"We Can't Expect the Church to Provide Us Everything We Need to Know" | New Sunday Meeting Schedule

As we have this moment of adjustment in our Sunday pattern at church, what are some of the things that you think will help? >> Well, I'm going to go to 80,000 ft. Very overarching. Uh, every member of this church has an individual responsibility to study and learn the doctrine of Christ and then strive to apply it in their lives. We cannot expect the church as an institution to provide to us everything that we need to know. There's a price that each of us has to pay in terms of individual study. So, we go to worship the Father in the name of the Son. We go to participate in the ordinance of the sacrament. And we go to learn. I think we can characterize the change in the meeting schedule in a series of very simple questions. When I was a boy, young man, you would go to church on Sunday. You would come home and the discussion question would be, "What did you learn at church today?" I think that world is gone to a degree. I think now we return home from church and what did you share at church today that you learned during the week? So, we study daily. We study personally. We do that all during the week. And then on Sunday we have the opportunity to counsel together about what we are learning. So, I think it all speaks to home-centered church-supported and ongoing opportunities to learn for ourself. >> When you think of preparing for the sacrament meeting, anything stand out, anything particularly important in in our preparation. >> Yes. We can always retain a remission of our sins. I think many members of the church uh believe that when we're baptized, we are cleansed and that if we mess up, we've blown our chance. We have the opportunity as we evaluate our lives reflect, repent prepare. The ordinance of the sacrament, the eating of the bread and the water, does not remit sins. And some members think that. So, as we consider our preparation to participate in the ordinance of the sacrament and our repentance that's how we access the blessings of the Savior's atoning sacrifice. He's our savior because he saves us from sin. He redeems us from death. But as we repent he forgives us. The repentance is a necessary step but it is the Lord Jesus Christ who forgives us of those sins. >> It really is him. What do we say to those who who accept that conceptually but think, "Oh, but not my sin." >> I would invite that person to read in Third Nephi chapter 11 where the Savior invites 2,500 people to come forth one by one to feel the wounds in his hands, his feet, and in his side. And as you read that just ask yourself the question, "Am I a one?" Because you are. Whoever may think, "No, that doesn't apply to me. That demonstration at the temple in the land of bountiful is the essence of him. That's who he is. He doesn't deal with congregations, he deals with ones. And every single soul is a one. >> Really beautiful. And I think of how that should make us feel. And the joy we should feel from that. This makes me think of the Lord's intercessory prayer. Recorded by John in John 17. And now come I to thee. And these things I speak in the world that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. Oh my goodness, shouldn't every sacrament meeting reflect this desire of the Lord's heart and his intercession? I'm so grateful. >> There are places in the Doctrine and Covenants where the savior will say thy sins are forgiven. And you read that and you go, oh I wish it happened to me. And the answer is it can. >> [clears throat] >> On an ongoing basis. You know, we think about attending meetings in church. This is not about attending meetings. This is about spiritual renewal and growth. >> Yeah. What I like to think of as getting a fresh start. The process of of feeling renewed and and feeling new again. And feeling forgiven. >> And if what we're describing is making sense, who would want to miss this? Is I am I going to sacrament meeting today? Who would miss this opportunity to receive these remarkable blessings? >> No one if we can create that climate. >> So, Elder Kearon, uh the guidelines say we have a 60-minute sacrament meeting and then a very brief time of 5 minutes to make it to our next uh transition. Any thoughts? Any counsel? Uh any instruction that you would give? >> I think it's it's a good opportunity to to help us focus on our Father in Heaven and and and Savior. To be very deliberate about that as as we plan and as we act and as we practice in sacrament meeting and in these classes and quorums. Um it does say up to 60 minutes. I don't think that means that we're looking for a a really curtailed sacrament meeting at all. I think that means up to 60 minutes and when we think about that, let it be wonderful. Let us practice and experience this until it is wonderful and beautiful. Let the singing be transformed. Let us choose hymns that people can sing in a key that they can sing and let us let us have a tempo that encourages encourages us to sing energetically. Let us pray and remember our Savior Jesus Christ. Let every talk be focused on on Jesus Christ or every experience be connected with our faith. And and and so on. Right from the welcome to the closing prayer. >> So, if we come asking, seeking, knocking, we will always find edification in a sacrament meeting. >> It's true. And I've learned in terms of that acting that one of the things we can do is very keenly listen to the people who are speaking and praying, to very keenly listen to them. That involves for me looking at them and actively thinking about what they're saying at the time they're saying it and and um being sensitive to any impressions that I'm feeling at the time. I think that's one of the things you might mean by acting in that situation. >> Yeah. And there's a responsibility on those who are organizing sacrament meetings, the bishopric, the branch presidency, so that they help people understand that the focus is on the doctrine of Christ, the Father's plan, the Savior's role in the Father's plan, other gospel principles that would be appropriately articulated. That doesn't just happen. That has to be uh created. >> Does >> Doesn't just pop out of nowhere. >> I thrill at the thought of us feeling the love of Jesus Christ every Sabbath day, particularly in our sacrament hour, and also in our classes and quorums. I thrill at the thought of us focusing more deliberately, more keenly on our Savior Jesus Christ, and understanding his role at the heart of our Father in Heaven's plan of happiness. I pray that you'll be blessed as as you experience this, as you experiment with this, and that you'll feel great love, and great joy, and bring your friends to feel the same every Sabbath day, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. >> Brothers and sisters, we're grateful to be able to spend these few minutes with you. I've lived long enough to remember when I attended primary on a Wednesday. On Sunday we attended Sunday School and priesthood in the morning. We would go home. We would come back to the church later in the day for sacrament meeting. I remember the adjustments that were made in the 1980s. Uh this ongoing adjustment uh is a part of addressing the needs of the church all across the globe. So, change is the essence of the gospel. Repentance is change. Learning is change. This is an opportunity for us to continue to improve and grow in how we use the time on the Sabbath day when we gather as Latter-day Saints. I joyfully declare my witness that God, the Eternal Father, is our Father, and He lives. He is the author of the plan of happiness. Jesus Christ is His beloved and only begotten Son. And He fulfilled the atoning and redeeming role in the Father's plan. I witness that these things are true, and I promise that as we use our time as individuals and families to study and learn the gospel, and when we gather together on the Sabbath day, the doctrine of Christ will distill upon our souls as the dews from heaven, and we will have enduring joy. In the sacred name of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen.