On my grandmothers piano there used to sit a small clock. I am not sure to this day what kind of clock it was. I do remember that it was very beautiful and that I used to enjoy watch its movement. This particular clock was the kind that had the 5 or six little gold balls that would rotate back and forth around the spindle. There were no plugs or batteries in this clock my grandmother was responsible to remember to rewind it every six or seven days. If the clock was not rewound at regular intervals it would eventually lose time, its chimes would sound funny and off-tone until it would finally stop altogether until it was rewound again.
There are some similarities between this old clock of my grandmother and life. It would be nice in life if we could simply rewind our own physical clocks and restore or bodies back to all the energy that we had as a youth. In some ways we can rejuvenate our physical bodies with exercise, rest and proper nourishment. However unlike the clock, despite all our efforts to rewind our bodies to keep them young we will someday have them stop on us. This is the way it is for our physical clocks that the Lord has given us. It is part of the Lords plan. Our time here is just a part of our eternal existence, and as our physical clocks wind down we prepare for yet another beginning with even greater possibilities and experiences.
The physical clock is not however the only clock that the Lord has provided for us. We have a spiritual clock that operates or at least should be operational within us. The owners manual for this clock instructs us that we need to rewind it occasionally for proper operation. It too like our physical clock needs rewinding in order for it to keep the proper time and for its chimes not to be off-tone. There is one big difference between our physical clocks and our spiritual clocks however; the physical clock will stop someday our spiritual clock does not have to. It is all a matter of care for our clocks that will make the difference. As a matter of fact, we can do much more to rewind our spiritual clocks and at a much quicker response rate than we could ever dream of doing to our physical clock. With a little care and attention its operation will be more clear, the tone more resonant. It is not automatic however. Just as the clock that sat on my grandmothers piano it takes attention to the proper winding of the mechanism, if not a spiritual sluggishness develops, our spiritual tone becomes off-tune, and unless something is done to correct the winding down process our spiritual clocks can stop too.
In the world that we find ourselves in each day it is very easy to see how ones clock can quickly become deplete energy.
In October conference 1949 Elder Albert E. Bowen then a member of the council of the twelve said:
"Men are mortal and beset by human fragilities. They are enticed by the pressures of the immediate... desire to depart from the high standards of the perfect law. When they are under the influence of an exalted occasion, they make high resolves. They firmly determine to avoid past mistakes and to do better. But gone out from under the spell of that influence and absorbed in the complicated pursuits of life, they find difficulty in holding fast to their noble purposes... So it is essential that they come again, and frequently, under the influence which kindles anew the warmth of spirit in which good resolutions are begotten, that they may go out fortified to withstand the pressures of temptation which lure them into false ways. Happily, if they refresh themselves frequently enough under ennobling influences, the spirit of repentance will be at work with them , and they will make conquest of some temptations - rise above them - and advance thus far toward their final goal." (In Conference Oct. 1949)
All of us require the "ennobling influences" that Elder Bowen spoke of in order that our spiritual clocks may stay rewound. Just as is exercise and nourishment important to keep our physical bodies in proper condition so then is regular fasting and prayer, scripture study, partaking of the sacrament and proper sabbath worship necessary to keep our spiritual vigor.
The sabbath is provided by the Lord for just that purpose. Of that President Benson said in the 1971 Ensign: "the purpose of the sabbath is for spiritual uplift for a renewal of our covenants, for worship, for rest for prayer. It is for the purpose of feeding the spirit, that we may keep ourselves unspotted from the world by obeying God's command."
The Church today accepts Sunday as the Christian Sabbath and proclaims the sanctity of the day. It is admitted without argument that under the Mosaic law the seventh day of the week was Saturday and was designated and observed as the holy day. It was during apostolic administration following the personal ministry of Jesus Christ that Saturday worship was changed to Sunday. We believe says James E Talmage in Jesus the Christ that "Greater than the question of this day or that in the week is the actuality of the weekly Sabbath, to be observed as a day of special and particular devotion to the service of the Lord.
The Sabbath was designed in specific detail as recorded in the record of the creation, wherein we read, following the account of the six days or periods of creative effort:"
"And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made."
In the early stages of the exodus the Israelites were commanded to lay in a double portion of manna on the sixth day, for the seventh was consecrated as the Lords day of rest; the Lord rested by withholding manna on the Sabbath day, and the Israelites were also forced to rest as no manna was delivered from heaven on the sabbath day.
Again from the mount of Sinai, the Sabbath law was made particularly explicit, in which the Lord cited to Moses:
"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: For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it."
Keeping the Sabbath as a day Holy became a national characteristic of the Israelites on the Sabbath they would abstain from any labor and in addition pay their devotion to the most high, which distinguished them from the pagan nations; and rightly so, for the observance of the holy day was specified as a sign of the covenant between Jehovah and His people.
Throughout Israelite history many prophets admonished and rebuked the people for neglect of the Sabbath. Nehemiah described that their nation would suffer affliction and forfeit divine protection if they violated the Sabbath; and by the mouth of Ezekiel the Lord reaffirmed the significance of the Sabbath as a mark of His covenant with Israel, and sternly rebuked those who observed not the day. The branch of Israel that sailed to the Americas, those to which the Book of Mormon addresses, Sabbath observance was no less an imperative requirement.
Long before the birth of Christ the original purpose of the Sabbath and the spirit of its service had been lost from among the Jews; the rabbinical rules had introduced numerous technicalities, which made the sabbath a day of discomfort and severity. This condition was strongly denounced by our Lord in reply to the many criticisms heaped upon Him because of the healing and other good works wrought by Him on the Sabbath. "The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath," said He, and then continued with the profound affirmation: "The son of Man is Lord also of the sabbath."
Christ came not to destroy the law of Moses but to fulfil it; and through Him the law was superseded by the Gospel.
"The Savior rose from the tomb on the first day of the week; and that particular Sunday, as also the next, was rendered forever memorable by the bodily visitation of the resurrected Lord to the assembled apostles and others. To the believers in the crucified and risen Savior, Sunday became the Lord's Day, and in time took the place of Saturday as the weekly Sabbath in the Christian churches.
The Church of Jesus Christ teaches that Sunday is the acceptable day for Sabbath observance, on the authority of direct revelation specifying the Lord's Day as such. In this, a new dispensation, and verily the last&emdash;the Dispensation of the Fullness of Times&emdash;the law of the Sabbath has been reaffirmed unto the Church. It is to be noted that the revelation, part of which follows, was given to the Church on a Sunday&emdash;August 7, 1831:" ( Jesus the Christ)
The Lord said of the sabbath in the 59 Section D&C
9 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;
10 For verily this is a day appointed unto you to rest from your labors, and to pay thy devotions unto the Most High;
11 Nevertheless thy vows shall be offered up in righteousness on all days and at all times;
12 But remember that on this, the Lord's day, thou shalt offer thine oblations and thy sacraments unto the Most High, confessing thy sins unto thy brethren, and before the Lord.
13 And on this day thou shalt do none other thing, only let thy food be prepared with singleness of heart that thy fasting may be perfect, or, in other words, that thy joy may be full.
14 Verily, this is fasting and prayer, or in other words, rejoicing and prayer.
15 And inasmuch as ye do these things with thanksgiving, with cheerful hearts and countenances, not with much laughter, for this is sin, but with a glad heart and a cheerful countenance&emdash;
16 Verily I say, that inasmuch as ye do this, the fullness of the earth is yours
You see the Lord would have us be a peculiar people, unspotted from the world. I suppose one of the more obvious ways of being peculiar is what we do or should do as Latter-Day Saints on the sabbath.
President Brigham Young Said of the Sabbath:
"Now, remember, my brethren, those who go skating, buggy riding or on excursions on the Sabbath day&emdash;and there is a great deal of this practiced&emdash;are weak in the faith. Gradually, little by little, little by little, the spirit of their religion leaks out of their hearts and their affections, and by and by they begin to see faults in their brethren, faults in the doctrines of the Church, faults in the organization, and at last they leave the Kingdom of God and go to destruction. I really wish you would remember this, and tell it to your neighbors.
The Lord has directed his people to rest one-seventh part of the time, and we take the first day of the week, and call it our Sabbath. This is according to the order of the Christians. We should observe this for our own temporal good and spiritual welfare. When we see a farmer in such a hurry, that he has to attend to his harvest, and to haying, fence-making, or to gathering his cattle on the Sabbath day, as far as I am concerned, I count him weak in the faith. He has lost the spirit of his religion, more or less. Six days are enough for us to work, and if we wish to play, play within the six days; if we wish to go on excursions, take one of those six days, but on the seventh day, come to the place of worship, attend to the Sacrament, confess your faults one to another and to our God, and pay attention to the ordinances of the house of God.
I said yesterday to a Bishop who was mending a breach in the canal, and expressed a wish to continue his labor on the following Sabbath, as his wheat was burning up, let it burn, when the time comes that is set apart for worship, go up and worship the Lord."
From the mouth of a Latter-Day prophet we get a pretty clear understanding of what the Lord would have us refrain from doing on his day.
Understanding what we should not do is maybe easier than understanding what it is that we should do on sunday to keep our spiritual clocks wound.
The President Benson recommends some activities that fit the purpose of the sabbath:
" 1. Engage in activities that contribute to greater spirituality.
2. Attend essential church meetings in the house of the Lord.
3. Acquire spiritual knowledge by reading the scriptures, church history and biographies, and the inspired words of our church leaders.
4.Rest Physically, get acquainted with your family, relate scriptural stories to your children, and bear your testimony to build family unity.
5. Visit the sick and aged and shut-ins.
6. Sing the songs of Zion and listen to inspired music.
7. Pay devotion to the most high through prayer ( personal and family), fasting, administration and fathers blessings.
8. Prepare food with a singleness of heart: simple meals, prepared largely on Saturday.
9. Remember that Sunday is the Lord's Day, A day to do his work."
some examples of what the Savior did on the Sabbath may give us some suggestions of what we too may do on the Lord's day.
The Healing of a Cripple on the Sabbath
An impressive miracle was recorded by John, were Jesus was in Jerusalem, at the time of one of the Jewish festivals. There was a pool of water, called Bethesda, near the sheep market in the city. From the recorded description, we may understand this to have been a natural spring; possibly the water was rich in dissolved solids or gases, or both, making it such as we would call today a mineral spring; for we find that the water was reputed to possess curative virtues, and many afflicted folk came to bathe therein. The spring was of the pulsating variety; at intervals its waters rose with bubbling disturbance, and then receded to the normal level. Mineral springs of this kind are known today in many parts of the world. some believed that the periodical upwelling of the Bethesda waters was the result of supernatural agency; and it was said that "whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had." The Bethesda pool was wholly or partly enclosed; and five porches had been built for the shelter of those who waited at the spring for the intermittent bubbling up of the water.
On a certain Sabbath day, Jesus visited the pool and saw many afflicted folk thus waiting. Among them lay a man who for thirty-eight years had been grievously afflicted. From the man's statement of his helplessness we may infer that he was suffering from paralysis, or possibly an extreme form of rheumatism; whatever his affliction, it was so disabling as to give him little chance of getting into the pool at the critical time, for others less crippled crowded him away; and, according to the legends regarding the curative properties of the spring, only the first to enter the pool after the agitation of the water might expect to be healed.
Jesus recognized in the man a fit subject for blessing, and said to him: "Wilt thou be made whole?" The question was so simple as almost to appear superfluous. Of course the man wanted to be made well, and on the small chance of being able to reach the water at the right moment was patiently yet eagerly waiting. There was purpose, however, in these as in all other words of the Master. The man's attention was drawn to Him, fixed upon Him; the question aroused in the sufferer's heart renewed yearning for the health and strength of which he had been bereft since the days of his youth. His answer was pitiful, and revealed his almost hopeless state of mind; he thought only of the rumored virtues of Bethesda pool, as he said: "Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me." Then spake Jesus: "Rise, take up thy bed, and walk." Immediately strength returned to the man, who for nearly four decades had been a helpless invalid; he obeyed the Master, and, taking up the little mattress or pallet on which he had rested, walked away.
If Christ is to be our example we should consider that he spent his time on the sabbath winding the clocks of his fellowmen, as well as his own spiritual clock.
President Harold B. Lee said "that it's all right to pull the ox from the mire on Sunday provided that you did not push him in on Saturday night"