Elder Robert C. Gay (Oct. 18): "Taking Upon Ourselves the Name of Jesus Christ"

This for me was one of the most powerful talks of conference.  It probably has something to do with the fact that this seemed to be a theme of the conference.  In this talk, Elder Gay delineates three ways to take upon ourselves the name of Christ.  At the root, all three have one thing in common-- loving/befriending/serving those that we are most inclined to NOT love/befriend/serve.  This activity focuses on that idea.

The Activity:

1. Point out the three ideas Elder Gay outlines in his talk.
2. Divide the class into three groups and ask the groups to discuss the following parts of the talk.
1. Group 1-- para. 5-8 "Brigham Young taught . . . all were redeemable."
2. Group 2-- para. 14-15  "I recently learned . . . we do so."
3. Group 3-- para. 19-20  "One of my . . . to enduring joy."
3. Ask the groups to discuss what they learn from their assigned passage in general.  Point out that each group is dealing with a different part of the talk and in a moment everyone will speak with people from the other two groups.
4. Give the groups a few moments.
5. Ask the class members to move around and form new groups of three, with one person from each of the three bigger groups.  Note:  chances of you having exactly enough class members to make this work mathematically are pretty slim.  So, some groups of 4 will probably be necessary.
6. Have these new groups discuss what they were talking about in their original groups and to look for common areas.
7. After a few minutes, come back together and discuss as a whole class the insights people have had.  While you want to draw out the idea of loving the unloveable, other ideas will likely surface that are important and valuable as well.
8. After this discussion and after pointing out the need to love those that seem to deserve it the least, ask the class members to silently pray and ponder about who they need to love better and to identify one way they can start to do this beginning this week. 
9. Challenge the class members to make note of what they felt inspired to do and to follow through on their promptings.

Using the Activity:

This activity is valuable because, again, it focuses on using the ideas of this conference talk to make real changes in the lives of the class members.  By taking time for the class members to silently ponder and pray (you could play quiet instrumental, inspirational music, if you want), you are making room for the Spirit to teach the class members what they should do.  This is important.  I believe it was Harold B. Lee who one time said that the three most important things a person should get from a talk or a lesson are, in order from least to most important, 1) what the speaker was teaching, 2) the confirmation of the Holy Ghost that what was being taught is true, and 3) [most important] the direction of the Spirit on what needs to be changed in their lives.  That is the crux of this lesson.  In this case, this seems to be a particularly important idea in our current political and social climate.  

Thank you for visiting my blog.  I hope and pray that you find this activity useful either as is or as a catalyst for something that fits your needs better.  God bless you in all that you do.