Weekday Sports and Picnics to be Encouraged

My brethren and sisters: I am deeply grateful for the privilege of bearing testimony to you in this General Conference. ¶

It has been a source of joy to me to see how universally happy the people are in the selection of Brother Mark E. Petersen to work with us in the Council of the Twelve. It is going to be a great joy to me to be associated with him. ¶

Impressed by the Singing at Conference

This Conference has been a most inspirational one. The spirit of the Lord seems to have been here in rich abundance. I have been much impressed by the singing. Many people who heard the Conference sessions over the radio said to me that the songs sounded as if they came from a great trained male chorus. Every song seemed most appropriate and fit perfectly into the theme of the Conference as it unfolded. I think I have never heard the song, “I Need Thee Every Hour,” sung with such power and beauty and harmony as it was sung in this Conference by these thousands of men. Perhaps my appreciation of the song came from my feeling of need of the help of the Lord. ¶

I am not unmindful of the grave responsibility that is mine in occupying this position, and I earnestly pray for the blessings of the Lord while I stand before you. ¶

I was impressed by the song which you sang so well: ¶

Zion stands with hills surrounded, ¶

Zion kept by power divine. ¶

Happy Zion, happy Zion, ¶

What a favored lot is thine! ¶

And the thought came to me: What a favored lot is ours to be able to assemble in General Conference and to bear testimony to each other, and for the other numerous blessings we enjoy. ¶

Enjoyment in Fellowship

I thought as I saw you brethren sitting in this large group, what a marvelous opportunity for fellowship we have in this Church, men from all parts of North America (and they would be from all parts of the world, if the war would permit). I was wondering how many of you are acquainted with the brother on either side of you. I used to enjoy coming to Conference a little early and sitting down there with you, reaching out my hand and saying: “I am Spencer W. Kimball, from Safford, Arizona.” Then my brethren on either side would tell me whence they came—from California, from Canada, from Oregon, or somewhere else in the Church. Then we talked just a little bit while we were waiting for the meeting, about the wheat in Canada, or the salmon in Portland, or the cotton raising in Arizona, and about our Church work, and then we did really enjoy the Conference, as we knew each other and sat enjoying the spirit of the Lord together. ¶

I want to assure you that on either side of each of you is one of the finest men in this whole world, who belongs to the greatest fraternity holding the holy Priesthood, in a high and responsible position, a man that you will want to know. ¶

Among the greatest thrills of my life are these conferences with the Priesthood leaders of the Church, men tried and true, when we gather together in this historic building in General Conference; I am grateful for this privilege of meeting with you. I stand before you in humility, and I love you for your faith and your integrity and your devotion to the work of the Lord. ¶

Six months ago I was first sustained by you in this position of responsibility; it was six months ago, day before yesterday, when I knelt at the feet of President Heber J. Grant, our Prophet, Seer and Revelator, and his hands, together with the hands of the members of the Quorum of the Twelve and the Patriarch, were placed on my head and I was ordained an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ. ¶

A half year has passed, and I have enjoyed my work immensely. I have been from southern Arizona on the south, to northern Idaho on the north, and from Los Angeles on the west to New York on the east, and everywhere I have gone I have been accepted with courtesy and consideration, and I have learned to love the people all over the Church. ¶

The Gospel Solves Many Problems

In the past few sessions of the Conference we have heard much of juvenile and adult delinquency. I am sure that the living of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in our homes will solve most of these problems. I am sure that if we have prayer in our homes, around the table, with our families, and as we retire for the night that our families will be closely knit together, and will grow in spirituality. If we shall have home evenings and gather our broods about us, we shall be able to teach them obedience, and discipline. They will come to love the home and the family, and will be protected from many of the vicious influences which are increasing delinquency. If we will take them with us to sacrament meetings and teach them their privileges and responsibilities in the Church, we shall thus be able to lead them into paths of righteousness. If we can make the home the center of the universe for our children much of the sin of the world can be by-passed. ¶

Our Savior said: “If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.” From observation it seems to me that one of the commandments which we wantonly break is that command to observe the sacredness of the Sabbath day. We were quoted during this Conference the word of the Lord: ¶

Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work. But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is "within thy gates. ¶

Sabbath-breaking Decried

While attending one of the Conferences last fall, one of my first down state, I was housed in a hotel, and early Sunday morning I was awakened by considerable noise in the halls and the lobby of the hotel, and when I came down I found that the lobby and the cafe near it were filled with men with colored shirts and caps and with hunting regalia. Their guns were clean and shining. They were all en route to the mountains and the canyons to get their deer. When the Conference day was ended and evening found us on our way home, many were the cars that we passed with a deer on the running board or on the bumper. ¶

Another Sabbath I drove through an agricultural area, and was distressed to find there were mowing machines and balers and perspiring men engaged in harvesting the crops. ¶

Still another Sabbath I drove through Main Street of one of our larger towns, and I was dismayed to find lines of people standing and waiting their turns to get into the picture shows. ¶

Still another time when large numbers of people with hiking breeches and slacks were driving to mountain retreats with picnic lunches to enjoy the beauteous Sabbath in the canyons. ¶

And the word of the Lord continued to resound in my consciousness: “In the days of their peace they esteemed lightly my counsel; but in the day of their trouble, of necessity they feel after me.” ¶

I wondered if we must be brought low with adversity before we will serve the Lord. ¶

There came ringing again in my ears the solemn command brought down from the thundering of Mount Sinai: “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy." So far as I know, that commandment has never been rescinded nor modified. To hunt and fish on the Lord’s day is not keeping it holy. To plant or cultivate or harvest crops on the Sabbath is not keeping holy the Lord’s day. To go into the canyons for picnics, to attend games or rodeos, or races or shows, or other amusements on that day is not to keep it in holy remembrance. ¶

Our Savior said: ¶

Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven. (Matt. 5:19.) ¶

Strange as it may seem, some of our brethren, faithful in all other respects, seem to justify themselves in missing their sacrament meetings, and their stake conferences, in order to beat all the other hunters into the wild life area when the season opens. The Church favors legitimate recreation, and urges its people to organize picnic parties and to enjoy the great outdoors for the fellowship that it offers, but with six other days in the week, the Sabbath certainly need not be desecrated. ¶

Good clean plays and pictures are certainly not objectionable, but on the other hand they add to our education and to our entertainment in a wholesome way, but certainly our people can ill afford to spend funds and time to go to more of such activities than can be attended on the other six days of the week. ¶

The Word of the Lord

There is a time and a place for all worth-while things. Are we giving up and making a sacrifice? Is it self-denial? I think it isn't so much a matter of giving up things; it is a matter of shifting times and choosing seasons. ¶

The word of the Lord is very definite and final, and comes with tremendous force when He says: ¶

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. (D. & C. 59:9.) ¶

This is a day when our every lapse is blamed on the war. Perhaps there are times and conditions when we must work seven days of the week, when industry or the exigencies of war require it, but are we sure that we do not sometimes work on the Sabbath when not necessary, for the “time and a half" that is given, for the additional funds it provides? ¶

Remember the Lord said: “Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work.” You note here the command is two-fold; it is definite that you shall labor the six days—no place here for the idler or for loitering on the job or for absenteeism. And equally strong is the command that on the Sabbath “thou shalt not do any work.” Even in modern times the command has come again through a modern prophet: ¶

And on this day thou shalt do none other thing, only let thy food be prepared with singleness of heart. (D. & C. 59:13.) ¶

It is not enough to refrain from doing the things which would keep the day from being kept holy, but there are some very definite things that we should do to honor the Sabbath. We are required to go to the house of prayer, we are to offer up our sacraments unto the Most High; we are to fast and pray at the proper times; and we are to stand in holy places; we are to rest and to worship. ¶

By resting is not meant the indolent lounging about the home all day or puttering around in the garden, but a consistent attendance at meetings for the worship of the Lord, drinking at the fountain of knowledge and instruction, enjoying the family and finding uplift in music and song. One good but mistaken man I knew claimed that he could get much more out of a good book on Sunday than he could get in attending a sacrament meeting, saying that the sermons were hardly up to his standards. ¶

But I say we do not go to Sabbath meetings to be entertained or amused; we go there to worship the Lord. It is an individual responsibility, and regardless of what is said from the pulpit, if one wishes to worship the Lord in spirit and in truth, he may do so by attending his meetings, partaking of the sacrament, and contemplating the beauties of the Gospel. If the sacrament meeting is a failure to you, you are the one that has failed. No one can worship for you, you must do your own serving of the Lord. ¶

Week-day Sports and Picnics to Be Encouraged

Now that spring is here and summer will soon follow, our presiding brethren throughout the Church might anticipate the problems of Sabbath desecration and encourage a program of substitution. ¶

Encouragement could be given to week-day sports and picnics and shows, and the brethren could be urged to plan their hunting and fishing trips during the week days, avoiding the Sabbath, instead of including it in their itinerary. ¶

A seminary group once planned a service in the tops of the mountains, and they felt wholly justified for the excursion since they had planned a testimony meeting to be held as a part of it. They did have their meeting and a spiritual hour was enjoyed, but after the hour, the picnic was eaten, the young people in their rough mountain clothes and slacks hiked and climbed, and turned the balance of the day into one of the usual fun and frolic. Certainly, it was not a holy day, the one hour of devotion did not keep it from becoming a holiday. ¶

A Scout council was wont to arrange their summer camp so that the Scouts were moving to the camp on one Sabbath and from it on the next. Our Latter-day Saint boys were deprived of their Priesthood activities for two Sundays, and still were getting no scouting on those days. A friendly suggestion to the council authorities brought about a change, so that the camp period ran from week day to week day, and the one Sunday in between was devoted to a spiritual service for the boys who were in the camp. ¶

Much can be done to substitute week-day activities for Sunday ones. Great good can be done by an educational program anticipating and preceding the period of likely breaking of the Sabbath. ¶

Let us follow the Prophet Joshua—it is one of my favorite passages of scripture—he said: ¶

Now therefore fear the Lord, and serve him in sincerity and in truth ... choose you this day whom ye will serve . .. but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. (Joshua 24:14, 15.) ¶

That we may live the commandments of God and teach men so, that we may pay our devotion to the Most High and keep the Sabbath day holy, I pray in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶