Elder Ulisses Soares (Oct. '23): "Brothers and Sisters in Christ"

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 This is an essential talk for all of us.  I believe that a majority of members (and all people, really) try to live in accordance with the principles in this talk.  It is just that the more vocal minority gets more press, so to speak.  However, even with our best efforts we all fall short at times because we are humans.  Hence, this is a talk we need to hear.

The Activity:

  1. Make sure that each class member has access to a copy of the talk either digitally or physically.
  2. Point out that several time sin this talk Elder Soares shares doctrines (eternal truths) with us and then, based on those doctrines, he provides some general principles (or guidelines) for us to use as guides in our lives while leaving the exact operation of these things up to us.
  3. Divide the class into 4 groups and assign each group one of the following passages from this talk:
    1. Par. 3-4 "The gospel of . . . daughters of God."
    2. Par. 9-10 "President Nelson further . . . toward one another."
    3. Par. 15-16 "My dear friends, . . . the same Father."
    4. Par. 21-22 "I have deep . . . community of saints."
  4. Ask each group to read and discuss these passages.  During the discussion, they should identify the doctrine and the general principle(s) shared.  Then, they are to talk about what that may look like in daily life in their communities.  
  5. Allow the groups some time to talk
  6. After a few minutes, bring the class back together and ask each group to share what they talked about.

Using the Activity:

I have shared this before, but one of the most impactful teaching I have heard was from Elder Bednar when he taught that the gospel has doctrines (eternal, unchanging truths), principles (eternal, very broad, general guidelines for implementing those doctrines), and applications (actions-- often bound to certain times and places-- that are ways to live those principles).  This activity is designed to investigate what is shared in this talk in these categories.  This is a powerful way to teach because we are taught that true doctrine understood changes behavior (Pres. Boyd K. Packer most famously said this).  When we are touched by the doctrine then it is important to consider how to enact that doctrine in our lives.  

As always, thank you for visiting my blog.  I pray that you will find this useful.  God bless.  

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