Today in church

Today I taught my daughters in Relief Society for the first time. They usually refuse to even come with me, so it's maybe only the second time we have been to RS together even though they have been eligible for a year and a half.  And I taught.  Their reaction was kind of lukewarm.  "It was good."  So maybe a 6?  A 5+?  I'm just letting you know so you don't expect a lot here...

The lesson was on Jeffery R. Holland's talk, "Are We Not All Beggars".  I told the ladies I had been sick, so I needed to have them help me teach.  I had them all do rock, paper, and scissors to divide up into three groups.  Each group got a wrapped gift that had dark chocolate Hershey's kisses, York peppermint patties and Worther's candies, as well as an assignment to discuss for 10 minutes and then teach to the class.  I reminded them that having words from living prophets really is a gift!  And then I let them have at it.

Group 1:  Jesus' ministry was (and is) to the poor.  I had them look up scriptures from different sources that give this commandment.  Here are the ones they shared:

Isaiah 3:14-15  The Lord will enter into judgment with the ancients of his people, and the princes thereof: for ye have eaten up the vineyard; the spoil of the poor is in your houses.

What mean ye that ye beat my people to pieces, and grind the faces of the poor? saith the Lord God of hosts.

D&C 38:35  And they shall look to the poor and the needy, and administer to their relief that they shall not suffer;

Mosiah 4:16  And also, ye yourselves will succor those that stand in need of your succor; ye will administer of your substance unto him that standeth in need; and ye will not suffer that the beggar putteth up his petition to you in vain, and turn him out to perish.

Matthew 5:13 Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Group 2: What can we do?

This group read about Mother Teresa being asked why she worked so tirelessly for such a small group of people.  It is an impossible task to care for the poor.  She said it was like adding drops to the ocean.  If she didn't do it, the ocean would be that many drops less full.  Then they discussed the suggestions Elder Holland gave for what we can do:

1. Cease withholding.  Mosiah 4:17-21.  Perhaps thou shalt say: The man has brought upon himself his misery; therefore I will stay my hand, and will not give unto him of my food, nor impart unto him of my substance that he may not suffer, for his punishments are just—

But I say unto you, O man, whosoever doeth this the same hath great cause to repent; and except he repenteth of that which he hath done he perisheth forever, and hath no interest in the kingdom of God.

 For behold, are we not all beggars? Do we not all depend upon the same Being, even God, for all the substance which we have, for both food and raiment, and for gold, and for silver, and for all the riches which we have of every kind?

And behold, even at this time, ye have been calling on his name, and begging for a remission of your sins. And has he suffered that ye have begged in vain? Nay; he has poured out his Spirit upon you, and has caused that your hearts should be filled with joy, and has caused that your mouths should be stopped that ye could not find utterance, so exceedingly great was your joy.

And now, if God, who has created you, on whom you are dependent for your lives and for all that ye have and are, doth grant unto you whatsoever ye ask that is right, in faith, believing that ye shall receive, O then, how ye ought to impart of the substance that ye have one to another.

Fix your heart.  WATCH. 
2. Pray.  Pray both for blessings for the people in need and pray so you'll know how to help them. Fix your faith. PRAY
3. Do!  Help in whatever (even small) ways you can, or your prayer is in vain.  Alma 34:28. And now behold, my beloved brethren, I say unto you, do not suppose that this is all; for after ye have done all these things, if ye turn away the needy, and the naked, and visit not the sick and afflicted, and impart of your substance, if ye have, to those who stand in need—I say unto you, if ye do not any of these things, behold, your prayer is vain, and availeth you nothing, and ye are as hypocrites who do deny the faith.  DO.

One sister commented that we are supposed to love the Lord/keep the commandments with our hearts, minds and might. This totally supported what I was trying to say with the list above.

Group 3: The law of the fast

This group discussed how they had been blessed as they have kept the law of the fast.  One sister shared that she has been unemployed for the last little while, but knows that being faithful in paying a fast offering has been the reason her cabinets have never been empty.  I told her it was a blessing both to have that happen and to know that her paid fast offerings have been the reason.

I told them that one of Eliza's professors had changed her perspective on fast offerings.  He said that even though they were poor that they should give fast offerings.  "Even if the meal you are skipping is Ramen noodles, you should give those 30 cents to the bishop to help others."  I thought that was a great reminder that the Lord isn't overly concerned with percentages and numbers.  He is concerned with the condition of your heart.

We closed with me reading this quote from the talk because it resonates with me:

Brothers and sisters, such a sermon demands that I openly acknowledge the unearned, undeserved, unending blessings in my life, both temporal and spiritual. Like you, I have had to worry about finances on occasion, but I have never been poor, nor do I even know how the poor feel. Furthermore, I do not know all the reasons why the circumstances of birth, health, education, and economic opportunities vary so widely here in mortality, but when I see the want among so many, I do know that “there but for the grace of God go I.”¹⁸ I also know that although I may not be my brother’s keeper, I am my brother’s brother, and “because I have been given much, I too must give.

And then Sister Sneed read this:

In that regard, I pay a personal tribute to President Thomas Spencer Monson. I have been blessed by an association with this man for 47 years now, and the image of him I will cherish until I die is of him flying home from then–economically devastated East Germany in his house slippers because he had given away not only his second suit and his extra shirts but the very shoes from off his feet. “How beautiful upon the mountains [and shuffling through an airline terminal] are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace.”²⁰ More than any man I know, President Monson has “done all he could” for the widow and the fatherless, the poor and the oppressed.

I told them we also had the example of our bishop, who I have seen with my own eyes painting houses and mowing lawns for widows and the elderly in our ward. 

And then I summarized Elder Holland's conclusion that one day the poor would see the kingdom of God in great glory coming to save them.  We, as members of God's kingdom on earth, are responsible for fulfilling that prophecy and have a duty to help the poor.  I testified that was true and sat down.  People seemed happy with it, but it was probably because they were all sugared up with the candy.