Elder David A. Bednar (one of the 12 Apostles in our church) was the main speaker. This morning, he came to sacrament meeting with all 3 YSA wards in the Springs (a combined meeting). He and his wife both spoke to us.
Sister Bednar spoke first. She talked a lot about the importance of keeping the Sabbath day holy. She reminded us of Jesus speaking to His disciples outside the Garden of Gethsemane, "Could ye not watch with me one hour?" Are we making Him a priority on the Sabbath day? She shared a great quote from Elder Mark E. Petersen, a former Apostle who has passed away: "Our observance or nonobservance of the Sabbath is an unerring measure of our attitude toward the Lord personally and toward his suffering in Gethsemane, his death on the cross, and his resurrection from the dead. It is a sign of whether we are Christians in very deed, or whether our conversion is so shallow that commemoration of his atoning sacrifice means little or nothing to us."
Elder Bednar directed most of his talk to a brand new convert from the Cheyenne Mountain YSA Ward who got confirmed today. He talked a lot about the importance of ordinances, like he did in his last conference talk. He said SO MANY amazing things, but here are a few highlights from my notes:
- We must be baptized both by water and by fire. Baptism by fire is not a one time thing--it is an ongoing process throughout our entire life.
- If we want to know the most important things Jesus taught, we should study the 4 gospels--specifically what comes after Jesus says, "My time is at hand." Essentially He was saying that He was about to die, and of course you share your most important messages right before you die. Elder Bednar challenged us to make a list of Jesus's teachings after that point, and also after He comes to visit the Nephites in 3 Nephi. He said we should compare the lists after and notice when things were taught in a particular order. In both cases, the first thing taught was about the importance of ordinances and proper authority (the sacrament in the New Testament, and proper authority and baptism in 3 Nephi).
- You can't come to know Christ without ordinances.
- The gospel is very simple--and that is evidence that it comes from God, because things created by human minds tend to be very complex.
- He reminded us of the scripture D&C 84:20-"Therefore, in the ordinances thereof, the power of godliness is manifest."
- Part of the power of godliness is the Atonement. He reminds us that in Nephi's vision of the tree of life, the tree represents Christ and the fruit on the tree represents the love of God. He said that God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son--the fruit on the tree also represents the blessings of the Atonement.
- Ordinances aren't rituals, but doorways.
- Once we covenant to take Christ's name upon us at baptism, our agency becomes representative. In other words, we should do Christ's will, not our own, and when we decide to break our covenants--to stop paying tithing or to break the word of wisdom--that's not just exercising our agency, it's denying our responsibility. It's very serious.
- The priesthood is not male. The priesthood is the authority of God. He made the analogy (I think he said he got it from Elder Oaks?) that the priesthood is an umbrella. Everyone who stands underneath it receives its blessings--it is for everyone. For some reason, in this life, men are called to hold the umbrella. They hold the umbrella, but they are not the umbrella! He doesn't like it when people say, "We'd like to thank the Aaronic Priesthood for blessing and passing the sacrament." The Aaronic priesthood didn't bless and pass, the boys holding the Aaronic priesthood did. We have to be careful with wording things that way, because then people start to think that men are the priesthood.
- Don't overshoot the mark. You don't need to go fast for 30 days ("That's not fasting. Actually, you'll die.") Just fast one Sunday a month as we've been counseled for 30 months (in other words, on a continuous basis). You don't need to read the Book of Mormon in 5 days--read it every day consistently for 5 years. Remember the principle of line upon line, precept upon precept. Often we believe that principle but somehow we don't think it applies to our own lives.
- When he was president of BYU-Idaho, they held question and answer sessions with students. One girl said she was discouraged because she was nothing like Sister Hinckley (the wife of the prophet, at that time). He said, "How old are you?" "Twenty." "Well, Sister Hinckley is 90. She should be 70 years ahead of you." Don't make those kinds of comparisons that get you down on yourself!
- Finally--we hear so much that we are a chosen generation, saved for the last days. He said, essentially, if we've saved for the last days, don't murmur about the challenges that we face in our day! If we've saved for the last days, we have a lot of work to do!
He also said that yesterday, he met with several cadets, and he asked them what they needed to hear at their baccalaureate service. One asked about leadership. Elder Bednar called up a man from the stand that I didn't recognize, someone he'd greeted enthusiastically before the meeting. His name was Ted Parsons--he was the first cadet to leave the Air Force Academy on a mission, and then get readmitted. He was a pioneer that opened the pathway for future missionaries to serve both the Lord and their country. At the Baccalaureate service, we heard a little more of President Parsons' story (he's a stake president now). The Academy told him they would not let him back in if he served a mission, but when he reapplied, they realized he was 10th in his class at the Academy, 6'7", and a great basketball player. They let him back, and he graduated number 1 in his class. Basically, he was a talented individual that I think was sent to the Academy at that time to open up missionary work for future cadets.
Elder Bednar said he doesn't usually do this, but he had all the returned missionary cadets stand up. That was a very powerful moment, looking out and seeing that President Parsons' decision as a young man had lead to this--to so many missionaries after him being able to leave the Academy for their missions. When President Parsons made his decision to serve, I don't think he realized the long term repercussions. It was very inspiring. Elder Bednar called President Parsons up to speak to us for a few minutes. He bore a very powerful testimony that if we do what the Lord wants us to do, everything else would work out.
Elder Bednar blessed us to never forget what we saw, felt, and learned about leadership from President Parsons' example.
So, that was sacrament meeting. Later in the afternoon, we went to the Baccalaureate Service. The Chapel on the Academy is gorgeous. Here's a few pics.
Elder Bednar's talk there was, of course, geared specifically to the graduating seniors. Some of the highlights:
- Memorial Day weekend--we are celebrate those who gave everything for the blessings we now enjoy, including freedom of religion.
- As we take a step into the dark, our pathway will be illuminated for our next step, and then our next.
- "With faith, everything will work out."-President Hinckley
- When Elder Bednar was president of Ricks, President Hinckley called him to say, "I've been thinking..." The prophet told him they needed to convert Ricks from a 2 year college into a 4 year university, which they would call Brigham Young University-Idaho. Elder Bednar said yes of course, what should he do? "Make it happen." He was basically on his own to figure it out. But he did. It only took 4 years--a miracle. God guided his steps, line upon line.
- There is always help from heaven. Exercise faith in Christ and trust His promises and everything will work out. If your lives and faith are centered on Christ, nothing can go permanently wrong.
- The basic test of life is: when you don't know what to do, how do you figure it out?
- Look to Nephi when he was building the ship. He'd probably never even seen a ship before. He turned to the Lord for instruction and guidance, and he built the ship.
- The US Department of Labor (I think?) predicts that today's grads (not military grads, of course) will hold 10-16 jobs by age 38. By then we'll need skills that don't exist yet. When Elder Bednar started teaching, there was no internet. Now people our age can barely remember life before the internet. Things will continue to change at a rapid clip. In another 25 years, they will be very different.
- The blessings of the Atonement are tangible, not abstract.
- Captain Moroni became Captain at 25, close to these graduating cadets' age. He's the kind of man they should strive to be.
- Do all you can do, and God will increase your capacity.
He blessed the cadets that D&C 6 "Look unto me in every thought, doubt not, fear not" would become more than words on a page to them--they will be embedded in their souls.
And he says he'll probably see them in his travels in the future, and they should come up and give him a hug (even if someone tries to stop them!) and tell him they were at the first LDS Baccalauraeate service at the Academy. :)
It was an amazing Sunday! And then Shauna and I finished off strong by going to Granny's for a Memorial Day family dessert night. Karl and Melanie and their kids were there, and Natalie, Marcia, Jared, and Summer.
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