From http://www.lds.org:
To help members of your Relief Society or quorum discuss Elder Bednar’s message, you could put pictures on the board to represent the Sabbath, the temple, and our homes. Invite members to read the corresponding sections of Elder Bednar’s message and write on the board how the Sabbath day, the temple, and our homes help us focus on God’s promises to us. What things in our lives might pull our attention away from these promises? What steps can we take to make sure that we remember them?
The Sabbath day
Thus, on the Sabbath we worship the Father in the name of the Son by participating in ordinances and learning about, receiving, remembering, and renewing covenants. On His holy day, our thoughts, actions, and demeanor are signs we give to God and an indicator of our love for Him.
Why has the Lord given us holy days such as the Sabbath?
Why have holidays developed among different nations and cultures? What are the differences in purpose between holidays and holy days?
If the anticipation and enthusiasm individuals feel about a holiday could be directed toward the Sabbath day, what might be the effect on the individual? On the community?
When we talk about keeping the Sabbath day holy, we often think of those things we should not do on the Sabbath. Many times we will make an elaborate list of things that we consider in violation of the Spirit of Sabbath worship. Perhaps some of us would define Sabbath worship by the absence of certain behaviors. The Lord, it would seem, has a different definition. While we might define Sabbath worship with a list of don’ts, the Lord defines Sabbath worship with a list of do’s. What should we do?
- Go to the house of prayer
- Offer up thy sacraments upon my holy day
- Rest from your labors
- Pay thy devotions unto the Most High
- Offer thine oblations and thy sacraments unto the Most High
- Confess thy sins unto thy brethren, and before the Lord
- Prepare food with singleness of heart
The temple
A principal purpose of the temple is to elevate our vision from the things of the world to the blessings of eternity. Removed for a short time from the worldly settings with which we are familiar, we can “look to God and live”by receiving and remembering the great and precious promises whereby we become partakers of the divine nature.
“It is my personal priority to make sure members of the Church have access to the blessings of the temple. It is here where members learn of their divine origin and destiny; where they are strengthened spiritually as individuals and as families. Temples are sanctuaries from the storms of life.”
‘Until you have entered the house of the Lord and have received all the blessings which await you there, you have not obtained everything the Church has to offer. The all-important and crowning blessings of membership in the Church are those blessings which we receive in the temples of God.’ (Thomas S Monson, General Conference, April 2011)
What are some of the blessings that you have received in the temples of God?
What can we do to make time to serve and worship in the temple?
Our homes
Importantly, a home should be the ultimate combination of time and space wherein individuals and families remember most effectively God’s great and precious promises. Leaving our homes to spend time in Sunday meetings and to enter the sacred space of a temple is vital but insufficient. Only as we bring the spirit and strength derived from those holy activities back with us into our homes can we sustain our focus upon the great purposes of mortal life and overcome the corruption that is in the world. Our Sabbath and temple experiences should be spiritual catalysts that imbue individuals and families and our homes with continual reminders of key lessons learned, with the presence and power of the Holy Ghost, with ongoing and deepening conversion to the Lord Jesus Christ, and with “a perfect brightness of hope” in God’s eternal promises.
How might these truths affect how we think about the Sabbath, temples and the home? How do they link together?
How can we bring the spirit felt by attending Church and attending the temple back into our homes?
See Elder Bednar’s facebook page
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