December 3, 2013 Romans 1-5 Acts 21 By Nancy Baird

Audio December 3, 2013 Romans 1-5 Acts 21

Romans 1-5
Acts 21

Musical Number: “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel”  by Annie Baird, Oboe; Accompanied on piano by Leah Anderson; vocal by Nancy Baird

Quotes

“Be ambitious to be great, not in the estimation of the worldly minded, but in the eyes of God, and to be great in this sense, “Love the Lord our God with all your might, mind and strength, and your neighbor as yourself.”
Eliza R. Snow, Teachings of Presidents of the Church Lorenzo Snow, 260.

“What if all the ancient, recurring myths of the human race, all the yearnings of prophets and sages for the touch of God, for a visit from God, were not just lies of poets, but the hints and rumors of another world? …Our deepest, unsatisfied desires for joy, meaning and homecoming are not cruel jokes of nature. They are meant for fulfillment.
And… “When we discover our true citizenship, it comes with a “happiness…so great that it even weakens me like a wound.”
C. S. Lewis, quoted by Michael Gerson, Deseret News, November 22, 2013

Faith is “the principle of action in all intelligent beings.”
Joseph Smith, Lectures on Faith, 1:9.

“Faith is good people trying to do good things.”
Karl Quilter, to John Baird

“We live our lives in the eye of God, and not at the periphery but at the center of his vision.”
Nancy Baird, private files

“So are we, soul and body, clad in the goodness of God and enclosed.”
Julian of Norwich, Christian woman mystic, 1300’s,

November 19, 2013 2 Corinthians By Nancy Baird

 Audio Nov 19, 2013 Lesson 11

 2 Corinthians

Paul at His Writing Desk - Rembrandt
Paul at His Writing Desk by Rembrandt

Quotes

“There are three ways in which a man expresses his deep sorrow:  the man on the lowest level cries; the man on the second level is silent; the man on the highest level knows how to turn his sorrow into song.”
Hasidic saying ascribed to Rabbi Solomon of Radomsk, in Syah Sarfe Kodesh, IV, 92.

A nine-year-old boy, Darrell, was terribly burned in a fire that had taken four of his family members.  The author heard this from a hospital volunteer in Kenosha, Wisconsin, named Erva.

“The magnitude of his suffering kept most visitors away from Darrell’s room.  Even Erva had to escape when the nurses came to turn him.  From far down the corridor, she could hear his screams as his seared flesh was touched.  One day another patient called out to her:  “How can God do this to an innocent child?”

“Don’t say anything against God!”  Erva heard Darrell’s voice ring out.  “When it hurts, God cries with me.”
Elizabeth Sherrill, Guidepost, June 2000, 35.

 “You will have all kinds of trials to pass through…God will feel after you and wrench your very heart strings, and if you cannot stand it you will not be fit for an inheritance in the Celestial Kingdom.”
Joseph Smith, as quoted by John Taylor, Journal of Discourses, 24:197.

The Rock A Weight

“I do not believe that sheer suffering teaches.  If suffering alone taught, all the world would be wise, since everyone suffers.  To suffering must be added mourning, understanding, patience, love, openness, and the willingness to remain vulnerable.”  Hour Of Gold, Hour Of Lead: Diaries And Letters Of Anne Morrow Lindbergh, 1929-32

Ye Olde Bag O Manure

Though Christ a thousand times
In Bethlehem be born
If he is not born in thee
Thy soul is still forlorn.
Johanne Scheffler, 17th century mystic