General conference comes to a close with a call to embrace ‘your new normal’

President Russell M. Nelson waves to church leaders before the Sunday afternoon session of the 190th Semiannual General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Oct. 4, 2020. | The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

SALT LAKE CITY — Jesus Christ stands ready to nourish and comfort all who suffer, leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said during the fifth and final session Sunday afternoon of the church’s global 190th Semiannual General Conference.

Speaker after speaker noted the calamitous circumstances of 2020, but church President Russell M. Nelson said there is a more important “new normal” to consider.

“If you really want to embrace ‘a new normal,’” he said, “I invite you to turn your heart, mind, and soul increasingly to our Heavenly Father, and his Son, Jesus Christ. Let that be your ‘new normal.’ Embrace ‘your new normal’ by repenting daily. Seek to be increasingly pure in thought, word and deed. Minister to others. Keep an eternal perspective. Magnify your callings.”

He announced plans for six new temples and said the two-day conference, watched by millions around the world, was glorious. He rejoiced in the limited reopening of 146 of the faith’s 168 temples, saying that thousands of couples have been sealed and thousands more have received their endowments.

“I bless you with an increased desire and ability to obey the laws of God,” he said at the end of the conference. “I promise that as you do, you will be showered with blessings, including greater courage, increased personal revelation, sweeter harmony in your homes and joy, even amid uncertainty.”

Facing uncertainty was a strong theme of the Sunday afternoon session. President Henry B. Eyring, second counselor in the First Presidency, said the divine purpose of life is to test, prove and polish God’s children and offered encouragement in the face of what he said are mortality’s inevitable trials.

“You might reasonably wonder why a loving and all-powerful God allows our mortal test to be so hard,” he said. “It is because he knows that we must grow in spiritual cleanliness and stature to be able to live in his presence in families forever.”

Elder Gary E. Stevenson of the Quorum of the Twelve listed the calamities caused by the coronavirus pandemic — death, sickness, cancellations, closures, disappointment, sorrow and discouragement.

“Many, many of you have dealt with heartbreaking disappointment, sorrow and discouragement,” he said. “So how do we heal, endure and move forward when things seem so broken?”

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Elder Gary E. Stevenson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles speaks during the Sunday afternoon session of the 190th Semiannual General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Oct. 4, 2020.

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles listed challenges beyond the pandemic, including marriage troubles, cancer and other medical conditions, mental and emotional health challenges, and economic, political and social concerns. He encouraged the conference to be willing to wait on the Lord.

“While we work and wait together for the answers to some of our prayers, I offer you my apostolic promise that they are heard and they are answered, though perhaps not at the time or in the way we wanted,” he said. “But they are always answered at the time and in the way an omniscient and eternally compassionate parent should answer them.”

“My beloved brothers and sisters, Christianity is comforting but often it is not comfortable,” he said. “The path to holiness and happiness here and hereafter is a long and sometimes rocky one. It takes time and tenacity to walk it.”

Christ’s suffering makes him the perfect healer, President Eyring noted: “You are being nourished and comforted by a loving Savior, who knows how to succor you in whatever tests you face,” adding that “Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ know and love you. They want you to return to them and become like them. Your success is their success.”

Both men said the blessings God’s children seek do not include ease.

“The greatest blessing that will come when we prove ourselves faithful to our covenants during our trials will be a change in our natures,” President Eyring said. “By our choosing to keep our covenants, the power of Jesus Christ and the blessings of his Atonement can work in us. Our hearts can be softened to love, to forgive and to invite others to come unto the Savior. Our confidence in the Lord increases. Our fears decrease.”

Elder Stevenson said the pandemic has taught the church as a whole and its members that the Lord continues to watch over his children during challenging times. Over the past nine months, Latter-day Saints have become more home-centered and honed their ministering skills.

“Ministering brothers and sisters, young women and young men, and others have reached out to provide contact, conversation, yard care, meals, messages via technology and the sacrament ordinance to bless those in need,” he said. “The church itself has also been ministering to others during the pandemic with an unprecedented distribution of commodities to food banks, homeless shelters and immigrant support centers and with projects directed to the world’s most serious hunger situations.”

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President Henry B. Eyring, second counselor in the First Presidency, speaks during the Sunday afternoon session of the 190th Semiannual General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Oct. 4, 2020.

President Eyring said, “I have seen people rise to great heights through proving faithful in terrible trials. Across the church today are examples. People are driven to their knees by adversity. By their faithful endurance and effort, they become ever more like the Savior and our Heavenly Father.”

Elder Dale G. Renlund of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles advised listeners to do justly, love mercy and walk humbly with God.

“To do justly means acting honorably with God and with other people,” he said. “We act honorably with God by walking humbly with him. We act honorably with others by loving mercy. To do justly is therefore a practical application of the first and second great commandments, to ‘love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind ... (and to) love thy neighbour as thyself.’ To do justly and walk humbly with God is to intentionally withdraw our hand from iniquity, walk in his statutes and remain authentically faithful.”

To be Christlike, he said, a person also chooses God, keeps covenants with him, assimilates the attributes of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ into his or her character and loves one another.

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Elder Dale G. Renlund of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles speaks during the Sunday afternoon session of the 190th Semiannual General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Oct. 4, 2020.

“People who love mercy are not judgmental; they manifest compassion for others, especially for those who are less fortunate; they are gracious, kind and honorable,” he said. “These individuals treat everyone with love and understanding, regardless of characteristics such as race, gender, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status and tribal, clan or national differences. These are superseded by Christlike love.”

Elder Jeremy R. Jaggi, a General Authority Seventy, said his family had looked forward to this year.

“(The year) 2020 instead brought the global COVID-19 pandemic, civil unrest and economic challenges. Our Heavenly Father may be allowing us time to reflect and consider our understanding of patience and our conscious decision to choose joy.”

Like President Eyring and Elder Stevenson, and like President Russell M. Nelson in the Sunday morning session, Elder Jaggi said that God’s children should focus on being his.

“Of all the zealous social, religious and political endeavors of our day, let disciple of Jesus Christ be our most pronounced and affirming affiliation,” he said.

One way to do that, added Elder Milton R. Camargo of the Seventy, is to remember prayer.

“An important part of Heavenly Father’s plan is the opportunity to communicate with him anytime we want,” he said.

That communication often is enough to sustain through trial.

“We don’t always need to know everything or see everything,” Elder Camargo said. “The still, small voice is reaffirming, encouraging and comforting — and many times that’s just what we need for the day.”

President Dallin H. Oaks, first counselor in the First Presidency, conducted the final session.

The First Presidency and members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles gathered to broadcast the conference from the stage of the Conference Center Theater, but they wore face coverings and sat several feet apart. The only other people in attendance were the speakers and those who said opening and closing prayers.

The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square is not performing live at the the conference due to the pandemic. Music was provided using previously recorded choir performances, including “O Say What is Truth,” from the October 2016 conference; “Softly and Tenderly,” October 2014; “Guide Us, O Thou Great Jehovah,” April 2016; and “God Be With You Till We Meet Again,” October 2012.

The opening prayer was provided by Elder Paul V. Johnson, the church commissioner of education and a General Authority Seventy. Brother Jan E. Newman, second counselor in the Sunday School general presidency, said the closing prayer.

from Deseret News https://ift.tt/3iv7Gqq