PRIMARY 5 LESSON 26 THE KIRTLAND TEMPLE IS DEDICATED
CLASSROOM PREP
- Have a photo of the Kirtland Temple on display either printed out, laptop, etc.
- Post up the words to the song “The Hearts of the Children,” Children’s Songbook 92
- Bring in a photo/print/model of your local temple to have on display
OPENING ACTIVITY
Have an older Primary child or a youth come in, dressed as Elijah to role-play. Or use a child in your class, dressed up in a white robe/sheet and possibly a white beard.
He will say:
“Behold, the time has fully come, which was spoken of by the mouth of Malachi—testifying that I Elijah should be sent, before the great and dreadful day of the Lord come—to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the children to the fathers, lest the whole earth be smitten with a curse—therefore, the keys of this dispensation are committed into your hands; and by this ye may know that the great and dreadful day of the Lord is near, even at the doors.”
Who is this ancient prophet? Elijah
We are going to learn who Elijah was, who he appeared to, where he appeared, when he appeared, and why he appeared
LESSON
Play the Children’s Songbook song “The Hearts of the Children”
Sing along using the words on the board
I think this is one of the most beautiful songs in the Children’s Songbook.
What do you think it’s about?
Take out the Old Testament.
You know we have the Bible with the Old Testament and the New Testament, right?
Remember what the Old Testament talks about?
It talks about the creation of the world, Adam and Eve, Noah, David, and a lot of great prophets and everyone is ready for and waiting for Jesus to be born.
Guess what the very very very last scriptures are in the Old Testament?
They’re about Elijah!
The prophet who just visited us!
The prophet who just visited us!
Post Malachi 4:5-6 up on the board
Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.
So let’s talk about what those scriptures mean!
Hand them each a small print out of the scripture, and a colored pen.
On the print out, underline or highlight the phrases as you talk about them
- Great and dreadful day - Second Coming of Jesus Christ
- Hearts - desires
- Fathers - Abraham, Isaac, Jacob or our ancestors
- Children - people who live on earth in this generation
- Turn - bind or seal
So the scripture is saying Elijah will be sent before the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. And essentially we will desire to be sealed to our ancestors!
It was expected that one day the prophet Elijah would return to the earth to restore keys.
What is a key? Show my keys
Priesthood keys are not like these.
They aren’t made of metal and can’t be held in your hand or pocket.
A priesthood key is power and authority given to the prophet and other leaders
It's used to direct God's work on earth.
Show picture of President Monson
The President of the Church holds all the keys of the priesthood.
Other priesthood leaders hold some of them.
For a priesthood holder to perform an ordinance, like baptize a child, he must be authorized by the person who holds those keys.
Show a picture of a child from class at their baptism with their father
So a father to baptize his child must receive permission from the bishop
Remember the Apostasy and how the priesthood wasn’t on the earth?
So the priesthood needed to be restored.
Who restored the Aaronic Priesthood? John the Baptist (show picture)
Who restored the Melchizedek Priesthood? Peter, James, and John (show picture)
Where did these things happen? In the woods, and by a river
One reason the Kirtland Temple was built was to provide a place where the Lord and his servants could restore other keys of the priesthood
It was a place that was sacred for heavenly beings to visit and restore priesthood keys
It was also a meetinghouse where early church members could gather
LESSON SECTION TALKING ABOUT THE TEMPLE DEDICATION
Have as many illustrations as possible to hold their attention
Something special happened in March 1836.
The Kirtland Temple had been finished!
It had been 3 years of hard work!
Now it was time for it to be dedicated.
What does dedicated mean?
When you read the first page of a book and it says “dedicated to my parents” what does that mean?
When you read the first page of a book and it says “dedicated to my parents” what does that mean?
Given for a purpose, set apart for an intended purpose
Dedicating a temple means the church leaders are offering a special prayer asking the Lord to accept the temple and bless it and everyone who enters it to also be blessed
Guess how many people came to the dedication? Hundreds!
Some had to travel from far away.
More people came than there were seats inside!
Guess how long the dedication service lasted? 7 hours!
They sang hymns, bore testimonies, passed the sacrament, and there was a 2.5 hour talk by Sidney Rigdon! And Joseph Smith and others were sustained.
The Prophet read a prayer (D&C 109) that he received in a revelation.
In the prayer, the Prophet thanked Heavenly Father for blessing them and he prayed the temple would be a place of prayer, fasting, faith, learning, glory, and order and that people attending would grow in faith and wisdom.
He asked the Lord to accept the temple and make it a holy place.
Then the choir sang The Spirit of God which was written by WW Phelps for the dedication!
Play that song on your phone/laptop/etc.
Today, temple dedications are similar.
The prophet or someone he chooses gives a prayer
They sing The Spirit of God
They give the Hosanna Shout
PAUSE LESSON FOR GILA ARIZONA TEMPLE DEDICATION VIDEO
We’re going to watch a video about a temple dedication that happened recently in Arizona!
https://www.lds.org/youth/video/gila-valley-temple-celebration?lang=eng
CONTINUE LESSON
Use illustrations
Everyone felt a holy joyful feeling at this dedication in Kirtland!
Many saw or heard angels singing
Many saw visions
Some people saw the Apostle Peter as a heavenly messenger!
That evening a priesthood meeting was held.
Over 400 men attended.
In the prayer earlier, the Prophet asked that the temple “be filled as with a rushing mighty wind” to show that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ were pleased with the temple.
This happened at the meeting!
Have this printed out and have a kid in class read it out loud:
“A noise was heard like the sound of a rushing mighty wind, which filled the Temple, and all the congregation simultaneously arose, being moved upon by an invisible power; many began to speak in tongues and prophesy; others saw glorious visions; and I beheld the Temple was filled with angels, which fact I declared to the congregation. The people of the neighborhood came running together (hearing an unusual sound within, and seeing a bright light like a pillar of fire resting upon the Temple), and were astonished at what was taking place. This continued until the meeting closed at eleven P.M.”
A week later, Joseph and Oliver went into the temple and lowered the curtains around the Melchizedek Priesthood area so they could pray privately.
As they prayed, they had a wonderful vision.
They saw the Savior, Moses, Elias, and Elijah!
Moses and Elias came to give keys and other things for latter-day ordinances and preparation for the coming of the Lord!
Elijah came to give Joseph and Oliver priesthood keys authorizing them to do missionary and temple work. Our Elijah visitor earlier said to us what he said when he visited Joseph and Oliver.
The keys Elijah gave are keys of sealing power.
They allow us to perform temple work for living and dead, to seal together husbands and wives and families.
Before Elijah came, Joseph Smith had the priesthood but he did not yet hold the keys given to him by Elijah.
He could not perform a temple marriage sealing or seal children to parents in the temple.
Why Elijah?
He was the last Old Testament prophet to hold the keys of the sealing power of the Melchizedek Priesthood.
Because of Elijah’s coming to the Kirtland temple, Joseph could now perform those ordinances!
FAMILY TRAITS ACTIVITY/DISCUSSION
Let’s talk about what Elijah said.
That we would desire to be sealed to our ancestors. We need to know them, to know their stories, to feel a desire to have them as part of our family...even if we never met them.
I never met my mom's parents. They both had died before I was born.
I never met my dad's mom. She lived in Australia.
I only met my dad's dad once when he came to the United States to visit. I was 3. I don't really remember him.
But I wrote letters to his mom and dad until they died when I was in high school.
I enjoyed getting to know them through those letters.
We can get to know the family members in our lives.
At the end of our lesson, I will be giving you a card and stamp to write to a family member of yours who lives far away!
Let's think more about how we are connected to our families.
Pass out a piece of paper to each child that says:
I love __________________________________
I got this from my __________________________
Examples to help you:
I love my green eyes that I got from my mom
I love my sense of humor that I got from my dad
I love that I like to read, just like my grandma
Instruct them to take a few minutes and fill it out
Talk about what everyone has filled out
Talk about how we come from those before us.
We have traits and characteristics from our parents or grandparents, and they also have things that they got from their parents and grandparents, and so on all the way back many many years.
When we think about our ancestors (parents, grandparents, great grandparents), and how much we appreciate them, love them, want them to know about the gospel, want to live with them again after this life….that’s turning our hearts towards them. That’s the hearts of the children turning to their fathers. But more specifically, it’s wanting to be sealed together for eternity.
What do you know about your grandparents?
How do you feel when you hear stories about your grandparents, your aunts and uncles, your parents’ childhood?
Do you feel closer to them? A warm peaceful happy feeling because you feel connected to them?
VIDEO - MISSIONARY WORK
When people start learning about their ancestors, they start to feel really good inside.
Why do you think that is?
Here’s one lady’s experience with how family history work brought her closer to Heavenly Father and wanting to join the Church.
Why do you think she felt the Spirit so strongly while doing family history work?
VIDEO - FAMILY HISTORY: WHAT I FOUND
This is a great story of a man and the connection he felt to his grandfather.
Think about your ancestors as you watch this...
TESTIMONY
I have a testimony of family history work, of the blessing of temples here on the earth.
I know that we are supposed to get to know our ancestors and to do their temple work for them.
TAKE HOME IDEAS
Make a paper chain family to remind them of family history work
Something with a heart-shape to snack on or take home.
A card and stamp(s) for them to write to a family member far away.
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