This General Conference Odyssey post covers the Saturday afternoon session of October 1982.
In this session, I am pulling out three of the talks: “Run, Boy, Run!” by Thomas S. Monson, “LDS Hymns—Worshiping with Song” by Franklin D. Richards, and “The Seven Christs” by Bruce R. McConkie. As I was trying to come up with a post title, it occurred to me that I was talking about Him, Hymns, and HIM. Sorry for the pun, but you’ll see how fitting it all is as you read on.
Him
What is happening to our men, and those boys we are raising? They get put down, displaced, and victimized almost as much as women do. We need to allow and encourage our boys and men to be men of God.
Everyone knows of Elder Monson’s great love for scouting. His talk reminds us how Scouting was meant to be a builder of boys. Scouting honed the great qualities that would make a boy grow into a man of character.
But once again, the world has twisted something good into something of little worth. With the demise of the Boy Scouts of America, considering bankruptcy because of all the sexual assault allegations, they clearly are not what Elder Monson was referring to in his talk 37 years ago.
Turning to the Book of Mormon for the answer, we can hear Lehi’s pleading voice to his wayward sons.
“Arise from the dust, my sons, and be men. … Awake, my sons; put on the armor of righteousness. Shake off the chains with which ye are bound. … Rebel no more against your brother, whose views have been glorious, and who hath kept the commandments from the time that we left Jerusalem; and who hath been an instrument in the hands of God” (2 Nephi 1:21-24).
What mother doesn’t want her sons to grow up to be Nephi, Captain Moroni, Teancum, even Gideon, that unsung hero (Alma 1:7-9). There are many heroes in the Book of Mormon, but it is the pleading words of Mormon that call us all to repentance.
“For behold, this is written for the intent that ye may believe that; and if ye believe that ye will believe this also; and if ye believe this ye will know concerning your fathers, and also the marvelous works which were wrought by the power of God among them” (Mormon 7:9).
Hymns
Elder Richard’s talk, on our glorious hymns, reminds us of how important it is to praise in song the love we have for our Savior, our prophets, and our journey back home.
It makes me a little sad that we won’t be singing in our Relief Societies anymore. In fact, it almost throws me into a depression because I’m not sure Sacrament Meeting invites us to sing praises as fervently as we could.
A ward we attended had a music chorister who would stop us if we did the “sloppy singing.” She’d put her hands up and lecture us.
“These hymns praise Jesus and are an offered prayer to Him. We need to sing as if we actually love our Savior. Now, let’s try this again!”
Seeing the words we’re singing, whether we can carry a tune or not, give us voice to magnificent declarations of truth, a sincere beauty of our devotion, and an exhilarating power of testimony.
HIM
When President Nelson asked the women (and all members of the church) to read the Book of Mormon with an eye for all the references of Jesus Christ, many women regained the fire of their testimony of the Only Begotten Son of our Heavenly Father. Reading about Him reminds us that Heavenly Father has a plan for our lives and that Jesus Christ has already paid the price that we might repent and return to them.
Bruce R. McConkie lists seven ways in which Christ’s work blesses our lives. What a powerful declaration and reminder to us of what life is really about.
One of the purposes of Relief Society is to testify of Jesus Christ. When we gather, our conversation about Him can offer a power that will help us over those difficult climbs of life. May our lessons, nay, our discussions, on Sundays focus on the power He freely grants us as we share our testimonies with one another.
Painting of Nephi by Jeremy Windborg