Alma 1:26 “The preacher
was no better than the hearer, neither was the teacher any better than the
learner; and thus they were all equal”.
Welcome to this informal "study group" where you can review notes from our class, find additional references to study and share positive experiences you are having as we learn more about the doctrine and covenant of the Sabbath Day.
Someone once said "If you can't show it, don't say it". Sister Eubanks said in the last General Conference, we need to be better at articulating the reasons for our faith. We'll work on this together, striving to support our feelings and beliefs with scriptures and prophetic quotes.
? What is the "end" for which the changes in our Relief Society curriculum is designed?
January Ensign, "To Sit In Council"
“Where we were, we’ve done much good,” said Elder Christoffel Golden of the Seventy, who helped direct this change. “But the Lord wants us to move forward. Progress will come as a result of this shift to studying the words of living prophets and sitting in council.”
Recently, the Relief Society General Presidency and members of the Seventy met in council to discuss how counseling invites revelation, increases unity, and brings power. They offer the following principles, knowing that you will build on these ideas as you discover solutions that are right for you, your ward or branch, and your quorum or Relief Society.
While councils may brainstorm solutions, the purpose of the council is to discover God’s will, not just to list best practices or to say, “This is how it was done in my last ward.” As Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles taught, we don’t need meetings; we need revelatory experiences.3 Counseling together reveals powerful solutions leading to action.
Despite different perspectives, council members unite in seeking to “receive guidance from the Holy Ghost.”5 Joseph Smith once said during a council that “to receive revelation and the blessings of heaven it was necessary to have our minds on God and exercise faith and become of one heart and of one mind.”6
A council is incomplete without plans to act on revelation received. Council participants should be invited to make specific commitments that they will act upon. “At the end of your council, you need to have assignments,” said Sister Jean B. Bingham, Relief Society General President. “The most important work happens between meetings.”
With this new year and new curriculum comes an era of new commitment. We are blessed with the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. It is our responsibility and privilege to seek for His guidance and do His work. This step forward in our Sunday Melchizedek Priesthood and Relief Society meetings isn’t about just having a lesson about the work; rather we “sit in council” and promote righteous action—action that will “push many people to Zion with songs of everlasting joy” (D&C 66:11)."
D&C 66:11
"11 aKeep these sayings, for they are true and bfaithful; and thou shalt cmagnify thine office, and push many people to dZion with esongs of everlasting joy upon their heads."
SUMMARY OF ABOVE QUOTES:
What's changed?
Why has it changed?
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
January 1978 Entire Ensign Issue devoted to the Sabbath Day
Apr 2015 Gen Conf Leadership Training - Sabbath Day Observance
Oct 2015 Gen Conf Leadership Training - Sabbath Day Observance
Apr 2017 Gen Conf Leadership Training - Sabbath Day Observance
"Making the Sabbath a Delight" by Brent and Wendy Top
Welcome to this informal "study group" where you can review notes from our class, find additional references to study and share positive experiences you are having as we learn more about the doctrine and covenant of the Sabbath Day.
Someone once said "If you can't show it, don't say it". Sister Eubanks said in the last General Conference, we need to be better at articulating the reasons for our faith. We'll work on this together, striving to support our feelings and beliefs with scriptures and prophetic quotes.
BEGIN WITH THE END IN MIND
Part 1 - The New Curriculum and Teaching Focus
? What is the "end" for which the changes in our Relief Society curriculum is designed?
January Ensign, "To Sit In Council"
“Where we were, we’ve done much good,” said Elder Christoffel Golden of the Seventy, who helped direct this change. “But the Lord wants us to move forward. Progress will come as a result of this shift to studying the words of living prophets and sitting in council.”
Recently, the Relief Society General Presidency and members of the Seventy met in council to discuss how counseling invites revelation, increases unity, and brings power. They offer the following principles, knowing that you will build on these ideas as you discover solutions that are right for you, your ward or branch, and your quorum or Relief Society.
While councils may brainstorm solutions, the purpose of the council is to discover God’s will, not just to list best practices or to say, “This is how it was done in my last ward.” As Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles taught, we don’t need meetings; we need revelatory experiences.3 Counseling together reveals powerful solutions leading to action.
Despite different perspectives, council members unite in seeking to “receive guidance from the Holy Ghost.”5 Joseph Smith once said during a council that “to receive revelation and the blessings of heaven it was necessary to have our minds on God and exercise faith and become of one heart and of one mind.”6
A council is incomplete without plans to act on revelation received. Council participants should be invited to make specific commitments that they will act upon. “At the end of your council, you need to have assignments,” said Sister Jean B. Bingham, Relief Society General President. “The most important work happens between meetings.”
With this new year and new curriculum comes an era of new commitment. We are blessed with the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. It is our responsibility and privilege to seek for His guidance and do His work. This step forward in our Sunday Melchizedek Priesthood and Relief Society meetings isn’t about just having a lesson about the work; rather we “sit in council” and promote righteous action—action that will “push many people to Zion with songs of everlasting joy” (D&C 66:11)."
D&C 66:11
"11 aKeep these sayings, for they are true and bfaithful; and thou shalt cmagnify thine office, and push many people to dZion with esongs of everlasting joy upon their heads."
SUMMARY OF ABOVE QUOTES:
What's changed?
- study the words of the living prophets
- sit in council
- era of new commitment
Why has it changed?
- The Lord wants us to move forward; progress; step forward
What is the desired outcome?
- revelation; revelatory experiences
- increased unity
- power
- discover powerful solutions leading to righteous action
- discover God's will through the Holy Ghost
- action that will "push many people to Zion with songs of everlasting joy"
What do we need to do?
- have our minds on God
- exercise faith
- become of one heart and of one mind
- make specific commitments that we will act on between meetings
DISCUSSION QUESTION:
What is the difference between "deciding" and "discovering"?
What is revelation?
What is truth?
How can we know truth?
What is truth?
How can we know truth?
Why do we need revelation as we seek God's will?
What are we to be united in?
Why does the Lord want us to move forward now?
What is meant by "an era of new commitment"?
What is meant by "an era of new commitment"?
We just finished studying many of the teachings of all of the past prophets (except President Monson). Why are we now going to focus on the teachings of the current prophets/apostles/leaders?
How can sitting in councils help us become "doers of the word, and not just hearers only"?
Part 2 - 4th Sunday Focus - The Sabbath Day
? What instruction have we been given regarding the purpose of the renewed focus and emphasis on Sabbath day worship?
“Of all the
organizational or policy changes or doctrinal training that could hasten the work of salvation at this
time, we (the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles) have
determined that elevating the spirit and
power of the Sabbath day would be most influential in drawing members and families closer to the Lord Jesus Christ.” (Ballard,GC Leadership training, April 2015)
“In a natural revelatory
process the Lord made known His wish that His ancient commandment regarding the Sabbath, or as the scriptures describe
it, “His perpetual covenant with His
people,” be brought to the fore.
We realize that a deeper
understanding of the meaning and purposes of the Sabbath day would bring to
the Latter-day Saints a more profound
faith in God and in His Son Jesus Christ and the Atonement of Christ. This would build strength in the members of the church far greater than could
be achieved by any programmatic means.
We saw that observing the Sabbath could lead to full conversion and spiritual resilience in the Saints. In particular we came to recognize more fully the importance
of the ordinance of the sacrament.” (Christofferson, GC Leadership Training,Oct. 2015)
?What is the desired outcome?
- hasten the work of salvation
- elevate the spirit and power of the Sabbath
- draw members and families closer to the Lord Jesus Christ
- deeper understanding of the meaning and purpose of the Sabbath
- more profound faith in God
- more profound faith in Jesus Christ
- more profound faith in the Atonement of Jesus Christ
- build strength
- full conversion
- spiritual resilience
- recognize more fully the importance of the sacrament
? What additional training have we been given since 2015?
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Why does the Lord want us to hasten the work of salvation?
What is the work of salvation?
What does it mean to elevate the spirit and power of the Sabbath?
Why do the members need added strength, full conversion and spiritual resilience?
How does one strengthen faith? (compare to strengthening a muscle; building a building; making a recipe?)
How important is it to be "intentional" in our efforts?
"If you want to build a ship, don't drum up people to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea." - Atoine de Saint-Exupery
How can educating our desires about the Sabbath day and elevating our feelings and understanding help solve the dilemmas about "what to do" on the Sabbath day?
"Alleluia" performed by the Tabernacle Choir and the Orchestra at Temple Square is one of my "go to" songs to help "elevate" by desires towards the things of God. See if it does the same for you:)
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
January 1978 Entire Ensign Issue devoted to the Sabbath Day
Apr 2015 Gen Conf Leadership Training - Sabbath Day Observance
Oct 2015 Gen Conf Leadership Training - Sabbath Day Observance
Apr 2017 Gen Conf Leadership Training - Sabbath Day Observance
"Making the Sabbath a Delight" by Brent and Wendy Top
Personal Experience:
The Bible Dictionary defines faith as "a principle of action and of power". In a recent meeting I attended with Elder Jorge T. Becerra of the Seventy, he said that Elder Bednar taught that the order the words appear in that statement is important. And that many people pray for the power to act, but they need to act first, in order to get the power.
Over and over in my life, I experience that the principle works exactly like that. Sometimes I have a big task I know needs to be done but I lack the desire to do it. Or I may have a big project that feels overwhelming. Or I may have a goal that seems beyond my ability. What I have learned, is that if I can get myself to just act, even if it is with the intention to only do a small portion of the task, I find that I am given the desire and power to do more. Then if I act again, I am given the desire and power to do more. This repeats until I find the task is done, sometimes right then, and sometimes over weeks.
Here's a few examples:
I look out the window and the driveway needs shoveled. I don't really want to do it so I have no desire to fire up the snow blower. But I look at it and say, "Maybe if I just shovel the sidewalk and a path up the driveway so someone could get to my front door. I can do that much and it won't take very long." So I throw on my coat and boots and gloves and grab the shovel and begin.
As soon as that is done I look at what is left and say, "since that car is parked in the driveway, I only have a small square to finish shoveling this lower portion of the driveway. I'll just do that much more." And a few minutes later that is done. Then I look again at the whole driveway and I say, "Well, that looks silly to only have the bottom done, I guess I'll just hurry and finish this top part. It's not that much more." And off I go. Finally, I look one last time and say, "the sidewalk at the top of my yard is all that's left, and I really should do that for those that are out taking a walk, and it won't take me that much longer. I guess I'll just hurry and do that too." I am always amazed to see this work over and over. If I can just get my natural man to accept a small portion of the work and begin, I am given the power to keep making small decisions to act that lead me gently to completing the whole.
Another time, I helped my friend move her storage unit from one location to another. It was a big 10 x 30 unit filled with food storage and bins and misc items. Just opening the storage door and looking at is was intimidating. She rented a truck and gave herself two days to do it.
We looked at it and said, "Let's just get the food moved and we can do the rest later." The food was all on the right side of the storage unit. There were three of us and we just started hauling. I kept looking at the row of food, tracking our progress, "okay...1/4 done...now 1/2...almost there..."
After unloading it, we were amazed at how early in the day it still was and said, "well, we have the truck for the whole day...we might as well go back. Let's just get the bins on the left side and leave the rest for another time." And off we went. In no time we had that done and it was still early afternoon. You can guess what came next. "Well," we said, "if we just go finish we won't have to rent the truck for another day. The last 1/3 of the storage unit is a mess, but let's just throw it in the truck and throw it in a garage and we can deal with it another day." So off we went. We started at about 9 am and were finished about 5 pm. It didn't end up feeling overwhelming at all, because we mentally just got our bodies to accept just a small piece at a time.
There's one important thing to keep in mind here. It's important to have the whole thing in mind when you accept a small piece of it. Never do we settle for doing less than the whole eventually just because the whole thing seems like too much at first. The commitment to make a smaller action is just a way to get us going toward completion of the whole.
Last example. As a piano teacher, I sometimes find an unmotivated teenager who has a hard time practicing...at all! I will ask them to accept the small commitment to just sit at the piano each day. They don't have to practice...just sit at the piano. It would be ridiculous to think that they could stop with that small action and ever be able to play the piano. They must accept the small act as just one of many future actions that will eventually lead them to playing the piano well.
It is the same way with our gospel progression. Our ultimate goal is to become like our Savior and return to live with our Father in Heaven. Starting with a small action like reading one verse of scripture a day is a beginning step, not an end. Reading one verse of scripture a day with an attitude of "this is all I am required to do because the end goal is just too big for me" will never lead us to the Savior. We start with one verse a day if we are currently doing nothing. But we progress from action to action until we find ourselves, as Pres. Hinckley expressed, "having a love affair with the word of God."
I believe that in this "new era of commitment", we are being invited to act consistently, even if it starts small, so that we can have more power to live the gospel and experience the joy of truly living it with faith; the kind of faith that "moves its possessor to some kind of physical and mental action; it carries an assurance of the fulfillment of the things hoped for." (Bible Dictionary:Faith) If we accept this invitation to act, I believe we will eventually find ourselves in Zion, even if we had to have a little "push" each week to get there.
Over and over in my life, I experience that the principle works exactly like that. Sometimes I have a big task I know needs to be done but I lack the desire to do it. Or I may have a big project that feels overwhelming. Or I may have a goal that seems beyond my ability. What I have learned, is that if I can get myself to just act, even if it is with the intention to only do a small portion of the task, I find that I am given the desire and power to do more. Then if I act again, I am given the desire and power to do more. This repeats until I find the task is done, sometimes right then, and sometimes over weeks.
Here's a few examples:
I look out the window and the driveway needs shoveled. I don't really want to do it so I have no desire to fire up the snow blower. But I look at it and say, "Maybe if I just shovel the sidewalk and a path up the driveway so someone could get to my front door. I can do that much and it won't take very long." So I throw on my coat and boots and gloves and grab the shovel and begin.
As soon as that is done I look at what is left and say, "since that car is parked in the driveway, I only have a small square to finish shoveling this lower portion of the driveway. I'll just do that much more." And a few minutes later that is done. Then I look again at the whole driveway and I say, "Well, that looks silly to only have the bottom done, I guess I'll just hurry and finish this top part. It's not that much more." And off I go. Finally, I look one last time and say, "the sidewalk at the top of my yard is all that's left, and I really should do that for those that are out taking a walk, and it won't take me that much longer. I guess I'll just hurry and do that too." I am always amazed to see this work over and over. If I can just get my natural man to accept a small portion of the work and begin, I am given the power to keep making small decisions to act that lead me gently to completing the whole.
Another time, I helped my friend move her storage unit from one location to another. It was a big 10 x 30 unit filled with food storage and bins and misc items. Just opening the storage door and looking at is was intimidating. She rented a truck and gave herself two days to do it.
We looked at it and said, "Let's just get the food moved and we can do the rest later." The food was all on the right side of the storage unit. There were three of us and we just started hauling. I kept looking at the row of food, tracking our progress, "okay...1/4 done...now 1/2...almost there..."
After unloading it, we were amazed at how early in the day it still was and said, "well, we have the truck for the whole day...we might as well go back. Let's just get the bins on the left side and leave the rest for another time." And off we went. In no time we had that done and it was still early afternoon. You can guess what came next. "Well," we said, "if we just go finish we won't have to rent the truck for another day. The last 1/3 of the storage unit is a mess, but let's just throw it in the truck and throw it in a garage and we can deal with it another day." So off we went. We started at about 9 am and were finished about 5 pm. It didn't end up feeling overwhelming at all, because we mentally just got our bodies to accept just a small piece at a time.
There's one important thing to keep in mind here. It's important to have the whole thing in mind when you accept a small piece of it. Never do we settle for doing less than the whole eventually just because the whole thing seems like too much at first. The commitment to make a smaller action is just a way to get us going toward completion of the whole.
Last example. As a piano teacher, I sometimes find an unmotivated teenager who has a hard time practicing...at all! I will ask them to accept the small commitment to just sit at the piano each day. They don't have to practice...just sit at the piano. It would be ridiculous to think that they could stop with that small action and ever be able to play the piano. They must accept the small act as just one of many future actions that will eventually lead them to playing the piano well.
It is the same way with our gospel progression. Our ultimate goal is to become like our Savior and return to live with our Father in Heaven. Starting with a small action like reading one verse of scripture a day is a beginning step, not an end. Reading one verse of scripture a day with an attitude of "this is all I am required to do because the end goal is just too big for me" will never lead us to the Savior. We start with one verse a day if we are currently doing nothing. But we progress from action to action until we find ourselves, as Pres. Hinckley expressed, "having a love affair with the word of God."
I believe that in this "new era of commitment", we are being invited to act consistently, even if it starts small, so that we can have more power to live the gospel and experience the joy of truly living it with faith; the kind of faith that "moves its possessor to some kind of physical and mental action; it carries an assurance of the fulfillment of the things hoped for." (Bible Dictionary:Faith) If we accept this invitation to act, I believe we will eventually find ourselves in Zion, even if we had to have a little "push" each week to get there.
STUDY MATERIAL FOR NEXT MONTH:
Comments
Post a Comment