Short Attention Span Sunday School: Primary 5 Lesson 21 Joseph Smith is Tarred and Feathered

PRIMARY 5 LESSON 21 JOSEPH SMITH IS TARRED AND FEATHERED

CLASSROOM PREP

Post these scriptures up on the board:

Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?

Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.  - Matthew 18:21-22

...the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”  - Galatians 5:22-23
and maybe post up a drawing or magazine cut-out of some fruit with it?

ARRIVING ACTIVITY

As they arrive and you’re prepping the classroom, hand them this quiz (just print out the questions - not the answers).

https://www.lds.org/friend/2010/02/cease-from-anger?lang=eng

When they’re done, tell them to put it under their chair for later.

OPENING ACTIVITY
Adapted from an idea on lds.org

Bring in a paper airplane, a small rock, and duct tape.

Gather everyone to one side of the room and show them you’re taping the rock to the plane.

Let everyone have a turn gently throwing the plane to the other side of the room.

Remove the rock from the plane.

Let everyone have a turn throwing the plane without the rock.

Then sit down and discuss:

How can just one small weight keep the plane from flying correctly?

Explain that taping a weight to the wing of a paper airplane is like holding a grudge.

When we refuse to forgive others, we carry around a weight that keeps us from traveling the straight and narrow path our Father in Heaven wants for us.

It is important to forgive others so that we can enjoy the companionship of the Holy Spirit and grow spiritually.

LESSON
So what do you think our lesson is on today?
Today we’re going to learn about a time when Joseph Smith forgave some men who were really really mean to him.

Do we always always choose the right? No, we don’t.

And the new Church members also had a hard time always choosing the right.

Even though they knew Joseph Smith, someone who had personally seen Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father. They still had a hard time choosing the right.

They had to work on their own testimony and faith.

Some of them were having such a hard time that they just stopped going to Church, went against the Prophet, and even persecuted other Church members!

There’s a few examples of why some of them left the Church.

- One man decided to leave because his horse died while he was travelling to Missouri with church members.

- Another man left the Church because he saw Joseph playing with children and he thought a prophet should be more serious and not play with kids.

- One man saw his name misspelled on a Church document, and he thought a Prophet would never ever make a mistake.

- Some people left because they thought the Church should give them more money or things.

- Some people left because they were hurt or offended by things Church members did.

What’s one thing all of these people had in common? They did NOT forgive!

One story is about a man named Ezra Booth. Illustrate as much as possible to keep their attention

Remember he came to Kirtland and brought the Johnson family with him? And Elsa Johnson's arm was healed by Joseph Smith?
He joined the Church in 1831.

He then was called to a mission to Missouri. He was mad because he had to walk to Missouri!

He didn’t like missionary life. He wanted to see miracles.

So because he got mad, he started to talk meanly about the Church leaders.

Because of all of this, he was excommunicated. (he was no longer a member of the Church)

What could he have done at this point? Repented

Guess what he did instead? He began writing letters to a newspaper, full of lies about Joseph Smith and the Church. So people in Ohio became suspicious of Church members and persecuted them!

One night, a group of men who believed Ezra’s letters got drunk and attacked Joseph’s home and Sidney Rigdon’s home. Joseph was up late taking care of a sick baby.

The mob dragged him outside and said they would kill him, they beat him up, and put sticky tar on his skin and opened a feather pillow and had the feathers stick to him.

One of his teeth chipped and caused him to speak with a whistle the rest of his life!

What a hard thing for him to have to go through. It was hard for his family too and they were all sad for him. Sidney Rigdon was beaten up too and it took them both time to recover.

But guess what Joseph did? That was Saturday night.

So the next day was Sunday and Church.

Joseph STILL went to church! He preached as he normally would!

And some of the mean mob guys were at church! He never said anything to them.

How do his actions show that he was a forgiving person? He didn’t seek revenge, he knew Satan influenced them so he worked to help keep the church members strong, he continued serving the Lord

Do you think you guys would have been able to do as Joseph did?

How do you feel when someone is mean to you?

How does feeling angry affect us?

Does it help you feel better if you are angry or act unkindly back? No, we feel worse

What happens if you respond back in kindness?

VITAMIN FIZZING OBJECT LESSON

Adapted from teachingstriplingwarriors.com

Think about all the times you have had your feelings hurt or were angry or holding a grudge.  

Take out a clear glass and a water bottle with some water.

Add a vitamin tablet - it will begin to fizz and dissolve. (test at home to be sure it will work for you! you could try other things that would dissolve, like various candies)

When we forgive, we are letting go of hurt feelings - soon the hurt and anger will all dissolve away.

To forgive someone means to feel love and kindness towards them, even if they’ve hurt us or made us mad.

This isn’t always easy but the Lord can help us if we pray for help. Sometimes it takes time to forgive.

RETURN OF THE QUIZ

Let's get that quiz back out! Let's see what the right answers are.

Go through the answers and talk about each situation one by one.

THUMBS UP/THUMBS DOWN ACTIVITY

From the manual

Thumbs up if a statement shows a forgiving attitude

Thumbs down if it reflects an unforgiving attitude

After reading each, discuss...

• She hasn’t been friendly to me so I’m not going to be friendly to her.
• Every time I see him, he pushes me around. He must have a problem or he wouldn’t treat others so unkindly.
• I hit him because he made fun of my little sister.
• My little brother scribbled on my schoolwork, so I had to do it over again. I wasn’t angry with him because he is too young to understand how important that paper was.
• I’ll forgive her, but I’ll never speak to her again.
• My best friend was rude to me today. Maybe she is worried about something.

VIDEO - THE SHINY BICYCLE
https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2013-08-011-the-shiny-bicycle?lang=eng

Before watching, hand out a half sheet of paper with these questions printed out (leave off the answers):

1. How did the boy feel after the painting job went wrong? Sad, scared, embarrassed
2. How did he feel when his parents weren’t mad? Relieved, happy, grateful
3. How did his dad show forgiveness? Not getting mad, helping him fix the bike
4. How did the boy feel when his bike was all fixed? Grateful, happy
5. What did you learn from this story? We can fix our mistakes
6. How did his dad act like Jesus would want him to act? Forgave, showed mercy, help, love

After the video, go through the questions

VIDEO - ABIDE WITH ME

https://www.mormonchannel.org/watch/series/mormon-messages/abide-with-me-1

Before watching, hand out a half sheet of paper with these questions printed out (leave off the answers):

1. How did the young man react when his boss got mad at him?
2. How did his boss feel when she saw him feeling sad?
3. Why do you think that made her feel bad?
4. What did she see him doing when he was sad about the fire?
5. What did she do in her car that showed she recognized the need for God in her life?
6. Why do you think he smiled at her even though she’d been so mean?
7. How do you think he’ll react when he sees the note she left?
8. Why does forgiveness help us feel better?

After the video, go through the questions

TAKE HOME

Something fruit-y (fruit snacks, fruit leather, dried fruit, fruit roll-up, etc.) with this attached:

When we love and forgive others, we can enjoy the fruits of the spirit:

“..the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”  Galatians 5:22–23

TESTIMONY

Share your testimony of the importance of forgiveness