Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf (Apr. 18): "Behold the Man!"

As I read this talk initially I was inspired to reflect on a number of questions related to this talk.  Those questions became the basis for this activity.

The Activity:

1. Write each of the following questions on a separate small poster board:
1. What can keep us from having eyes to behold Him?
2. What are the blessing of beholding Him?
3. How can we learn to behold Him?
4. How might we know, if we do behold Him?
2. Post these sheets around the classroom
3. Introduce the talk and discuss the talk.  Specifically, talk about the idea of "Behold the Man" in the section entitled "Do we 'Behold the Man'?" paragraphs 1-12.
4. Direct the class members attention to the questions posted around the room and ask them to consider each question silently for a moment.
5. Invite the class members to each choose a single question they are most drawn to and to move to that part of the room.  They may sit in that area.
6. When the groups have formed themselves, instruct the class members to simply discuss the question they have chosen.  Encourage them to consult Elder Uchtdorf's talk, the scriptures, and their own experiences for insights.
7. Depending on the nature of the group discussion and when in the lesson you use this activity, you may allow the groups to continue for the rest of the class or you may choose to bring the groups back together as a whole and have them report what was talked about in their groups.  If you do the latter, ask other class members to contribute their own ideas and insights to the discussion.

Using the Activity:

Be mindful that depending on the make-up of your class/quorum, you may need to find a way to minimize/eliminate the movement around the room. 

The value of this activity in my mind is three-fold.  First, we are allowing the class members to choose where they will focus their energies and thoughts.  This can be powerful because we are all in different places.  For example, one class member may be in a place in their lives when pondering the blessings of this concept will be powerfully important.  Someone else, though, really needs to engage in some time spent thinking and talking about the things that may stand in our way.  It is not that there are questions here that have zero value for some people; they all could be valuable discussion points for any member of the Church.  However, there are some questions that are simply more necessary for each of us at different stages of our growth.  This activity helps to create those individualized opportunities for the Spirit to teach our class members what is most important for each individual one of them.

Second, by encouraging the class members to focus their discussions on the content of the talk itself and the scriptures, we are again asking our members to look exactly at the words of a living apostle and work to understand them.  By including the scriptures in this encouragement, we are also providing a way for our class members to see how the words of the living prophets and the words of the scriptures work together to guide us to exaltation.

Finally, by including their own experiences as fodder for the discussion we are also asking them to apply the words of the scriptures and the prophets to themselves.  In some cases, this application may take the form more of remembering what has been done for them already.  This type of personalization of the scriptures and words of the prophets, in my experience, is perhaps the most powerful way to invite in the Spirit and to help our class members (and ourselves) see that He is with them and has been with them in the past as well.

I hope that this activity will be of use to you either as designed or as a catalyst for a different idea.  May God bless you for all that you do as a teacher of the gospel.  Thank you for coming to my blog.  Please let me know how things go.