Hello again, everyone! In a letter from the Young Men and Young Women General Presidencies which was sent to leaders around the world, the 2019 Mutual Theme was announced. The theme comes from the words of the Savior in John 14:15, which reads: "If ye love me, keep my commandments." A simple and concise yet powerful injunction, which the leaders hope the youth will keep in mind this year as activities are planned and carried out, and as the Come, Follow Me curriculum is discussed every Sunday. You can read more about this development here.
Two additional Church News stories are significant as well. This one highlights remarks from BYU professor Lori L. Wadsworth, who highlighted 7 ways each of us can recognize the divinity of others. C. S. Lewis, in his "The Weight of Glory", was quoted as saying "It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which,if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship." It is a wonderful thought that each of us has a divine nature, heritage, and potential, and the remarks shared during this devotional exemplify these principles.
For those of us who are Church members, we either directly know someone or know someone who knows someone who has, through no fault of their own, had to come home early from their missionary service. One such individual, now a player for an NFL team, shared his experience in that regard, and some insights into how all of us can help such individuals.
I continue to monitor all Church news and temple updates and will pass those along to you all as I receive word of them. I should also note that I am still working on combining the two lists of temple locations, and once I get that done (within the next 2-3 days or so), I will publish that here, so stay tuned for that.
That does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated. Thank you for the privilege of your time. If you enjoyed what you read here and would like to stay informed about newly-added content, please feel free to subscribe. Until my next post, I wish each one of you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.
Wednesday, August 1, 2018
2019 Mutual Theme Announced
I have had a lifelong love for Church history, which has extended to ongoing reports of the ministry of our apostles and prophets, General Conference, and all temple developments. This blog enables me to share that love with all who read my thoughts on these developments, which are sometimes reported multiple times per day as needed.
2 comments:
In addition to my life-long love for the subjects which I cover in the posts of this blog, I have long held the belief that we can disagree without becoming disagreeable. Differences of opinion are natural, while being disagreeable in expressing those differences is not. And in that sense, I have no desire to close the door on anyone who earnestly desires to contribute to the ongoing dialogue on subjects covered in the posts on this blog.
At the same time, however, I recognize that we live in a time when incivility, discourtesy, unkindness, and even cyber-bullying has regrettably become part of online interactions. With that in mind, while anyone who wishes can comment on anything if they choose to do so, I hereby reserve the right to immediately delete any comments which are critical, unkind, lack civility, or promote prodcuts, services, and values contrary to either the Church, or to the rules of online etiquette.
I'd also like to remind all who comment here that I try to respond personally to each individual comment as I feel is appropriate. Such replies are not meant to end the conversation, but to acknowledge earnest feedback as it is submitted.
And in order to better preserve the spirit and pure intentions for which this blog was established, I also hereby request that anyone not commenting with a regular user name (particularly those whose comments appear under the "Unknown" or "Anonymous" monikers, give the rest of us a name to work with in addressing any replies. If such individuals do not wish to disclose their actual given names, a pseudonym or nickname would suffice.
Any comments made by individuals who opt to not give a name by which they can ber identified may, depending on the substance and tone of such comments, be subject to deletion as well. I would respectfully ask that all of us do all we can to keep the dialogue positive, polite, and without malice or ill-will. May the Lord bless us all in our discussion of these important matters.
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Thank you for the updates. I am interested in the mutual curriculum becuase I have a teenager in the home. I like the story about the NFL player who returned to full activity in the church. It is important to embrace all our members eepeciaesp those who return early from missions. They may already feel bad and embarrassed and need love and support during thier trying times. We need to treat all people as children of God. We need to be the best neighbors we can be.
ReplyDeleteThank you for taking time to comment, Chris! I always appreciate hearing from you. Interesting that you have a teenager. My wife has often remarked that she is old enough to have a teenager as well.
DeleteI always look forward to the time of year when the Mutual theme is announced. But it has seemed that we have seen quite a few announcements lately that have been made earlier this year than they typically have been made in previous years. But with a vibrantly-healthy tech-savvy prophet who comes from a generation that prizes hard, fast, and efficient work, it is not surprising that we are seeing such announcements sooner than we otherwise would.
Having known a number of missionaries that, through no fault of their own, had to return home early, I understand how they might feel that their service is somehow less valuable to the Lord than it would have been had they served for their fully-assigned period.
I know that, even now, having been excused from full-time missionary service due to my lifelong health issues and having been given two great part-time opportunities to serve on a part-time basis, there have been times in my own life where I wonder if I could have done more, and if the Lord accepted the rendered service in place of the service I could not give. But in such times, I am reminded of the statements from Church leaders that it is not where you serve but how that is important.
The same holds true for those who have to return home early. Sometimes the Lord needs them to learn more from the issues that sent them home than they might otherwise learn if they had been able to finish their assigned service.
The misunderstood, the marginalized, and those who carry burdens we cannot see are definitely worthy of and need our understanding, respect, and appreciation. As my wife and I have continued to deal with health challenges for the last couple of years, it has always been a comfort to us when people have taken time to understand our situation. We have also unfortunately been misjudged at times by those who do not understand our situation and do not take time to learn more about it.
That is one of many reasons I have added the statement that appears at the foot of these posts, which outlines the ideals which I hope continue to govern the tone of the conversations here. One of our hymns rightly observes that "in the quiet heart is hidden sorrow that the eye can't see."
The need for civility and greater kindness is more imminent now than it ever has been. Enough of this world is so messed up that discord in the public discourses produces very little and, if anything, creates more issues than it solves. We unfortunately are seeing that in abundance here in the United States with the bipartisan bickering and a president who seems to know very little about diplomacy, civility, or kindness.
but I digress, and I don't want to make this too political. My point is that there is enough incivility and unkindness in the public domain that none of us can afford to also be uncivil or unkind to those in our families, neighborhoods, and religious congregations.
The Lord has commanded us to be one, and we are seeing the Church take major steps towards greater Church-wide unity, to encourage civility, and to correct anything that is out of harmony with the Lord's will from occurring in His Church. And that ideal is something which, in my opinion, the world as a whole should work towards more fully and ultimately embrace. Thanks again for taking time to comment, Chris!