#52 Stories--Story # 52

In my congregation I am currently teaching an adult Sunday school class each week. This year the focus has been the Old Testament.  I have enjoyed the assignment more than I thought I would. While we were covering the "children's bible stories" like Noah and Jonah, I really enjoyed them.  But looking ahead I was terrified about the Isaiah lessons. I don't read a lot of symbolic stuff well, and so much of his writing was Messianic or symbolic in some way.  I worried that I would prove myself a fraud of a teacher once we got to that book.

Well, I'm nearly done with 5 weeks of Isaiah lessons.  I may very well be a fraud, but I have learned a lot.  Mostly I learned just how important Isaiah's words are to the world today--he wrote for our time often, and nearly always it was to prophecy about the Savior's doings and promises in the last days.

One week we studied the imagery Isaiah uses to teach us of Christ.  Breaking it down like that was comforting and filled me a new level of love for Isaiah--and the Savior.

The next week the lesson focused on the qualities of Jesus Christ, insomuch that we need to learn of Him and try to be like Him. Isaiah love the Lord. He must have known Him, else how could he teach us so clearly.

There are other lessons coming yet, but overall I think this has helped me to learn that while I might at first balk at an assignment I receive, if I do my best in fulfilling it, I am blessed beyond my ability--and loved through it all. And really, there isn't much more I could ask for in that vein.

Family Respsonsibilities

Yesterday in our Sunday school class we had a lesson about family responsibilities. Of course, we talked about the duties of parents to their children and that of fathers and mothers and how, though different, were equal in value. We even brushed past the responsibilities children have to their family.

What we kept coming back to, though, was that all these are great, in an ideal world, but to reach "ideal" we have to each be accountable, take responsibility, basically grow up.

Here is where the theory seems to implode.

If humankind would do that, we'd all be looking for room on the Rapture Express--being translated and brought up into Heaven. The problem with it is there are so many who simply will not be accountable, take responsibility or just grow up. These are the few who make a lesson like this necessary in the first place.

I understand that everyone is raised differently and thereby has differing ideas about what might be their personal responsibility or accountability. But I think if we each took the initiative to be grown ups and look for the responsibility in our lives and our families, we could take on what it appropriate and make our families stronger and in turn, society as a whole.

But it is just so much easier to let someone else take care of it all. But then, guilt comes easy to me.

A Peculiar People alright!

In Sunday school today we had a discussion that stemmed from this scripture reference: Deuteronomy chapter 26, verses 17-19:

17 Thou hast avouched the Lord this day to be thy God, and to walk in his ways, and to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judgments, and to hearken unto his voice:

18 And the Lord hath avouched thee this day to be his peculiar people, as he hath promised thee, and that thou shouldest keep all his commandments;

19 And to make thee high above all nations which he hath made, in praise, and in name, and in honour; and that thou mayest be an holy people unto the Lord thy God, as he hath spoken.

The gist of the discussion was that as we obey God and follow His commandments we are going to be different from others around us who live a more worldly life. We are going to stand out and be PECULIAR.

Have you ever visited Utah? More specifically, have you ever visited Utah county? Peculiar is a very apt word to use. That isn't to say there aren't peculiar people in other locales but I live in Utah currently and as a transplant to this valley there are a lot of peculiar things about it.

More ice cream is purchased here per capita than anywhere else. If there is a line at the Gas 'n Sip soda fountain, 9 times out of 10 is is for the Diet Coke spigot. There are endless recreation activities outdoors among mountains and lakes and rivers. Yet a large percentage of locals never participate. Citizens here are very patriotic and declare publicly and proudly that they love America, but we consistently have low (like under 30%) voter turnout for elections and even fewer participate in caucus or mass meetings prior to county conventions.

I don't really think our Sunday School instructor was referring to these kind of peculiarities in our lesson today. But the topic itself struck me as ironic. As a people, as LDS people, we seem so anxious to be mainstreamed and accepted by others and other faiths. Yet we know that the understanding we have is different and we have an obligation to share it with those around us. That is a peculiar way to live.

Perhaps, we might be more effective examples when we come to accept our peculiarness and demonstrate the joy we find by living the commandments of God and being obedient to His word. Then as a Peculiar People we might also be the "light of the world" as Matthew teaches. In the meantime, we have to learn to just laugh at ourselves and not take it personally when others laugh a bit too. Maybe then we can offer a glimpse of what being peculiar means to us and how it blesses our lives and families.