How to Keep the Sabbath Day Holy

This is a talk from a Stake Conference given by my mother, Dana Crisp. The talk was given in Temecula, California on April 11th, 2016.

There is a story told of a rafter of turkeys. These turkeys were going about their normal turkey business of walking around and gobbling. On this particularly sunny day, and all of a sudden, there appeared a great, majestic eagle. The turkeys gathered around and the eagle smiled. "Good morning, my friends. Today I will teach you all to fly," he said.

Some of the turkeys scoffed. "Fly?! We're far too heavy. We will never do it!" Others wondered curiously. "Might it be possible?" Still others, faithfully cried, "What are we waiting for? Let's go!" They followed the eagle out to the field.

The faithful turkeys stepped up, and the eagle showed them how it was done. He taught them about wings and air and the more technical points of flying. But most importantly, he taught them by showing them. He flew and the faithful turkeys tried their best. The curious turkeys joined in, and learned a great deal. Even the skeptical ones came forward and learned their share. After hours and hours, and ups and downs, the turkeys started to fly! The first group hovered in the air. Encouraged, the curious turkeys tried. And they flew too! The skeptical turkeys took courage, and despite their initial doubt, they too flew.

After hours of enjoying their new found skill, the eagle gathered them together. "I'm proud of you!" He said. "You listened with great faith. Others were hesitant, but saw your brothers and sisters succeed, and became examples to the rest as you succeeded. It’s time for me to go, but take courage, and fly!" He then flew off dramatically into the sunset, as eagles tend to do.

The turkeys were left alone and they shared their stories of faith and the joy of their newfound skill. What once had been their weakness had become their strength. With night coming swiftly, they decided it was time to head home.

And they went home….walking.

During this conference we will hear many things…maybe some difficult things that we need to change in our lives. I pray that the Spirit will be with us now and, throughout this conference that we can find ways to do better and not go home walking, but flying.

In Isaiah 58:13-14 the prophet tells us:

13 If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight… and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure…

14 Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth… for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.

I wonder how many of us, especially parents with children in the home, young or teenagers, really feel to “call the Sabbath a delight”? It takes a lot of planning and patience to keep children busy, to teach them to “not (find) their own pleasure” on Sundays.

Elder Nelson, in the April 2015 General Conference, spoke of making the Sabbath a delight. He referenced Exodus 31:13 which reads:

13 Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you..

Elder Nelson then said (quote):

“How do we hallow the Sabbath day? In my much younger years, I studied the work of others who had compiled lists of things to do and things not to do on the Sabbath. It wasn’t until later that I learned from the scriptures that my conduct and my attitude on the Sabbath constituted a sign between me and my Heavenly Father. (Exodus 31:13; Ezekiel 20:12, 20) With that understanding, I no longer needed lists of do’s and don’ts. When I had to make a decision whether or not an activity was appropriate for the Sabbath, I simply asked myself, “What sign do I want to give to God?” That question made my choices about the Sabbath day crystal clear.”(end quote)

I believe that the Lord recognizes that each family’s circumstance is different. For that reason, there is no official list of do’s and don’ts. But, He does expect us to do all that we can to keep His Sabbath day holy. Asking ourselves, as Elder Nelson said, “What sign do I want to give to God?” will keep us on track and help us to make our own list for our own family.

Of course, there ARE scriptural references to help up as well:

One example is in Doctrine and Covenants 59

9 And that thou mayest more fully keep thyself unspotted from the world, thou shalt go to the house of prayer and offer up thy sacraments upon my holy day;

10 For verily this is a day appointed unto you to rest from your labors, and to pay thy devotions unto the Most High;

12 But remember that on this, the Lord’s day, thou shalt offer thine oblations and thy sacraments unto the Most High, confessing thy sins unto thy brethren, and before the Lord.

13 And on this day thou shalt do none other thing, only let thy food be prepared with singleness of heart that thy fasting may be perfect, or, in other words, that thy joy may be full.

The Lord expects us to attend our meetings and especially, to partake of the sacrament. He expects us to repent; to fast and to pray. The blessing for obeying this commandment are clear: (continuing in Section 59)

15 And inasmuch as ye do these things with thanksgiving, with cheerful hearts and countenances…with a glad heart and a cheerful countenance—

16 Verily I say, that inasmuch as ye do this, the fulness of the earth is yours…

Who of us would deny ourselves, our children, our family the blessing of the “fullness of the earth”? That is one of the blessings of keeping the Sabbath day holy.

Also, regarding the things we should do on the Sabbath, President Spencer W Kimball said (quote)

“The Sabbath is a holy day in which to do worthy and holy things. Abstinence from work and recreation is important but insufficient. The Sabbath calls for constructive thoughts and acts, and if one merely lounges about doing nothing on the Sabbath, he is breaking it. To observe it, one will be on his knees in prayer, preparing lessons, studying the gospel, meditating, visiting the ill and distressed, sleeping, reading wholesome material, and attending all the meetings of that day to which he is expected. [Failure] to do these proper things is a transgression on the omission side.” (end quote)

As to the things we should NOT do on the Sabbath, many of the prophets have shared stories and experiences that should clarify for us what the Lord expects.

One such example was given by our dear Prophet, Thomas S Monson:

"…may I share with you an example of one who determined early in life what his goals would be. I speak of Brother Clayton M. Christensen, a member of the Church who is a professor of business administration in the business school at Harvard University.

When he was 16 years old, Brother Christensen decided, among other things, that he would not play sports on Sunday. Years later, when he attended Oxford University in England, he played center on the basketball team. That year they had an undefeated season and went through to the British equivalent of what in the United States would be the NCAA basketball tournament.

They won their games fairly easily in the tournament, making it to the final four. It was then that Brother Christensen looked at the schedule and, to his absolute horror, saw that the final basketball game was scheduled to be played on a Sunday. He and the team had worked so hard to get where they were, and he was the starting center. He went to his coach with his dilemma. His coach was unsympathetic and told Brother Christensen he expected him to play in the game.

He went to his hotel room. He knelt down. He asked his Heavenly Father if it would be all right, just this once, if he played that game on Sunday. He said that before he had finished praying, he received the answer: “Clayton, what are you even asking me for? You know the answer.”

He went to his coach, telling him how sorry he was that he wouldn’t be playing in the final game. Then he went to the Sunday meetings in the local ward while his team played without him. He prayed mightily for their success. They did win.

That fateful, difficult decision was made more than 30 years ago. Brother Christensen has said that as time has passed, he considers it one of the most important decisions he ever made. It would have been very easy to have said, “You know, in general, keeping the Sabbath day holy is the right commandment, but in my particular extenuating circumstance, it’s okay if I don’t do it.” However, he says his entire life has turned out to be an unending stream of extenuating circumstances, and had he crossed the line just that once, then the next time something came up that was so demanding and critical, it would have been so much easier to cross the line again."

How often do we us our own “extenuating circumstances” as an excuse to break this or any other of the commandments? Again, I ask the question, “What sign do we want to give to God?”

I think that this quote from President Monson’s latest general conference address is another way to clarify our choices: “May we ever choose the harder right instead of the easier wrong.”

I pray that one of the things that we can fly home with today is a desire to be better at keeping the Sabbath Day Holy, to make it a Delight so that the Lord may bless us with the fullness of the earth.

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen