WAYNE:— When I was serving as a YSA Bishop I had an individual come to me and tell me he wanted to have his name removed from the records of the church. When I asked him why He expressed concerns with Joseph Smith, - polygamy, - and the translation of the Book of Mormon. I asked him if there was anything he still believed and/or felt like he had a testimony of. Without hesitation, he said he still had a strong testimony of Jesus Christ, that he was the Savior.. What a great thing to be able to testify of! I asked him if he would be willing to do one thing before we went ahead and requested the name removal. I told him it would only take one week and then we would go ahead and get everything in process. I asked him if he would write down everything about Jesus Christ that he believed and felt was part of his testimony. I told him I would do the same thing and then we would meet in a week to compare our lists.He returned the next week with a beautiful and extensive list of his testimony of Jesus Christ. We compared our lists and then I told him I would like to go over the list and put a mark next to each thing that we knew about the Savior because of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon and also things that we have a greater understanding of because of that. This was a very spiritual experience for me.
At the end of doing this and discussing the characteristics of Jesus Christ and how much clearer our understanding is of His attributes and his divine mission because of the Prophet Joseph and the Book of Mormon, he told me he didn’t feel like he needed to have his name removed right now. That is the power of the Book of Mormon and an example of how it fulfills one of it’s stated purposes -to the convincing of the Jew and Gentile (or in other words - everyone) that JESUS is the CHRIST, the ETERNAL GOD,
One of the attributes of The Savior (and indeed one of our doctrines) that is clarified beautifully in the Book of Mormon is that of Charity..
MELINDA____What is Charity? Dictionary definition. Feed the poor….Voluntary giving of help, typically in the form of money to those in need. Kindness and Tolerance in judging others. Archaic: love of human kind, typically in a christian context.
Because of the Book of Mormon we know it as Christlike LOVE..
Moroni 7: 44-47– And charity suffereth long, and is kind, and envieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
Wherefore, my beloved brethren, if ye have not charity, ye are nothing, for charity never faileth. Wherefore, cleave unto charity, which is the greatest of all, for all things must fail—
But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him
WAYNE_______In Lehi’s vision of the tree of life, Lehi tells us how beautiful and desirable the tree and its fruit are. It is in Nephi’s asking for the meaning of the dream when we find out what the tree represents. The angel asks Nephi -
Knowest thou the meaning of the tree which thy father saw? Nephi 11: 22. And I answered him, saying: yea, it is the love of God, which sheddeth itself abroad in the hearts of the children of men; wherefore, it is the most desirable above all things 23. And he spake unto me, saying: Yea, and the most joyous to the soul.
The Tree of Life represents the Love of God - Jesus Christ - Charity and it is the most desirable above all things. The fruit of the tree is Eternal Life. That is our goal. How do we achieve that? We come to the tree so we can truly understand and live the Love of God. Eternal life, God’s life, the life we are seeking, is rooted in two commandments. The scriptures say that “on these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” Love God and love your neighbor. The two work together; they are inseparable. In the highest sense, they may be considered as synonymous.
In ancient times, one test of the purity of gold was performed with a smooth, black, siliceous stone called a touchstone. When rubbed across the touchstone, the gold produced a streak or mark on its surface. The goldsmith matched this mark to a color on his chart of graded colors. The mark was more red as the amount of copper or alloy increased or more yellow as the percentage of gold increased. This process showed quite accurately the purity of the gold.
President Howard W Hunter said that Charity is the Lord’s touchstone, or how we will be measured.
On one occasion while Jesus was teaching the people, a certain lawyer approached him and posed this question: “Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”
Jesus, the master teacher, replied to the man, who obviously was well-versed in the law, with a counter-question, “What is written in the law? how readest thou?”
The man replied with resolute summary the two great commandments: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.”
With approval, Christ responded, “This do, and thou shalt live” That is what Moroni meant in verse 47 when he said, and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him
The answer of Jesus to the lawyer, which is to all of us, Love God and Love our neighbor - that is the Lord’s touchstone..
#1. Attributes of Charity. The attributes of Charity are actually just a description of Jesus Christ.
Suffereth Long - Think of Christ’s atonement in Gethsemane and suffering on the cross
Is Kind - Healed the ear of the Centurian after Peter cut it off
Envieth not - He said “Here am I, send me and the glory be Thine
Seeketh not her own - Jesus sought out those that were considered sinners and outcasts, the lepers, the tax collectors, the woman taken in adultery
Is not easily provoked - They mocked him and smote him- blindfolded him and struck him on the face saying “prophesy - who is it that smote thee?
And so it continues with all of the attributes - because Jesus IS the pure love of God. The greatest thing we learn from the Book of Mormon about the definition of charity which was not included in Paul’s teachings is -Charity is the PURE LOVE of CHRIST. We only have time to discuss in some detail a few of the descriptions of Charity
Charity seeketh not her own. It is so easy for us to associate with people that are like us and share our interests. It’s very easy to seek “our own.” One of the tests of Charity is getting outside our comfort zone and seeking those who may be different from us - those we may not naturally associate with or be around. One issue I noticed when I first arrived in our YSA ward was how many people would come in to the chapel and sit by themselves. I mentioned this to the ward council as we reviewed Moroni 7:45, and we discussed what we might do to help everyone feel the love of Christ. From that meeting forward, the assignment for every member of the ward council, which soon just became the culture of the ward, was to introduce themselves to 3 people every Sunday, and find out one thing about those individuals. The second assignment was to make sure that no one sat alone. It was inspiring to watch as they all took this to heart. It was very humbling to watch as one council member in particular, Lexi who is not outgoing by nature, but is filled with the Pure Love of Christ, magnified this assignment until it was no longer an assignment for her. It was simply who she had become. She portrays beautifully this thought by Craig Merrill who was the director of the MBA program at BYU.
He said “ Callings are much like training wheels on a bicycle. The training wheels allow a child to learn how to balance and ride with confidence. A calling puts people in a position to learn how to love, be patient, and persuade through pure knowledge and kindness. After our release, we will find out if we have grown and learned while in our calling. Have we learned to love and serve others without the calling being the impetus? Have we learned to serve with power as an influence for good simply because of who we have become? When we learn how to be an influence for good in the Lord¹s way, we will become people who lift others simply because that is who we are.”
MELINDA_____Or as Moroni said in chapter 7 verse 48 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure. Amen (Moroni 7:45-48).
Lexi is now a YW leader in her family ward. We spoke with her this last week and she told us she has a reminder in her phone that pops up every Sunday to speak to 3 people she doesn’t know. It is no longer a calling or assignment - it is who she has become - she is becoming purified even as he is pure. She has moved out of being transactional into transformational. We too must move from a transactional discipleship to a transformational one.
We have a Checkbox gospel: Visit a neighbor, Go to church, Pay tithing, Attend the temple, and Sign up to take dinner to the new couple who just had a baby. All good things…. But there’s more. Becoming like CHRIST is the goal we reach for one attribute at a time, one act of charity at a time. We need to get out of our Natural Man/Natural Woman tendencies — we do this through the atonement of Christ.
Mosiah. 3:19. For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.
Alma 7 23-24 And now I would that ye should be humble, and be submissive and gentle; easy to be entreated; full of patience and long-suffering; being temperate in all things; being diligent in keeping the commandments of God at all times; asking for whatsoever things ye stand in need, both spiritual and temporal; always returning thanks unto God for whatsoever things ye do receive. 24 And see that ye have faith, hope, and charity and then you will always abound in good works.
Notice that Alma doesn’t say have a calling and a checklist and then you will always abound in good works - those are good ways to get started on the right path, but he says have faith, hope and charity, let those characteristics define who you are and then you will ALWAYS abound in good works.
#2. Charity never faileth
Another aspect of Charity is that it never faileth……..because Christ never faileth. In my youth I remember thinking… oh yeah? That can’t be true…and I would go about doing assigned service projects with a bad attitude to prove it wrong. I was failing, but not the Charity– my begrudging service was still providing something for the receiver.
Pres. Hunter quote: Charity encompasses all other godly virtues. It distinguishes both the beginning and the end of the plan of salvation. When all else fails, charity — Christ’s love — will not fail. It is the greatest of all divine attributes.
WAYNE_____A great example of charity never faileth is the experience of Ammon in the book of Alma. We all know the story- Ammon was a Nephite, whose people were enemies of the Lamanites. The Lamanites despised the Nephites, and the two groups constantly fought bloody wars. After his conversion, Ammon decided he wanted to go teach the Lamanites about Christ. He determined the best way to do that would be to serve them, despite their feelings toward him and his people. Ammon is most well-known for becoming a servant to the king of the Lamanites. One day as he and other servants were watching the king’s flock, some Lamanites came and scattered the sheep. The other servants were afraid and upset, knowing the king would be angry with them. But Ammon had a different reaction, We find out how excited he was about this opportunity to teach the other servants about the power of God, and then we read: “And now, these were the thoughts of Ammon, when he saw the afflictions of those whom he termed to be his brethren” These servants were Lamanites, belonging to the same people who had attacked and killed many Nephites—and yet, in Ammon’s mind, they were “his brethren.”
This is a great lesson during this time of so much divisiveness in our world. What a better world it would be if we could esteem everyone as “our brethren,” regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, political party, or any other grounds for potential segregation or discrimination. We should follow Ammon’s example and, even more importantly, Christ’s teaching to “love one another” This commandment has no conditions. We aren’t commanded to love only those of our same race, nationality, or religion.
The Savior taught: “For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye?
And to the people in the land Bountiful He taught- But behold I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them who despitefully use you and persecute you; 3Nephi 12:44
Expressing racism, nationalism, or any other prejudice or discrimination is not loving one another. Christ truly is no “respecter of persons,” and “all are alike unto God” (2 Nephi 26:33). Ammon showed this by loving and serving the Lamanites. We can show it by proactively reaching out in love to everyone, regardless of whether or not they are like us. Serving others opens our hearts to feel the pure love from Christ and the pure love of Christ for them.
When I was around 16 years old I was assigned as a home-teaching companion with an older brother in the ward - Brother Turner. One of the people we were assigned to home teach was Sister Tuckfield, in this home, you see on the screen, an elderly widow in the ward. When we arrived at the house she opened the door and invited us in. I remember thinking it smelled funny and could not miss the annoying fact that not only was the television on but the volume was up as loud as it would go. We sat down and attempted to have a conversation. Finally, Brother Turner asked, “Sister Tuckfield, would it be ok if we turned off the television?” Her response was immediate -” Oh, would you please? It has been on for several days and I can’t figure out how to turn it off.” It took us a moment to figure out her remote control. The way you turned off the television was to hold the volume down button until the volume went all the way down and then the power to the tv would turn off. It was such a relief to have it turned off! It was my turn to teach the lesson so I gave the lesson and then Brother Turner added some thoughts and aksed if we could have a closing prayer. Sister Tuckfield replied, “aren’t you going to give me a lesson?” I looked on in disbelief. I had just finished giving the lesson. Brother Turner responded by slapping me on the knee and saying, “Wayne, were you going to let us get out of here without leaving a message? Go ahead and give the lesson you prepared.” I grudgingly gave the lesson again and we had a prayer.
As we left her home, Brother Turner said, “Wayne I have an assignment for you. I would like you to go to Sister Tuckfield’s home every night and turn off her television for her.” That sounded like the craziest thing I had ever heard. And then Brother Turner asked me if I would commit to do that. My brain screamed no so I couldn’t believe it when I heard my voice respond that yes, I would. The first couple of weeks I kept my commitment but was not very happy about it. And then I noticed that my feelings started to change. It didn’t seem to be such a burden anymore. There may have even been evenings when I kind of looked forward to doing it. It was amazing! My heart had been changed - I actually loved it when we went to visit Sister Tuckfied, and I could feel God’s love for her. It was my privilege to turn off her television for nearly three months. bI am so grateful to Brother Turner for being inspired to commit me to that service - though I didn’t realize it at the time he knew it would teach me charity, the pure love of Christ. It forever changed my perspective of ministering and service and helped me view others through a lens of love.
Elder Joseph b. Wirthlin: “ the gospel of Jesus Christ is a gospel of transformation. It takes us as men and women of the earth and refines us into men and women for the eternities. The means of this refinement is our Christ like love. There is no pain it cannot soften, no bitterness it cannot remove no hatred it cannot alter. The greek playwright Sophocles wrote…one word frees us from all the weight and pain of life - that word is love.”
#3. Pure love of Christ / Pure Love FROM Christ
Charity being the pure love of Christ has two meanings. Pure love from Christ that he gives freely and abundantly to us and Pure Love of Christ that we develop as we serve him, and as King Benjamin taught the way we serve Him is by serving those around us.
The pure love that Christ has for all of us was one of the first lessons I learned as a new Bishop. When I was called, I kept the two counselors from the previous bishopric. That first Tuesday evening we met to go visit ward members. I asked my counselors whom we should visit. They informed me that typically the Bishop had a list of members he wanted to visit. Trying to mask my sudden panic at not being prepared for this I suggested we should pray and ask for guidance and then take a look at the ward list. One of the people we felt we should visit was a sister named Flor. We arrived at her house and knocked on the door. It took her several minutes to answer, and when she opened the door it was obvious from her expression that she was not very thrilled to see us. We introduced ourselves and asked if we could come in for just a moment to share a message. She reluctantly allowed us in. After a few minutes of attempting to get to know her, we could tell that she was anxious for us to leave, so we left a brief spiritual message, invited her to our activities and our Sunday meetings, had a prayer, and left.
On our drive back to the church one of my counselors remarked that we would probably never see her again. She was not at our activity that week nor in our meetings on Sunday. So when I sat down for interviews, I was surprised to see the name Flor Rodriguez on my interview list. As we sat together in the office, she asked me why we had gone to visit her that particular evening. I told her that I was a new Bishop of one week and didn’t know anyone in the ward. I shared our experience of kneeling and praying and asking for guidance regarding what visits we should make.
With tears in her eyes, she told me that the morning of the day we visited her she had told God she was never going back. She was away from her home in California, taking care of the home of an older couple who were family friends and were serving a mission. No one knew her here. She would not be missed. She had questions she couldn’t answer, felt she did not measure up, and it would be easier to just be done with the church for good. Then that evening we knocked on her door. She wanted to know how we knew. I assured her that we did not know, but that her Heavenly Father, and his Son Jesus Christ who is the good shepherd, and who both know her and love her perfectly, they knew. And they inspired a new Bishopric to visit her that day as an indication of their love for her - so that she would know that they know her personally. Flor became a beloved member of the ward and radiated love, light, and joy to all she was around. She had been filled with Charity and was soon bringing individuals to church with her who had not attended in many years. There is no question in my mind or Flor’s mind that the pure love of Jesus Christ from Jesus rescued her that day. It really struck Flor that God knew her, loved her, and placed individuals in her life to remind her of that love.” We had the opportunity this past June to be in the San Diego temple with Flor as she was married and sealed to her husband.
I love the scripture in Psalm 147:4 that says - He telleth the number of the stars; he calls them all by their names.” If God knows the names of all the stars, he certainly knows my name and your name.
Neil Maxwell said it this way “The same God that placed that star in a precise orbit millennia before it appeared over Bethlehem has given at least equal attention to placement of each of us in precise human orbits so that we may, if we will, illuminate the landscape of our individual lives, so that our light may not only lead others but warm them as well.”
And President Kimball said, “God does notice us, and he watches over us. But it is usually through another person that he meets our needs.”
To be filled with Charity is actually to be endowed with power from on high. Look at this description of how influence and power are maintained Doctrine and Covenants 121: 41 No power or influence can or ought to be maintained by virtue of the priesthood, only by persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned;
42 By kindness, and pure knowledge, ….
This sounds an awful lot like the words Mormon and Moroni use to describe Charity - and there is that word 3 verses later-
45 Let thy bowels also be full of charity towards all men, and to the household of faith… Who does verse 45 say we should have charity towards? ALL men and women - who does that exclude? NO ONE - so why is the next word AND to the household of faith. I believe this is the Lord reminding us to show love and kindness to everyone, and with an extra reminder that that includes our own household - our own family. Sometimes we work hard to be kind to acquaintances but need an extra reminder to be long-suffering, kind, and gentle to those we are around the most.
MELINDA____We are called on to share the Love of God ALL THE TIME and Especially in our own homes. Let's talk about our daughter, Laila. We longed for and prayed for Laila and adopted her when we were 40 years old and she was 4 months old. Laila was a gorgeous baby and a “perfect” child! Everybody loved Laila and she loved everyone, and she especially loved Jesus. Then….she became a teenager and everything changed. In Jr. High Laila— destroyed her room. I wish I would have taken a picture of it- it was unbelievable. Along with this, she had mess-ups, bad grades, questionable friends, disliked church, she was mad at the world. We spent so much time on our knees worrying over her. I prayed, “Heavenly Father, What is up? - What happened to our perfect little girl? Change her back please!” I prayed she would be transformed. At the same time, Wayne got called to be a YSA bishop. This turned out to be a great blessing for our family. Laila could attend our YSA ward which she was okay with. I continued to beg the Lord to change her…to fix her…and in the middle of my pleading and pouring out my heart to God…a vision opened up to me and I saw Laila as God sees her. A beautiful daughter of God with promise and purpose. This made all the difference in our relationship. Laila didn’t change- she was still doing all the things. I changed. I could feel God’s pure love for her. He loved my Laila more than I could possibly fathom. Because of this insight, I had more compassion towards her and thoughts like, “It would be hard to be adopted. I have no idea what that would be like. It could be difficult to be a person of color in a very white family and in Bountiful, Utah.” I changed through the pure love FROM Christ.
We have a beloved family friend- George Sharkey, who we met through my parent’s mission to Scotland. He has an amazing story but in a nutshell, he was a spy and assassin for the British government…. Our very own James Bond– He has many stories that would make you cringe and shake your head in unbelief. After all his grisly experiences working for his government, he felt like he was unredeemable, and that there was no saving of George Sharkey. When he was at his lowest he picked up the Bible and read in the New Testament about Jesus Christ. He was changed….eventually, George found the church. He had to get special permission from the First Presidency to be baptized. George sees his membership in this church as one of the greatest blessings of his life. It gave him, “a perfect brightness of hope.” He understands the atonement and love of Jesus Christ. Now he not only talks the Jesus talk in a gorgeous Scottish accent, but walks the Jesus walk…He is pure love. He is magical. He knows he is a Child of God and recognizes that everyone else is a Child of God too. When you greet him and go to shake his hand, he will stand up from his chair and say, “I always stand for royalty”
Like Alma the Younger- George changed. He became a new creature in Christ. He partook of God’s pure LOVE.
Remembering we are all God’s children helps us to reach out to each other better. We would like to add one more verse to I am a Child of God– 4th vs Wayne wrote – as a reminder of this.
SONG: I am a child of God, And so is everyone. This truth helps me to love and serve Just as His firstborn son
Steve Young in his book Law of Love..shares Over time, loving as God loves becomes less a choice and more just who we are. We love because we ARE love, just as “God is love”. As we choose again and again to live the law of love, it causes us to fundamentally change WHO we are … becoming, in Christ a new creature , so that loving the way that God loves is simply part of our being.
Marvin J.Ashton said…. The best and most clear indicator that we are progressing spiritually and coming unto Christ is the way we treat other people.
My Grandpa Butters…. Was wonderful. He was a lifter of people. He gave a great compliment. When he passed away my grandma received a phone call from a lady in her ward saying how sorry she was Grant had passed away. She said, “You lost your sweetheart and I lost the only person who ever made me feel beautiful. “ He Called himself the Wonderful Committee– ( he was the whole committee) – he had a goal to walk in a room and greet everyone individually and help them to feel wonderful. He shared God’s love. We can all “call” ourselves to this very same committee and share the Pure love OF Christ.
We are all familiar with the story from Les Miserables about Jean Valjean. Valjean stole some silver from a priest and was caught. When the officer brought Valjean back to the priest to return the silver, the priest being filled with the love of Christ, and knowing the power of Christ’s pure love, told Valjean - “You left in such a hurry you forgot these silver candlesticks that I had also given you.” That one act of Charity changed Valjean as he then wanted to share that love with others.
What if we expand Pres. Nelson’s recent counsel of Think Celestial to….. Love Celestial - Love with the pure love of Christ.
WAYNE____#4. So How do we Become like Christ? It starts with what Moroni says in verse 48 pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ;
But it doesn’t end there. Pray to become changed and then go and do… try, try, try. It’s not enough to simply pray. The Savior says to go and do the things we have seen him do. In Alma 34, Amulek teaches about this. He lists all of the things we should cry to God for - Our fields and our flock, our houses and household, against the power of the devil - He tells us to pour out our souls and to let our hearts be drawn out in prayer continually for our welfare and the welfare of those around us. Then he gives us this warning: Alma 34: 28-29 And now behold, my beloved brethren, I say unto you, do not suppose that this is all; for after ye have done all these things, if ye turn away the needy, and the naked, and visit not the sick and afflicted, and impart of your substance, if ye have, to those who stand in need- I say unto you, if ye do not any of these things, behold, your prayer is vain, and availeth you nothing, and ye are as hypocrites who do deny the faith.
29 therefore, if ye do not to remember to be charitable,(Or as we now know, to have the pure love of Christ) ye are as dross, which the refiners do cast out, (it being of no worth) and is trodden under foot of men.
Neil Anderson quote: “As followers of Jesus Christ, we must genuinely love and care for all of God’s children—just as He does—without isolating ourselves from others who believe differently. Jesus lovingly washed the feet of His Apostles, knowing what would occur soon after. Although “he was troubled in spirit” (John 13:21) as He thought about one He loved preparing to betray Him, Jesus interestingly spoke no more about His “troubled” feelings, instead choosing to speak to His Apostles about love: “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you. …“By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples if ye have love one to another” (John 13:34–35).
We recently came across a saying that really caused us to pause and take a personal inventory. “When you learn how to sit at the table with your Judas, you’ll understand the pure love of Christ.”
MELINDA__Song: Lord I would follow thee lyrics:
Savior may I learn to love thee. Walk the path that thou hath shown, pause to help and lift another finding strength beyond my own…
Who am I to judge another when I walk imperfectly? In the quiet heart is hidden sorrow that the eye can’t see…
I would be my brother’s keeper; I would learn the healer’s art. To the wounded and the weary I would show a gentle heart. I would be my brother’s keeper — Lord, I would follow thee.
WAYNE____Eyring Quote: “We must notice the tribulation of others and try to help. That will be especially hard when we are being sorely tested ourselves. But we will discover as we lift another’s burden, even a little, that our backs are strengthened and we sense a light in the darkness.”
One way to lean into this Christ-like love is through curiosity and compassion. We have lived in a few neighborhoods. One time we had a neighbor that from the beginning we sensed did not like us, and didn’t appreciate us being neighbors. We had our own ideas of what this grumpy neighbor was like. We reached out with baked goods to introduce ourselves and noticed when this person opened the door a lot was going on in this home. We shared how happy we were to have them in the neighborhood and asked if there was anything we could do for them. This person opened up about some very personal things and hardships which instantly filled us with compassion and changed our minds and attitudes toward them. It was in an instant that we felt Christ-like love for them. Curiosity and Compassion were key.
MELINDA—----But how do you have love, and have compassion for someone who has really wronged you? Who is truly your enemy? Someone who has literally destroyed your family? Our friend…Mac Christensen – the clothing store Mr. Mac, he was in my ward growing up and Wayne actually worked for him when we were first married. It was a horrible time in the 1980s when his son Steve Christensen was murdered in a bomb blast by Mark Hoffman. The family was devastated. It was an unbelievable, horrible thing that happened. This man was their enemy. At the trial, Mr. Mac did something unfathomable…..He publicly forgave Mark Hoffman and later actually helped Mark Hoffman’s son get out on a mission by outfitting him with clothing and luggage and money. There’s that saying, “Not forgiving is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die. “ Mac forgave Mark Hoffman because to love felt so much better than to hate. Mac also showed an increased measure of love to Mark Hoffman’s son.
We don’t have to wait for people to become lovable to love them….
If we don’t love our neighbor that’s a reflection on us, not them.
If we don’t love our parents, that’s a reflection on us, not them.
If we don’t love our kids that’s a reflection on us, not them.
Loving people says so much about us, not about them.
How easy is it to love people who are like us and what a challenge it is to love people who are different from us, who go down different paths in life- even our own children. Then we see how important the first and second commandments truly are.
Joseph B. WIRTHLIN: When we are filled with kindness, we are not judgmental. The Savior taught, “Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven.”He also taught that “with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.” “But,” you ask, “what if people are rude?”Love them. “If they are obnoxious?”Love them. “But what if they offend? Surely I must do something then?”Love them. “Wayward?”The answer is the same. Be kind. Love them.
So what do we do then to practice this in real life —when you have a grouchy person at the grocery store or your three-year-olds having a tantrum or your mother-in-law is making you crazy or your child just comes out to you or your teenager is not following family rules, or someone cuts you off in traffic, or you have political differences.....what do you do then? Can we love?
But what about Trump and Biden? Or someone who supports this person? Can we love now?
What helps me around all of this, is to move into curiosity and compassion towards people– because I don’t want to feel this “ughhh “ feeling. I want to feel love and peace. I think to myself AND sometimes say out loud…. “ Fascinating. That’s so interesting they think like that. They are having different life experiences than me. If they had my life they would talk and act like me. If I had there life experiences I would probably do exactly what they are doing. We are all flawed humans, I’m just going to love.”
We are all Natural man and Natural woman Judgey! We believe we know how others should behave. How good mothers/fathers should behave. How good sons and daughters should behave. How good neighbors should behave. How good in-laws, ward members, teachers, and politicians should behave. We become fixated on how others are doing it wrong and we know how they should do it right. Here’s the reality, People get to be whoever they want to be, and do whatever they want to do…and we are commanded to love them.
Sis Denis said in this past Conference: We are called to Love not judge. Let’s lay down that heavy burden. It isn’t ours to carry.
What? we can love people even if they misbehave?….what exactly does that look like? ( woman in adultery slide) Well it looks exactly like Jesus Christ. This is how Christ lived and loved when he was on the earth. He demonstrated it for us then. The Savior taught us to meet people where they are as they are.
Quote: Christoph G. Giraud- Carrier, a new general authority 70: I pray that, like Him we may love others because that is the right thing to do, not because they are doing the ‘right’ thing or fitting the ‘right’ mold.
This is our family. We are a diverse family. We differ in race, religion, politics and sexual orientation. We are united in love. We have 5 children, 4 inlaws - we call them bonus children and 8 grandkids. We had 4 sons- all two years apart- Addison, Landon, Truman and Monson, and then almost 10 years later we added our gorgeous daughter, Laila. Two of our sons are gay. 18 years ago our son Landon came out to us with a suicide attempt. It was all so dramatic, sad and devastating for us as stalwart, down-the-line, black-and-white church members who relied on the promises that if you have family prayer and read scriptures daily, do Family home evening, and go to church and do all the other church things your family will “turn out.” (Whatever that means). When Landon came out…. We prayed and we struggled and we learned a lot about loving our son as God loves him. We learned that God loves him more than we could possibly imagine. Just when we had moved a little farther down this road and realized it was not a choice to be gay, but the choice was ours to love our son and support him on his life’s journey whatever that looked like, our son Truman came out after returning home from his Manchester England mission- in 2013. We were blindsided. This was all so hard. So we prayed and learned more and we leaned on the first two commandments: Love God and Love people. Having gay children has refined us more than we ever thought possible. It has been a blessing. It has opened our hearts. It has helped us to try to see others as Christ does. This is why we fly a rainbow flag at our house.
I believe LGBTQ+ souls were sent to us very intentionally, exactly as they are, to teach the rest of us lessons we wouldn’t learn any other way. To teach us to love without a full understanding, to support without all the answers, to learn and grow amidst opposition, and to have compassion without having the same personal experiences ourselves. If we are true Latter-day Saints, we need to realize that being LGBTQ is among the most difficult challenges a person and their family can face in our church and that they need our love, kindness, and inclusion even more.
President Oaks said, "Each member of Christ’s church has a clear-cut doctrinal responsibility to show forth love and to extend help and understanding… All should understand that persons (and their family members) struggling with the burden of same-sex attraction are in special need of the love and encouragement that is a clear responsibility of Church members, who have signified by covenant their willingness 'to bear one another’s burdens' (Mosiah 18:8) ‘and so fulfill the law of Christ’ (Gal. 6:2).'”
I have been taught all of my life to try to be like Jesus. Jesus loved and ministered to those who were not always understood or valued in society. Those who are on the margins are here on earth to help all of us examine our own prejudices. And see if we can truly LOVE. Perhaps they were willing to have a more difficult earthly path to guide us all into a more loving space.
Elder Cook said: "As a Church nobody should be more loving and compassionate. No family who has anybody who has a same-gender issue should exclude them from the family circle. They need to be part of the family circle. . . . We have a plan of salvation. And having children come into our lives is part of Heavenly Father’s plan. But let us be at the forefront in terms of expressing love, compassion, and outreach to those and let’s not have families exclude or be disrespectful of those who choose a different lifestyle as a result of their feelings about their own gender. . . . I feel very strongly about this… It’s a very important principle."
WAYNE___I hope we can reconsider our actions and love toward all marginalized groups. Pres. Nelson quote; The Creator of us all calls on each of us to abandon attitudes of prejudice against any group of God’s children. Any of us who has prejudice toward another race needs to repent!
Elder Christofferson quote: The bottom line is that God commands us to love Him because of what He knows it will do for us. He commands us to love one another for the same reason. Love of God transforms us. Love of God transforms our love for each other. This love is requisite for our coming to know Him, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom He has sent. It is the key to our becoming like Him.
Moroni’s verses on charity talk about becoming like him. They say, that ye may be filled with this lovethat when He shall appear we shall be like Him…We become like him by doing the things he did - and what did he do? The document “The Living Christ” says He walked the roads of Palestine, healing the sick, causing the blind to see, and raising the dead.
How do we do that? Walking the roads of Palestine - He went out and looked for opportunities to serve - We can do that - we can walk the roads of the Layton Valley View Stake and pay attention wherever we are for opportunities to serve and love others - especially those who may be different than us.
Healing the sick - we can do this – maybe not always literally, but by following the promptings of the spirit we can be the words, the presence and hands of He who is the master healer. We can bring His presence with us into the lives of those who are struggling and suffering.
Causing the blind to see - We may not have the opportunity to give literal sight to the blind, but we can help others see Christ through our example, love and service
H. David Burton quote: Live in such a way that people who know you but don’t know Christ will want to know Christ because they know you.
C.S. Lewis — 'I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.'
And raising the dead - We cannot universally overcome death, but we can make our relationships and our families live. We can give life to our church callings, to our wards and to our neighborhood.
In Lehi’s vision of the tree of life, there are two things that Nephi told us represent the Love of God - The Fountain of Living Waters or the Tree of Life - our charge is to bring others to those waters - to the Love of God - which is Jesus Christ and then he has already shown us what he will do when we bring others to him.
3 Nephi 17: 7-9Have ye any that are sick among you? Bring them hither. Have ye any that are lame, or blind, or halt, or maimed, or leprous, or that are withered, or that are deaf, or that are afflicted in any manner? Bring them hither and I will heal them, for I have compassion upon you; my bowels are filled with mercy.
And it came to pass that when he had thus spoken, all the multitude, with one accord, did go forth with their sick and their afflicted, and their lame, and with their blind, and with their dumb, and with all them that were afflicted in any manner; and he did heal them every one as they were brought forth unto him.
As our newest called apostle Elder Patrick Kearon put it, Jesus specializes in the seemingly impossible. He came here to make the impossible possible, the irredeemable redeemable, to heal the unhealable, to right the unrightable, to promise the unpromisable. And He’s really good at it. In fact, He’s perfect at it.
Jesus Christ - who is the fountain and the tree- He is with us as we strive to come to the tree, and he is the one who makes us whole when we get there.
The new youth theme for the year is found in 3 Nephi 5:13 - I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. How will people know we are true disciples of Jesus Christ? Only if we have love one to another.
All sing: Love one another.
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