Lesson 14 - The Law of Consecration

Since I'm quite confident that no one will be in Sunday School next week, I'm taking for granted that people have two weeks to prepare for the Law of Consecration. As such, I have expanded the scripture reading list a bit (and I think you should read full sections): Doctrine and Covenants 38, 42, 51, 72, 78, 82, 104:11-18.

I am just giving two additional reading assignments, but I would encourage you to read both. The first is Steve Harper writing about the Law of Consecration in its historical context here. The second is the first couple of chapters from Elder Bruce Hafen's biography of Elder Neal A. Maxwell here. (The link for the full biography is here.) What might Elder Maxwell's life teach us about consecration?

I would encourage you to think about three principal things as you read about the Law of Consecration: 1) what principles found the Law; 2) what do we know about how the law was practiced in the 1830s; and 3) what does this mean to each of us today (particularly if we've received endowments in the temple).

BYU Studies thought my "Give It All Up and Follow Your Lord" article was a good fit for this lesson here. Though I posted it with our discussion of missionary work, I think it works well here too. Particularly Phebe Crosby Peck's letter (the second one). What did "Give It All Up and Follow Your Lord" mean to her? What does it mean to you?

P.S. I know I published this more than a week ago and people started to read it, but suddenly today I noticed that it was back to a draft, no idea how this happened. My apologies.