THE GOSPEL OF LOVE - Religious Essay by Me

The Gospel of Love

Last fall, as we traveled in Europe, we had an opportunity to attend church in the far flung reaches of the kingdom.  The spirit was sweet in a small branch in Southern Hungary.  A fresh faced young missionary from South Jordon, Utah sat with us and translated sacrament meeting.  According to this elder Hungarian is one of the most difficult languages, but he created a spirit and a message for us after only a little over a year in the country.  Most of the women were in slacks, perhaps the only wardrobe piece available.  No one seemed to mind. 

Later in Malaga Spain we attended an English speaking branch.  Southern Spain has had an influx of Immigrants from England who have come to Malaga to get warm and experience sunshine.  Malaga delivers both.  During Sunday school a middle aged male investigator asked the question, “Does this church emphasize love?  For me to be interested Love must be the driving force.”  Do we, I wondered?  Is it our main focus? Are we motivated in our service and devotion by love or do we press forward trying to be obedient without worrying about being loving.  “To obey is better than sacrifice,” (1 Samual 15:22) but is it better than to love. Or is it that to love is the best obedience as we try to be like Christ?

Christ taught, “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”  (John 13:35)

Does that mean we love everyone?  Love is not always easy.  How do I judge my day to day loving?  Is avoiding people I don’t feel loving toward OK.   Temple service, church assignments, visiting teaching, prayer—I try to do them out of love, but sometimes I know it is about obedience.  Will God judge me ill on these days of mere obedience?  I cannot answer all of these questions but I have given them a lot of thought.  I desire to be a valiant disciple of Christ and have sought some answers in the scriptures.

Matthew 5

43¶Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy.

44 But I say unto you, love your enemies bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

 45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

 46 For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?

 47 And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?

 48  Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

I have joy in the teachings of John Lund concerning verse 48 ”…be ye therefore perfect.” It is taken out of context most of the time.  It belongs to the message of the paragraph of which it is the ending.  Verse 43 has a paragraph sign so we know this is where Christ meant the thought to begin as he teaches us about love.  Then he ends it with “…be ye therefore perfect.”  Surely he meant perfect in loving—perfect in the concepts he just taught. Oh how difficult it is to be perfect in loving our enemies.   But if we believe the promise that he will help us it may be possible. 

Corinthians 13

1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.

 2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.

 3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.

 4 Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,

 5 Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;

 6 Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;

 7 Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

 8 Charity never failith: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.

 9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.

 10 But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.

 11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

 12 For now we see through a glass darkly but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

 13 And now abideth faith hope and charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

This list, of the characteristics of love, means a lot to me.  Each concept is clear and by them I can judge my loving behavior.  Many of them are difficult and not natural to most of us.  It is not easy to suffer and be kind and not envy and not be puffed up.  Sometimes it is hard to believe all things and bear all things.  Oh, and it is so difficult to not be easily provoked.  But verse 2 says, “and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.  What about all the fast offerings and tithing I paid and meetings I attended, don’t they mean anything? It is clear isn’t it?  We must learn to do all those difficult things on the list.  But how?  The Book of Mormon has such a beautiful answer to the how in Moroni 7:48.  I cherish this scripture above all others because it gives me hope to the possibilities that I can be better at loving and maybe in time approach perfection in one area.  This is a beautiful principle with a promise.

Moroni 7:48 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure. Amen.

“…be ye therefore perfect.”  “…we shall be like him.” 

 

For me these words helped me to see that I need to pray every day to be “filled with …love.”   I have tried hard to say every day in my prayers “help me to be filled with love.” This prayer has changed me.  I find it easier to not envy and not to be easily provoked. But when I fail I know I can begin again.  I am far from where I need or want to be in the charity list but I see improvement.  With Christ it is not so much as where we are but what direction we are going.  I believe that as I continue to pray for love with “energy of heart” that He will be with me.  This prayer will be answered.

Is seeing “through the glass darkly,” not understanding the precepts of the gospel of love?  I wonder.

SPINACH AND MUSHROOM QUESADILLAS

Spinach with Mushrooms is one of my favorite taste combinations, Spinach and Mushroom Crepes especially with cheese and a little thyme.  The Pioneer Woman  had this recipe Spinach and Mushroom Quesadillas.  I adapted it some.  Here is my recipe.  This is something I will make often, I know.  It is easy and so yummy! This will make 4 Quesadillas or enough for 4-6 people.

12 Oz. sliced mushrooms
8 C. packed spinach leaves (I used my 4 cup measuring cup and packed it twice.)
6-8 T. butter.
1-2 cloves garlic
8 oz. grated Monterey Jack cheese
8- 8 inch flour tortillas

Melt 3 T. butter in a large frying pan.  Add 1-2 cloves of grated garlic as per your taste and 1/2 tsp. dry thyme leaves.  If you have fresh use a generous 1 tsp.  Stir fry until the mushrooms are starting to brown.  Remove from the pan and add the spinach with 4 T. water and 1 T butter.  Stir until all wilted.  Cover and simmer on low for 2-3 minutes.   Cool slightly and chop a little.

Spread a little soft butter on the bottom of all the tortillas as you cook them.  Sprinkle a tortilla with cheese, scatter some mushrooms and then some spinach over and  more cheese and another tortilla.  Grill until brown on both sides and the cheese is melted. Cut with a pizza cutter into 4 sections and enjoy.  If you like to dip Marinara sauce is good.

Sometime I am going to try them with pepper jack cheese and omit the thyme leaves.  This variety would be good dipped in salsa.  Also a little chicken would be nice sprinkled in if you need meat.

WHAT MANNER OF MEN AND WOMEN OUGHT YE TO BE?

I have thought a lot about Brother Lynn G Robbins  talk from April Conference 2 weeks ago.  Brother Robbins geared it to teaching children but I thought the principles were far reaching in evaluating our discipleship. Here are some of the thoughtful passages. To me this talk was unique and clever.

To become as He is, we must also do the things He did: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, this is my gospel; and ye know the things that ye must do in my church; for the works which ye have seen me do that shall ye also do” (3 Nephi 27:21; emphasis added).

To be and to do are inseparable.  As interdependent doctrines they reinforce and promote each other.  Faith inspires one to pray, for example, and prayer in turn strengthens one's faith. 

The Savior often denounced those who did without being—calling them hypocrites: “This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me” (Mark 7:6). To do without to be is hypocrisy, or feigning to be what one is not—a pretender.

Conversely, to be without to do is void, as in “faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone” (James 2:17; emphasis added). Be without do really isn’t being—it is self-deception, believing oneself to be good merely because one’s intentions are good.

Do without be—hypocrisy—portrays a false image to others, while be without do portrays a false image to oneself.

Many of us create to do lists to remind us of things we want to accomplish. But people rarely have to be lists. Why? To do’s are activities or events that can be checked off the list when done. To be, however, is never done. You can’t earn checkmarks with to be’s. I can take my wife out for a lovely evening this Friday, which is a to do. But being a good husband is not an event; it needs to be part of my nature—my character, or who I am.

Or as a parent, when can I check a child off my list as done? We are never done being good parents. And to be good parents, one of the most important things we can teach our children is how to be more like the Savior.

Christlike to be’s cannot be seen, but they are the motivating force behind what we do, which can be seen. When parents help a child learn to walk, for example, we see parents doing things like steadying and praising their child. These do’s reveal the unseen love in their hearts and the unseen faith and hope in their child’s potential. Day after day their efforts continue—evidence of the unseen be’sof patience and diligence.

Because be begets do and is the motive behind do, teaching be will improve behavior more effectively than focusing on do will improve behavior.

What Manner of Men and Women Ought Ye to be - Lynn G Robbins 

ROASTED PARMESAN ASPARAGUS

Asparagus season always has me looking for new ways to eat it.  This is simple and very good.  Trim off the woody ends of a bunch or whatever you plan to eat.  Put 1-3 T. of olive oil in the bottom of a cookie sheet or small baking pan.  (depending on how much you are going to cook)  Grate fine 1-2 cloves of garlic into the pan.  Arrange the asparagus in a single layer in the pan and roll around in the oil until it is all covered nicely.  Sprinkle a little salt and pepper over the bunch.  Broil on high for 3 minutes and toss a little with a spatula to turn as best you can.  Broil for 3 more minutes.  Check for desired crispness.  Some stalks are larger and need more time.  Turn off the oven, remove to a plate and sprinkle generously with coarse grated Parmesan.  Put back into the warm oven until melted and serve as soon as possible. 

THE POWER OF WORDS

THE LURE AND LORE OF SELF ESTEEM

Wallace Goddard is a wise mentor and I love his gospel ideas.  He teaches that God's ideas of self esteem differ from mans but are infinitely more useful. Here is the full article:  The Lure and Lore of Self Esteem

God recommends self-forgetfulness and discipleship rather than self-celebration and self-improvement.

Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any [man] will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it (Matthew 16:24–25).

If we cultivate a Christ-like mind, we ultimately gain the “confidence [that waxes] strong in the presence of God” (D&C 121:45). That is very different from self-confidence. It is a serene peace that God is in charge and that He knows how to accomplish His perfect purposes.

Father’s plan for growth is different from the human plan for growth. Rather than enlarge our management, rally our genius, and exercise our strength ..... we focus our faith, submit our wills, and beseech heaven for divine power. That is the relentless message of the Book of Mormon.

STRAWBERRY, BANANA, ORANGE MUFFINS

I knew I would like these muffins.  Sometimes you just know when you read a recipe..  I fed them to my vegetarian young adult children one morning and they loved them. I made a few changes that I liked.  They would be lovely for Easter brunch.



STRAWBERRY, BANANA, ORANGE MUFFINS

     2 1/4 cup flour

     1 ½  tsp. baking powder

     ½ tsp. soda

     1/2 tsp. salt
      2 tsp. orange zest

     2 large ripe bananas, mashed

     2 eggs

     ½ C Brown sugar

     ½ C White Sugar

     4 T. melted butter

     4 T. vegetable oil

    ¼ c. fresh orange juice

   

     2 C. strawberries, cubed smallish  

     2  tsp. orange zest

     ¼ C sugar (coarse raw sugar is best

             but white granulated will work)

Combine the flour, baking powder, soda, salt, and 2 tsp. orange zest together in a small bowl.

Using an electric mixer, beat together the bananas, eggs, sugars, juice, oil and butter until well blended. Stir in the dry ingredients until just combined then carefully add 1 cup cubed strawberries and gently mix together. Scoop the batter evenly into the muffin tins, well sprayed with Pam.  (This will make about 16 regular muffins or 12 large)  Sprinkle the remaining strawberries evenly over the tops of each muffin. Push them down a bit.

Combine the sugar and remaining 2 tsps. orange zest together and sprinkle evenly on top of each muffin.   Bake 350 for 25-27 minutes or until solid in the center.  

 Ready to bake

BOOK REVIEW - SHANGHAI DIARY

 

I decided while reading this book that I like books about real life experiences, especially if I don’t know much about the time period.  I didn’t know that as many as 20,000 Jews escaped Hitler’s clutches by traveling to China during Hitler’s reign of terror.  If you had a boat ticket to China it was even possible to get out of a Nazi prison. 

Ursula Bacon is 10 years old when her family escaped to China in 1939. The story moves from their opulent home in Germany to the boat passage and on to the crowded ghettos of Shanghai.  There was no sitting and sulking in this family.  They immediately made friends, found jobs and worked hard to make life as good as possible in a forbidding exile.

 The details of their struggles and joys were intriguing.  Ursula’s parents were filled with patience and wisdom as they constantly encouraged Ursula to go on.  They proved that enduring is all about attitude. 

From her father:  "This is not a paradise, but we don't have to worry about the Gestapo and the SS. Compared to Hitler's death camps, his butchers, his ovens, his gas chambers - we had merely been inconvenienced!"

Ursula lost the carefree teen years in the stress of it all.  So many situations forced her to be and adult.   I was impressed with the social connections among the refugees.  They seemed to advise, support and expound wise encouragement to each other.  Even among the Chinese Ursula experienced friendships. 

From her mother:  “Memories are wonderful, and we all have them.  They are part of us.  But we need to treat them like a favorite picture book that we enjoy looking at, and when we close the book, the pictures stay on the pages.  If you let the past live your life, my child, then the present has no value, and the future is doomed to failure.  Look at what we once all had—those fine and generous gifts, be grateful for them, but recognize the new gifts coming your way.  Live in the present, take what life has to offer, adjust, and if nothing else, make a memory of everything.  In the depth of my heart I know that everything we are given now, we will be able to put to good use at another time.” (p. 77)
“Candles warmed the room—their flickering glow softening the ragged edges of our troubled times, and sent me straight into the pockets of my heart....”  (such a lovely thought)

“I came to realize that life was not about events, life was about people.  I have learned to treasure friendships and to recognize what it takes to be a good friend.”  (Friends got them through it all)

Advice from a Mrs. Goldberg:   “Go out and make a miracle today, God’s busy, He can’t do it all...she sent me on my way, giving me a purpose for the day and meaning to my young life for as long as I shall live.  She handed me wings to fly, opened my eyes to a world that needed miracles, and gave me the assurance I could do God’s work.” 

It was a time of spiritual awakening and questioning for Urusla.  Maybe we all do this in troubled times.

From Ursula :“I wanted the kind of assurance that there existed a plan, an orderliness of events, a reason, and a purpose.  I wanted to believe in a continuation of life as it changed form and substance.  I wanted to believe that I was part of it; I wanted to believe that I was not a mistake, I was not a joke.  I needed that deep, inner knowing that I too, had a purpose.  I wanted to trust that knowing.” (p. 228)

The family lived in China for 8 years, two of the years after the war had ended, as they worked on getting visas to come to the United States. 

For me the book was about the importance of a community in our life.   Wherever or whatever we are dealing with, our associations can help us get through.  

4 stars –an enjoyable read.

ASPARAGUS QUICHE

I love asparagus.  When spring comes I dream of picking fresh asparagus on the ditch banks in Green River, Utah.  We would pick bushels of it when I was a kid.  My mother made mashed potatoes with creamed asparagus on top.  The best comfort food ever. This Quiche is lovely! Pie crust should be made with butter not shortening.  This crust has a nice buttery flavor.  The addition of vegetable oil keeps it flaky.  You will want to use it for your fruit pies also. 

ASPARAGUS QUICHE

1 10 Inch pie crust unbaked
3 ½ C. Asparagus cut into 1 inch pieces, steamed for 2 minutes and drained
8 oz. Shredded Swiss cheese
8-10 slices crisp cooked bacon cut up (optional)
5 eggs
2 C. half and half
3/4 tsp. salt (only 1/2 tsp. if using bacon)
¼ tsp. pepper

Put the Swiss cheese in the bottom of the pie shell.  Sprinkle the bacon over the cheese and then the cooked asparagus.  Beat the eggs, cream, salt, pepper and a pinch of cayenne pepper (optional) Pour this over all and bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes.  Lower the oven to 350 and bake for another 30-35 minutes.  Cover with foil the last 10 minutes if the crust is getting too brown.  Let sit for 10 minutes before serving.  Makes 8 good size pieces. 

Pie Crust for a 10 inch pie

Mix together until crumbly:
6 T. butter
1 C flour
½ tsp. salt

Stir the following  together until you have a smooth paste: 3 T. water, ¼ C flour 1 T. vegetable oil and 1 tsp. vinegar.  Pour over the butter mixture and roll together into a ball and knead 30 seconds or so.  Roll out to a generous 1 inch bigger than the pie plate so that you can fold under 1 inch around the top to make a chunky edge.

WHY I BELIEVE

I am teaching a "Writing Family Stories" class right now.  We always do something called Anaphora which is repetition for emphasis and effect in a story or essay.  This is one I wrote and may be the most important thing I have ever written.  Here is another one.   What I have learned in 62 years

WHY I BELIEVE
By Charmaine Anderson August 2003

My patriarchal blessing confirms that I have a gift of faith.  I know this.  It made it easy to be a social Mormon most of my life.  I didn’t pray much.  I rarely studied the scriptures.  I thought I was doing fine because I attended church every Sunday and felt the spirit on occasion.  When my mother died in 1989 I knelt and promised God that if he would keep her from suffering any more that I would pray daily and diligently—that I would be a better disciple.  I realized the importance of such a promise and I have tried to fulfill it daily.  I began to study the scriptures.  I have attended the temple weekly.  I have been blessed and buoyed up for my efforts.  Now I have confidence in Why I Believe.

I BELIEVE because the scriptures have become a part of who I am.  I memorized the entire chapter of Isaiah 53 and say it most every day.  The 4 years I taught Gospel Doctrine in Sunday School I spent 1-3 hours each day studying.  I learned to love the Word.  Sometimes I feel like Jeremiah when he said:  “…his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.” (20:9)

I BELIEVE because I have felt the power of the Holy Ghost directing me and giving me “sudden strokes of ideas,” as Joseph Smith said it would.
 
I BELIEVE because I have been captivated and taught by the spirit of the Book of Mormon.  I believe as someone has said that a bad man couldn’t have written it and a good man wouldn’t have tried. 

I BELIEVE because the temple has become a wonderful weekly experience.  I have gone fasting and praying many times over the years and when I look back I see answers to those prayers.  There are 4 winged vases in the Celestial room of the Bountiful Temple.  They have become a symbol of the hope I have for my 4 children.  Each week when I enter the room I say this scripture from Psalms:  “Be merciful unto me O God.  Be merciful unto me.  For my soul trusteth in thee.  Yea in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge until these calamities be overpast.” (57:1)

I BELIEVE because I have learned the power to love comes from Christ and I want to have that power.  In Moroni 7:48 it says:  “…pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure.”  I try to include this heartfelt plea in my daily prayer.

I BELIEVE because I have learned that God has sent many good men to the earth to teach who don’t have the fullness of the gospel. I have enjoyed reading many Christian writings by C. S. Lewis.   He was an atheist for many years of his life.  He studied and read thousands of books in his conversion process. This is what he said about the day he realized he believed:

“ You must picture me alone in that room in Magdalen, night after night, feeling, whenever my mind lifted even for a second from my work, the steady, unrelenting approach of Him who I so earnestly desired not to meet.  That which I greatly feared had at last come upon me.  In the Trinity Term of 1929 I gave in, and admitted that God was God, and knelt and prayed: perhaps, that night, the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England.  I did not then see what is the most shining and obvious thing: the Divine humility, which will accept a convert even on such terms.  The Prodigal Son at least walked home on his own feet.  But who can duly adore that Love which will open the high gates to a prodigal who is brought in kicking, struggling, resentful, and darting his eyes in every direction for a chance to escape?  The words…compel them to come in, have been so abused by wicked men that we shudder at them; but properly understood, they plumb the depth of the Divine mercy.  The hardness of God is kinder than the softness of men, and His compulsion is our liberation.  (Surprised By Joy p.228)

Another favorite religion writer is Rabbi Harold Kushner.  What he said about church services I can testify is true:
“In congregational worship, regularly scheduled services on a Saturday or Sunday morning, I have come to believe that the congregating is more important than the words we speak.  Something miraculous happens when people come together seeking the presence of God.  The miracle is that we so often find it.  Somehow the whole becomes more than the sum of its parts.  A spirit is created in our midst which none of us brought there.  In fact, each of us came there looking for it because we did not have it when we were alone.  But in our coming together, we create the mood and the moment in which God is present.”  (Who Needs God, p. 149)

I BELIEVE because my heritage gave me a gift that was precious to them and I know I have an obligation to open it and see it’s beauty for myself.  The first member of my family to join the church was Jacob Hamblin.  He knew Joseph Smith.  His reaction to the Prophets death touched me:

“We was often presented with public papers with different accounts of the death of the Prophet.  We did not consider ourselves under any obligation to believe them.  I know I felt very melancholy and my spirits depressed.  July 14, I ascertained from a private letter the truth that the Prophet and Patriarch were martyred.  My feelings I will not attempt to describe.  For a moment all was lost.  I was on my way to Bragore and was under no obligation to in as much as they had killed the man God had sent to restore all things.  I could not refrain from weeping. I turned aside to give vent to my feelings.  As I was about to leave the road I met two or three persons.  One of them observed, ‘I wonder what will become of Elder Hamblin’s Mormon President?’  I could hardly restrain myself.  I felt that if I could be annihilated it would be a great blessing to me.  I thought it would crush me to death.  At length, believing it must be the power of the devil and knowing that there was something wrong, I prayed to my Heavenly Father for the Holy Spirit.  After a little all was right.”   (From his journal)

Knowledge, prayer and the workings of the Holy Ghost are the basis of my belief.  In Isaiah 53:11 it says of Christ:  “By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many.”  If knowledge is important to Christ it is so for us.  I began by acquiring the knowledge of Christ in the scriptures the rest came along naturally. This is

Why I Believe.