I'm teaching Elders Quorum this Sunday, and the lesson is on George Albert Smith's reflections of Sabbath day worship. Lessons on this topic frequently come across very dry, and I'm struggling. There are two main questions that I've thought about so far in this lesson.
- How do we draw the line between being practical and being absolutely obedient?
- How are society's ills attributable to forsaking the Sabbath?
"One
of the first sermons that were preached in this [the Salt Lake] valley was by
President Brigham Young, and he warned the people to honor the Sabbath day and
to keep it holy, and no matter how difficult their circumstances they were not
to go out and do manual labor on the Sabbath day. … The Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints has encouraged its people to remember the Sabbath day to
keep it holy because it is pleasing to our Heavenly Father that we do so."
I pondered what it would have been like to finish the thousand mile pioneer trek. I am sure there was a sense of relief to have arrived, but also an overwhelming sense of apprehension. In many ways, there struggles were not over but rather beginning in new ways. I wanted to look up the source of this sermon that Brigham Young gave, but couldn't find it.
Instead, I found a conference address given in 1945 by president George Albert Smith's brother, Elder Nicholas G. Smith. I quote from his address:
"As I have traveled about attending your conferences, of necessity I have had to travel on Sundays throughout the intermountain states, and I have seen men in the fields plowing, and hauling their hay, and putting their grain into the stacks. I have seen lined up on this sacred Sabbath day many people in front of the moving picture theatres waiting to purchase their tickets. I have noted crowds lined up at sporting events, buying their tickets that they might go in and participate in that recreation upon this holy day. It may surprise you when I say that my grandfather, George A. Smith, was one of the first men to break the Sabbath day here in Utah. Being rather a practical sort of man, he felt that it was just as necessary that hunger should be appeased as that we should lift the sheep out of the pit upon the Sabbath day [see Matt. 12:11, which reads And he said unto them, What man shall there be among you, that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift it out?], and according to his journal, on July 24th, 1847, you remember, the Saints came down into the valley. Grandfather's diary records that:
. . . it was cloudy but quite warm. Potatoes
were planted. I planted the first. At about two o'clock President Brigham Young
and his company came up all better. Water was let on the ground on the
twenty-fourth. Toward evening there was a slight shower. Sunday, July 25th, it
was clear and warm. Meetings commenced at half past ten. In the morning, I, in
company with some others, planted some corn, beans and peas. Meeting again at
two p.m. That afternoon Brigham Young chastised me, directing that the brethren
must not work on Sunday. He said they would lose five times as much as they
would gain by it. None were to hunt that day, and there should not any man
dwell among us who would not observe these rules. They might go and dwell
wherever they pleased but they should not dwell amongst us.
Grandfather must have taken that lesson to heart after he had been
plowing and planting seeds upon that Sunday morning, for he got into the soul
of my father the great ideal that Sunday was the Lord's day, the day that we
should observe and rest and refrain from all types of work."
To me, this paints a much fuller picture of the story. George A. Smith was not just a respected leader of the church in Brigham Young's day, he was an apostle. In his mind, planting food and saving people from starvation was the exact same thing as working to save a sheep on the Sabbath.
Although his intentions were good, he was instructed to live the letter of the Sabbath day law. He was instructed to have more faith that God would provide. He, an apostle, was told to be less practical and to live more by faith. How do we draw the line between being practical and being absolutely obedient?
Another quote from the manual also gave me cause to think.
"The Sabbath has become the play-day … —the day
set apart by thousands to violate the commandment that God gave long, long ago,
and I am persuaded that much of the sorrow and distress that is afflicting and
will continue to afflict mankind is traceable to the fact that they have
ignored his admonition to keep the Sabbath day holy."
How is the sorrow and distress that afflicts the world traceable to ignoring the Sabbath? As I pondered this question, the most distressing aspect of modern society that I came up with was lack of family harmony. Many have argues that destruction of the family unit is the source of many of society's ills. Thus, would a society that kept the Sabbath day holy have stronger families? Ideally, yes.
A family that is home together and at church together probably has a better chance of staying together. If so, the kids will be better off, and society benefits. In the traditional family where the father works and the mother stays at home, the father helping share the burden at home is actually a way of helping the mother keep the Sabbath day holy. A homemaker can try to minimize their chores and work on the Sabbath, but we all know getting the kids to church and preparing a Sunday dinner can seem like the most challenging task of the week. If the spouse is home to share the burden, it becomes more manageable.
For another answer to the question, I guess it's obvious that if everyone in a society went to church on Sunday, they would probably have decent values and be less likely to lie, cheat, steal, murder, etc.
