Lesson 28 - "O God, Where Art Thou?"

The reading assignment for this week is 121:1-33, 122. Sections 121-123 are a part of a letter Joseph sent to Emma from Liberty Jail--a March 20, 1839 letter to “the church of Latter-day saints at Quincy Illinois and scattered abroad and to Bishop Partridge in particular.”

 Read (or listen or watch) Elder Holland on "Lessons from Liberty Jail" here. Though you might feel like you missed out on the photos, I've included a couple so you don't feel left out (even with scary mannequins--if you watch you can see his choices). Here's why you need to read this: Tonight’s message is that when you have to, you can have sacred, revelatory, profoundly instructive experience with the Lord in any situation you are in. Indeed, let me say that even a little stronger: You can have sacred, revelatory, profoundly instructive experience with the Lord in the most miserable experiences of your life—in the worst settings, while enduring the most painful injustices, when facing the most insurmountable odds and opposition you have ever faced.

Joseph's experience in the "prison-temple" (h/t B.H. Roberts) of Liberty was pivotal for Joseph. Some of the truths taught therein are likewise pivotal for us. As is his example. Our darkest moments can become priceless. Through Christ's atonement, those dark moments are consecrated and made holy. 

For essential historical context go to Justin Bray's new essay for Revelations in Context looking at the experience of those with Joseph here. Dean Jessee's classic "Walls, Grates, and Screeking Iron Doors" is here. Also Dean Jessee and Jack Welch's context for Joseph's letter from Liberty Jail here. 

 None of these articles really look at the experience of the wives as their husbands were in that nasty jail for six months (through a long winter). Newly married Mary Fielding Smith visited her husband, Hyrum, with their new son, Joseph (F. Smith - future Church President - born 13 days after Hyrum was taken). Mary, her sister Mercy, and the baby were shut in the jail with the men overnight. Mary did not like to talk about the experience, but described it to her brother as a "bitter cup" a few months later. She and Hyrum also had significant communication issues while he was in jail. (This shouldn't surprise us, should it?) Read her letter here. (Read the typescript, but look at the scan of the letter itself. She writes horizontally and vertically to use every last centimeter of space on that paper.) Her bio and another letter are here. While Joseph was in the jail, Emma left their home and walked four clinging children across the frozen Mississippi with Joseph’s papers and manuscripts tied around her waist.
 

If you didn't notice--we skipped over the whole of the Missouri period in one fell swoop--Jackson County expulsion 1833 to State of Missouri expulsion 1838. As if one might be able to talk about 5 years in two minutes flat. I've tried to compensate a bit in an additional post here.