A bishopric message that appeared in the November 1999 issue of the Bountiful Twentieth Ward Newsette.
In a message addressed earlier this year to members of the Church throughout the world, the First Presidency wrote, “We call upon parents to devote their best efforts to teaching and rearing of their children in gospel principles which will keep them close to the Church.” This same statement was repeated in a second letter just last month.
The commandment to teach and rear children is not new. Parents have always had that responsibility (see, for example, D&C 68:25–28; 93:40–49; and Mosiah 4:14–15). Our prophets seem to sense some urgency, however, in our getting about the task. “We counsel parents and children,” the First Presidency continued in both their February 1999 and October 1999 letters, “to give highest priority to family prayer, family home evening, gospel study and instruction, and wholesome family activities.”
In the February letter, they also added, “However worthy and appropriate other demands or activities may be, they must not be permitted to displace the divinely-appointed duties that only parents and families can adequately perform.”
We are to give highest priority to these things. There are some things that only parents and families can perform to survive what must surely lie ahead and to go where the Lord wants us to go as we enter the new century and the new millennium. Both parents and children need to be wise in not letting other activities and demands, however worthy and appropriate they may seem, divert them from focusing on these stated family duties (family prayer, family home evening, gospel study and instruction, and wholesome family activities).
“Husbands and wives—fathers and mothers—will be held accountable before God for the discharge of these obligations,” we read in the proclamation on the family. “We warn that individuals . . . who fail to fulfill family responsibilities will one day stand accountable before God.”
As we approach the holiday season, may each of us may find the joy, happiness, and fulfillment in our family associations that the Lord intends us to enjoy. May we take our leaders’ counsel seriously when they call upon us to give these things our highest priority. And may the Lord bless us as we do so.
Showing posts with label Home. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Home. Show all posts
Saturday, April 19, 2008
26. Let Us Live the Gospel in Our Homes
A pastoral message written on Monday, July 26, 1999, as the bishopric message for the August 1999 issue of the Bountiful Twentieth Ward Newsette. The same thought was also printed as “A Final Word” in the July 26, 1999, issue of the Family Journal.
In the last general conference President Gordon B. Hinckley urged, “Let us live the gospel in our homes. Let there be an honest manifestation of love between husbands and wives, between children and their parents. Control the voice of anger. Be absolutely loyal one to another” (Ensign, May 1999, 51).
Simply put, that is the message of the Lord to us in our day. It comes from our prophet. It is fully consistent with what apostles and prophets have been teaching us for many years.
In His preface to the Doctrine and Covenants, the Lord declared, “What I the Lord have spoken, I have spoken, and I excuse not myself; and though the heavens and the earth pass away, my word shall not pass away, but shall all be fulfilled, whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same” (D&C 1:38).
How are we doing at hearkening to the voice of the Lord through His servants? How are we doing at living the gospel in our homes, the place where surely it matters most? These are thought-provoking questions that deserve our honest attention. Every husband and father, every wife and mother, every son and daughter might ponder such additional questions as these:
• Am I doing my part to make my home a nice place to live?
• Am I carrying my fair share in the chores and responsibilities of the home?
• Am I spending the time I should with each family member?
• Do I take part in daily family prayer?
• Do I study the scriptures alone and with my family?
• Do I participate willingly in a weekly family home evening?
• Do I contribute to the success of that home evening?
• Do I control my anger?
• Do I show love and respect to the members of my family?
• Am I willing to forgive and forget the offenses, real or perceived, of other family members?
• Am I loyal to the members of my family?
“No other success,” taught an earlier prophet, “can compensate for failure in the home” (David O. McKay, in Improvement Era, June 1964, 445). That is not just nice sounding rhetoric or a trite cliché. It is literally true.
Another prophet said, “The greatest of the Lord’s work you brethren will ever do as fathers will be within the walls of your own home” (Harold B. Lee, in Ensign, July 1973, 98). The truth in that simple declaration surely applies to the sisters as well.
May the Lord preserve, protect, and bless our families—fathers, mothers, children, all of us—as we seek to follow the Lord by living the gospel in our homes.
In the last general conference President Gordon B. Hinckley urged, “Let us live the gospel in our homes. Let there be an honest manifestation of love between husbands and wives, between children and their parents. Control the voice of anger. Be absolutely loyal one to another” (Ensign, May 1999, 51).
Simply put, that is the message of the Lord to us in our day. It comes from our prophet. It is fully consistent with what apostles and prophets have been teaching us for many years.
In His preface to the Doctrine and Covenants, the Lord declared, “What I the Lord have spoken, I have spoken, and I excuse not myself; and though the heavens and the earth pass away, my word shall not pass away, but shall all be fulfilled, whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same” (D&C 1:38).
How are we doing at hearkening to the voice of the Lord through His servants? How are we doing at living the gospel in our homes, the place where surely it matters most? These are thought-provoking questions that deserve our honest attention. Every husband and father, every wife and mother, every son and daughter might ponder such additional questions as these:
• Am I doing my part to make my home a nice place to live?
• Am I carrying my fair share in the chores and responsibilities of the home?
• Am I spending the time I should with each family member?
• Do I take part in daily family prayer?
• Do I study the scriptures alone and with my family?
• Do I participate willingly in a weekly family home evening?
• Do I contribute to the success of that home evening?
• Do I control my anger?
• Do I show love and respect to the members of my family?
• Am I willing to forgive and forget the offenses, real or perceived, of other family members?
• Am I loyal to the members of my family?
“No other success,” taught an earlier prophet, “can compensate for failure in the home” (David O. McKay, in Improvement Era, June 1964, 445). That is not just nice sounding rhetoric or a trite cliché. It is literally true.
Another prophet said, “The greatest of the Lord’s work you brethren will ever do as fathers will be within the walls of your own home” (Harold B. Lee, in Ensign, July 1973, 98). The truth in that simple declaration surely applies to the sisters as well.
May the Lord preserve, protect, and bless our families—fathers, mothers, children, all of us—as we seek to follow the Lord by living the gospel in our homes.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
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).
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).
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