PRIMARY 5 LESSON 45: LORENZO SNOW RECEIVES A REVELATION ON TITHING
CLASSROOM PREP
Post Malachi 3:10 on the board
On the left side of the board, draw a group of 10 things, like 10 circles or 10 boxes.
Next to that grouping, write: - Tithing = _______
Essentially it’s a math problem.
Have a photo displayed of Lorenzo Snow from your church library, church materials, or your laptop or phone. (most kids wouldn't know what he looked like)
OPENING ACTIVITY
Bring in a bag of Cheerios or something similarly small and inexpensive in great quantity.
Talk about what a tenth means.
Quiz them on various amounts and what the tithing would be on those amounts.
Hand out a scoop of the item and have them show you their answers.
Another idea is to have your financial clerk come in to talk about processing tithing!
LESSON
During the first 10 years in Utah, Brigham Young organized approximately 100 new colonies/settlements throughout Utah.
Thousands of Church members were arriving every year!
They all needed places to live.
President Young sent people north, south, east, and west of Salt Lake City to find places and to settle them - those places needed to have enough water, fertile soil, and also be safe from attacks by unfriendly Indians.
There were men chosen to lead those settlements.
They were bishops, stake presidents, etc. and they supervised towns being built, and new wards and branches too.
As Church members arrived in utah from the East, they were usually assigned to live in one of the new settlements.
They were assigned where to go based on their skills because each settlement needed farmers, carpenters, brickmasters, butchers, bakers, and schoolteachers.
Not everyone was happy about having to go wherever they were told to go, but they trusted the Prophet.
Once everyone in Nephi, Utah gathered to welcome President Young and other leaders into town.
They had bands playing music, banners, and all the young women were dressed in white.
One of them was named Elizabeth Claridge.
There was a meeting soon after where the Prophet read names of men who would need to move with their families further south and start a new settlement.
No one knew who the Prophet had chosen to move until he read their name.
Samuel Claridge was Elizabeth’s father and he was called by the Prophet.
Elizabeth cried - why do you think she cried?
She didn’t want to move from her home.
The girl sitting next to Elizabeth was also called but that girl wasn’t sad because she knew her father would refuse to go.
Elizabeth told her she knew her father would go because “he never fails to do anything when called upon; and badly as I feel about it I would be ashamed if he didn’t go.”
She knew they would be blessed for obeying.
In those days, did you know tithing wasn’t paid with money?
What was it paid with?
A farmer would give one egg for every 10 that his chickens laid.
People would bring food they had grown, animals they had raised, and things they had made.
These were stored in a “tithing house” or a “bishop’s storehouse” that each settlement had.
There was also tithing labor -- people would work on Church projects one day out of every ten days.
One third of the things in the storehouses were used for the Church members there in that community.
The rest was sent to Salt Lake City to be used for general needs to help everyone.
One day, Mary Fielding Smith (remember her and the stories of her oxen?) went to the tithing office in Salt Lake City to pay her tithing with a load of the best potatoes she had grown.
One of the clerks said it was a shame she should have to pay tithing.
She said to him, “William, you ought to be ashamed of yourself. Would you deny me a blessing? If I did not pay my tithing, I should expect the Lord to withhold his blessings from me. I pay my tithing not only because it’s a law of God, but because I expect a blessing by doing it. By keeping this and other laws, I expect to prosper, and to be able to provide for my family.”
Joseph F. Smith was Mary’s son and recorded that they always had enough to eat.
They gained strong testimonies through their hard work.
Things in Utah got better with the telegraph (they could communicate with people far away) and with the railroad connecting people so they could travel to places faster.
After Brigham Young died, John Taylor became prophet.
Then Wilford Woodruff, and then Lorenzo Snow.
At that time, the Church was in a lot of debt.
It was expensive to pay for everything and they were having a hard time, no money was left!
President Snow prayed to learn what to do.
His answer was to go to St. George, Utah. He didn’t know why but he followed the Holy Ghost.
There hadn’t been rain in southern Utah for many months.
President Snow noticed the dry earth and thirsty plants and animals there.
The people in St. George didn’t know how to grow crops to provide the food they needed to survive.
President Snow received a revelation while speaking - to pay their tithing in full.
The people in St. George were promised that rain would fall if they paid their tithing.
On his way back to Salt Lake City, he stopped at the settlements and told them about the law of tithing.
Then he called a meeting in Salt Lake City with the leaders about tithing.
He said everybody should pay a tithing.
Saints everywhere started paying tithing.
President Snow kept watch for the weather in southern Utah!
What do you think he was watching for? (rain)
One month went by, two months, no rain!
The people in St. George were paying a full tithe and giving more too as offerings to the Lord.
The prophet prayed that the Lord would bless the people in their drought.
He promised them rain if they paid their tithing!
Finally he got word that it rained in St. George!
The Saints were blessed and able to harvest their crops that fall.
That next year, members of the Church paid their tithing and within eight years all the debt was paid off.
The Church continues to have enough money to run the church.
TITHING MUSICAL GAME
Have tithing slips for each child or just bring in one, or print out the image of the slip online so you don't waste your ward/branch's slips.
Talk to them about how to fill it out and what the various categories mean.
Download (for free) the green tinted page from this site that shows where tithing goes and print out one to teach from:
http://www.ayearoffhe.net/2010/11/week-45-paying-tithing.html
Play the song I Want to Give the Lord My Tenth and pass around a piggy bank (or box you’ve labeled with a dollar sign) and slips of paper from the Enrichment Activity that describe how tithing money is used.
Sing as it goes around...
When you stop the music, have the child holding the box pull out one of the slips and talk about it!
Then continue on with the game.
TITHING MUSICAL GAME PART TWO
- Learn the song as best you can and then do activities with it:
- Sing and sway side to side, and on the 10th beat, jump!
- Sing and on every 10th word, don’t sing that word
- Every time you get to the 10th word, turn and face to the right, then continue until you’re facing forward again etc
Having the words on the board with the 10th word circled will help with this!
PICTURE FRAME ACTIVITY
Are the blessings we receive from paying tithing only to do with money?
If we pay tithing, do we become rich with money?
The blessings we receive are often not relating to money.
Let’s talk about what some of those blessings are!
To hearken back to the Malachi scripture, have a big picture frame with the glass or plastic in but the back off.
Treat this as a window.
Have the blessings (listed in the Enrichment activity section) written on slips.
Sit behind the “window” and have them sit across from you.
One by one tape the slips with the words facing them onto the window and talk about it.
* You could have a picture representing the blessing instead of the words so they can guess.
* Instead of a frame, you could create your own window or just print out or draw a window image on paper and tape the blessing phrases to the back.
TESTIMONY & TAKE HOME IDEA
When we follow the law of tithing, we will be blessed spiritually and temporally!
An inexpensive picture frame with the Malachi scripture would remind them of the object used in the lesson and the principles taught...perhaps with a dime taped to the frame (next to the scripture or on the front)
Some chocolate coins would also be fun.
No comments:
Post a Comment