# 12 “The Gathering of My People”

D&C 29:1-8, 33:3-7; 37; 38:26-41; 52:2-5, 42-43; 57:1-3; 110:11 Art. Faith 10; Our Heritage p. 16-23, 37-39
What comes to your minds when you hear “gathering of Israel or people?”
If you are thinking that it is all about missionary work in the field, then we need to read this scripture which, when I thought about it, made me redefine the meaning of gathering.
D&C 45:71 What I got out of this scripture is that gathering is when righteous people gather together, it didn’t say where in particular, just that they gather. These righteous people’s purpose in gathering is “to come to Zion”, which to me is coming together to find a feeling of peace and gratitude. The things they should do when they gather, to find the feeling of peace and Zion in their hearts is to “sing songs of everlasting joy & happiness”

To give us an idea what brought about these revelations to Joseph Smith, we need to not only recognize that the early saints had much opposition and persecution and had to move from place to place, but also recognize that there was also a spiritual reasons for them gathering from place to place as the Lord directs. I always wondered why the Lord didn’t just have them go straight to the Rocky Mountains; it would’ve saved a lot of problems and trial. As I continued to think about it and studied this lesson I recognize they were in a spiritual refining process as well.

As a basic history rundown the early saints gathered 1st in New York. 8 Months later they were told to gather to Ohio, because they were asked to leave right away, many people sold or rented their homes for pitiful amounts; some even had to just up and leave their farms without any compensation. A few months after moving to Ohio Joseph received the revelation that Missouri was to be Zion. So for 7 years their were 2 gathering places. After so much persecution they moved to Nauvoo, Ill. Where they stayed for another 7-8 years before they moved to the Rocky Mountains, which is where they stayed.

Just as the early saints had physical gatherings, so do we; all throughout those physical gatherings came also spiritual gatherings. We too have been asked to make our gatherings spiritual as well as physical, but sometimes we forget what guidelines the Lord gives us to make our gatherings functional, functional in the way that they bring us closer to Him. This is what we are going to discuss. The guidelines the early saints received in these sections that gave them a particular direction to steer their gatherings.

I want to start with a question- “Where are the grandparents or empty nesters here today?”
Pick someone and ask- “When your children and grandchildren come back to visit where do they congregate in your home?” Family Room, Front Room, Kitchen, etc.
Ask- When we gather together as family is it always the same for everyone? No!
“When your families come what do you do? Visit? Play games? Eat? Shop? Scrapbook? Watch T.V?”

What our gathering places should be like:
D&C 29:8 gather in 1 place (Zion) For us this doesn’t mean that _______ is right and we should all gather in the kitchen, but rather the spiritual meaning, that we should gather together with one heart, meaning same purpose.

52:42 assemble and rejoice. Now is it safe to say that when you gather with your families, that you have a good time and enjoy yourselves? I would think we don’t have a problem with this guideline.
57:1 appointed and consecrated, I looked up consecrated and it said that where we gather should be in a blessed land where we can partake of the fatness (or plenty and abundance) A blessed land could mean a dedicated spot.
*A little bit ago Keith was on FHE and decided that for his “lesson” he would dedicate our home. I believe it was a cop out for preparing a lesson, however as we all knelt to pray the spirit grew in me as the prayer he gave was powerful, detailed and meaningful.

Your blessed land doesn’t mean it has to be dedicated like we did, even though it is a great suggestion, it could just mean what? That perhaps every place we gather needs to be filled with Love.

57: 3 our places of gathering should be centered around the temple. A talk given in conf. a little bit ago suggested that we look at our homes with spiritual eyes. He asked do the pictures on your walls reflect temple centered or Christ centered homes. What music is playing? What movies or shows play there? After that talk did any of you change anything?
Let’s talk for a minute about some of the gathering places for our ward?
Just as we gather with families we need to gather together as neighbors and friends, as a ward family, so where do we gather that reflect the guidelines we just read? Church for Sunday meetings, ward activities, quorum activities, RS meetings/enrichment, temple-temple night, stake center for conference and trainings

This brings us to What we should do at our gatherings, what our gatherings should consist of:
38:24 practice virtue and holiness how do we do that? Virtue is clean, pure, goodness. Holiness is demonstrating a standard of righteousness, and being sanctified, which is to be reborn spiritually. Do we come from our gatherings feeling spiritually uplifted and refreshed, loved etc. So do our conversations center around these attributes?

38:25 esteemeth your brother- When we speak do we show kindness to each other, show interest in them? I was at a family gathering where I was witnessing 2 brothers speaking to each other. The conversation was going along just fine until a simple question was asked, which I soon noticed that the question asker wanted a simple answer, the answer started to be longer that the one word answer and the question asking brother apparently got bored of the answer so in the middle of the other brother speaking the first brother turned and started talking to someone else. The Brother answering the question immediately recognized that the brother wasn’t listening and stopped and looked around till he saw me watching the conversation and he smiled and continued to tell me the rest of his story.

Do we care what our siblings are up to or is it a show? Do we put all our attention on the person speaking? That isn’t to say we should all stop our conversations and listen to one person, but when you are engaged with someone, make it reciprocal. It is only through getting to know one another that we learn to understand them & love them.

38:27 BE ONE! In purpose in goals. Do you have family goals set. Challenges that may be issued that bring your family closer. Challenges like having your family all read the BOfM in a particular time. See who can get their 72 hour kits done first, etc.

38:35 Look to the poor and needy/ administer relief. One thing that Keith’s side of the family all agreed to one year was that instead of doing Christmas gifts for each other, we would take the money earned and do a service project with it every time. Each siblings family took turns each year to come up with the service and organize it and then we’d all get together on an appointed day and carry it out. We have had some different ideas come out and our kids even look forward to doing those projects and no one misses trying to figure out what to get each other.

38:40 labor with hands; this to me says service, work on each others homes, help each other with blessings, whatever you do work together for a common good.

38:41 preach with warning and meekness- What examples can you give for this one. What is something you’ve done in your family or seen done that reflects how warning in meekness can be done? Some I thought of are when mention of an earthquake or catastrophe comes up we end up taking about the 2nd coming and that leads to how we’ve each prepared ourselves for if that happens here, are we ready, and what we could do to get ready. Ask for testimony bearing on Christmas or Thanksgiving. One idea I heard in conf. a while ago was when the speaker said that one year for Christmas every one of His siblings wrote letters to one another stating how and why they liked that person. The speaker happened to mention that His letters were kept along side his patriarchal blessing and when he felt down or felt himself in a personal struggle, he would pick them up and start reading and felt himself being uplifted. That was a great story that stuck with me.

This brings us to the Spiritual Blessings that occur when we gather together physically in the manner we just discussed:

The early Saints experienced spiritual blessings just as we do when we gather physically.
Our Heritage p.17 Saints grow stronger and united!
P18 Get law and become endowed with power from on high (D&C 38: 38) endowment is a gift we get as we keep covenants (D&C 95:8 gifts from temple) they also escape the enemy and become righteous (D&C 38:31-32)

p. 19 miracles occurred as they had faith and gathered
p. 22 received law, revelations (65 revelations, p.23), also 1st temple was built
p. 39 Spirit of the Lord was poured out upon them, peace and unity with spirit, love and good will towards each other.
D&C 110:11 Keys of gathering- which are all the blessings that the priesthood power gives, sealed families for eternities (whether we are talking ward family or immediate etc.)

Whether the blessings are spiritual, or physical we need to concentrate on the kind of gathering we do. There are so many different ideas we can do to bring us closer together as a people. I am thankful for specific guidelines from the Lord that can strengthen us as families and in turn bring us closer to Him. I hope we can all look a little closer at our gatherings and make changes where we know we can. In the name of Jesus Christ amen.