I’ve fallen behind in this series; my apologies to anyone who might have been skimming through them in preparation for teaching. I intend to resume and catch up for the sake of completeness, even though the moment has passed …
Lesson 25: Priesthood: “The Power of Godliness”
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1934: Missionary Sunday School Lessons
Lesson 31: Priesthood
“Ordination of men to the ministry, as sanctioned by scriptural precedent and established by direct revelation of God’s will, is to be effected through the gift of prophecy and by the imposition of hands of those who are in authority.” – Talmage, Articles of Faith, p. 182.
“Wherefore the Lord God gave unto man that he should act for himself.” (II Nephi 2:16.)
“Wherefore, men are free according to the flesh; and all things are given them which are expedient unto man. And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the mediation of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil; for he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself.” (II Nephi 2:27.)
I’ll bet you’ve never heard the story of Adam’s fall told as if Adam were a hired gardener fired as the result of a financial crash, forced to make his way forward through an economic depression. Read on . . .
A frequently-voiced Bloggernacle regret is that so many of our wards fail to note, much less celebrate, Easter Sunday – was it Kevin Barney who reported an Easter Sacrament service devoted to tithing?
This neglect is not by policy but due to a too-widespread lack of imagination on the part of those who plan ward meetings. It is a neglect that has existed, apparently, for 50 years or more. Witness this question submitted to the editorial board of the Instructor magazine in December 1962:
Q. When was the policy established of not having special programs, but rather continuing with normal Sunday School activities on Easter and Christmas?
A. There has never been a policy of not having special programs on these two occasions.
Lesson 11: “The Field is White Already to Harvest”
Past lessons on sharing the gospel appear in virtually every old manual I picked up. Those chosen for this post narrate the events of specific early missionary journeys, with others focusing on particular Doctrine & Covenants verses addressing missionary work. Some lessons are targeted to children, others to adults.
[Update: WordPress tends to cut off parts of very long posts, and, apparently, eliminate the comment box. This one has been fixed. I think.]
Lesson 10: “This Is My Voice unto All”
This is an oddly structured lesson. With the goal of teaching that each of us can and should learn from the counsel given to individuals, the lesson addresses three disparate commandments given to Emma Smith in Section 25:
1. Husbands and wives should support and comfort each other;
2. We should be meek and avoid pride;
3. We should rejoice and be of good cheer.
As with last week’s lesson, there is no shortage of lessons from the past dealing with the organization of the Church on 6 April 1830. Here are the points that lesson-writers considered important, and how they advised presenting them:
Lesson 7: “The First Principles and Ordinances of the Gospel”
I have been unable to find any previous manual teaching these first principles and ordinances as a group and drawing significantly from the Doctrine and Covenants or Church history (although there are plenty of such lessons in general “gospel principles” manuals). Instead, the D&C manuals have tended to emphasize the single “first principle” of repentance (or at least warning of the consequences of unrepented sin), leaning heavily on Section 19.
As usual, if you find this post at all helpful, check back again just before you teach it — I may have found and added other lessons in the meantime.