8. Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy

A bishopric message written on Tuesday afternoon, July 29, 1986, and published in the August 1986 issue of the Bountiful Twentieth Ward Newsette. The new hymnbook had been published just the year before, replacing the hymnal that had been in use since 1948. The consolidated meeting schedule, which placed all Sunday meetings in a three-hour block, had been introduced six years earlier.

One of the new hymns in our hymnbook reminds us of one of the important reasons why we keep the Sabbath day holy:

In sweet remembrance of thy Son,
We gather in thy house as one
To join in prayer, to sing thy praise,
To worship thee and learn thy ways.
Father, on this the Sabbath day,
Be with us gathered here, we pray.

The Lord’s day, as the very name suggests, is “in sweet remembrance” of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a day set apart to help us remember Him more fully, to come to know Him, and to become more like Him. Our thoughts and our actions on this day should all be directed toward these ends: remembering Him, coming to know Him, and becoming more Christlike. Any thought or action that does not help us accomplish these ends is probably not appropriate for the Sabbath day.

Formal worship—which includes singing, praying, partaking of the sacrament, studying His word—is a central and important part of keeping the Sabbath day holy.

Our Sabbath observance cannot end, however, when we leave the chapel and return home from our meetings. As this same hymn continues:

And may our thoughts still turn to thee,
With loved ones, friends, and family.
In all we do till day is gone,
May worship still continue on.
Father, on this the Sabbath day,
Be with us in our homes, we pray.

An important reason for the change in the Church meeting schedules some years ago was to allow more time for families to be together in home-centered gospel living.

“We are confident,” said President Kimball at that time, “that . . . we will indeed see an upsurge in quality family life, in Christian service, and in attendance at Church meetings” (Ensign, May 1980, 4).

He also said, “We hope our parents are using the added time that has come from the consolidated schedule in order to be with, teach, love, and nurture their children” (Ensign, Nov. 1980, 5).

Finally, we hope that Sunday provides a rich opportunity for studying the scriptures in some depth (even more than the half an hour a day President Benson has asked us to read the Book of Mormon each day during the week).

Help each to seek a quiet hour
To read thy word and feel thy pow’r,
To hear thy voice, though small and still,
Renew our strength to do thy will.
Father, on this the Sabbath day,
Be with us in our hearts, we pray.

Clearly, there are few better ways to remember the Lord and come to know Him better than to invest ourselves in serious study of the scriptures, those sacred works which testify of Him and His grace toward us.

May the Lord bless each of us in our keeping His day holy so that we may “grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18) and thus have eternal life (see John 17:3).