Stop It!

First, a side note.  I wonder if we'll consider the 2010's as the decade of the internet memes... I first heard the word meme a couple of years ago.  From Wikipedia:

 A meme ( /ˈmiːm/; meem)^[1] is "an idea, behavior or style that spreads from person to person within a culture."^[2] A meme acts as a unit for carrying cultural ideas, symbols or practices, which can be transmitted from one mind to another through writing, speech, gestures, rituals or other imitable phenomena. Supporters of the concept regard memes as cultural analogues to genes in that they self-replicate, mutate and respond to selective pressures.^[3]

Most of that selectivity and replication and self-replication is on Facebook.  The originals all were an image with a black border and a brief phrase below, like a motivational poster.  Then they were superimposed dialogue on interesting pictures.  Then there was the "What you think you do/what your mom thinks you do... etc" and the simple vintage-style line drawings with a housewife and a caption.

Well the context for my thinking about this is when I was reviewing the LDS General Conference talk given in October 2012 by Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf entitled "The Merciful Obtain Mercy." The talk was wonderfully pointed and motivational to the end of forgiving those who offend us, avoiding casting judgement, and seeing our fellow man from the perspective that God sees them.  The main punchline was that the solution to these ills is "STOP IT!"  (Elder Uchtdorf always has quotable quotes.)  You can see where this is headed.

And sure enough there are many to choose from.  Here's one that highlights the main take-away of the talk:

Here's another designer's version.  Briefer, to the point.

I like this one, too, as it is simple, direct, to the point.  I could envision this being framed art or wall art or passed around on Facebook.

You want more choices?  Google with keywords 'stop it Uchtdorf' or some combination thereof, and you get a whole host of options.  Honestly!  People must have really felt motivated by those words!  It's not that they are so interesting or remarkable or intricate; the secret to extending mercy is to simply stop judging. 

Please review the talk for all its simplicity.  If you want to see what a living prophet of God looks like, you can watch this two minute snippet.

Highlights?

Forgiving ourselves and others is not easy. In fact, for most of us it requires a major change in our attitude and way of thinking—even a change of heart. But there is good news. This “mighty change”⁸ of heart is exactly what the gospel of Jesus Christ is designed to bring into our lives.

How is it done? Through the love of God.

When our hearts are filled with the love of God, something good and pure happens to us. We “keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous. For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world.”⁹

The more we allow the love of God to govern our minds and emotions—the more we allow our love for our Heavenly Father to swell within our hearts—the easier it is to love others with the pure love of Christ. As we open our hearts to the glowing dawn of the love of God, the darkness and cold of animosity and envy will eventually fade.

 Then jumping to the end: 

Brothers and sisters, there is enough heartache and sorrow in this life without our adding to it through our own stubbornness, bitterness, and resentment. We are not perfect. The people around us are not perfect.¹⁹ People do things that annoy, disappoint, and anger. In this mortal life it will always be that way.

Nevertheless, we must let go of our grievances. Part of the purpose of mortality is to learn how to let go of such things. That is the Lord’s way.Remember, heaven is filled with those who have this in common: They are forgiven. And they forgive.

Lay your burden at the Savior’s feet. Let go of judgment. Allow Christ’s Atonement to change and heal your heart. Love one another. Forgive one another. The merciful will obtain mercy.

Of this I testify in the name of the One who loved so well and so completely that He gave His life for us, His friends—in the sacred name of Jesus Christ, amen.

 I am Joseph Jackson and I approve of this message.  (Isn't it remarkably simple, yet true?)

Crusades: How to have a holy war.

Here we combine yesterday's hinting at some of the fundamentals of the Crusades, last week's Veteran's day, and the Sunday school lesson yesterday about war/battles as mentioned in the scriptures.

The Crusades were a series of religious expeditionary wars blessed by Pope Urban II and the Catholic Church, with the stated goal of restoring Christian access to the holy places in and near Jerusalem. (Wikipedia)  Somehow, since Veteran's day was on Sunday, the talks last week at church wandered into the realm of life being hard for soldiers and families of soldiers, who give most of their attention to selfless acts of devotion to our country.  Not your typical Sacrament Service.  Lastly, yesterday's Sunday School lesson focused primarily on what parents can do to teach their children to be good Christians, which included elements of devotion, patriotism, and fulfilling expectations even when the going gets rough.

via.

I'm not normally one to think about war and fighting, as it generally makes me a bit squeamish.  Recently I have come to a greater sense of empathy, too, which makes it easier to see the human side of an "enemy".  But, with all this talking of war, I wanted to discover what the Book of Mormon says about war.  

What I learned falls into three categories:
I. The Lord will add confidence to the righteous that He will deliver them out of the hands of their enemies.
II. War inspired by a better cause, e.g. family, home, rights, religion, is a duty of believers.
III. Wars of aggression will never be sanctioned by God.

These are the verses I read which taught me these directives:
Alma 58:11-12

11 Yea, and it came to pass that the Lord our God did visit us with assurances that he would deliver us; yea, insomuch that he did speak peace to our souls, and did grant unto us great faith, and did cause us that we should hope for our ^adeliverance in him.
 12 And we did take courage with our small force which we had received, and were fixed with a determination to conquer our enemies, and to^amaintain our lands, and our possessions, and our wives, and our children, and the cause of our ^bliberty.

Lord Spoke Assurances of deliverance, and provided peace, faith, and hope.  The fighting force's conviction to conquer was for the sake of maintaining their possessions, and protecting the liberty of their families.  It was not, "a conquering we'll go" with the expectation of building a kingdom.  It was to allow them to continue to work for their sustenance and enjoy the freedom to make their livelihood.

Alma 43:45-47

 45 Nevertheless, the Nephites were inspired by a ^abetter cause, for they were not ^bfighting for monarchy nor power but they were fighting for their homes and their ^cliberties, their wives and their children, and their all, yea, for their rites of worship and their church.
 46 And they were doing that which they felt was the^aduty which they owed to their God; for the Lord had said unto them, and also unto their fathers, that: ^bInasmuch as ye are not guilty of the ^cfirst offense, neither the second, ye shall not suffer yourselves to be slain by the hands of your enemies.
 47 And again, the Lord has said that: Ye shall ^adefend your families even unto ^bbloodshed. Therefore for this cause were the Nephites contending with the Lamanites, to defend themselves, and their families, and their lands, their country, and their rights, and their religion.

See?  I knew I remembered that it was not for monarchy or power.  They felt duty driven to defend their families to the end.  So I was interested to find out what this first and second offense was.

Here was one of the cross-references.  3 Ne 3:21

 21 But Gidgiddoni saith unto them: The Lord ^aforbid; for if we should go up against them the Lord would^bdeliver us into their hands; therefore we will prepare ourselves in the center of our lands, and we will gather all our armies together, and we will not go against them, but we will wait till they shall come against us; therefore as the Lord liveth, if we do this he will deliver them into our hands.

Okay, so one offense would have been to be the aggressor.  Deliverance was not promised if they aggressed, but only if they stood with their armies to defend their lands.  Ultimately, I suppose the truth of the matter is that we can do no wrong if we heed the Master's directive from Luke 6:29:

^aAnd unto him that ^bsmiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other; and him that ^ctaketh away thy cloke forbid not to take thy coat also.

Then once you've been smitten twice, or had your cloke and your coat taken, then you are justified in saying "enough is enough"?  Well, as long as the defense is performed humbly, in a nutshell, without flaunting God's power as though He could be commanded to fulfill our short-sighted goals.  Mormon 3:9-11

9 And now, because of this great thing which my people, the Nephites, had done, they began to ^aboast in their own strength, and began to swear before the heavens that they would avenge themselves of the blood of their brethren who had been slain by their enemies.
 10 And they did ^aswear by the heavens, and also by the throne of God, that they ^bwould go up to battle against their enemies, and would cut them off from the face of the land.
 11 And it came to pass that I, Mormon, did utterly^a refuse from this time forth to be a commander and a leader of this people, because of their wickedness and abomination.

From this brief exercise, I think I've come to the conclusion that it's expected that we stand up for truth and virtue, acting humbly in defense of God's gifts to us.  If we do it His way, then surely we'll be on the successful side.

Does a shepherd go home for dinner?

April 2007, Sheep-shearing Festival
Gore Place, Waltham, MA

Wikipedia ("shepherd"): A shepherd (pronounced /ˈʃɛpərd/) is a person who tends, feeds or guards flocks of sheep.

Recently I have been thinking about the shepherd and his other duties.  Do the shepherds have specific roles or duties?  Do they work as a team?  Do they go home to sleep in a house, or do they sleep in the field with their flocks?  And what about their families?  Would the family be out and about with the shepherd?  Would the shepherd  have someone to back him up if he needed to run home for family prayers or something?  

More from Wikipedia:

Shepherding is one of the oldest occupations, beginning some 6,000 years ago in Asia Minor. Sheep were kept for their milk, meat and especially their wool. Over the next millennia, sheep and shepherding spread throughout Eurasia.
Some sheep were integrated in the family farm along with other animals such as chickens and pigs. To maintain a large flock, however, the sheep must be able to move from pasture to pasture; this required the development of an occupation separate from that of the farmer. The duty of shepherds was to keep their flock intact and protect it from wolves and other predators. The shepherd was also to supervise the migration of the flock and ensured they made it to market areas in time for shearing. 

via Wikipedia.

Okay, so that makes sense.  Tough to be a shepherd and a farmer, as they require completely different lifestyles.  Some of the questions in my head have been circulating because of my duties at church-- we are a lay ministry, so in some sense we've got to find time to be the shepherd and the farmer.  I completely understand how some churches employ a pastor to make it a full time job. Here's more:

Shepherds were often wage earners, being paid to watch the sheep of others. Shepherds also lived apart from society, being largely nomadic. It was mainly a job of solitary males without children, and new shepherds thus needed to be recruited externally. Shepherds were most often the younger sons of farming peasants who did not inherit any land. Still in other societies, each family would have a family member to shepherd its flock, often a child, youth or an elder who couldn't help much with harder work; these shepherds were fully integrated in society.  

Shepherds would normally work in groups either looking after one large flock, or each bringing their own and merging their responsibilities. They would live in small cabins, often shared with their sheep and would buy food from local communities. Less often shepherds lived in covered wagons that traveled with their flocks.

Noteworthy Biblical sheperds: Abraham, Jacob, 12 Tribes, Moses, King David, Jesus.  Bishops have pastoral responsibilities, as pastor is rooted in Latin for shepherd.

“I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.  But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep.” (John 10:11-12.)” 

There were two kinds of sheepfolds in Jesus’time. One, a large building with beams covered with tree branches andstraw, was used in the winter for the sheep. In the summer and spring thesheep for an entire town were kept in a large enclosure open to the skybut with walls high enough to keep predators out. At night all theindividual family shepherds brought their flocks to the large fold and one man stood guard through the night instead of all the shepherds.  (H. S. Ellsworth Thoughts on the Good Shepherd, Dec 1985) 

The Lord is My Shepherd, by Simon Dewey.

Article on Jesus our Shepherd
"The tendency of humans to put themselves into danger's way and their inability to guide and take care of themselves apart from the direct power and leading of God is also reinforced with the metaphor of sheep in need of a shepherd."


So I haven't had time to fully pontificate on the subject of shepherd and sheep.   But the direction I'm hoping to understand more fully here is this:  Where is the balance between caring for my family and tending the "flock" allocated to me elsewhere?  Perhaps climbing a high mountain will help.