President Boyd K. Packer passes away/Other Church News

Many of you have heard the news by now, but President Boyd K. Packer passed away today from causes incident to age. He was 90 years old and was serving as President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles at the time of his passing. He becomes the second apostle to pass away this year, the first being Elder L. Tom Perry on May 31. With his passing, Elder Russell M. Nelson succeeds President Packer as the President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. And that now leaves two vacancies in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Those vacancies could be filled at any time, but most likely will be taken care of during the October General Conference. It has been 11 years since two members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles died within a short time of each other. I  mused over an interesting bit of trivia regarding President Packer's passing. Now the two most senior apostles are separated in age by 3 years (President Monson will be 88 on August 21, and President Nelson turns 91 on September 9), but their ordinations to the apostleship took place a little over 20 years apart (President Monson in October 1963, and President Nelson in April 1984). This is the longest time span between the ordination of the two most senior apostles in the history of the Church especially in light of the fact that they are so close in age.

The question of who might fill the vacancies in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles still remains. I will, of course, support and sustain fully the two newest apostles as much as I tried to sustain President Packer and Elder Perry. But I personally would love to see a couple of younger men,  with perhaps one or both of them being international. It will be interesting to see whom the Lord calls.

There have also been one or two other items of Church-related news that I wanted to touch on briefly in this post. The leaders of the Church at the top level have called for better observances of the Lord's holy day, Sunday. The Newsroom article on that subject states: "Recommendations include wider participation in planning worship services and holding these sacrament meetings and other classes. Elder Ballard said the proposed changes are recommendations that may be adapted to local needs. 'We have to maintain flexibility. The Church all over the world has different circumstances.'"

A committee made up of four members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (though the article didn't reveal which apostles were on the committee) and the Presidency of the Seventy is also on the committee. One major change the committee is asking local Church leaders to do is for bishoprics to involve the ward council in the planning of Sacrament Meetings. Elder L. Whitney Clayton, who is the 2nd most senior member of the Presidency of the Seventy, said, "The contribution of all ward council members will add spiritual insight to the plans being considered by bishoprics, while bishoprics will be responsible for approval of plans. There's a great deal of freedom to move within that recommendation. What we hope is that bishoprics will bring in suggested plans for sacrament meetings, out into the future — we're talking two, three months out into the future — and that members of the ward council will offer suggestions. They may have a suggestion about who should speak or a refinement about a particular topic or a suggestion about a hymn." The committee has suggested that among other appropriate Sabbath Day activities are: doing acts of service, reading the scriptures and spending time with family.

“What we hope is that the Sabbath will become a delight for people at home, that they'll love what happens in their homes on Sunday. It will be a time to draw apart from the world, to just give ourselves some rest from the things that are always before our eyes the other days of the week, with the work week, all the things we worry about. And then on the Sabbath we could think about the Savior. What we hope is that the Sabbath will become a delight for people at home, that they'll love what happens in their homes on Sunday. It will be a time to draw apart from the world, to just give ourselves some rest from the things that are always before our eyes the other days of the week, with the work week, all the things we worry about. And then on the Sabbath we could think about the Savior.”

Sister Rosemary M. Wixom is quoted as saying: “When we consider that is His day, then what we do is in connection to Him and for Him. But that doesn't mean we can't load our children in our cars and go visit grandparents or family or relatives. It doesn't mean that we can't take time to laugh together.” Additional Sunday-appropriate activities could include writing in journals and to missionaries, as well as sharing the numerous resources the Church has available online with family. The news release shares a couple of great quotes from Elder Russell M. Nelson's April 2015 General Conference talk, "The Sabbath is a Delight". I would encourage all my readers to review that address.

The news release says, "Training on improving Sabbath day worship and gospel learning within families was given to general authorities, area seventies and general auxiliary presidencies during the week of general conference. That training is now being extended to the level of local congregations as training occurs throughout the year. "Training materials focused on improving Sabbath day worship at church and in the home are being distributed to local leaders for upcoming leadership meetings; the principles will then be taught to the full membership of each congregation." Thus ends the news release.

I am grateful for the emphasis that is being placed on Sunday as being a holy day. I hope that those who need to examine their Sabbath day observance will be benefited by this training that will take place. It is my hope and prayer that a reverence and respect for the Lord's holy day may be cultivated and enhanced. and my fervent testimony that blessings come from treating Sunday as a different day and not just another day like any other day of the week. That we may properly observe the Sabbath Day and reap the blessings that come from truly keeping the Lord's Day holy is my prayer as I close this blog post for now in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.