This week's FHE lesson topic comes from the Come, Follow Me reading in 1 Corinthians 14-16. Check out this week's Come, Follow Me study ideas on LDS Livingfor additional resources and suggestions.
Thought
“The assurance of resurrection gives us the strength and perspective to endure the mortal challenges faced by each of us and by those we love, such things as the physical, mental, or emotional deficiencies we bring with us at birth or acquire during mortal life. Because of the resurrection, we know that these mortal deficiencies are only temporary!”
(Dallin H. Oaks, “Resurrection,” Ensign or Liahona, May 2000)
Scripture
“For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:22).
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Lesson
Show your family a ballpoint pen (one that you can unscrew and remove the ink cartridge from). Without saying a word, take the pen apart and put the two halves of the pen together without putting the ink cartridge inside. Explain that the pen can represent the body and the ink cartridge can represent the spirit. Lay the pen and the ink cartridge side by side and ask:
What happens to body at death? (Move the pen aside to help them see that the body is placed in the grave.) What happens to our spirits when we die? (Hold up the ink cartridge and explain that the spirit, which can never die, will go the spirit world and await the Resurrection.) What will happen to our bodies and our spirits at the Resurrection? (Put the pen and the cartridge back together and write with it. Explain that when our bodies are resurrected, they will work better than before, for they will be perfect.)
Read 1 Corinthians 15:20-23, and testify of the wonders of the Resurrection.
(Adapted from: Jennifer Jackson and Beth Lefgren, Objects Lessons Made Easy: Memorable Ideas for Gospel Teaching, [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2006])
Story
Read this story from Elder Kearon of the Seventy and think about how you came to understand the doctrine of resurrection.
One night when our children were younger, we were having family scripture time. We read about the Savior and talked about how He never made any mistakes. Later that night my wife tucked our three-year-old daughter, Susie, into bed. Susie looked up at her mother and said, “Mummy, Jesus did make a mistake.” “What do you mean?” her mother asked. “He broke something,” Susie said. Somewhat puzzled, her mother asked, “What did He break?” “Jesus broke the bands of death,” Susie answered. My wife realized that she and Susie had sung the Primary song “On a Golden Springtime” many times, and Susie had learned the words “On a golden springtime, Jesus Christ awoke and left the tomb where He had lain; the bands of death He broke.”* Susie’s mother explained that breaking the bands of death means that Jesus was resurrected so that we can all live again after we die. That conversation has given my wife and me many opportunities to teach our daughters, Lizzie, Susie, and Emma, about what the Atonement really means for each of us. Susie was right: Jesus did break the bands of death. But it wasn’t a mistake. It was the greatest gift He could give us! (See Doctrine and Covenants 14:7.) The Savior died and was resurrected so that we can live again with our Heavenly Father and our families according to our righteousness. If we are worthy, we can enjoy the blessings of immortality and eternal life someday. I am grateful that Jesus broke something—the bands of death!
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(From an interview with Elder Patrick Kearon of the Seventy; by Hilary Watkins Lemon, “He Broke the Bands of Death,” Friend, May 2000)
Lead image from Shutterstock
