Today I gave a talk in church. It went pretty well. I was only expecting about 20 people to be in attendance, but there were about 5,000. Yeah, that was great. Not that a lot of people being at church is bad. It’s just that I tend to get high levels of anxiety when I have to talk in front of large groups. Especially if those groups are composed of strangers. I am familiar with most of our regular branch members, but we’ve had a few new families move in and there were several visitors today, so the congregation was much larger than usual. And, yes, I cried. Thankfully, I was able to only SOUND like I was going to cry any minute during my talk and shook like a tree in a hurricane, but as soon as I sat down next to Troy, my anxiety blew up and I started bawling. Thank goodness I have mastered crying quietly. lol. Troy was nice and put his arm around me while I cried and told me I did a good job. The branch president talked to me after sacrament meeting and said he was very happy with how I did and appreciated me getting and giving a talk even though I was scared. So, even though I was scared and felt like I was just bungling the whole thing, the branch president said I did well, so that is all that matters. Thank goodness.
Without further ado, here is my talk.
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In Exodus 20:8-11, we are commanded to keep the Sabbath holy and are given the reason why.
Exodus 20:8-11
8 Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
10 But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.
Along with commanding us to keep the Sabbath Day holy and explaining why, the Lord has also given instructions on HOW to keep the Sabbath Day holy.
D&C 59:9-13
9 And that thou mayest more fully keep thyself unspotted from the world, thou shalt go to the house of prayer and offer up thy sacraments upon my holy day;
10 For verily this is a day appointed unto you to rest from your labors, and to pay thy devotions unto the Most High;
11 Nevertheless thy avows shall be offered up in righteousness on all days and at all times;
12 But remember that on this, the Lord’s day, thou shalt offer thine oblations and thy sacraments unto the Most High, confessing thy sins unto thy brethren, and before the Lord.
13 And on this day thou shalt do none other thing, only let thy food be prepared with singleness of heart that thy fasting may be perfect, or, in other words, that thy joy may be full.
In verse 9 it says, “thou shalt go to the house of prayer and offer up thy sacraments upon my holy day”. It is very important for us to meet together and worship as a group because when we meet together as a group, we help uplift and sustain each other. By sharing what we have learned and sharing our testimonies, we are able to help each other become stronger and more knowledgeable about the gospel.
President Gordon B. Hinckley said that “every sacrament meeting ought to be a spiritual feast” and “a time of spiritual refreshment”. One thing that will help accomplish making Sunday meetings a spiritual feast is to understand that worshiping the Lord is something that is personal and based on our own attitudes and desires.
President Spencer W. Kimball, the 12th President of the Church, said: “We do not go to Sabbath meetings to be entertained or even solely to be instructed. We go to worship the Lord. It is an individual responsibility, and regardless of what is said from the pulpit, if one wishes to worship the Lord in spirit and truth, he may do so by attending his meetings, partaking of the sacrament, and contemplating the beauties of the gospel. If the service is a failure to you, you have failed. No one can worship for you.” (“The Sabbath—A Delight,” Ensign, Jan. 1978, 4–5).
Basically, if we come to church with an open heart, a desire to learn and a desire to feel the Spirit, we will be well on our way to having a successful worship service.
In verse 10, the Lord tells us to “rest from your labors, and to pay thy devotions unto the Most High”.
We all understand what it means to rest from our labors and that we should not work on Sundays. Sometimes, though, it is not as simple as that. In the January 1978 Ensign, Brother Steve Gilliland spoke about this topic.
“For some, the question of working on the Sabbath might be simply answered, “If your job requires you to work on the Sabbath, get another job!” But the problem may require deeper analysis.
For instance, there are certain essential services that must be continued on the Sabbath. Those who provide emergency services, such as hospital personnel, ambulance drivers, policemen, and firefighters, must remain on duty all day every day. If the bus and taxi systems shut down on Sunday, how would those with no other form of transportation get to Church? And what about those who work in motels, where some travelers must stay to minimize Sunday travel?
Some work must be done on Sunday. (See Elder Mark E. Petersen, Ensign, May 1975, p. 49.) And it seems clear that we should not take the position that all such work should be left strictly to nonmembers. We need good Latter-day Saints in all honorable occupations, to influence and to bless those they work with and those they serve.”
As Latter-Day Saints, we should do our best to get our schedules situated to where we do not have to work on Sundays. If this is not possible, we should do our best to still attend our church meetings so we can partake of the Spirit and be uplifted.
Regardless of whether or not we have a job that requires us to work on Sunday, we can still do our best to keep the day holy. We can still “pay … devotions unto the Most High” as the scripture says.
To pay our devotions to God and be spiritually-minded on the Sabbath, we must avoid certain actions. Some of these include:
- Physical labor
- Household chores
- Shopping
- Attending or watching sporting events
- Participating in competitions
- Going to the beach
- Any activity that would make it so another person would need to work on Sunday
There are many things we have been counseled against doing on the Sabbath and while this may seem difficult, Bishop H. David Burton offers some words of encouragement on keeping the Sabbath day holy.
He said: “Now, I know it’s hard, particularly for our young people, to choose to observe the Sabbath day when athletic teams on which they so much want to participate regularly schedule games on Sunday. I too know it seems trivial to many who are in need of just a few items on the Sabbath to quickly stop at a convenience store to make a Sunday purchase. But I also know that remembering to keep the Sabbath day holy is one of the most important commandments we can observe in preparing us to be the recipients of the whisperings of the Spirit” (in Conference Report, Oct. 1998, 9; or Ensign, Nov. 1998, 9).
The Sabbath is a day set aside for us to rest from our labors and to take a step away from worldly cares, but this does not mean we should spend the entire day sitting around and doing nothing. President Spencer W. Kimball gives some counsel on what is acceptable and expected on the Sabbath day.
He taught: “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, writing letters to missionaries, taking a nap, reading wholesome material, and attending all the meetings of that day at which he is expected” (Ensign, Jan. 1978, 4).
When we are trying to determine if a particular action is appropriate for the Sabbath, you could start by asking yourself:
- Is it spiritually uplifting?
- Does it strengthen home and family?
- Does it help or bless others?
- Does it nurture faith?
- Is it in line with the teachings of the church?
President Hinckley has given some good counsel on what we can do on the Sabbath to help us make our choices.
“Let the Latter-day Saints be in their homes, teaching their families, reading the scriptures, doing things that are wholesome and beautiful and communing with the Lord on the Sabbath day” (“Excerpts from Recent Addresses of President Gordon B. Hinckley,” Ensign, July 1996, 73).
He has also said,
“Now I do not want to be prudish. I do not want you to lock your children in the house and read the Bible all afternoon to them. Be wise. Be careful. But make that day a day when you can sit down with your families and talk about sacred and good things” (Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley, 559–60).
If you are still uncertain whether or not something is okay to do on Sunday, pray to the Lord for guidance.
When we go about keeping the Sabbath Day holy, the Lord has promised to bless us. The blessings that are promised to those who keep the Sabbath Day holy are:
- Physical and mental rejuvenation
- Becoming closer to Christ
- Strengthening our testimonies
- Protection from the adversary
- Having a stronger family unit
- Being better able to shut out the influence of the world
- Being strengthened in our desires to turn away from sin
- Becoming unspotted from the world
Being unspotted from the world means that we are better able to repent, we have renewed our baptismal covenants and we are more focused on God than we are on the world. As we attend our Sunday meetings and spend more time focused on the things of the Lord, the more unspotted we become and the easier it will be to follow the rest of the Lord’s commandments.
A way we can help ourselves in keeping the Sabbath Day holy is to prepare for the Sabbath in advance. If there is a particular outfit you want to wear that Sunday, make sure it is washed and in good repair ahead of time. Make sure you have all the ingredients you need for the dinner you want to prepare so you won’t be tempted to run to the store for a few little things. Tidy up your house Saturday so that if someone decides to drop by on Sunday, you won’t have to clean and make things look nice before they arrive. Work a few extra hours during the week so you won’t have to spend time on Sunday finishing up a project that is due on Monday. Get to bed early so you can wake up with enough time so you don’t have to rush or be late to church. Plan out spiritually-centered activities for your children ahead of time so you won’t be tempted to just let them resort to their usual free-time pursuits.
Keeping the Sabbath day holy is an important part of worshiping as a Latter-Day Saint. We must all do our best to follow the teachings and counsels of the Lord when deciding what we will and won’t do on the Sabbath day. When we follow the commandments of the Lord, we will be blessed and peace will come into our lives. I am thankful for the Sabbath day and having a day where I can take a break from life and the world. It provides the needed recharge so I can go right back into the normal stresses that come with living. I am thankful that the Lord is mindful of the needs of His people and provides a means of rest and a means for us to draw closer to Him. And I am thankful the Lord loves me. Amen.
