Proclamation decomposed

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Proclamation to the Family
Lesson to JN6th Ward December 29, 2002

Opening
Great to be here with you. I know that this ward is made of good people who love the lord and are willing to serve him. The best example we have of this is the fact that you were willing to build a float for the 24th of July parade last year.

Actually another example of your willingness to give, happened when Sister Jackson was the YW president and the Bishopric needed the piano in the YW meeting room for a meeting similar to this one. Bishop Jensen wrote a note to Sister Jackson, that said briefly, “We need to borrow your piano, is that okay?” Sister Jackson, not knowing what in the world Bishop Jenson was talking about wrote back, “It’s heavy, and out of tune, but if you really need it, you can come over to the house and get it.”

The brethren have asked us stake leaders to take time during stake conference and in teaching opportunities throughout the stake to strengthen families – to talk about building families – and to help families endure the challenging times we live in. And so for this ½ hour, we want to focus on the family – and how we can strengthen it.

Today, I want for us to look at one document which our prophet has given us, which teaches many principles – 25 of which I would like to point out for us to consider.

The document is known to all of us – it’s the Proclamation to the family”. If you don’t have a copy – please take one of these that I have brought for your review, and notes.

Before we read the proclamation of the family together, I want to help show it’s significance to us.

Slide 7
Some people will see a big white beautiful building.

Others may see big lawns and full parking lots with people in suits coming and going. “I know a little girl who told her mom that the temple was the building with the big trophy on top.”

Others yet, may see temple workers coming and going or even just see the outward work going on – baptisms, sealings, endowments.

But for the rest of us, when we look at the temple, we see the house of God our Father. We see our connection to him as his children. We see covenants which tie us to him and make us part of his eternal families and which will connect us to each other so we can live together in family units forever with him. We see ancestors being tied together, and future children being established in the covenant. In essence, we see an eternal family creation factory. We see that the temple is the foundation of our eternal families. When we form new wards or stake – we form them in church buildings. But when we form new families – we must do that in sacred houses of God – his Temples.

This perspective of the great glory of families – is built upon our perspective of temples.

Slide 8
We have a unique understanding of families. A perspective which is unique within the whole world. If we will carry this perspective with us at all times, we will not be drawn into the worlds perspective of families.

Slide 10
FP1- We, the First Presidency and the Council of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, solemnly proclaim that marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God and that the family is central to the Creator's plan for the eternal destiny of His children.

Slide 11
FP2- All human beings—male and female—are created in the image of God. Each is a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents, and, as such, each has a divine nature and destiny. Gender is an essential characteristic of individual premortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose.

Slide 12
FP3- In the premortal realm, spirit sons and daughters knew and worshiped God as their Eternal Father and accepted His plan by which His children could obtain a physical body and gain earthly experience to progress toward perfection and ultimately realize his or her divine destiny as an heir of eternal life. The divine plan of happiness enables family relationships to be perpetuated beyond the grave. Sacred ordinances and covenants available in holy temples make it possible for individuals to return to the presence of God and for families to be united eternally.

Note 8
“The temple is a place of covenants. In the house of the Lord, we take upon ourselves covenants and obligations regarding lives of purity and virtue and goodness and truth and unselfishness to others. Through these covenants we have a special relationship with God our Eternal Father, eternal and everlasting if we live worthy of it.”

Note 8
President Hinkley said, “We are a covenant people and great are the obligations which go with that covenant. We cannot be ordinary people. We must rise above the crowd. We must stand a little taller. We must be a little better, a little kinder, a little more generous, a little more courteous, a little more thoughtful, a little more outreaching to others.”


Slide 13
FP4- The first commandment that God gave to Adam and Eve pertained to their potential for parenthood as husband and wife. We declare that God's commandment for His children to multiply and replenish the earth remains in force. We further declare that God has commanded that the sacred powers of procreation are to be employed only between man and woman, lawfully wedded as husband and wife.

Note 10- “There are things that can be learned only by caring for children as a father or mother cares for children. For those who are in the fortunate position to have children, they should do so and be blessed by them. “ President Hinkley

Note 10- Having children is a great example of the uniqueness of our perspective given by the Lord to us. We live in a world where children are often not respected or loved as they should be. There is abuse, there is anger. I worked with a woman from China, and when she found out that I was LDS she asked how many children I had. She was so excited to hear that I had 5 children. Living in china she was only able to have 1 child. We are blessed to live in a place where we are free to exercise this principle.

Note 10- 3 John 1:4 – I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.

Note 10- President hinkley said, “of all the joys of life, none other equals that of happy parenthood. Of all the responsibilities with which we struggle, none other is so serious. To rear children in an atmosphere of love, security, and faith is the most rewarding of all challenges. The good result from such efforts becomes life’s most satisfying compensation.”

Slide 14
FP5- We declare the means by which mortal life is created to be divinely appointed. We affirm the sanctity of life and of its importance in God's eternal plan.

Note 12 – Morality is a gift given freely to all. But it is a gift which the lord will not permit to be abused into the eternal worlds. It will be taken from those who misuse the gift.

Note12- Pres Hinkley said, “To hope for peace and love and gladness out of promiscuity is to hope for that which will never come. To wish for freedom out of immorality is to wish for something that cannot be.”

Note 13- This speaks to abortion and other signs of the culture of death that surrounds us.


Slide 15-
FP6- Husband and wife have a solemn responsibility to love and care for each other and for their children. "Children are an heritage of the Lord" (Psalms 127:3). Parents have a sacred duty to rear their children in love and righteousness, to provide for their physical and spiritual needs, to teach them to love and serve one another, to observe the commandments of God and to be law-abiding citizens wherever they live. Husbands and wives—mothers and fathers—will be held accountable before God for the discharge of these obligations.

14- I recently asked one of our Bishops, what is one of the greatest trials he is dealing with in his Ward, and he said, Marriages are struggling. This is a bishop who deals with a lot of welfare issues, a lot of morality issues – but his comment was that he felt the biggest problem is that marriages are failing.

Note 14- President Smith said - “It amazes me to hear couples sitting here in my office who attack each others petty faults. If they could see the eternal picture – they would know that this person is the most important person to them in this world. They are dependant on this person for their eternal salvation and if they understood that they would probably be a little more understanding and kind.”

Note 14- It’s been said - -the greatest gift you can give your children is to hear their father say that he loved their mother.

Note 15- Parents have a duty to nurture and raise their children. Too many parents today, relinquish their duties to schools, churches, society, friends. We must RAISE them, not stand by and watch them get raised.

Note 16- Pres Hinkley - “Never forget that these little ones are the sons and daughters of God and that yours is a custodial relationship to them, that he was a parent before you were parents, and that He has not relinquished His parental rights or interest in these His little ones.”

Slide 16
FP7- The family is ordained of God. Marriage between man and woman is essential to His eternal plan. Children are entitled to birth within the bonds of matrimony, and to be reared by a father and a mother who honor marital vows with complete fidelity. Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities.

Note 17- “I feel satisfied that there is no adequate substitute for the morning and evening practice of kneeling together – father, mother, and children. This, more than heavy carpets, more than lovely draperies, more than cleverly balanced color schemes, is the thing that will make for better and more beautiful homes.”

Note 17- Also – I like ‘wholesome recreational activities’. Traditions are some of the most powerful ways to get families to both obey the commandments, and to disobey them. I think of Nathan Winder who just returned from his mission to Hungary. While tracting he ran into a woman who began to complement him. She said – “I just saw a show about the Mormons. It told about how healthy you are, how peaceful and happy you are. It just showed what great people you are.” And then Nathan asked the million $$$ question – “Would you like to know more?” She then replied “No thanks, I’m a catholic.”

Note 17- Traditions also can strengthen and keep children in the right way long after they have left home. The parent who has children and was raised with family prayer and family home evening is much more comfortable holding regular family time, than the person who was raised with no consideration for getting the family together. When reading scriptures together as a family is practiced as a child, then when that child is a parent, they will seek to feel that as well in their family.
Slide 17-
FP8- By divine design, fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families. Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children. In these sacred responsibilities, fathers and mothers are obligated to help one another as equal partners. Disability, death, or other circumstances may necessitate individual adaptation. Extended families should lend support when needed.


Note 18- Our area president Cree-L Kofford, hs said that too many fathers who are active in church have relinquished their role in their family..to preside in righteousness. They don’t think about or care much what happens to their children so long as they are in church, at scouts, in school, or in someother activity. They leave the worrying to their wives and only intervene when the kids are making grave mistakes. We need fathers who preside over their families and help direct the righteous education and living of their families.

Note 18 – President Hinkley said, “Fathers have the basic and inescapable responsiblility to stand as head of the family. That does not carry with it any implication of dictatorship or unrighteous dominion. It confers the mandate to provide for the needs of their families. Those needs are more than food, clothing, and shelter. Those needs include righteous direction and the teaching by example as well as precept, of basic principles of honesty, integrity, servce, respect for the rights of others, and an understanding that we are accountable not only to one another, but also to god for what which we do in this life.

Note 21- Caring for our aging parents, caring for our needy brothers and sisters is a responsibility we all have. It can be a weight, or it can be a great blessing. I remember hearing one of our high councilors stand and bear testimony to us, what a blessing it was for him, as a son, to honor his mother by caring for her by carrying her around, bathing her, feeding her.

Slide 18-
FP9- We warn that individuals who violate covenants of chastity, who abuse spouse or offspring, or who fail to fulfill family responsibilities will one day stand accountable before God. Further, we warn that the disintegration of the family will bring upon individuals, communities, and nations the calamities foretold by ancient and modern prophets.

Note 22- President Hinkley points out that abuse is not the primary culprit for the disintigration of families. He says, “Criticism is the forerunner of divorce, the cultivator of rebellion, a catalyst that leads to failure. I am asking that we turn from the negative that so permeates our society and look for the remarkable good among those with whom we associate, that we speak of one anothers virtues more than we speak of one another’s faults, that optimism replace pessimism, that our faith exceed our fears. When I was a young man and was prone to speak critically, my father would say, “Cynics do not contribute, skeptics do not create, doubters do not achieve.”


Slide 19-
FP10- We call upon responsible citizens and officers of government everywhere to promote those measures designed to maintain and strengthen the family as the fundamental unit of society.



Last Slide-
Rear your children in love, in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Take care of your little ones, welcome them into your homes, and love them with all of your hearts. They may do, in the years that come, some things you would not want them to do, but be patient, be patient. You have not failed as long as you have tried. Never forget that.”
- Gordon B. Hinckley

We have been given a great gift as children of God. We have been given temples which bind us together as families. We have been given teachings and principles about families which help us understand the glory of families.

May we receive these 2 great gifts into our lives.