Announcements - May 10, 2015

·         Young Women Evening of Excellence will take place on Sunday, May 17, 2015 at 7:00 p.m. at the Moraga Chapel.  Come celebrate the Young Women and their personal progress.

 

·         The Young Women are collecting fleece (58” x 72”+) and/or money to make blankets for teenagers at the Oakland Children’s Hospital.

 

·         Sign-ups for Doug Lindley’s funeral service on Thursday were passed around.  If able to help, please contact the Relief Society Presidency.

Lesson Summary - May 10, 2015

“Inspiring Women”

By Kathryn Pritchett

 

Kathryn and her husband just completed teaching a class on “Women in the Church” at the Institute in Berkeley and these are some of her thoughts and excerpts from that class.

 

She asked the audience “What would you teach about inspiring women in the Church?”  Some answers were:  Female characters in the Bible; Gifts of the spirit—women giving blessings, speaking in tongues, etc.;  Polygamy; Pioneer women; Modern day women—bloggers, etc.;  Lucy Mack Smith & Emma Smith.

 

The sections of the class that they divided it into were:  How Mormons view Eve and Mary, Founding Women—Emma and Lucy Mack Smith; Gifts of the Spirit; Pioneer women; Suffragette movement; Relief Society-the foundation, disruption and renewal; Women and plural marriage; Mother in Heaven; Women in transition; and Modern Voices.

 

Kathryn structured her talk around five things that she learned about mothers after teaching the class:

 

1-Mormons treat Eve better than most.  We see her as an instrument for good, the fortunate fall and the mother of all living.  The Jewish Midrash explains the general world belief about woman being created from the rib of man:

“Women need to use perfumes and men do not because dust of the ground remains the same no matter how long it is kept; flesh however requires salt to keep it in good condition. Women’s voices are high and shrill and men’s voices are not because when soft viands are cooked, no sound is heard; but let a bone be put in a pot and at once it crackles.  Women are rigid and not easily placated like men because a few drops of water suffice to soften a clod of water but a bone stays hard and will not soften in water.  It is the man who proposes marriage and not the woman because man lost his rib and must find a woman to retrieve it. And finally, women precede men in a funeral cortege, because it was woman who brought death into the world.”

 

Many cultures favor males above females but we are taught that we will be judged for our own transgressions not for Adam and Eve. 

 

We don’t speak much about Mary or about our Heavenly Mother.  We hold ourselves back by not thinking about her.

 

 2-Mothers in the Early Church.  Sarah Kimball and her seamstress, in 1842, couldn’t help directly with the building of the Kirkland temple but they could help making shirts for the men building the temple.  They organized an association and went to Joseph Smith for help.  He put his support behind it and sanctioned it.  They did many good works.  It was a volunteer organization at the time and women paid dues to belong.  Not everyone was a member of the Relief Society.  Emma Smith and Brigham Young didn’t see eye to eye often and for a number of years, the Relief Society was disbanded although it unofficially met during this time.  During this time, although not officially sanctioned, the sisters continued to help those in need, both in the Church and outside.  They “huddled” to further women’s rights and publish a newspaper, in addition to helping others on the western frontier.   In 1867, the Relief Society was reinstated by Brigham Young.  Eliza R. Snow, who was married to both Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, deserves a lot of credit for the Relief Society.  Often known as “the prophetess”, she carried the minutes of the first Relief Society’s across the plains and often showed those to others.  She said, “Without no order we have no claim to the spirit.”  She used those original minutes to go around to train bishops on how to organize the ward Relief Societies.  There were many other very strong women in the early church such as Zina Young, Lucy Mack Smith, Emmeline B. Wells.  Emmeline B. Wells was a Relief Society President but also a writer and editor of the Exponent.   Emmeline Wells met Joseph Smith and had a deep testimony of him throughout her life.

 

3-Mothers support each other.  Kathryn studied much about polygamy and the early church.  She has a new found respect for those women who were called to participate in polygamy.  Emmeline B. Wells as a writer and editor for the Exponent, wrote under two pen names, Aunt Ann, and Blanche Beachwood.  Under Aunt Ann, wrote about homemaking subjects but under Blanche Beachwood, she vocalized feminist views. 

 

Ellis Reynolds Shipp was the first of four wives to Milford Shipp.  She was very bright and articulate.  The three other wives of Milford Shipp supported Ellis while she went to medical school, not only financially but with child care.  Ellis was one of the first female doctors in Utah and west of the Mississippi.

 

4-Mothers work and always have.  Women from the pioneers and before, through until today have always worked and worked hard.  Some of the modern women that were taught about in this Institute class were:  Minerva Teichert with her paintings; Stephanie Meyer, author of the Twilight novels; Emily Banks, a professor of genetics at the University of Colorado, whose patriarchical blessing told her that she had the potential to change human knowledge, that she would be a mentor and teacher to young people. 

 

One young man in the class pointed out that many of these LDS women said that their work was spiritually driven, that their work has a spiritual component.  He said that men rarely think that way about work.  Men usually feel that they work to provide for their families. Kathryn asked, “Do you feel that your work is divinely directed?”

 

Rose Marie Reid was a swimsuit designer and a member of the Church.  In 1955, she was named Sports Illustrated Designer of the Year and Woman of the Year by the Los Angeles Times.  She did a lot of missionary work among the Jewish people.  She helped raise funds for the Los Angeles temple by selling sequined swim suits that had sequins sewn on by Relief Society sisters.  She felt that part of her work was part of her missionary effort as well as a means to build the kingdom. 

 

5-Mothering the modern day Church.  We are standing on the shoulders of those women of the early church but mothering it now takes creative work and discernment.  Kathryn asked the young women at the Institute what they thought of Relief Society.  Most didn’t feel like they fit in and didn’t really like it.  The men had more tender feelings but were more through their mothers, for example, the Relief Society taking care of the family when the mother was ill.  The women were far more critical since they were part of making the Relief Society work where the men just saw the benefits of Relief Society.  It was a good example of how critical and judgmental we can be.  Martha Beck said, “Criticism is an alluring substitute for creation, because tearing things down, unlike building them up, really is as easy as falling off the stump.  It’s blissfully simple to strike a savvy, sophisticated pose by attacking someone else’s creations, but the old adage is right:  Any fool can burn down a barn.  Building one is something else again.”

 

Kathryn closed with urging us to be the change you want to be.  This is an exciting time to be a woman in the Church.  Change has happened throughout time and throughout the Church and will continue to change.  We can be a part of it and make it better and our mothers and our forbearers would expect nothing less.

 

Lesson Summary - April 12, 2015

Teachings of the Presidents of the Church

Ezra Taft Benson

Lesson 6

“Jesus Christ, Our Savior and Redeemer”

Lesson by Carly

 

Carly began her lesson by reading a quote from President Ezra Taft Benson, “No other single influence has had so great an impact on this earth as the life of Jesus the Christ.”  This is the foundation of the gospel.

 

Because our relationship with the Savior is so very personal it can be challenging to discuss but here are some goals that Carly outlined for today’s lesson:

 

Feeling the love Jesus Christ has for you.

Increased gratitude for our Savior.

Increased desire to share our testimony of Christ.

 

President Benson said, “We declare the divinity of Jesus Christ.  We look to Him as the only source of our salvation.”

 

Carly asked, “What are your favorite attributes of Christ?”  Some responses were:  Pure love, compassion, patience, kind, courageous, strong.  Carly read from a compiled list of some of Christ’s attributes:  Faith, virtue, knowledge, humility, diligence, temperance, godliness, charity, patience, kindness.

 

In 3 Nephi 27:27 Christ says:  Therefore, what manner of men ought ye to be? Verily I say unto you, even as I am.

 

This is a lifelong pursuit and one decision at a time.  It takes faith, repentance, keeping the commandments and enduring to the end.

John 6: 24-28, 30-31, 34, 35: 

24  When the people therefore saw that Jesus was not there, neither his disciples, they also took shipping, and came to Capernaum, seeking for Jesus.

 25 And when they had found him on the other side of the sea, they said unto him, Rabbi, when camest thou hither?

 26 Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled.

 27 Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed.

 28 Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?

 30 They said therefore unto him, What sign shewest thou then, that we may see, and believe thee? what dost thou work?

 31 Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat.

 34 Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread.

 35 And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.

Jesus is the Bread of Life.    President Benson said, “I cannot recall a time that I did not believe in Jesus Christ. It seems that the reality of His life, death, and resurrection has always been a part of me.”

Carly continued with John 6:36-40:

36 But I said unto you, That ye also have seen me, and believe not.

 37 All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.

 38 For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.

 39 And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.

 40 And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.

Jesus has proclaimed himself-He is the bread of life.  He came down from heaven to do the will of the Father.  All that believe in the Son (partake of this bread) shall have eternal life.

President Benson said, “Everything He did was prompted by His unselfish, infinite love for us.”

Carly asked the audience if we could remember a time when we have felt the Lords love through someone else?  Several sisters told specific instances when they have felt the Lords love through the actions of others.

Former Relief Society General President, Bonnie Parkin said, “I know that Heavenly Father loves us, sisters, as does his Son, Jesus Christ.  That love will never change—it is constant.  Do we frequently reject the Lord’s love that He pours out upon us in mjch more abundance than we are willing to receive?  Do we think we have to be perfect in order to deserve His love?”

Carly said that she thinks that when we allow ourselves to feel His love, we begin to feel safe, and we realize that we don’t need to be immediately perfect—it’s all part of the progression toward eternal life.

President Benson said, “Faith in Jesus Christ consists of relying completely on Him and following His teachings.”  He also said, “Those who are captained by Christ will be consumed in Christ.  Their will is swallowed up in His will.  They do always those things that please the Lord.  Not only would they die for the lord, but, more important, they want to live for Him.  Enter their homes, and the pictures on their walls, the books on the shelves, the music in the air, their words and acts reveal them as Christians.  They stand as witnesses of God at all times, and in all things, and in all places.  They have Christ on their minds, as they look unto Him in every thought.  They have Christ in their hearts as their affections are placed on Him forever.”

Carly played a short video:  https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2015-04-1010-he-lives-celebrate-easter-because-jesus-christ-lives?lang=eng

Carly close with her and President Benson’s testimony:  “With all my soul, I love Him.  I humbly testify that He is the same loving, compassionate Lord today as when He walked the dusty roads of Palestine.  He is close to His servants on this earth.  He cares about and loves each of us today.  Of that you can be assured.”  “He lives today as our Lord, our Master, our Savior, our Redeemer, and our God.  God bless us all to believe in Him, to accept Him, to worship Him, to fully trust in Him, and to follow Him.”

Announcements - March 29, 2015

On April 13^th there will be a fireside at 7:00 at the ward.  Nedra Shumway will talk about self-compassion, managing your own happiness and dealing with stress.  All are invited. 

 

Save the dates of April 18^th and 25^th for the stake service project at Juaquin Miller park.  Many are needed to do the ‘heavy lifting’ and feed the  multitudes.  More information coming soon.

Lesson Summary - March 29, 2015

Lesson

“Approaching the Throne of God with Confidence”

Elder Jorg Klebingat

By

Megan P.

 

Megan started her lesson by handing out an Introspection Quiz for each of us to consider privately.   The questions were:

 

1. On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate your spiritual confidence before God?

 

2.  Do you have a personal witness that your current offering as a Latter-Day-Saint is sufficient to inherit eternal life?

 

3. Can you say within yourself that Heavenly Father is pleased with you?

 

4.  What thoughts would come to mind if you had a personal interview with your Savior one minute from now?

 

5.  Would sins, regrets and shortcomings dominate your self-image or would you simply experience joyful anticipation?

 

6.  Would you meet or avoid His gaze?

 

7.  Would you linger by the door or confidently walk up to Him? 

 

If we come up short with the heartfelt answers to the above questions, Elder Klebingat gives us six practical suggestions that could dissipate our doubts about our worthiness and restore the kind of peaceful assurance and spiritual confidence that is ours to have if we want it. 

 

These six suggestions will help us to identify  specific ways to increase our spiritual confidence if we are willing to listen to the Spirit and act on those promptings.

 

1.    Take responsibility for your own spiritual well-being.

           Chose to study and pray often.

2.    Take responsibility for your own physical well-being.

                Eat well and exercise.

3.    Embrace voluntary, wholehearted obedience as part of your life.

                Free Agency is so important.

4.    Become really, really good at repenting thoroughly and quickly.

                So important!   Don’t let Satan stop you!

5.    Become really, really good at forgiving.

Christ’s atonement  makes compensation for damaged lives.   You are not given the keys to judge, even yourselves.  (John Lund)

6.    Accept trials, setbacks and “surprises” as part of your mortal experience.

Change and “fix” what you can, accept what you can’t change and learn from it.

 

As you contemplate putting these suggestions into practice, you need to:

 

BE GENTLE WITH YOURSELF

BE PATIENT WITH YOURSELF

SET REALISTIC GOALS

 

Megan then passed out individual quotes from the talk to be discussed in small groups. 

 

Elder Klebingat concludes his talk, “Whenever the adversary cannot persuade imperfect yet striving Saints such as you to abandon your belief in a personal and loving God, he employs a vicious campaign to put as much distance as possible between you and God.  He will seek access to your heart to tell you lies – lies that Heavenly Father is disappointed in you, that the atonement is beyond your reach, that there is no point in even trying, that everyone else is better than you, that you are unworthy, and a thousand variations of that same evil theme.

 

As long as you allow these voices to chisel away at your soul, you can’t approach the throne of God with real confidence.  Whatever you do, whatever you pray for, whatever hopes for a miracle you may have, there will always be just enough self-doubt chipping away at your faith – not only your faith in God but also your confidence in yourself.  Living the gospel in this manner is no fun, nor is it very healthy.  Above all, it is completely unnecessary!  The decision to change is yours – and yours alone.”

 

Let thy bowels also be full of charity towards all men, and to the household of faith, and let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly; then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God  (D&C 121;45)

Announcements - March 15, 2015

Next Sunday,  March 22^nd,  will be our Ward Conference.  There will be a Linger Longer following the three hour block.  Please sign up to bring finger food.

 

 On Saturday, March 28^th, the General Women’s Broadcast will be shown on BYUTV.   It would be nice to get together with those you visit teach and view it in homes.  . 

 

Sunday, April 12^th at 7:00 P.M. we will have a special fireside with Nedra Shumway.   All are invited.

 

On Saturday, April 18^th  and on the 25^th, the stake will sponsor a service project by Oakland Helping Hands.  The job is to clean, repair and renovate the Joaquin Miller Park.   We will be assigned a section. 

Lesson Summary - March 15, 2015

“Principles of True Repentance”

Ezra Taft Benson #5

given by

Chris C.

 

The other day my 7 yr. old came to me and asked, “Mommy, do you repent?”.   It made me stop and think.

 

President Benson says, “For those who pay the price required by true repentance, the promise is sure.  You can be clean again.  The despair can be lifted.  The sweet peace of forgiveness will flow into your lives.”

 

President Smith says, “Repentance will be the only panacea for the ills of this world.”

 

We all know the four steps of repentance:

1.     Recognizing error

2.     Forsaking bad behavior

3.     Confessing sins to the Lord or Bishop

4.     Making restitution to right the wrong

 

Pres. Benson admonishes us, “It is better to prepare and prevent than it is to repair and repent!”.

 

It is daunting to realize that we all need to repent.   Elder Nelson said, “While the Lord insists on our repentance, most people don’t feel such a compelling need.  They include themselves among those who try to be good.  They have no evil intent.  Yet the Lord is clear in His message that all need to repent – not only from sins of commission but from sins of omission as well.”

 

Although we haven’t murdered anyone today or stolen anything etc. we all have sins of omission – perhaps writing our personal history, doing genealogy research, perhaps daily scripture study, temple worship etc.   We have good intentions and we know what to do, but somehow do not get around to doing it.  We need to take these things on one by one and repent of our procrastination.  Inner peace and blessings will flow.

 

The Lord works from the inside out.  The world works from the outside in.  The world would take people out of the slums.  Christ takes the slums out of the people, and then they take themselves out of the slums.  The world would mold men by changing their environment.  Christ changes men, who then change their environment.  The world would shape human behavior, but Christ can change human nature.  Yes, Christ changes men, and changed men can change the world.

 

Alma 5:12-14 asks:

12  And according to his faith, there was a mighty change wrought in his heart.  Behold, I say unto you that this is all true. 

13  And behold, he preached the word unto your fathers, and a mighty change was also wrought in their hearts, and they humbled themselves and put their trust in the true and living God.  And behold, they were faithful until the end; therefore they were saved.

14  And now behold, I ask of you, my brethren of the church, have ye spiritually been born of God?  Have ye received his image in your countenances?  Have ye experienced this mighty change in your hearts?

 

Three times we notice “mighty change of heart”.  What does that mean?

 

Mosiah 5:2 answers:

2  And they all cried with one voice, saying; Yea, we believe all the words which thou hast spoken unto us; and also, we know of their surety and truth, because of the Spirit of the Lord Omnipotent, which has wrought a might change in us, or in our hearts, that we have no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually. 

 

As we pursue this mighty change by implementing the four steps to repentance, we will experience Godly sorrow which is the deep realization that our actions have offended our Father and our God.  It is the sharp and keen awareness that our behavior caused the Savior, He who knew no sin, even the greatest of all, to endure agony and suffering.  Our sins caused him to bleed at every pore.  This very real mental and spiritual anguish is what the scriptures refer to as having a broken heart and a contrite spirit. 

 

But there is hope!

 

President Benson teaches that we must not lose hope as we seek to become Christ like.  We can profit by the experiences of the past.  But let us not spend our time worrying about decisions that have been  made, mistakes that have been made.  Let us live in the present and in the future.

 

Behold, he who has repented of his sins, the same is forgiven, and I the Lord, remember them no more.  (D&C 58:42)

 

This is the beginning of a new day.  God has given me this day to use as I will.  I can waste it – or use it for good, but what I do today is important, because I am exchanging a day of my life for it.  When tomorrow comes, this day will be gone forever, leaving in its place something that I have traded for it.  I want it to be gain, and not loss, good and not evil; success and not failure; in order that I shall not regret the price that I have paid for it.    (H. Wilson)

 

In conclusion I hope we will each embrace the words of Spencer W. Kimball when he taught;” There is a prevalent, perhaps subconscious feeling that the Lord designed repentance only for those who commit murder or adultery or theft or other heinous crimes.  This is of course not so.  If we are humble and desirous of living the gospel, we will come to think of repentance as applying to everything we do in life, whether it be spiritual or temporal in nature.  Repentance is for every soul who has not yet reached perfection”.