Today I spoke at church and so I thought I’d just
share that talk with everyone this week. Here it is:
Brothers and Sisters, good morning. Today I’m going to
talk about the power of the Sabbath day and what makes it holy. I hope that we
will feel the Holy Ghost swell our hearts wide open and give us the desire and
energy to change where we know we should change so that we can all grow into
the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.
President Nelson recently interpreted the scripture
“The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath,” to mean that the
Sabbath is a gift from God to man. I think this interpretation is really
beautiful. It just fits with the character of God. It tastes good. He
wants us to become like Him and everything in the gospel plan points us up the
path to a fullness of joy and knowledge, power and perfect love. If the Sabbath
is a gift to mankind, I suppose that means that abiding by its precepts does
something tremendous for our souls. After all, such is the nature of a heavenly
gift.
But what does a holy Sabbath day look like to our dear
Father in Heaven? Or in other words, what does keeping the Sabbath day
look like? The scriptures describe what I find to be four golden ingredients
that together make a Sabbath day holy day. They are Sacrament, Singleness
of heart to God, Stillness, and Service. These are of course umbrellas that
contain overlapping spiritual doctrines. Let’s look at what each of them offers
us in turn.
First, Sacrament
In order to be made holy, we must first be made clean.
So the lord asks us to “go to the house of prayer and offer up thy sacraments
upon my holy day…” Jesus has the power to forgive sins because he
suffered for them in our behalf. In this way he took our names upon himself. In
order to be made clean, we must now take upon ourselves His name. He only asks
us to offer him a broken heart and a contrite spirit. The sacrament offers us a
ritual rich with imagery to teach us about the atonement. His blood and his
broken body are spread out before our eyes and offered to us individually and
freely. The sacrament asks us to see ourselves in our own carnal natures and
then to put off that natural man and come unto Christ. We have a chance to
think of him, to repent for the things we have done against God and self and
neighbor, and to be cleansed and prepared to receive the Holy Ghost, whose presence
is sanctifying. This is using the atonement. The sacrament readies us to be
what Elder Enzio Busche describes as a doer of His deeds and a speaker of His
words. It helps us to become like Him.
Second, Singleness of Heart
The Sabbath is a day to be completely focused on God.
It is to the days of the week what the sacrament is to the Sabbath itself: a
period of time for consecration on holy things. In doctrine and covenants the
Lord says that on the Sabbath “let thy food be prepared with singleness of heart.”
In another section it reads that “If thy eye be single thy whole body shall be
filled with light.” As we go about the Sabbath day, even the small things
can be done with a holy spirit. Some people do this by listening to or singing
hymns, praying in their minds as they go about any needed task, meditating on
spiritual topics or anything of the sort. This singleness of heart lets in
spiritual light. That light gives us the desire to live similarly throughout
the rest of the week. It provides us with a renewed perspective of faith; it
endows us with a sense of love for all people; it grants us great deals of
energy and even enthusiasm for the eternal salvation of all mankind. It gives
our discipleship wings. I love these words in Isaiah on giving up our own
pleasures for God’s on the Sabbath:
“If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from
doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of
the Lord, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor
finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: Then shalt thou
delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places
of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the
mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.” This directly feeds into the third
ingredient of a Sabbath day
Service
The Lord asks us to rest from our labors on the
Sabbath day but he doesn’t ask us to rest from his. Quite the contrary. He asks
us to speak his words, do his pleasure, live his ways. Each Sabbath is a great
opportunity to ask God what we can do for Him. Jesus preached, healed, forgave
sins, and blessed on the Sabbath. He said that it is lawful to do good on the
Sabbath day. I’ll always remember our good neighbor Spencer Denison. He home taught
a man who had been coming to church only occasionally. One day that man bore
his testimony. He said he was more deeply converted to the gospel because
Spencer had spent the previous Sunday helping him with a flooded basement.
Spencer had simply gone to check on him. He found him in need. He went home,
changed out of his suit and tie, and returned to relieve his neighbor.
May we all have the courage to do good on the Sabbath day and to follow the
sometimes uncomfortable suggestions that the spirit makes to us. God promises
to make such a Sabbath a delight.
Now let’s consider the fourth ingredient of a Sabbath
day, Stillness.
The scriptures are peppered with verses about the
Sabbath as a day of rest. Rest doesn’t necessarily mean sleep. I love naps and they
can be invigorating. But when I look at a totality of scriptures, I see a
different vision for the idea of rest. They say things like “Be still and
know that I am God.” “Look unto me in every thought,” and “Pray always.”
The Sabbath is an opportunity to say prayers. Really meaningful prayers.
Some of my most beautiful experiences with God have come on Sundays, in the
golden light of quiet afternoon warmth. I love praying out of doors and out
loud, like Enoch. I love the luxury of no time limits, no people secretly
wishing I would say amen already. In these prayers we can converse with our
Heavenly Father. We can know him intimately. In this stillness, we become
acquainted with his goodly character and partake of his sweet love. It is in
this stillness or rest that I have come to know each spiritual truth that I
know. How much do we want to know Him? We must spend quiet time with Him
because the spirit speaks in a still, small voice. Aside from prayers
that are full of words, we can also offer God a quiet and meek spirit for him
to inspire. Meditation creates this kind of atmosphere.
So it is that by filling our Sabbaths with meaningful,
conscious Sacramental worship, singleness of heart in all of our activities or
tasks, service in his name, and stillness in prayer and meditation, we are made
holy.
Spending our time in these ways shows God that we
really do love Him and that we are grateful for His merciful plan of
redemption. The scriptures say that God considers the Sabbath to be “a sign
between me and the Children of Israel forever…” Elder Mark Petersen explains
that the Sabbath is a sign to us that God lives. President Nelson tells
us that it is a sign to God that we love him. Doesn’t that just make wonderful
sense? Of course doing his will and trying to reach him and be like him is a
sign of love and adoration. When we aren’t sure if something we want to do is
right for Sunday we can ask ourselves what kind of message or sign it sends to
God about our love for Him and His beloved son.
I believe in the power of the Sabbath day. I know that
when we keep the Sabbath day holy we are made holy—into the kind of beings that
can abide His glory and enjoy it. I know he wants these beautiful blessings for
all of us. May we each put our hearts and minds more fully into keeping the
Sabbath day holy.
