For our fifth Sunday combined Priesthood/RS Meeting, we spent the first 10 minutes or so learning about the ward website and some of the features that make it helpful in planning family activities, etc. You can find the ward website here, click under the word "tools". If you don't already have an lds.org account, you can set one up very easily. You just need your membership number, which you can get from Brother Yancey if you don't know it.
After the website lesson, the bishop spoke about strengthening families and we watched this short video message.
Several people shared some experiences about those who influenced each of them as youth. Bishop Hansen told us that as a ward, we need to reinforce what is taught in the home and at home we need to reinforce what is learned at church.
"If you live the Gospel principles, it will set you free."
We never know how we might influence another. When the youth know that their leaders love them, it makes all the difference.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Fasting - RS Lesson, January 16, 2011
Isaiah 58 has such a beautiful discussion about fasting and fast offerings that I pretty much spent the whole time going through the first 12 verses of that chapter. Most of the thoughts came from a podcast that I downloaded from the BYU Speeches website where I found some of the smart BYU professors talking about this. So I'll just kind of go through what we talked about. In the first verse, the Lord tells Isaiah to tell the people what they are doing wrong.
In verse two, He says that the people pray and do the ordinances, but they are still lacking something. The attitude is just not right. They say we have fasted and we have afflicted our souls, God can't you see how we have done that? And He says to them that they are working on the Sabbath day and doing things for their own pleasure.
In the days of Israel, a Fast Day was always a Sabbath. I don't know if it was the end of the end (Saturday) which they were observing as the Sabbath or another day. In the early days of the Church, Fast Day was held on a Thursday and was re-instituted as a way of helping the poor and less fortunate. The fast offerings were generally paid by actually donating the food that the family would have eaten, rather than money. A meeting was held in conjunction with fast day and that got to be difficult because of people working. So in December of 1856, Fast Day was changed to be the first Sunday of each month, and that is still observed today.
But going on with Isaiah verse 4 he says that the people make a lot of strife about how they are fasting (they're talking a lot about how hungry they are) and that they can't do anything else because they are fasting. (Like the son can't help his mother because he's fasting.) And God says, is this the fast that I have chosen for you to make a big deal out of it and to bow down your head as a bullrush? Bullrushes are a hollow reed-like plant with a thin cell wall. It bruises easily and then just falls over.
In verse 6 the Lord says that the fast He has chosen is to loose the bands of wickedness (it gives you strength to do the right thing), to undo the heavy burden (either yours or someone else's because you pray for them or give them food, etc.) Verse 7 goes on in the same vein, that you help the poor and unfortunate, cover the naked and don't hide yourself from your relatives. Isaiah explains this whole thing as a "cause and effect" situation. First he tells them that they aren't fasting correctly. Then he tells them how they are doing it wrong. Next he explains how they should do it right. And then in verses 8 - 12 he tells them what the rewards are of proper fasting and offering.
"Thy light shall break for as the morning and thy health spring forth speedily." "Thy righteousness shall go before thee" (like a shield which protects you in the front) and "the glory of the Lord shall be thy rereward" (rearward). So the Lord essentially says "I've got your back" and will protect you from the unseen things which will come up behind you. Then comes this wonderful promise in verse 9. "Then shalt thou call, and the Lord will answer; thou shalt cry and he shall say, Here I am." If you don't put other people down (with a yoke) or shake your finger at them scornfully or speak vanity, this blessing is promised as part of the fast.
Pres. Kimball and all the prophets have told us to give a generous fast offering. Not just the cost of the 2 meals, but more, much more.I can personally testify that the Lord blesses us when we give a generous offering. Isaiah says if we draw out our souls to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted soul, then "shall our light rise in obscurity, and our darkness be as the noonday." That means even the dark moments of our live won't be very dark because of Him. In verse 11, He will guide us continually, satisfy our souls in drought and make fat our bones. In the scriptural sense, to be "fat" is a good thing. "Thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not."
In verse 12 it appears that this proper fasting will also bless our posterity and be a foundation to them. Maybe it will repair relationships - "thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in."
All wonderful promises. Fasting should always have a purpose and be accompanied by mighty prayer. Don't ever just go hungry again.
Thursday, January 13, 2011
The Sabbath Day - RS Lesson, January 9, 2011
What is the Sabbath Day?
In Hebrew, Sabbath means “to cease” or “to rest.” In Genesis, the Sabbath day commemorated God’s “day” of rest after the Creation. That was the point at which he blessed the seventh day and sanctified it. In studying the Old Testament I think that we tend to misunderstand the Israelites in their ineptitude and lack of ability to follow commandments. But Elder Faust reminds us that these people had been slaves for generations. They had been denied individual freedom of choice for so long, that like the “slothful and unwise servant”, they DID need to be instructed in all things. So when it came to the Sabbath, they were told how far they could walk, what kind of knots they could tie, etc.
In our time, Heavenly Father has recognized our intelligence by not requiring endless restrictions. Perhaps this was done with a hope that we would catch more of the spirit of Sabbath worship rather than the letter of it. In our day, however, this pendulum of Sabbath day desecration has swung very far indeed. We stand in jeopardy of losing great blessings promised. After all, it is a test by which the Lord seeks to “prove you in all things” (D&C 98:14) to see if your devotion is complete.
When Christ came, he reaffirmed the importance of Sabbath day worship, but gave a new spirit into this part of it. He said, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. The Son of man is Lord, even of the Sabbath Day,” and he affirmed that “it is lawful to do well on the Sabbath.” Sabbath day observance in our day is now more of a manifestation of our individual devotion and commitment rather than a requirement of civil law.
Until his resurrection, Jesus Christ and his disciples honored the 7th day as the Sabbath, as the Jews still do today (Shabbat). However, after his resurrection, Sunday was held sacred as the Lord’s Day.
As with most commandments, the Lord gives us a promise if we obey the commandment to keep the Sabbath day holy. He says “that inasmuch as ye do this, the fullness of the earth is yours, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air, and that which climbeth upon the trees and walketh upon the earth, yea, and the herb, and the good things which come of the earth, whether for food or for raiment, or for houses, or for barns, or for orchards, or for gardens, yea all things which come of the earth.”
What SHOULD we do on the Sabbath?
“The Sabbath is a holy day in which to do worthy and holy things. Abstinence from work and recreation is important, but insufficient. The Sabbath calls for constructive thoughts and acts, and if one merely lounges about doing nothing on the Sabbath, he is breaking it. To observe it, one will be on his knees in prayer, preparing lessons, studying the gospel, meditating, visiting the ill and distressed, sleeping, reading wholesome material, and attending all the meetings of that day to which he is expected. To fail to do these proper things is a transgression on the omission side.” (Spencer W. Kimball, The Miracle of Forgiveness, Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1969, pp. 96–97.)
In choosing Sabbath day activities, we should ask ourselves 3 questions:
Will it uplift and inspire me?
Does it show respect for the Lord?
Does it direct my thoughts to him?
President James E. Faust gives us three reasons why the Lord has asked us to honor the Sabbath day.
First has to do with the physical need for rest and renewing. Obviously God, who created us, would know more than we do of the limits of our physical and nervous energy and strength.
Second has to do with the regeneration and strengthening of our spiritual being. God knows that, left completely to our own devices without regular reminders of our spiritual needs, many would degenerate into the preoccupation of satisfying earthly desires and appetites. This need for physical, mental and spiritual regeneration is met in large measure by faithful observance of the Sabbath Day.
Third is the most important of the three. It has to do with obedience to commandments as an expression of our love for God. Blessed are those who need no reasons other than their love for the Savior to keep his commandments. The prophet Samuel reminds us, “To obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.”
He goes on to remind us that the most important promise God gives us for obedience to this commandment is protection. “And that thou mayest more fully keep thyself unspotted from the world.” If sincere Sabbath observance will help keep us unspotted from the world, don’t we want that? Don’t we want that for our children as they go out the door every day? The injunction to keep the Sabbath Day holy is a continuing covenant between God and his elect people.
Exodus 31:14, 16-17
“Verily my Sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations…for a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever.”
Ultimately, what is worthy or unworthy on the Sabbath day will have to be judged by each of us trying to be honest with the Lord. I know that in my own life, when I observe the Sabbath, the spirit is in my home, my week is better, my soul is better, my work is better – my life is better. I’m grateful for every covenant the Lord has made with us, including the sacredness of this one. I hope we can all either continue doing well, or try to improve on what we know is right.
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