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A little administrative thing, but I like the conducting of different sessions being spread around the Q12. Elder Stephenson: The effect of the light of Jesus Christ. We try to shine and share that light. Come unto Christ more fully. All adjustments have this focus, including the “visual identifier” (logo). (The shown symbol is in a non-English language.) Jesus standing under the arch represents the resurrection.
Celebrating the “season of Easter” as the primary worship focus, not just the day. “the most important holiday” Still a work in progress. Religious images, not just eggs and bunnies. Palm Sunday, Good Friday, etc. All who have ever lived will be resurrected. (This is the most direct statement of truly universal resurrection I have heard, and it refutes the idea of “Sons of Perdition” who are born but end up in Hell with Satan. That is huge, theologically.)
Sister Wright: Morality comes from archetypes, and Jesus is the best archetype. The Sermon on the Mount is the best description of the attributes of God. After Bread of Life sermon, many stopped following Jesus. Our faith must be centered on Jesus and his true character and nature. Conversion needs to be one-by-one. How can that happen in our lives and the lives of our children? Do they see Him in us?
“The Covenant Path” is meant to help us become like Jesus. “Doers of the word and not heaters only.” It should be joyful.
Conversion is measured by change in us. “Infuse the light of Jesus Christ into every corner of our lives.” The focus is personal change.
This Jesus is not fictional or symbolic.
“We are worth saving.”
I loved this talk.
Elder James R. Rasband: D&C 109 – a plan of mercy (with a focus on missionaries, but applied to all) God empowers us in a sacred way. Time in the temple is meant to soften our hearts and help us understand mercy. “Manifest myself to my people in mercy.”
Mercy in the covenants. All blessings are manifestations of mercy. Plan of happiness because of mercy.
In Sacred Grove, Joseph cried for mercy. Moroni’s appearance followed prayer for forgiveness. Other examples of same experiences.
We tend to shorthand the promise at the end of then Book of Mormon. Moroni 10:3-4 is about remembering and pondering mercy, BEFORE the promise of v. 5. (I have said that for many years, and I loved the mention in this talk.)
Some struggle to believe the promise of an answer to prayer. Ponder about God’s mercy. “I hope you feel what I felt.”
I absolutely LOVED this talk.
Elder Vargas: Saw my life and purpose change after my baptism. Salmon have a powerful guidance system. (like an internal GPS) We have that same kind of GPS: the light of Christ.
Remember our divine nature when faced with challenges.
“I know how strong the hooks of uncertainty can be.” Story of tipping point in his life and advice to focus on Christ. (“Go after him. He is important to me.”)
“Jesus is our heavenly guidance system.” He is known as a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
Mention of two of his children who require daily care for the rest of their lives. We believe the impossible will be possible.
This is a good, solid talk.
Elder Christofferson: Story of the wise men going to Herod to worship the new king. Meant falling down and offering expensive gifts. What does it mean to us? 1) Actions: Gather to perform acts of devotion on Sabbath. Dress respectfully but modestly. Reverent conduct. Participate not just listen. Other elements of worship. Not to be entertained. Worship, not just attend. Studied list of things to do and not do, but realized it isn’t about lists but what sign we want to give. (I like that this framing opens other things as appropriate, not just church stuff, even if that wasn’t said explicitly.) Worship outside of church, including charitable acts. “Living in thanksgiving daily”
2) Gratitude and service: Striving to follow example of Jesus.
3) Exclusivity of worship: Worship only God, not other things/beings/people that often are worshipped. example, “loyalty to party or cause” can be a form of worshipping a false cause. (SO glad that was said explicitly.)
4) Emulating the Father and the Son: That is the center of the Covenant Path. Repentance (change) is a form of worship.
This might be my favorite talk from Elder Christofferson.
nibbler wrote:
The Saturday afternoon session is just a bad session. I’d recommend skipping it entirely.
I’m glad it’s not just me. I felt like I was doing pretty well with the first session, but during the second session I started going downhill and feeling either more guilty and depressed or more angry (e.g., the abortion talk you mentioned).
🫤 I was mostly bored by Sunday morning’s session. It was difficult to focus. If I had to select one’s talk to listen to, I’d make it the one that the sister gave.
Oaks also spoke. Oaks is oaks. You know what to expect at this point. I only mention it because he spent a portion of his talk dedicated to people that leave, equating them with the five foolish virgins. Probably best to avoid his talk. Nothing new there.
I couldn’t watch the morning session, but my wife said she absolutely loved Sister Runia’s talk. She said it was exactly what she needed when she was a teenager. She is a TBM in many ways with heterodox views on some things. She said Pres. Oaks’ talk was “okay” until the end, and she said the way he explained the ten virgins (“delineating people who are modern unwise virgins”) absolutely ruined the talk for her. Definitely one for people here to skip.
From Sister Runia’s talk: “You are not the voice in your head. You are not the mistakes you have made.”
“Your worth is not tied to obedience, your worth is constant, it never changes, your worth is always great in the sight of God.”
Some individuals feel repentance works for everyone but them. They might wonder, “When I keep falling short, does God know I still love Him?”
“Distancing oneself from God after making a mistake and thinking that He is disappointed is not true. Likewise, waiting until an individual feels clean before going to the Savior misses the point.”
“God forgives without shame, comparison or scolding us because this is the same thing we were repenting of last week.”
“Jesus Christ is forever brighter than the darkness of shame and would never attack someone’s worth.”
I am going to watch this when I can.
I ended up watching more of conference than usual. For me, it was a mixed bag. Elder Uchtdorf always includes interesting anecdotes, as he did in his talk Saturday afternoon. Sunday morning got off to a bad start with Elder Bednar’s talk, which sounded as if it were aimed at people who are just hearing about church history for the first time, starting with the standard account of the first vision (never mind the inconsistencies among the various versions) and going on from there, touching on every sore spot I have with early church history. I found Elder Gong’s talk very uplifting. Overall, about what I expected. I assumed Bednar’s talk was intentionally aimed at non-members watching conference. That said, it’s going to be a slog if that talk becomes the subject of too many lessons on Sunday. We’ve already gone over that material so many times at church that it’s going to be difficult to make it engaging. Conference was conference. A small number of good talks. A small number of bad talks. A whole lot of talks that just aren’t particularly relevant to me.
In the end I didn’t really hear what I needed to hear during conference. Given what’s going on in the world, most of conference felt out of touch. I’m not sure what I’m going to do with those feelings.
Roy, During the Sunday afternoon session, Soares gave a talk where he shared a story about how he lost his second child that was born prematurely (towards the end of his talk). I just wanted to give you a heads up/warning about that talk.
nibbler wrote:
I assumed Bednar’s talk was intentionally aimed at non-members watching conference. That said, it’s going to be a slog if that talk becomes the subject of too many lessons on Sunday. We’ve already gone over that material so many times at church that it’s going to be difficult to make it engaging.Conference was conference. A small number of good talks. A small number of bad talks. A whole lot of talks that just aren’t particularly relevant to me.
In the end I didn’t really hear what I needed to hear during conference. Given what’s going on in the world, most of conference felt out of touch. I’m not sure what I’m going to do with those feelings.
I “saw” 3 of the 5 sessions (Saturday morning and both Sunday). For me they were more background noise than engaging, which actually pretty much sums up where the church is in my life at the moment.
I’ve heard the old “there’s a personal message for you in conference if you’re listening” (in its various forms) for over 40 years, including this past month. I’ve found it to be mostly untrue, and it has always been so. The only time I can say a message really struck me was Uchtdorf’s “Come, Join With Us” which is dated now and while I still hold to its truths I’m not so sure the church or current top three leaders do. Nelson has become nothing more than an announcer of new temples, not much prophesying, seeing, or revelating going on that I can see. Being disappointed in GC isn’t a new feeling for me.
I think that advice relies on people often finding what they’re looking for. If you’re listening to conference concentrating on getting answers to specific things, you’ll typically inject that meaning into conference rather than conference supplying the meaning directly. I guess it follows the same reasoning why we read the same scripture over and over again looking for new meaning, because what we bring to the table changes during the course of our lives and what we bring to the table changes our interpretations. Reviewing scripture/conference is more of a pretext to meditate on something and maybe we mine something out of the noise, maybe not.
DarkJedi wrote:
The only time I can say a message really struck me was Uchtdorf’s “Come, Join With Us”…
I can say the same. That was the first talk that really jumped out at me in a long time. It woke me up out of a slump and got me meditating on things again. Up until that talk I thought I was alone in my thoughts but that reactivated me in a way. Probably not the way Uchtdorf intended, but it reactivated me all the same.
Now the best conference can achieve is the occasional talk that will trigger me.
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