[Teachldsseminary] Ideas????

[Barb Gardner]

Object Lesson
Give each student a cinnamon roll with the white frosting on top. Tell them 
that all they can do is lick the frosting off the cinnamon roll but that 
they cannot bite into the roll. Then liken that experience to surfing 
through the scriptures as opposed to diving in.

Here's a talk that you might be able to glean some ideas from....

Feasting Upon the Word

Elder M. Russell Ballard relates a visit to the African continent that he 
and Brother Glenn L. Pace made in 1985 to assess the needs of the people, 
and recommend how to make the best use of special funds raised during a 
worldwide fast held by all church members. He relates:

We visited refugee camps in that arid country. The land was as barren as any 
I had ever seen. We visited Red Cross centers and field hospitals where the 
desperately ill were being cared for. Such dreadful, pitiful suffering broke 
our hearts. We saw sick mothers lying on cots trying to feed and comfort 
their children, many of whom had the sunken eyes and pencil-thin arms and 
legs of those in the advanced stages of starvation. This was one of the most 
heart-wrenching experiences of my life. I had never seen anything that 
touched my heart so deeply as the anxious yearning for food and nourishment 
that I saw there.

Brothers and sisters, even as people in Ethiopia were starving physically 
because of the lack of food, far too many people in the world are starving 
spiritually. Sadly, most of them have no idea where to find real spiritual 
nourishment. They wander to and fro-another form of pathetic refugees.

(M. Russell Ballard, "Feasting at the Lord's Table," Ensign, May 1996, 80)

When I had read this far I stopped and pondered his words. If the lack of 
physical food for the physical body leads to physical death then would not 
the lack of spiritual food for the spiritual body lead to spiritual death? 
And which is greater?

This realization inspired me to reach out and offer help, if I could.

"Hello? Is this Ethiopia? Oh, wonderful. I heard that you were starving over 
there and I wanted to invite you to dinner."

(Pause)

"When? Why tonight, of course. I wouldn't want you to suffer longer than you 
already have."

(Pause)

"Well, I suppose we could make it tomorrow if you prefer."

(Pause)

"What are we having? Well, I hadn't really thought about it. I'd been 
reading this article, you see, when I realized that you were starving over 
there and I just had to do something so I picked up the phone and well I 
really hadn't thought about the actual menu. But now that you mention it we 
could have prime rib with twice baked potatoes, Yorkshire puds...

(Pause)

"Parkerhouse rolls?"

(Pause)

"With herbed butter and lemon?"

(Pause)

"Well I'm sure I can get some made by tomorrow. Would creamed spinach and 
bacon be satisfactory for a vegetable?

(Pause)

"No, no. I'm sure I could find asparagus somewhere."

(Pause)

"Of course. Only the tips - with hollandaise."

(Pause)

"You want them tied in bundles with lemon grass and garnished with a lemon 
twist?"

(Pause)

"Oh, of course. It would compliment the hollandaise."

(Pause)

"Dessert? Well I hadn't really thought..."

(Pause)

"You prefer French silk with a kiss of Italian cream?"

(Pause)

"And Tiramisu for your best friend? What best friend?"

(Pause)

"You cannot possibly come if your best friend can't come?"

(Pause)

"I see."

"Uh hum."

"Uh hum."

"Uh hum."

"Well, perhaps you and your best friend should just stay where you are and 
starve to death together. Good day."

Obviously an Ethiopian teetering on the brink of starvation would never put 
such conditions on the attainment of food. He might not even take much care 
in ensuring that the food was untainted, pure and nourishing until the 
specter of death faded from immediate sight.

But such is not the case in a spiritual starvation situation. Sometimes it 
is really hard to feed a person that doesn't realize that they are starving. 
And this seems to be the essential key - for once a person recognizes their 
starving condition it is not a matter of tempting them to take their fill 
but finding enough to sate their need.

How often have we skipped a spiritual meal because we didn't care for what 
they were serving? Or perhaps we'd had spiritual milquetoast many times 
before and we were looking for meat and potatoes? Or the presentation was 
not pleasing to our palate? Or perhaps the taste was bland and we would have 
taken our fill if only it had been spiced properly?

Elder Ballard continues:

For The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to fulfill its divine 
mission to assist in bringing "to pass the immortality and eternal life of 
man," all members need to generate an appetite for gospel sustenance. We 
must "hunger and thirst after righteousness"  before we can be filled. We 
need to cultivate spiritual strength within ourselves before we can ever 
hope to engender it in others. Individual, personal testimony of gospel 
truth, particularly the divine life and mission of the Lord Jesus Christ, is 
essential to our eternal life. "And this is life eternal," said the Savior, 
"that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou 
has sent."  In other words, life eternal is predicated upon our own 
individual, personal knowledge of our Father in Heaven and His Holy Son. 
Simply knowing about them is not enough. We must have personal, spiritual 
experiences to anchor us. These come through seeking them in the same 
intense, single-minded way that a hungry person seeks food. (Ibid. Ensign, 
May 1996, 80)

What does it take for us to recognize the knawing hunger of our spiritual 
bellies?

A crisis?

A death in the family?

Adversity?

Do we tempt God to test us in order to bring us to His table to partake? And 
once there do we place conditions on the manner in which we are willing to 
imbibe?

I'm not sure that any of us are so spiritually starved that we are in 
immediate danger of spiritual death. But I do think that many of us suffer 
from eating disorders.

Malnutrition

This is the one where we read all the commentaries - McConkie's Mortal 
Messiah, Farrar's The Life of Christ, Clark's Bible Commentary, Robinson's 
Believing Christ - but not the scriptures themselves, or if we do, then in 
only a cursory way ignoring footnotes, cross references and contemplation.

Anorexia

This is when we approach the feast only if we can sit beside our best 
friend, and once seated the garnish attracts more of our attention than the 
meat, the crystal more than the water, the dessert more than the fruit - and 
little passes our lips.

Bulimia

We come and we gorge, thirsting for the feelings that surround a spiritual 
feast and we leave bloated with emotions. But once those feelings fade we 
find that there is very little meat to sustain us through trials and 
adversity. I have actually worked with persons who believed that it was not 
so important that we cover the scriptures, concepts or doctrines of a lesson 
as it was how we made our students feel. I believe that those who teach in 
this manner and those who seek fulfillment in this way will never gain a 
testimony strong enough to enter the kingdom of heaven.

But if we come to the feast and partake of the meat we will be fortified and 
then take on the obligation to invite others - beginning with our families - 
to the spiritual banquet. Elder Ballard quotes Christ speaking to His 
beloved Apostle Peter,

"When thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren."  And again speaking to 
Peter, the Savior asked: "Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was 
grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said 
unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. 
Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep."  . (Ibid. Ensign, May 1996, 80)

Notice that He didn't say, "entice my sheep," nor "entertain my sheep," but 
"feed my sheep." And where do we partake the majority of our food? In the 
home.

The home and family have vital roles in cultivating and developing personal 
faith and testimony. The family is the basic unit of society; the best place 
for individuals to build faith and strong testimonies is in righteous homes 
filled with love. Love for our Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ is 
greatly enhanced when the gospel is taught and lived in the home. True 
principles of eternal life are embedded in the hearts and souls of young and 
old alike when scriptures are read and discussed, when prayers are offered 
morning and night, and where reverence for God and obedience to Him are 
modeled in everyday conduct. Just as the best meals are home cooked, the 
most nourishing gospel instruction takes place at home.

.Brothers and sisters, we should teach revealed principles and inspired 
doctrine in our homes and in our Church meetings. Every parent and class 
instructor should be well prepared to teach the gospel by the power of the 
Spirit to ensure that testimonies are renewed and understanding of life and 
life eternal is fortified.

The First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles ask leaders to 
emphasize constantly, in priesthood quorums, auxiliaries, and stake and ward 
councils, the preeminence of the home and family. That is where scriptures 
are studied and prayers are offered regularly so all family members will 
strive to follow the Savior in all things.  (Ibid. Ensign, May 1996, 80)

Sisters, I believe that if we take this council seriously that our hunger 
will be recognized and we will feed at the Lord's table - returning again 
and again to feast upon the words of Christ. I testify that we will begin to 
see our children put scripture reading before math homework; prayers before 
English papers. Our husbands and fathers will put family prayer before work; 
family home evening before Monday night football; and scripture study before 
overtime. And that we, mothers, wives and daughters will partake of the Lord's 
feast before we sate our worldly appetites.

Perhaps we could try that phone call again.

"Hello? Is this my family? Oh, wonderful. I heard that you were starving and 
I wanted to invite you to dinner."

(Pause)

"When? Why tonight of course. I wouldn't want you to suffer a moment longer 
than you already have."

(Pause)

"What are we having? The words of Christ."

(Pause)

"Dessert? Because of your diligence and your faith and your patience with 
the word in nourishing it, . behold, by and by ye shall pluck the fruit 
thereof, which is most precious, which is sweet above all that is sweet, and 
which is white above all that is white, yea, and pure above all that is 
pure; and ye shall feast upon this fruit even until ye are filled, that ye 
hunger not, neither shall ye thirst." (Alma 32:42)



The scriptures testify to us that the giving and receiving of spiritual 
knowledge assuages worldly hunger. When the woman at the well had received 
the living water that Christ had offered she left immediately for her 
village, leaving her water pot behind. Her physical thirst forgotten as her 
spirit bathed in spiritual water. Watching her leave, Christ was impugned by 
his disciples to take bread and eat. He replied that he was not hungry for 
he had partaken of bread at His Father's table and that by doing His Father's 
will He had become filled.



It is my prayer that as our hunger pains grow on our next Fast Sunday that 
we might come to know the spiritual starvation that threatens us and as we 
partake of the Sacrament we assuage that hunger by pulling a chair up to the 
Lord's table and feasting on the words of Christ. And once we have taken our 
fill that we might feed the sheep within our care, that they shall have the 
personal testimony and faith required to sit down at that final feast, "the 
marriage supper of the Lamb."