A Cultural Change: Keep the Sabbath Day Holy

In the days just preceding each general conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, there is a meeting among all the general church authorities, in which they discuss gospel topics of interest and concern for the general authorities to discuss as they go to congregations throughout the world and meet with local leaders.

Usually, this general authority meeting covers 15-20 topics. This time, this past April, only two topics were discussed:

1. Welfare and self-reliance, which was discussed only partially, the main topic of the meeting was,
2. Keeping the Sabbath day (Sunday) holy.

I heard all of this from my local church leaders this morning. It is clear that the leaders of this church--as well as Jesus Christ, the true leader of this church--feel that there needs to be a "cultural change" among Latter-day Saints when it comes to Sabbath-day observance.

Cultural change is a repeated topic, both on and off the internet. In the past week alone I have heard, seen, and participated in several discussions which included a call for "cultural change." Usually, the call is to change attitudes, especially in judging others. I can feel the frustration of someone who writes something like, "I can't believe we live in a world where this is still happening!" or, "I am sick and tired of this negative and demeaning aspect of our culture!" After seeing and hearing all of this, you may imagine that hearing the church, and not one of my peers, talk about "cultural change" got my attention.

Yet, what is the call of the church leaders? What aspect of LDS culture do they focus on for us to try to change? It is not specifically in the way we treat others or specifically in the way we dress or work or go to school, it is about our attitude of the Sabbath day, the Lord's day, the 1/7th of our week we need to dedicate to Him.

Why would the church focus on that? Perhaps because it will ultimately affect our attitude the rest of the week. If we focus on Jesus Christ on His day, it will be easier to remember Him every other day. If we focus on home, family, service, inspiration, the things that matter and the things of the Spirit, we will become better people. Keeping the Sabbath day holy will make us more holy. "The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath" (Mark 2:27). This is something that can be pondered on and worked on individually between oneself and God.

I don't wish to alienate anyone. Today I have been pondering things in the context of my religion, and as I share what I'm grateful for each day I naturally share my beliefs and attitudes. There are many, many pressing issues in this world, and I truly believe that the ultimate answers are found in principles of truth, which are found in the teachings of Jesus Christ. For those of us who hope for a more Christ-like LDS culture, we now know something that we need to focus on. For those of us who hope for a better world culture, we do what we can within our circles of influence. I am grateful to be a little more knowledgeable of what God expects of me.