This Saturday and Sunday, April 5-6, 2008, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will have the privilege of hearing from their prophet, apostles, and other leaders of the Church. In addition, one of the sessions will be a Solemn Assembly (although I have not seen any announcement of this). The purpose of this Solemn Assembly is so the membership of the Church can sustain a new prophet of the Lord. By sustaining the President, members of the Church signify their willingness to heed his counsel, as the Lord admonished the Saints in Joseph Smith’s time:
“Thou shalt give heed unto all his words and commandments which he shall give unto you as he receiveth them, walking in all holiness before me;
“For his word ye shall receive, as if from mine own mouth, in all patience and faith.” (D&C 21:4–5.)
When President Gordon B. Hinckley spoke in the solemn assembly of the April 1986 general conference, he called the meeting “a tremendously significant and sacred occasion for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints throughout the world.” (Ensign, May 1986, p. 73.)
How might we prepare for such a significant and sacred event?
The first solemn assembly of our dispensation was announced in connection with the commandment to build the Kirtland Temple. The Lord instructed the Saints to “sanctify [themselves] that [their] minds [would] become single to God,” and to “cast away [their] idle thoughts” and their “excess of laughter.”
Have you given any thought to how you might prepare for the upcoming Solemn Assembly? What might you anticipate, experience, or what do you seek from the Lord? Do you have any memories of previous Solemn Assemblies? Do you have a journal entry from any other Solemn Assemblies?
(see Ensign, Dec. 1988, 53-54)
“Thou shalt give heed unto all his words and commandments which he shall give unto you as he receiveth them, walking in all holiness before me;
“For his word ye shall receive, as if from mine own mouth, in all patience and faith.” (D&C 21:4–5.)
When President Gordon B. Hinckley spoke in the solemn assembly of the April 1986 general conference, he called the meeting “a tremendously significant and sacred occasion for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints throughout the world.” (Ensign, May 1986, p. 73.)
How might we prepare for such a significant and sacred event?
The first solemn assembly of our dispensation was announced in connection with the commandment to build the Kirtland Temple. The Lord instructed the Saints to “sanctify [themselves] that [their] minds [would] become single to God,” and to “cast away [their] idle thoughts” and their “excess of laughter.”
Have you given any thought to how you might prepare for the upcoming Solemn Assembly? What might you anticipate, experience, or what do you seek from the Lord? Do you have any memories of previous Solemn Assemblies? Do you have a journal entry from any other Solemn Assemblies?
(see Ensign, Dec. 1988, 53-54)
1 comment:
I watched the solemn assembly with a friend's family in Virginia, and they got to teach their five- and three-year-old sons about what it means to sustain a new prophet. The boys were cute in waiting their turn to stand up and raise their hands, and it reminded me of the special-ness of the occasion, and our privilege in the Church of sustaining new leaders.
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