The introductory section to this lesson deals with Zion’s Camp, an event that is, I believe, more or less familiar to most Latter-day Saints. I will leave the introductory section off, then, and turn directly to the teachings sections. The last section of the teachings portion of the lesson, it should be noted, is also dedicated entirely to the theme of Zion’s camp. For whatever unjustifiable personal preferences, I’ll ignore that section as well in my comments and notes this time: I think the Zion’s Camp episode is straightforward enough on its own. On, then, to Joseph’s other teachings about what leadership is. Read the rest of this entry »

The event from Joseph’s life that draws out this lesson is the reception of the revealed commandment to build the Kirtland House of the Lord (the Kirtland Temple). I find this fascinating: unity, for Joseph or even in Mormonism generally, cannot be separated from temple-building. It is a point that is made in the introductory section on p. 273: “The Prophet declared: ‘Great preparations were making to commence a house of the Lord; and notwithstanding the Church was poor, yet our unity, harmony and charity abounded to strengthen us to do the commandments of God.’”

I want to tease out this relationship in some detail: What is behind this apparently essential tie between the unity of the saints and the building of temples? Read the rest of this entry »