Last month the Neal A. Maxwell Institute started publishing a series of brief Theological Introductions to segments of the Book of Mormon, each written by a different author. To date, the introductions to 1st Nephi and 2nd Nephi are available. Unfortunately, publishing these in February and March almost guarantees that most folks won’t care until January 2024.

However for those of us who can never get enough about the Book of Mormon, these little volumes promise to open our eyes to treasures we’d never noticed before.

Professor Spencer’s theological introduction to 1st Nephi has much to offer any reader. Given the dependence of subsequent Book of Mormon writers on the theology and culture associated with Nephi, this volume is definitely worth picking up both in its own right and to inform our Book of Mormon studies for the rest of 2020.

One challenge, however, is that those of us who can never get enough about the Book of Mormon may already have more information than the average Book of Mormon reader these volumes appear to target. Even so, I think almost all readers will find numerous insights that expand their horizons.

My blog post on Come Follow Me: Enos through Words of Mormon

https://joelsmonastery.blogspot.com/2020/03/come-follow-me-enos-through-words-of.html

My blog post on CFM: Jacob 5-7

https://joelsmonastery.blogspot.com/2020/03/come-follow-me-jacob-5-7.html

Today we will partake of the emblems of the sacrament in our homes, whether administered by a family member ordained to appropriate priesthood office or someone ministering to our homes.

I thought of the second stanza of a poem my husband wrote for friends who married in the temple and were sealed into the New and Everlasting Covenant:

Grant us the firm, enduring faith
  to meet commitment’s need:
To face affliction side by side;
To seek the spirit’s constant guide
’Til heart and mind are purified,
Of every evil freed.

May your Sabbath be a blessing to you and your household.