“Brothers and Sisters in Christ”

Last updated on January 14th, 2024 at 03:50 pm

General Conference Applied

S2 E14 – Sunday, January 7, 2024 | “Brothers and Sisters in Christ” by Elder Ulisses Soares; October 2023 General Conference

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Corresponding Talk Outline: “Brothers and Sisters in Christ“

Podcast Episode Outline

REMEMBER THIS

If you remember nothing else from this podcast episode, remember this:

• Elder Soares is inviting us to embrace this truth: we are family.

Introduction

Doctrines, Principles, and Christlike Attributes

As we have discussed in previous episodes of General Conference Applied, it is important to identify the fundamental doctrine, principle, and Christlike attribute of each General Conference address. In “Brothers and Sisters in Christ,” I identified Godhead as the fundamental doctrine, Our Heavenly Family as the fundamental principle, and Charity and Love as the fundamental Christlike attribute. I have included a detailed breakdown of this doctrine, principle, and Christlike attribute in the talk outline, but I will share additional insights during this podcast episode.

In each episode of General Conference Applied, we are attempting to answer two questions:

1. What is the speaker inviting me to do?
2. How might I consider taking action?

What is the speaker inviting me to do?

Invitations

1: “May we align our hearts and minds with the knowledge and testimony that we are all equal before God, that we are all fully endowed with the same eternal potential and inheritance. May we enjoy more the spiritual kinship that exists between us and value the different attributes and varied gifts we all have.”

• What This Means (in 6 words or less): Embrace this truth: we are family.

Overview

True Brothers and Sisters in Christ

“I pray that the Spirit of the Lord continues with us as we rejoice together as true brothers and sisters in Christ.”

• C. S. Lewis: “It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship. … There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilization—these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit.”
• “We Are His Children”, October 2023 General Conference, Elder Christophe G. Giraud-Carrier:
  
  “President Russell M. Nelson has taught:
  
  “‘The adversary rejoices in labels because they divide us and restrict the way we think about ourselves and each other. How sad it is when we honor labels more than we honor each other.
  
  “‘Labels can lead to judging and animosity. Any abuse or prejudice toward another because of nationality, race, sexual orientation, gender, educational degrees, culture, or other significant identifiers is offensive to our Maker!'” (“Choices for Eternity“)
• “Choices for Eternity“, May 15, 2022, Worldwide Devotional for Young Adults, President Russell M. Nelson:
  • “Labels can be fun and indicate your support for any number of positive things. Many labels will change for you with the passage of time. And not all labels are of equal value. But if any label replaces your most important identifiers, the results can be spiritually suffocating.
    
    “For example, if I were to rank in order of importance the designations that could be applied to me, I would say: First, I am a child of God—a son of God—then a son of the covenant, then a disciple of Jesus Christ and a devoted member of His restored Church.
    
    “Next would come my honored titles as a husband and father, then Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ.
    
    “All other labels that have applied to me—such as a medical doctor, surgeon, researcher, professor, lieutenant, captain, PhD, American, and so forth—would fall somewhere down the list.
    
    “Now, let us turn the question to you. Who are you?
    
    “First and foremost, you are a child of God.
    
    “Second, as a member of the Church, you are a child of the covenant. And third, you are a disciple of Jesus Christ.
    
    “Tonight, I plead with you not to replace these three paramount and unchanging identifiers with any others, because doing so could stymie your progress or pigeonhole you in a stereotype that could potentially thwart your eternal progression.”

Paradigms

“I have deep compassion for those who have been mistreated, belittled, or persecuted by unfeeling and thoughtless people, because, in the course of my life, I have seen firsthand the pain good people suffer from being judged or dismissed because they happened to speak, look, or live differently. I also feel genuine sorrow in my heart for those whose minds remain darkened, whose vision is limited, and whose hearts remain hardened by the belief in the inferiority of those who are different from them. Their limited view of others actually obstructs their ability to see who they are as children of God.“

• Our Heavenly Family: “God is not only our Ruler and Creator; He is also our Heavenly Father. All men and women are literally the sons and daughters of God. ‘Man, as a spirit, was begotten and born of heavenly parents, and reared to maturity in the eternal mansions of the Father, prior to coming upon the earth in a temporal [physical] body’ (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph F. Smith [1998], 335). Every person who was ever born on earth is our spirit brother or sister. Because we are the spirit children of God, we have inherited the potential to develop His divine qualities. Through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, we can become like our Heavenly Father and receive a fulness of joy.”
• “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change” by Stephen Covey:
  • “I remember a mini-paradigm shift I experienced one Sunday morning on a subway in New York. People were sitting quietly—some reading newspapers, some lost in thought, some resting with their eyes closed. It was a calm, peaceful scene.
    
    “Then suddenly, a man and his children entered the subway car. The children were so loud and rambunctious that instantly the whole climate changed. The man sat down next to me and closed his eyes, apparently oblivious to the situation. The children were yelling back and forth, throwing things, even grabbing people’s papers. It was very disturbing. And yet, the man sitting next to me did nothing.
    
    “It was difficult not to feel irritated. I could not believe that he could be so insensitive as to let his children run wild like that and do nothing about it, taking no responsibility at all. It was easy to see that everyone else on the subway felt irritated, too. So finally, with what I felt was unusual patience and restraint, I turned to him and said, ‘Sir, your children are really disturbing a lot of people. I wonder if you couldn’t control them a little more?’ The man lifted his gaze as if to come to a consciousness of the situation for the first time and said softly, ‘Oh, you’re right. I guess I should do something about it. We just came from the hospital where their mother died about an hour ago. I don’t know what to think, and I guess they don’t know how to handle it either.’
    
    “Can you imagine what I felt at that moment? My paradigm shifted. Suddenly I saw things differently, and because I saw differently, I thought differently, I felt differently, I behaved differently. My irritation vanished. I didn’t have to worry about controlling my attitude or my behavior; my heart was filled with the man’s pain. Feelings of sympathy and compassion flowed freely. ‘Your wife just died? Oh, I’m so sorry! Can you tell me about it? What can I do to help?’ Everything changed in an instant.”
• Social media post shared with me by my wife:
  • “As I was pulling into work, I was following this car. The sign in the back window says, ‘Learning stick sorry for any delay.’ Knowing this information, I was very patient with their slow shifting, and honestly they were doing pretty well for still learning. Then I asked myself a tough question: Would I have been just as patient if the sign hadn’t been there? I can almost definitely say no. We don’t know what someone is going through. We don’t wear signs that illustrate our personal struggles. You don’t see signs taped to people’s shirts that say, ‘Going through a divorce,’ or ‘Lost a child,’ or ‘Feeling depressed,’ or ‘Diagnosed with cancer.’ If we could read visually what those around us are going through we would definitely be nicer. But we shouldn’t have to see signs and have reasons to treat strangers with kindness. We should do it anyway, whether we know what is going on or not. Whether they deserve it or not. Let’s give everyone an extra dose of patience, kindness, and love.”

How might I consider taking action?

Invitations

1: “May we align our hearts and minds with the knowledge and testimony that we are all equal before God, that we are all fully endowed with the same eternal potential and inheritance. May we enjoy more the spiritual kinship that exists between us and value the different attributes and varied gifts we all have.”

• What This Means (in 6 words or less): Embrace this truth: we are family.
• “The Need For a Church“, October 2021 General Conference, President Dallin H. Oaks:
  • “In the geographic organization of our local wards, we associate and work with persons we might not otherwise have chosen, persons who teach us and test us.
    
    “In addition to helping us learn spiritual qualities like love, compassion, forgiveness, and patience, this gives us the opportunities to learn how to work with persons of very different backgrounds and preferences. This advantage has helped many of our members, and many organizations are blessed by their participation. Latter-day Saints are renowned for their ability to lead and unite in cooperative efforts. That tradition originated with our courageous pioneers who colonized the Intermountain West and established our valued tradition of unselfish cooperation for the common good.”
• “Rework: Change the Way You Work Forever” by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson
  • “The dream employee for a lot of companies is a twenty-something with as little of a life as possible outside of work—someone who’ll be fine working fourteen-hour days and sleeping under his desk.
    
    “But packing a room full of these burn-the-midnight-oil types isn’t as great as it seems. It lets you get away with lousy execution. It perpetuates myths like ‘This is the only way we can compete against the big guys.’ You don’t need more hours; you need better hours.
    
    “When people have something to do at home, they get down to business. They get their work done at the office because they have somewhere else to be. They find ways to be more efficient because they have to. They need to pick up the kids or get to choir practice. So they use their time wisely.
    
    “As the saying goes, ‘If you want something done, ask the busiest person you know.’ You want busy people. People who have a life outside of work. People who care about more than one thing. You shouldn’t expect the job to be someone’s entire life—at least not if you want to keep them around for a long time.”

Direct Promise

Elder Soares extended these promises by taking action on his invitation:

• “If we do so, I promise you that we will flow in our own way, as does the water of the Iguaçú Falls, without losing our divine connection that identifies us as a peculiar people, ‘the children of Christ, and heirs to the kingdom of God.’ (4 Nephi 1:17) I testify to you that as we continue to flow this way during our mortal life, a new day will begin with a new light that will brighten our lives and illuminate wonderful opportunities to value more, and be more fully blessed by, the diversity created by God among His children. We will surely become instruments in His hands to promote respect and dignity among all His sons and daughters.”
• Journal prompt: What does “[illuminating] wonderful opportunities to value more, and be more fully blessed by, the diversity created by God among His children” look like in my life?

Directives (“an official or authoritative instruction”)

1. “Our dear prophet, Russell M. Nelson, declared: ‘I call upon our members everywhere to lead out in abandoning attitudes and actions of prejudice. I plead with you to promote respect for all of God’s children.’ (“Let God Prevail“) As a global and ever-growing Church, following this invitation from our prophet is a vital prerequisite for building the Savior’s kingdom in every nation of the world.”
2. “As disciples of Christ, we are invited to increase our faith in, and love for, our spiritual brother- and sisterhood by genuinely knitting our hearts together in unity and love, regardless of our differences, thereby increasing our ability to promote respect for the dignity of all the sons and daughters of God.”
   • “The Book of Mormon: What Would Your Life Be Like without It?“, October 2017 General Conference, President Russell M. Nelson:
     • “Something powerful happens when a child of God seeks to know more about Him and His Beloved Son. Nowhere are those truths taught more clearly and powerfully than in the Book of Mormon… Whenever I hear anyone, including myself, say, ‘I know the Book of Mormon is true,’ I want to exclaim, ‘That’s nice, but it is not enough!’ We need to feel, deep in ‘the inmost part’ of our hearts, (Alma 13:27) that the Book of Mormon is unequivocally the word of God. We must feel it so deeply that we would never want to live even one day without it. I might paraphrase President Brigham Young in saying, ‘I wish I had the voice of seven thunders to wake up the people’ to the truth and power of the Book of Mormon.”
     • Journal prompt: “How might I feel, deep in the ‘inmost part’ of my heart, that Heavenly Father is literally the Father of my spirit and literally the Father of every other person on this planet?”
3. “President Nelson further emphasized the importance of spreading dignity and respect for our fellow beings when he stated: ‘The Creator of us all calls on each of us to abandon attitudes of prejudice against any group of God’s children. Any of us who has prejudice toward another race needs to repent! … It behooves each of us to do whatever we can in our spheres of influence to preserve the dignity and respect every son and daughter of God deserves.‘” (“We Are All Children of God“)”
   • “Creating Communities of Unity and Belonging Void of Contention, Discrimination or Division“, November 15, 2023, Utah Area Broadcast, Elder Christophe G. Giraud-Carrier
     • “It is high time we once and for all put aside our prejudices and enmity towards any others. It is high time we stop excluding anyone and start including everyone. Standing by without saying or doing anything is not an option either for true disciples of the Lord. We can respond with kindness, but we must respond as we protect those who are being unfairly treated… Invite your children to embrace the commitment of: ‘It stops here, it stops now, it stops with me.'”

Other Ideas

• “The Infamous Ratsos” by Kara LaReau: “‘Life is tough enough,’ says Big Lou. ‘We might as well try to make it easier for one another, whenever we can.'”
  • Identify one or more ways that you can make life easier for someone you know. Then take action. Perhaps this will require you to stop being unkind to this person. If that’s the case, take action quickly.

Report on Prior Week’s Action Item

In my journal last week, I committed to journaling for 20 minutes (10 minutes per question) to respond to these two questions for reflection from Elder Gong’s address: 1) “So, where and how does Jesus Christ speak to you in love?” and 2) “Where and how do you hear His love spoken here?”

When I commit to an accountability partner that I will take action, I take action. The past two weeks I haven’t committed to my accountability partner and, unsurprisingly, I haven’t taken action. That’s going to change this week.

This Week’s Action Item

“That which is measured improves. That which is measured and reported improves exponentially.”

Karl Pearson, an early 20th-century British mathematician

“Those who measure their progress improve. Those who measure and report their progress improve exponentially.”

Dan Sullivan, founder and president of The Strategic Coach Inc.

“Do something, do anything! But to start, just do ONE thing.”

Mitch Peterson

1. This week, I will journal for 10 minutes on this topic: “How do I currently ‘value the different attributes and varied gifts’ of my fellow spiritual brothers and sisters?”
2. Then, I will journal for 10 minutes on this topic: “What changes will I make to better ‘value the different attributes and varied gifts’ of my fellow spiritual brothers and sisters?”

Let Me Know

How will you take action on this General Conference address? Let me know on social media or email me.

REMEMBER THIS

If you remember nothing else from this podcast episode, remember this:

• Elder Soares is inviting us to embrace this truth: we are family.

Tags

Divine Nature | Love | Prejudice | Respect | Unity