Wednesday, March 18, 2015
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Image v. Substance
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Aug. 21, 2007
I have one thought tonight. It is not as focused as I would like, but by and large it is all part of this same thought. My thought is that we can only be (emphasis on “be”) a true disciple of Christ—what I consider to be the highest mark of distinction— when we learn to emulate Him with all our heart, might, mind and strength and when we learn to do, think and desire the same things that He does.
We live in a world that puts a premium on image. We learn at any early age that appearing to be something often works when we feel that actually being that thing is asking a little too much.
Example, I am not a morning person. When I was young, my mother would have to constantly monitor me to make sure that I was right on schedule to make the bus. If my hair wasn’t combed and my shoes not on by 7:00, she would get after me — not a pleasant experience coming from my angel mother. I soon learned that by combing my hair and getting dressed long before I had eaten breakfast and brushed my teeth – things she couldn’t notice – I could trick her into thinking that I was further along than I really was. I was trying to have the image of something, when the substance wasn’t all that appealing to me.
But I am not the only one who struggles with this.
Americans spend thousands of dollars traveling to explore the intricacies of a foreign country and then when we get there, we stay in American hotels, speak English at the train station and eat at McDonalds. And when we return to the states, we tell our friends all about our “cultural experience.” It doesn’t matter that we missed the essence of the people and their culture; we got the image of being cultured when the substance of it all seemed less than comfortable.
The problem is that this doesn’t just apply to getting ready in the morning and travel plans; it has penetrated into the way we live the Gospel. We too, as Saints, have sometimes learned (from which source I am unsure) that the image will do when the substance of the matter is a little too demanding and stretches us a little too far.
Living the Gospel of Jesus Christ and becoming one of His disciples is not an activity, nor an event in which we temporarily or half-heartedly engage. The Savior wants and needs commitment. Indeed, it is the only way it can work. In a Gospel where the human soul is the only project on the Master’s mind, our going through the motions void of substance, becoming and consecration can never reach His desired ends.
As Elder Bednar said,
“In our customary Church vocabulary, we often speak of going to Church, going to the temple, and going on a mission. Let me be so bold as to suggest that our rather routine emphasis on going misses the mark. The issue is not going to church; rather it is worshipping and renewing covenants as we attend church. The issue is not going to or through the temple, rather, the issue is having in our hearts the spirit, the covenants, and the ordinances of the Lord’s house. The issue is not going on a mission, rather the issue is becoming a missionary and serving throughout our entire life with all of our heart might mind and strength. It is possible for a young man to go on a mission and not become a missionary, and this is not what the Lord requires or what the Church needs.”
My guess is that we have not fully realized this. We become so concerned with what others think about us that we forget that the only accountability that matters is the one held between us and God.
You see, there is no salvation in empty sacrifices, meaningless images and the opinion of others—either for those that we would have otherwise blessed had we sought to become who the Lord would have us be – or for ourselves individually.
Elder Bednar rightly places the issue on the substance of the matter rather than the image or going through the motions. It is the state of our heart, in many cases, that makes our offering acceptable to the Lord.
In the end, this problem of image and substance proved to be the major problem with ancient Saints in living the Law of Moses and especially the Law of Sacrifice.
As Elder Holland said,
“A fine man, a high priest, would teach his morning seminary class, and remember that it was the hour of sacrifice, and go up to the alter and offer his lamb and come down and scream at his wife and kick his kids and say, ‘I fulfilled my obligation. I stand before God with my hands clean and my lambs at the ready.’ And God in His heaven surely must have wept and shook His head one more time.”
“‘I desire mercy,’ says Jehovah, ‘not sacrifice. I am not really all that interested in dead little animals, but you somehow seem to forget the meaning behind the meaning; when I really wanted knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. Don’t sing. Don’t dance. Don’t do any more that you’re doing. You have not understood.”
And so the Lord tried a new sacrifice. The meaning is the same, but a new symbol is used.Instead of asking for the fat of lamb, He asks for a broken heart and a contrite spirit. This is the meaning of discipleship. It is submission and consecration. It means becoming. How do we do this? Yes, it is through partaking the sacrament, but as it was with the lambs, going through the motions cannot bring salvation.
Continuing from Elder Holland, “Cain was the first to learn this lesson. Abel sacrifices his lamb and Cain says, “You can have these tomatoes and bananas, but I’m not going to offer any lambs. I don’t have a lamb. They are going to have to be good enough.”
And the Lord patiently said, “It isn’t the tomatoes and the bananas. It isn’t even the lambs. What I need Cain is submissiveness and obedience. And in this case, symbolic remembrance of my gift.’ Cain says, ‘That’s tough. You can have these tomatoes and that banana or forget it.’
And he did not understand that tomatoes and a banana would not bleed and die for him. He didn’t understand that a lamb, going like a sheep to the shearer, would silently, sweetly, respectfully, bear Cain’s stripes and shoulder his burdens. You know what became of Cain. The danger is that some portion of that is what can come to so many of the human family, I suppose including us, if we do not understand any better.”
When the Savior asks us “Come follow me,” it is not only call to do things similar to the things He did. It is a call to follow Him in thought, word, deed and most importantly substance. Ultimately it is a call to become.
Elder Dallin H. Oaks said
“The gospel challenges us to be "converted," which requires us to do and to become.”
The gospel doesn’t just challenge us to believe. It asks us to act; and even then it does not merely ask us to act, it asks us to consecrate and become converted. Someone who has become and is becoming a disciple of Christ lives for the substance of all things. He does his home teaching to watch over and care for the Saints the Lord has placed in His care, He goes to the temple to tie his heart to those past on, renew his own covenants, and perform saving ordinances for the deceased. He takes the sacrament to once again promise a broken heart and contrite Spirit to He who bought him with a price.
Becoming is a process. It happens little by little until the realization of the baptismal and sacrament promise — that they may always have His Spirit to be with them. Persons striving to become disciples analyze their own heart and the substance of what they are doing. As they follow Christ — in the true sense — the Holy Ghost will become a natural part of their being. It becomes wired into their system. That which is inspired of God becomes intuitive to them.
Indeed the challenge to become is a tall order — one that might make you feel like shrinking because of your own inadequacy. I assure you that you are surrounded by people just like you who all too often fall asleep during Church, pray a little too routinely and fail to fully remember the Savior’s atonement each week when partaking the sacrament.
The Lord knows and understands this – and yet He graciously continues to love and bless us for the times we do get it right. The key to becoming is not perfection. It is getting the substance of it all right more often than we have before. It is sacrifice. That is all that He asks of us.
I bear you my testimony that there is power in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but I bear you my witness that it is a power that comes in living the substance of salvation. There is no power in flimsy wishes and thoughtless rituals. The power of discipleship comes in becoming like the Savior—in short, doing the right things for the right reasons. As we become, the Gospel and the Holy Spirit promised by the Gospel, becomes intricately woven in our being.
Monday, February 8, 2010
Je l'aime a mourir
Monday, January 18, 2010
Martin Luther King Jr: The Drum Major Instinct
I apologize to those who may have heard me talk about the drum-major instinct, and I apologize for not using the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday to focus on the main thrust of his life's work.
"And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came unto him saying, ‘Master, we would that thou shouldest do for us whatsoever we shall desire.’ And he said unto them, ‘What would ye that I should do for you?’ And they said unto him, ‘Grant unto us that we may sit, one on thy right hand, and the other on thy left hand, in thy glory.’ But Jesus said unto them, ‘Ye know not what ye ask: Can ye drink of the cup that I drink of? and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?’ And they said unto him, ‘We can.’ And Jesus said unto them, ‘Ye shall indeed drink of the cup that I drink of, and with the baptism that I am baptized withal shall ye be baptized: but to sit on my right hand and on my left hand is not mine to give; but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared.’"
The setting is clear. James and John are making a specific request of the master. They had dreamed, as most of the Hebrews dreamed, of a coming king of Israel who would set Jerusalem free and establish his kingdom on Mount Zion, and in righteousness rule the world. And they thought of Jesus as this kind of king. And they were thinking of that day when Jesus would reign supreme as this new king of Israel. And they were saying, "Now when you establish your kingdom, let one of us sit on the right hand and the other on the left hand of your throne."
And then the final great tragedy of the distorted personality is the fact that when one fails to harness this instinct... . Now the other problem is, when you don't harness the drum major instinct—this uncontrolled aspect of it—is that it leads to snobbish exclusivism. It leads to snobbish exclusivism. ... And you know, that can happen with the church; I know churches get in that bind sometimes. (Amen, Make it plain) I've been to churches, you know, and they say, "We have so many doctors, and so many school teachers, and so many lawyers, and so many businessmen in our church." And that's fine, because doctors need to go to church, and lawyers, and businessmen, teachers—they ought to be in church. But they say that—even the preacher sometimes will go all through that—they say that as if the other people don't count. (Amen)
And the church is the one place where a doctor ought to forget that he's a doctor. The church is the one place where a Ph.D. ought to forget that he's a Ph.D. (Yes) The church is the one place that the school teacher ought to forget the degree she has behind her name. The church is the one place where the lawyer ought to forget that he's a lawyer. And any church that violates the "whosoever will, let him come" doctrine is a dead, cold church, (Yes) and nothing but a little social club with a thin veneer of religiosity.
When the church is true to its nature, (Whoo) it says, "Whosoever will, let him come." (Yes) And it does not supposed to satisfy the perverted uses of the drum major instinct. It's the one place where everybody should be the same, standing before a common master and Savior. (Yes, sir) And a recognition grows out of this—that all men are brothers because they are children (Yes) of a common father.
But let me rush on to my conclusion, because I want you to see what Jesus was really saying. What was the answer that Jesus gave these men? It's very interesting. One would have thought that Jesus would have condemned them. One would have thought that Jesus would have said, "You are out of your place. You are selfish. Why would you raise such a question?"
But that isn't what Jesus did; he did something altogether different. He said in substance, "Oh, I see, you want to be first. You want to be great. You want to be important. You want to be significant. Well, you ought to be. If you're going to be my disciple, you must be." But he reordered priorities. And he said, "Yes, don't give up this instinct. It's a good instinct if you use it right. (Yes) It's a good instinct if you don't distort it and pervert it. Don't give it up. Keep feeling the need for being important. Keep feeling the need for being first. But I want you to be first in love. (Amen) I want you to be first in moral excellence. I want you to be first in generosity. That is what I want you to do."
And he transformed the situation by giving a new definition of greatness. And you know how he said it? He said, "Now brethren, I can't give you greatness. And really, I can't make you first." This is what Jesus said to James and John. "You must earn it.... . And so Jesus gave us a new norm of greatness. If you want to be important—wonderful. If you want to be recognized—wonderful. If you want to be great—wonderful. But recognize that he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. (Amen) That's a new definition of greatness.
And this morning, the thing that I like about it: by giving that definition of greatness, it means that everybody can be great, (Everybody) because everybody can serve. (Amen) You don't have to have a college degree to serve. (All right) You don't have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. You don't have to know about Plato and Aristotle to serve. You don't have to know Einstein's theory of relativity to serve. You don't have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. (Amen) You only need a heart full of grace, (Yes, sir, Amen) a soul generated by love. (Yes) And you can be that servant.
Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice. (Amen) Say that I was a drum major for peace. (Yes) I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter. (Yes) I won't have any money to leave behind. I won't have the fine and luxurious things of life to leave behind. But I just want to leave a committed life behind. (Amen) And that's all I want to say. ...
Yes, Jesus, I want to be on your right or your left side, (Yes) not for any selfish reason. I want to be on your right or your left side, not in terms of some political kingdom or ambition. But I just want to be there in love and in justice and in truth and in commitment to others, so that we can make of this old world a new world.
Friday, January 1, 2010
A Very Merry (sterile) Christmas
I've tried to convince myself that as long as the Christmas lights are still up around the neighborhood I have good reason to be writing about Christmas. Unfortunately, despite my journalism training, timeliness doesn't appear to be my strongsuit when it comes to this blog.