Honoring Our Spiritual Heritage

This afternoon I have been thinking about the topic of my talk in Church next week, which is "Honoring our Spiritual Heritage."  For some reason I am struggling to put my thoughts together about this topic, and so I was hoping to use my blog today to outline some of the things I have been thinking about and then perhaps get some feedback from whoever reads and feels so inclined to comment on whatever aspect of the topic they so wish.  I hope this won't be too scattered.

For the past few weeks (by nature I'm a very slow and methodical reader, which doesn't work so well in grad school), I have been studying Jacob 5 and the allegory of the Olive Tree.  During this latest reading of the allegory, I realized that the roots of the Olive tree had far greater impact than I had ever realized.  It seemed that every time the tree got into trouble, it was because the top part of the tree had overpowered its roots and had quit accepting the full nourishment and strength that the roots offered it.  It seems to me that there is a lesson here for us, and that is that there is life and strength from maintaining a firm connection to our roots, or our heritage, while there is danger in disconnecting ourselves from our roots and heritage.

The importance of our roots and spiritual legacy was made evident almost from the very beginning of this dispensation.  We don't know exactly what the Lord taught Joseph during the First Vision, but the importance of roots and familial connections was made clear during Moroni's visit, when he rendered the words of Malachi, "Behold I will reveal unto you the priesthood, by the hand of Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.  And he shall plant in the hearts of the children the promises made to the father, and the hearts of the children shall turn to their fathers; if it were not so, the whole earth would be utterly wasted at his coming" (D&C 2:1-3).  While Joseph likely did not fully comprehend the significance of these verses at the time, the Lord was beginning to teach him that heritage and genealogical connections are of tremendous significance in the Church.  

Further, these verses made clear that we have an obligation to seek out two aspects of that heritage.  First, as members of the Church of Jesus Christ, we have connections to a whole host of spiritual predecessors and ancestors.  Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob received promises that bless "all the families of the earth" (Abraham 2:11) by the virtue of the priesthood.  Even those who are not lineal descendants of Abraham become heirs to these promises, "fellowcitizens with the saints" and members of "the household of God" (Ephesians 2:19) by virtue of their conversion and obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.  They become heirs of the legacy left by faithful disciples, prophets, and apostles in all generations; and the faith-filled stories of ages past become a part of their inheritance, to bless, uplift, and encourage these new followers of Christ.  But second, the revelation refers to "their fathers," meaning that we have a duty not only to turn our hearts to the stories of faithful disciples and pioneers, but also to seek out and save our own ancestry, even--and perhaps especially--those whose stories may not illuminate our souls with the same brilliance as our adopted legacy of believers.  We have a duty to know, find the good in, and seal ourselves unto our own literal ancestors, regardless of whatever faults they may or may not have had.  In so doing, we not only become "saviors on Mount Zion" (Obadiah 1:21) by providing them with the necessary ordinances, but also by learning to forgive them their faults and by finding the divine within them.  Indeed, I believe that we honor our spiritual heritage best when we emulate its Author and Finisher in this way.

Thus we have an obligation to study both the History of the Church, through the scriptures and the other recorded stories of true believers, and the history of our own family, be they members of the Church or not.  As we search out and study our spiritual heritage, we will find stories of devotion, faith, and sacrifice.  I have found such stories throughout my family history.  The following are just a few such stories:

My great great grandmother, Maren Sophie Andersen, and her sister Else Mariah Andersen gave up everything except for a trunk of clothes and a few other possessions when they joined the Church in Denmark.  Given the choice between their family and their God, they left Denmark to come to a desert in the West.

My Grandpa Dowdle overcame a less than ideal childhood and family situation to become a devoted and faithful member of the Church.  With the encouragement of his seminary teacher, Brother William T. Tew, he found joy in the gospel and strength to claim the promises of happiness in a family that was founded upon the teachings of the Savior.

My 9th great grandfather, John Lathrop (Lothrop), spent three years in prison in England for preaching about the importance of religious freedom.  During that time, his wife died, leaving their six surviving children to beg for food in the streets of London.  After his release from prison, he was exiled along with his children to New England, where he became a minister in the Plymouth colony and continued to preach about the importance of religious freedom.

In 1954, my Papa and Nana Haycock were asked to preside over the Hawaii Mission of the Church.  With next to nothing to their names, they struggled to sell their home in Washington D.C., and eventually resigned themselves to the fact that they would need to continue paying for a home that they would never return to and hope that at some point in the future it could be sold.  With the car packed and the family ready to depart for their mission, the phone rang, with a bank seeking to purchase their Arlington, Virginia home.  Their last stop on the way out of town, was at the bank where my grandparents signed the paperwork to complete the sale of the home.

And so the stories could continue.  I don't know exactly how to define my spiritual heritage, nor the best way to give this particular talk, but from each of these great men and women, there has come to me a profound legacy of faith and devotion to the cause of the Master.  For this heritage and legacy, I am indeed grateful.

Brett

PS:  If you have any ideas, they would be much appreciated!