson but also something I have firmly believed all my life. I grew up in a non-perfect-but-still-magnificent family. My sisters are some of my best friends. I LIKE to hang with my brothers. I leave time with my family with my cheeks hurting because I have laughed so hard. It doesn’t mean we had it easy— but we had each other. I knew my family had my back— our motto is Ride for the Brand from our childhood obsessio

Okazaki knew what it was to face prejudice and discrimination amid the body of Saints. She and her family moved to Salt Lake City in 1951, when the wounds of WWII were still fresh. They could not buy life or car insurance. They only succeeded in purchasing land for a home because a friend sold them some of his own property – no one wanted to sell to a Japanese-American family. People acted in prejudiced ways, intentionally and not.

The Gospel of John begins with a reminder of the strangeness of its story. The hellenized world in which it was written already had frightening tales of gods who ventured down from Mount Olympus and into the mortal world. Their encounters were sometimes benevolent but more often dangerously capricious: Helpless humans ended up lured across the sea by lustful Zeus disguised as a bull, transformed into hunter’s quarry by vengeful Artemis, goaded into war by raging Ares, and on

The four gospels do not harmonize on every point—each gospel offers us a different viewpoint through the distinct personalities and cultural positions of their authors. All of the gospel writers start at a beginning, though they all define the beginning differently. Mark begins with the baptism of Jesus, Matthew and Luke both begin with the mortal birth of Jesus, and John will go all the way back to the appearance of the pre-mortal Christ in the bosom of the Father.

As the years have passed, this scripture passage has taken on different significance at different times in my life. When I had children of my own, this familiar Christmas story became not just the story of a baby—but the story of a mother. When I felt overwhelmed to be shaping and guiding the beautiful children entrusted to me, I wondered how it must’ve felt to be entrusted to care for a child the angel Gabrielle tells Mary will “be great” and called “called the Son of the Hi

I think I have mentioned this before— the Hindi language has no word for privacy. And if there is no word— there is no concept. The concept that I have the right to have you out of my business— simply does not exist. This is hard for me. And after seven years here, I just want all billion plus Indians to act like me. (You can see the problem with this.)

I have been at the birth of six children: four of my own and two of a friend. The birthing process is often long, hard, and messy, but ultimately a beautiful child of God comes from it. When Jesus says that we need to be born again or we cannot see the kingdom of God He isn’t giving us an easy thing to do. Often we think of being born again as just being baptized and receiving the Holy Ghost, but there is much more to it. Being baptized is just entering the gate.

The breathless and sometimes sudden bursts of net breaking spiritual awakening are often the experiences of ordinary seekers. Casting nets with our Maker is a call to leave everything behind like Peter, James, and John for a new song.