The Relief Society President, Jessica Lew, fairly newly called, asked me to teach Relief Society on Sunday May 26. Because we have had so many people in our ward lose loved ones this past year and a half, the Bishop gave the topic of Death. Oh boy, how do you teach a lesson on death?Well I did it and here it is.
We have seen several severe tornadoes in Oklahoma this year. How do you prepare for a tornado?
How do you prepare
for a hurricane?
Board
up windows; stay in a room in the middle of the house, maybe a bathroom; get to higher ground; evacuate
New
Orleans--Hurricane Katrina 2005—mandatory evacuation—over 100,000 people didn’t
have cars, 10,000 were put up in the Superdome and 10’s of 1000s waited it out
in their homes and were then forced out by flooding—people complained that
the government didn’t take care of them-put them in the stadium and left them
there—be a little self-sufficient and bring a 72 hour kit. But overall, the government and the
population were not prepared!
President Thomas S. Monson married Frances, the love of his life. Just this past week she passed away.
How do you
prepare for this?
The lesson today is not about physically preparing for
disasters. What did all of these
pictures have in common? Today’s lesson
is on death! That sounds morbid but it
really isn’t. How do we prepare for DEATH! Death is a part of life that is
inevitable. And MOST of the time we
don’t know when it will happen.
WE ARE A BLESSED
PEOPLE
Do we know what will happen tomorrow?
We really
don’t. Anyone of us could be called home
when we walk out the door today. We need
to be prepared for whatever is in store—whether it be ourselves or someone we
love.
This year in the 251st
ward we have had members lose their mothers, their brothers, their
uncles, their cousins, their grandparents……gratefully we haven’t lost any ward
members.
How do we prepare for death? Even
though it’s something we know will eventually happen, I don’t know if we are
ever totally prepared for it. It’s still
very difficult when someone we love passes away. Watching Moore OK….News commentators asked many survivors "Why do you continue to live
here?" Their responses, “Because we love it! And we just know that this is tornado country and we know that this is what
can happen. We’re strong.”
WE are a BLESSED people because we KNOW God's plan!
Plan of Salvation:
Pre-earthly
life
Plan
was presented--one presented by Satan and one by Jesus Christ
We
accepted the plan & chose to follow Jesus Christ
We
came to earth knowing it was temporary
The
only way to get out of this earth is to DIE
We
knew that everyone’s stay here would be different
That
we would be subject to acts of nature & consequences of other’s choices as well as our choices.
Our pre-existence was like the people in Oklahoma—we knew it
would be difficult but we were willing to take the chance. We KNOW!
Pres. Monson said:
My
brothers and sisters, death eventually comes to all mankind. It comes to the aged as they walk on
faltering feet. Its summons is heard by
those who have scarcely reached midway in life’s journey, and often it hushes
the laughter of little children. Death is one fact that no one can escape or
deny.
In the YW Broadcast last March, Pres.
Uchtdorf told of his journey to leave East Germany and escape into West
Germany when he was a small boy. He told
of the risk that his family was willing to take in order to have their freedom. He told of the plan that his parents so
carefully made so they would be successful. They each took a different journey out. His father took the shortest route out of East Germany through Berlin. His brothers took separate routes north. His sister went with Young Woman Leaders on a train. They payed a worker to unlock a door and they jumped out of the train while passing through West Germany. Pres. Uchtdorf was young and went with his mother over the mountain range on foot. This is so much like our own journey here on the earth. We are all traveling on different paths but
we are all heading for the same destination—to return to our Heavenly
Father. Pres. Uchtdorf said…..
Back in that first estate, you knew with
absolute certainty that God existed because you saw and heard Him. You knew
Jesus Christ, who would become the Lamb of God.
You had faith in Him. And you
knew that your destiny was not to stay in the security of your premortal
home. As much as you loved that eternal
sphere, you knew you wanted and needed to embark on a journey. You would depart from the arms of your
Father, pass through a veil of forgetfulness, receive a mortal body, and learn
and experience things that hopefully would help you grow to become more like
Father in Heaven and return to His presence….There were
so many things that would be out of your control. Mortal life would be hard at
times, filled with unexpected bends in the road: sickness, heartbreak,
accidents, conflict…. The
journey ahead seemed so long and uncertain—so filled with risk.
It
wouldn’t be easy, but you knew it was worth every effort.
I mentioned many that lost loved ones and family members to
death in the past 2 years. Some day,
there is a great chance that at least one of you will lose a husband and
someone will lose a child.
How do you prepare for death in life? Scripture Helaman 5:12:
And now, my sons, remember, remember that
it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye
must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty
winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty
storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to
the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are
built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they
cannot fall.
Sometimes when you think of that scripture you think of
temptations—but there are other things that happen that can shake our faith and
when we need to be built on that rock!
There is no room in our lives to say WHY? There isn’t always a
why—it just is. We have to learn to take
what comes and make the best of it.
There is no room for blame—you can't say: God
took her from me when I needed her most.
When my daughter Meggie died, I
was really sad, but I never doubted that she was okay and I knew she was in a
better place. I knew she had received her
physical body and she was allowed to go on to a better place. I was filled with peace.
Darrell—When Kim was 5 his 6 year old brother was getting off the school bus in front of his home when a car passed the bus and hit and killed Darrell. Some of Kim's parent's friends told them to sue the driver of the car. Kim's grandfather came to his parents and told them that suing would not
bring him back—it would not change what happened. BITTERNESS will
not bring us peace. It’s okay and normal to mourn. It’s okay to be angry. It's not necessary to blame and it doesn't help bring peace.
How do we build on that rock?
President Mullen's 5 things to follow!
Scripture study
Obedience—Sons of Helaman—2000 stripling warriors
Repentance
Strengthen our faith through experiences--ACT
Look every
day for God’s hand in your life
Prayer
Temple Attendance—renewing the covenants we make there
Partaking of the sacrament on a regular basis
Put the Lord first: Mary N. Cook spoke at the Young Women's Broadcast in March—she
told the story of a young woman she met in the temple.
She had just returned home from a mission. When she started seminary her teacher told
her class that they could expect trials in their lives. She thought—“I don’t want to have
trials.” It wasn’t but a few weeks later
that her very healthy young father got very ill and passed away a few weeks
after that.
She said, “It was so hard. You never want to lose
the hero of your life. I knew I could make it a springboard for growth or allow
it to be a roadblock. I didn’t want to let it ruin my life, because I was only
14 years old. I tried to be as close to the Lord as possible.”
She had a decision and a
choice to make. I love that she
saw it that way. She wasn’t bitter
towards God. This girl really understood
the plan of salvation. We came to earth
to get a body and we will leave this earth at some point. Continuing her story—listen to the things she
did that helped her build her foundation:
"I read my scriptures a lot.
Alma chapter 40 assured me that the resurrection is real and through Christ’s Atonement, I could be with my father again. I
prayed a lot. I wrote in my journal as often as I could. I kept
my testimony vibrant by writing it down. I went to church and to Young
Women every week. I surrounded myself with good friends. I kept
close to caring relatives and especially to my mom, who was the
anchor in our family. I sought out priesthood blessings from my grandfather and
other priesthood holders.”
List on the board the things that she did:
Read her
scriptures—a lot
Prayed—a
lot
Wrote in
her journal ( way to express
feelings) (safe environment) (why
did this help her?)
Wrote her
testimony—how does that help? It
makes your testimony real—you concentrate on it and realize that it exists
Kept good
friends
Stayed
close to her mother-family
Attend
church meetings including YW
Sought
Priesthood blessing
We talked about preexistence—what happens to us right after we die?
We go to a probationary state known as Paradise:
Alma 40:11-12
11 Now, concerning the state of the
soul between death and the resurrection—Behold, it has been made known unto me
by an angel, that the spirits of all men, as soon as they are departed from
this mortal body, yea, the spirits of all men, whether they be good or evil,
are taken home to that God who gave them life.
12 And then shall it come to pass,
that the spirits of those who are righteous are received into a state of
happiness, which is called paradise, a state of rest, a state of peace, where
they shall rest from all their troubles and from all care, and sorrow.
This makes me feel such COMFORT! My daughter, Annie, told her 7 year
old daughter about Paradise. She talked
about what a glorious place it is and how happy you are when you are
there. For many days after, Meggie kept
saying to her, “I want to go to Paradise.”
So what happens after paradise? Is that the end?
Resurrection & Judgement
2 Nephi 9:13
13 O
how great the plan of our God! For on the other hand, the paradise of God must deliver up the spirits of the righteous,
and the grave deliver up the body of the righteous; and the spirit and the body
is restored to itself again, and all men become
incorruptible, and immortal, and they are living souls, having a perfect knowledge like unto us in the flesh, save it be
that our knowledge shall be perfect.
Alma 40:23
23 The soul shall be restored to the body,
and the body to the soul; yea, and every limb and joint shall be restored to
its body; yea, even a hair of the head shall not be lost; but all
things shall be restored to their proper and perfect frame.
Alma 11: 42-44
42 Now,
there is a death which is called a temporal death; and the death of Christ
shall loose the bands of this temporal death, that all shall
be raised from this temporal death.
43 The spirit and the body shall be
reunited again in its perfect form; both limb and joint shall be restored to its
proper frame, even as we now are at this time; and we shall be brought to stand
before God, knowing even as we know now, and have a bright recollection of all our guilt.
44 Now, this restoration shall come
to all, both old and young, both bond and free, both male and female, both the
wicked and the righteous; and even there shall not so much as a hair of their
heads be lost; but every thing shall be restored to its
perfect frame, as it is now, or in the body, and shall be brought and be
arraigned before the bar of Christ the Son, and God the Father, and the Holy Spirit, which is one Eternal God, to be judged
according to their works, whether they be good or whether they be evil.
To summarize these scriptures:
We go to paradise as a righteous spirit and we stay there until the
resurrection when our spirits will be reunited with our bodies in a state of
immortality and then we will go through the judgment where Christ will decide
where we will live for eternity. We could do a whole lesson on that part alone.
Another truth about death is that our relationships continue
in the next phase of our lives because of eternal marriages in the temple.
D&C 132:19
…if a man marry a wife by my word, which is my law, and
by the new and everlasting covenant, and it is sealed
unto
them by the Holy Spirit of promise, by
him who is anointed, unto whom I have appointed this power and the keys
of
this priesthood; and it shall be said unto them—Ye shall come forth in the
first resurrection;…and shall inherit thrones,
kingdoms, principalities, and powers, dominions, all heights and depths,…and
they shall pass by the angels, and the gods, which are set there, to their exaltation
and
glory in all things, as hath been sealed upon their heads, which glory shall be
a fulness
and a continuation of the seeds forever and ever.
We have been promised eternal life with those that we love
if we meet the requirements.
2 Ne 31:20 tells us how to meet the requirements
2 Ne 31:20
20 Wherefore, ye must press forward
with a steadfastness in
Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope,
and a love of
God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting
upon the word of Christ, and endure
to
the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal
life.
These requirements are the things that will help us Build on
the Rock of the Redeemer
When death strikes—because we understand the PLAN then does
that mean we shouldn’t mourn the loss of a loved one? THAT IS LUDICROUS! If you saw any clips of Sister Monson’s funeral you would have seen
the prophet of God, weeping for his Frances.
It’s OKAY and it’s natural.
Elder Russel M. Nelson said:
"Irrespective of age, we mourn for those loved and
lost. Mourning is one of the deepest expressions of pure love. It is a natural
response in complete accord with divine commandment: “Thou shalt live together
in love, insomuch that thou shalt weep for the loss of them that die.” (D&C 42:45.)
Moreover, we can’t fully appreciate joyful reunions later without tearful separations now. The only way to take sorrow out of death is to take love out of life."
And that would be tragic!
I don’t know if we can ever fully prepare for death—but we
can do our best.
Live like
you were dying; Love because you are.
Early in
the lesson I said:
We are a
Blessed People!
I truly
believe that! We KNOW what God’s plan
is. We need to build on the rock of the
redeemer. Strengthen our faith so that
when death comes knocking on our door, we will be ready and we’ll be able to
have enough faith that we’ll be able to feel the peace which the HOLY GHOST
will bestow upon us. We all have to go
through it with someone. We’ll be okay
because we KNOW!
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