In my family, we keep family scripture study pretty short. We’re busy, just like everyone else. But my favorite scripture study nights are ones where we read a scripture or two and take a couple minutes to discuss it – maybe over the dinner table. 

A few years ago, my daughter (who is now 9 years old) started complaining that during our scripture reading we almost exclusively learned from men’s voices. The scriptures are almost entirely written by men and the quotes from General Conference were pretty solidly men’s voices as well. I started seeking more women’s voices to add to our nightly devotionals. 

The current lesson plan is designed for families like mine who are busy but would like to spend a couple minutes discussing God’s word and would like to include women’s voices in those discussions. I divided the lesson plan into segments and each segment contains a scripture from this week’s Come Follow Me verses, a quote from a woman highlighting the concept taught, and a few discussion questions that you can go over. You can also adapt it to use in individual study (maybe grab a journal to write down your thoughts) or in a church class that’s discussion based.

Though the manualized lesson covers 1 Corinthians 8-13, I’m going to focus on chapters 12-13 because I think there’s so much we can learn from these chapters. 

I’m sure I’m not the only one who has felt like I don’t belong at church. 

I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels like everyone there thinks and acts the same and I’m on the periphery. 

I’m sure I’m not the only one who wonders whether the church has room for people like me. 

I’m sure I’m not the only one who has had people within the church imply that maybe the church doesn’t have room for people like me or people I love. 

This lesson is for people who have felt like me. 

And also to recognize that, unknowingly I may have been someone who made others feel like me.

If we’re Christ’s followers, we need to follow His example of pure charity. That’s what this lesson is about.

Segment 1 Charity: 

1 Corinthians 13: 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

Sometimes when I read these verses, I get nervous wondering how I can ever have all these qualities. I am comforted by a talk given at BYU by Carolyn Rasmus. She said:

“I don’t have time this morning to talk about all of the characteristics of charity mentioned in 1 Corinthians, but I want to examine the first one: Love is patient, or, in the King James Version, charity suffereth long. As I have thought about this, I have come to believe that our Heavenly Father is much more patient with us than we are with ourselves. We seem to have within us a drive for perfection, and sometimes we are not very patient with ourselves.”

Questions for discussion/journal/pondering:

1. When have I seen the idea of “patient love” exemplified (either by me or someone else)?
2. How does Christ show patient love?
3. How can I have patient love for myself?
4. How can I have patient love for others?

Segment 2 Charity continued:

1 Corinthians 13:5 [charity] 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.

In these verses we see a list of what love is. In a BYU address, Cheryl C. Lant (then the General Primary President) summed it up more succinctly:

“Real love motivates us to be the best we can be.”

She went on to say:

“It is the most powerful force on the earth and can bring great joy and happiness. Pure love is a gift from God and is at the very foundation of His gospel. While God’s love for us is perfect, our love for Him is constantly being redefined as we learn, grow, and experience.”

Questions for discussion/journal/pondering:

1. What does it mean for me (personally) to believe that God has perfect love for me?
2. What does it mean for me (personally) to believe that God has perfect love for those around me?
3. In what ways does love motivate me to be the best that I can be?
4. In what ways do I want my love to grow?

Segment 3 Everyone has gifts from God:

1 Corinthians 12:3 Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost. 4 Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5 And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. 6 And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all. 7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. 8 For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; 9 To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; 10 To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: 11 But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.

Recognizing that God gives all of us gifts is crucial to being able to love with pure charity. In a BYU address, Diane Strong Krause (an associate teaching professor of linguistics) taught that when we can recognize our own divine potential (which I think includes our spiritual gifts), we’ll be able to also recognize that of others’. She said:

“When we understand who we are, we not only recognize our own potential but recognize that others are also spiritual beings with their own potential. We understand that all persons are of infinite worth and that we are not superior or inferior to anyone, no matter their circumstances—whether they are wealthy or poor, famous or unknown, sophisticated or simple, learned or uneducated; whether they have physical or mental disabilities; or whether they are just plain difficult to get along with or not. We respect all regardless of race, color, creed, cultural differences, educational differences, and behavior. When we see through the eyes of our true self, we see others as who they actually are—spiritual sons and daughters of God. When we understand who others are, we act differently toward them. We become more compassionate and try not to cause harm to them.”

Questions for discussion/journal/pondering:

1. What gifts do I see in others?
2. How does recognizing these gifts help me to develop pure charity?
3. How does believing in my personal divine potential help me to see others’ divine potentials?

Segment 4 Everyone is needed within the church

The verses in 1 Corinthians 12 teach us that each one of us is necessary within the church. Or, as Janette C. Hales Beckham (then General Young Women President) said in a BYU address, “everyone is important—each one different, but we’re all part of the whole.”

In Corinthians this idea is conveyed as a simile: members of the church are like how our organs worth together:

1 Corinthians 12: 12 For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. 13 For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. 14 For the body is not one member, but many. 15 If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? 16 And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? 17 If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? … 20 But now are they many members, yet but one body.

21 And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you … 25 That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another. 26 And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it. 27 Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.

Questions for discussion/journal/pondering:

1. What do I bring to my church congregation that perhaps others do not?
2. What would I like to bring to my church congregation? (is there anything stopping me from doing so?)
3. How does recognizing others’ contributions help me to develop pure love?
4. In what ways am I falling short in recognizing others’ contributions?