I was recently asked to speak in our Church's Sabbath Worship, called Sacrament Meeting. This is the talk I gave.
Sunday July 24, 2016
There I was, 8 years old, getting ready for my
baptism, watching them fill up the baptismal font and watching the steam rise
as it filled. Thinking of the warmth I would soon feel as I entered the waters
of baptism.
Soon I was shaking a bit. Nerves? Yes, I was
nervous, but also because that steam wasn’t because the water was warm… it was
because the room was warm and the water was … FREEZING!
No, the warmth I felt at my baptism may not have
come from the water, but it did come from the joy I felt at partaking of this
most precious ordinance of the gospel.
Once baptized, we take on Christ’s name and with
it the responsibility to act in his name, on his behalf. That seems like such a
daunting task at times. But he has provided us ways to know how to do this.
One of the most beautifully written is The Living
Christ. Written in April 2000 by the First Presidency and Quorum of the 12
Apostles, it is a declaration of the life and ministry of our living Christ.
Let me share with you the first paragraphs.
The Living Christ:
"As we commemorate the birth of Jesus Christ two
millennia ago, we offer our testimony of the reality of His matchless life and
the infinite virtue of His great atoning sacrifice. None other has had so
profound an influence upon all who have lived and will yet live upon the earth.
He was the Great Jehovah of the Old Testament,
the Messiah of the New. Under the direction of His Father, He was the creator
of the earth. “All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing
made that was made” (John 1:3). Though sinless, He was baptized to fulfill all
righteousness. He “went about doing good” (Acts 10:38), yet was despised for
it. His gospel was a message of peace and goodwill. He entreated all to follow
His example. He walked the roads of Palestine,
healing the sick, causing the blind to see, and raising the dead. He taught the
truths of eternity, the reality of our premortal existence, the purpose of our
life on earth, and the potential for the sons and daughters of God in the life
to come."
Click here to read the entire document
1.)"He went about doing good
Not only did Christ go about
doing good works, he did good works that were hard and were NOT popular, or
were tiring, or probably inconvenient! The story in St. John chapter 8 comes to mind of the woman
that was brought before him who was caught in sin and the punishment was to be
to stone her.
In his very loving way, he asked for those
without sin to cast the first stone. But what I love besides that, is the very next verse. It isn’t talked about
much, but it’s the verse I need to hear the most!
What did
Christ do?
Vs: 8 And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground.
Now the
reason this means so much to me, is that I know myself, that when I am in the
mode of protective “mama bear” and stepping
in to stop someone from being stoned, I can tell you I am not usually just
going to quietly sit down. No, an eye to eye stare down with my arms
crossed and a “don’t mess with me” look
on my face is more my style.
Christ just
left them to quietly contemplate what he
said, not judgement and accusations. he acted with peace and goodwill towards them, even the accusers.
For me,
it’s this tiny little action, of how he treated the accusers, the stone
throwers, that is such a bigger, deeper
faith building lesson on the true divinity of Christ. It truly shows his true
nature, and mission. He truly treated ALL men with peace and goodwill.
Many of us are willing to
step in front of stones, but how do we treat the stone throwers?
I need to work on this one.
As I've gotten more experienced with my
responsibilities of acting on Christs behalf, I've learned to better recognize
the promptings or whisperings of the Holy Ghost nudging me to do things that
are out of my planned things for the day.
A wise Christian
will learn to heed those promptings right away without questioning them or
delay. I usually tell my children when they were growing up. "If you get
the idea to do something for someone, if it is a kind and good thing... then just
do it. Don't stop to question whether it is a prompting or not. Just go and
don't delay doing it." You'll be amazed at the blessings that will come to
you and to others when you just make this a practice in your life.
My husband is such a great example of this. Our next door neighbor, Bob, has passed away
now, but we were very close and miss him dearly. One day while we were driving
home from running errands we were literally just a mile or so from home when
Jay felt the need to call Bob and just check on him. Although to me, I thought
it could wait till we got home.. in like 1 minute, Jay proceeded to call him.
It turned out Bob was in the parking lot of the grocery store and was having such a low blood
sugar he was nearly in a coma. We were just pulling off of the highway right where the grocery store is when we called, and Jay had some glucose with him and we were able to
get him treated literally within a minute or so. Our beloved Bob had a few more
years to bless our lives, and I am forever grateful for the lesson I learned
from my husband that day to not delay a simple prompting as to pick up the
phone and check on someone. "Even though I am almost home.... I will go
and do the thing the Lord commands".
2) His message was of Peace and Goodwill:
In a BYU Devotional: Julie Franklin spoke of
this:
When Christ was in situations where He was challenged,
confronted, or pestered, we read of a man who stood firm and unshaken. When He
rebuked individuals who needed correction, His words were measured and
delivered with the precise level of emotion to bring about the desired result.
During the events leading to the Crucifixion, Jesus Christ did not shrink. I
love the account where Christ was taken into custody and Peter, the loyal
Apostle, drew his sword and cut off the ear of one of the high priest’s
servants. Jesus did not use the opportunity to run, nor to feel smug that
someone else might suffer a fraction of what He had and would endure. He also
did not criticize Peter. With a few of what I would characterize gentle words
to Peter, He simply touched the servant’s ear and healed him.11We have no
evidence Jesus was ever out of control; instead, in all things He displayed
peace.
As for
finding evidence of a person who possessed good will, there has never been
another person whose entire life reflected benevolence more completely than
Jesus Christ. At the lowest level of good will, I believe we simply think
kindly or hope the best for others. At the highest level of good will, I
believe we have charity. At some point in the middle I think we are service
oriented. It appears Jesus never acted without considering the impact of His
behavior on others. He comforted, gave hope, taught, healed the sick, and
raised the dead. We know the Savior possessed charity; He provided us with the
Atonement. In fact, He possessed charity so perfectly that when Mormon defined
the wordcharity as “the
pure love of Christ,”
- Simply
put, we just need more kindness in the world today.
- We
need to treat others that are different than us without fear or judgment
but with a kindness for a brother /sister in our Heavenly Father’s kingdom.
- Spread
more joy, kindness, tolerance, goodwill, peace,
- Use
uplifting words-language-and thoughts.
- Stand
up for people who are not being treated well, even if they are outside of
your comfort zone.
The church has asked us all to reach out to
refugees. We all can do more to lift up and bless the lives of others and spread goodwill!
You may have
seen the story on social media of the LDS scout troop that took this challenge
to heart and teamed up with the international rescue committee and built/put
together some donated bikes and then taught the refugees how to ride them. What
a blessing! They may not have money yet to own their own cars to get around,
but to now own a bike, and know how to ride it. What a blessing for them! And
what a wonderful experience for the scouts as well on serving God’s children.
Since I shared a story about my husband I’ll share a story about one of my children, and how easy it can be to
make a difference in the lives of those
in need.
Our oldest
son Joshua had a student move into his class in first grade that had come as a
refugee from another country. He’s 26 years old now, so this was quite a few
years ago, but the student spoke no English at the time. Joshua buddied up with him instantly to help
him learn English and make sure he knew what to do in class and around
school. I remember the teacher telling
me how impressed she was that Josh would do that, but the part that made us
chuckle a bit, but was so sweet was at that time, if you did something good,
you could earn “bobcat” bucks. Then at
certain times of the year you could go redeem those earned “dollars” at the
school office for certain prizes. Well, Josh was very concerned that his new
friend did not have a proper understanding of the value of the good old American bobcat
buck so he insisted on being allowed to accompany his friend to redeem his
dollars to make sure he got his money’s worth and wasn’t “ripped off
and given junk” by some cunning
office secretary! They became life long friends all the way through high school
and each was such a good influence on the other. (and his grandmother made the
BEST spring rolls ever! )
Helping others can be as simple as helping those in our neighborhoods and
communities know what we know. Share what we have, the smallest things really
do mean the most, and can bring about the biggest changes in their lives and in
ours.
Let me close with
the words of Ezra Taft Benson:
"Yes, Christ
changes men, and changed men can change the world.
Men changed
for Christ will be captained by Christ. Like Paul they will be asking, “Lord,
what wilt thou have me to do?” (Acts 9:6.) Peter stated, they will “follow his
steps.” (1 Pet. 2:21.) John said they will “walk, even
as he walked.” (1 Jn. 2:6.)
Finally, men
captained by Christ will be consumed in Christ. To paraphrase President Harold
B. Lee, they set fire in others because they are on fire. (Stand Ye in Holy
Places, Salt Lake City:
Deseret Book Co., 1974, p. 192.)
Their will
is swallowed up in His will. (See John 5:30.)
They do
always those things that please the Lord. (See John 8:29.)
Not only
would they die for the Lord, but more important they want to live for Him".
