The Book of Mehniohsahrihk

[SPOKEN — DO NOT SING] What do we do... when the world around us begins to fall apart? The Book of Mehniohsahrihk gives a surprisingly simple answer. Keep the records. Keep the peace. And keep the Way. Mehniohsahrihk lived around fourteen-fifty A.D. Before his father died... father and son walked the Way together. And the Peacemaker came to them. They were shown visions of things that would happen in generations to come. His father had built a library... preserving the records of the Nemenhah. Metal. Stone. Clay. Skin. Fiber. Whatever would preserve the words. Why? Because the Peacemaker taught that someday... future descendants would take these records up again. Things lost for a season... would be restored. But Mehniohsahrihk was also shown something troubling. Great cities would grow. They would consume more and more... while smaller communities carried the burden. The Earth would suffer. Resources would become strained. People would become divided. And eventually... some would turn toward force. But the people of the Way made a different choice. They would rather leave... than shed the blood of their own people. They chose peace. They chose smaller communities. They chose stewardship. They chose to live closer to the Earth. And something remarkable happened. When the great systems became unstable... the humble villages became places of refuge. People still knew how to work. How to grow. How to share. How to care for one another. How to live. Maybe that is one of the great lessons of this record. Zion isn't built by consuming everything we can get. Zion is built through stewardship. Every person contributes. Every family teaches the children. The records are preserved. The Earth is respected. And the Peacemaker remains at the center. But my favorite teaching comes near the end. After showing Mehniohsahrihk frightening things... the Peacemaker tells him what the people should do when the calamities have passed. Not boast. Not despair. Not live forever talking about the destruction. Instead... quietly pick up the fork and the hoe... and begin again. Plant again. Build again. Teach again. Love again. And do it with joy and thanksgiving. Mehniohsahrihk had seen enough to be frightened. But he finally understood something. If he trusted the Peacemaker... why should he fear? Maybe that's the message for us too. We don't have to know everything that's coming. We just need to know how we're going to walk when it comes. Keep the records. Teach the children. Care for the Earth. Refuse hatred. Serve your neighbor. Live in balance. Follow the Peacemaker. And when the storm finally passes... pick up the fork and the hoe... and begin again. [SING — VERY SHORT CLOSING REFRAIN] Keep the records... Keep the peace... Walk with the Peacemaker... And begin again. [END IMMEDIATELY]