You know how some people get overboard in anticipation for the Super Bowl? Well, I am like that with General Conference for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Wasn't conference great? Now I'm in the reviewing and application zone. This has been especially interesting to me in light of last Sunday's events. Let me explain.
This past Sunday I sang with an on-campus Methodist church choir because 1) I had already learned their most difficult song with Oratorio Society and 2) our half-Mormon, half-Methodist acquaintance pointed out in his invitation to me that quite a few members of this congregation have visited ours. Now, I generally avoid visiting other churches (for reasons I won't go into here), and I was a bit nervous to bring my family along since I didn't know quite what to expect. But it was a lovely service and several of the sermons mentioned things I was already studying. The Spirit was able to help me stay engaged and learn things. Also, they made good use of their printed programs so it was easy to follow along even as a visitor.
They have a time near the beginning of the service where all the children come sit on the steps up front with one of the pastors to have a brief discussion in response to a story, etc. So the children sort of help give the sermon. This time it was based on a video I had seen on Facebook. Anyway, Victoria did that and then afterward went to their Sunday School while Greg and I stayed for and/or performed in the rest of the meeting. She liked it and they didn't teach her anything obviously different from what we believe. If anything some of their teachings are less direct and focused than what we receive in our church.
Their main sermon, Breakfast With Jesus, and came after someone read John 21:1-19. Elder Jeffrey R. Holland spoke on this story a few General Conferences ago, so snippets of his commentary kept coming to my mind. The take home point of the visiting Methodist pastor was, “Now that we've experienced the glory of Easter last week [and General Conference], have we tried to go back to normal?” Like the New Testament apostles and also like Adam and Eve once they partook of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, “they were changed. They couldn't go back to their old normal and neither should we.” How do you avoid the temptation to settle back into old habits? Consider some of your most life changing events (maybe even read about them in your journal.) Did the change last?
Getting Back on Track
There's a great article in this month's Ensign about knowing if God's directions make sense and whether or not it could be because we're too off track to follow them. This is something that is near and dear to my heart but that I have trouble expressing, so I was grateful for the simple parable of navigating through France on ones bike. Thinking about staying on track, we ought to consider President Monson's remarks from this most recent General Conference. Do you know where you want to go? Are you on track to get there? What do you do if you're not?
I once had a discussion with my sister in-law, Jani, about a discussion she had with some of her church friends about how studying the scriptures can be like the habit of flossing and brushing your teeth. You may have a goal to improve your quality and frequency and to be consistent. But if you mess up and have a bad day, week or even month, you wouldn’t give up and say, “Well, I’m just not very good and brushing my teeth. I’ll do it when I can or whenever I remember but doing it everyday is not that important.” NO! You would keep trying to improve and you would realize that you won’t be able to see and feel just how much of a difference your actions are making. Because much like brushing your teeth and flossing, scripture study has subtle yet significant blessings that affect us immediately but also help preserve and protect our future. So let’s get practical here...
If you're reading this please consider answering how you review General Conference and/or how you get back on track spiritually?
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