Lessons from Church

I love going to church. Today one really important lesson didn't come from class. More on that in a bit. One thing I did learn in the Gospel Doctrine lesson was about the Hebrew word "yom." The teacher didn't source it, but taught that yom may mean "time," "day," or "period." On one site I found a word study on it. I haven't checked the entirety of the site's content, so I can't say I agree with it all, but the information on yom is fascinating. As an aside, I like the intent of this site. I don't think there is any conflict between science and religion. In any case, yom is translated into English in various verses of the Bible as "time," "year" or "years," "ago," "always," "ever," and "evermore." For those of us who believe God used the laws He created to organize the Earth, that's an important concept.

The lesson I learned that didn't come from class was fascinating. At the beginning of the third hour of worship, all the priesthood holders come together to start their meeting together before dividing into various quorums. Usually, we sing the first verse of a song. Today, the gentleman leading the music told us we'd sing the second verse of "Sweet Hour of Prayer." A couple of times before we started he signaled the group with two fingers, recognized as, "We're singing the second verse, guys, not the first." More than half the group, having been oblivious in their side conversations, happily sang the first verse. Many of the rest just reverted to singing the first out of habit.

It was a fantastic lesson on obedience. Obedience is not to simply continue engaging in our comfortable habits, heedless of any new direction. Obedience involves flexibility and listening for God's instructions from the Spirit.