An unexpected miracle

For most of my life my Dad has been away from the Church. In my mind, it would always be like that. But in the last year a miracle has happened. One that I never thought would happen - no, not in this lifetime. He has returned to the Church! Not just returned but going religiously, doing his home teaching, becoming fully involved in every way. The prodigal has returned. He it was who originally listened to his friend, and then the missionaries, and took the baptismal plunge. But then he strayed. For years - I don't know how many, but it must've been 35 years or more - he has been out in the world out of the protection of the Gospel.

But now he has returned! And returned with a burning.

Today he gave the first talk in Church in 3 1/2 decades. I've pasted a version of it below. It's a beautiful talk.

Truly, the story of the prodigal son applies here. The leaving. The returning. The mixed emotions. The broken trust. The feelings of loss. The feelings of hope. The redemption.

The Life and Attributes of Christ, by Hugh Kennedy

March 20, 2016

Thank you sister Van Horn. Now I know how Charles Brill and Mitzi McCall felt on Feb 4, 1964…Some of you that are a bit older may remember them…They were the comedy team that followed the Beatles’ first appearance on the Ed Sullivan show.

I pray that the spirit will continue to abide with me and direct me as to what I am about to say.

In Mark chapter 8 verses 27 thru 29 we read:

And Jesus went out and his disciples into the towns of Caesaria and Phillippi and by the way He asked His disciples, saying unto them.

“Whom do men say I am?”

And they answered:

“John the Baptist, but some say Elias, and others say One of the prophets of old”

And He sayest unto them,

“But whom do you say I am?”

And Peter answered and said:

“Thou art the Christ”

This, from our primordial existence has been the question that we have all had to answer.

            

“But whom do you (Hugh) say I am?”

This man Jesus, of the lineage of David, born in Bethlehem, raised a Nazarene, taught at his mother’s knee, was given by His Heavenly Father and accepted the charge of bringing to pass the immortality and eternal life of all mankind.

He had his free agency as we all do.  He chose to accept all that was required of Him to become the literal Savior of all that would follow him and keep the commandments that have been given them.

From the very beginning, He knew what would be required of Him. He explained it to the Apostles on the way to Caesaria and Phillippi. As stated later in Mark verse 31 He tells the Apostles:

…That “the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected of the elders and of the chief priests and scribes and be killed and after 3 days rise again.”

In the preexistence Jesus determined that He was going to, in every regard, do the will of the Father in all things. He was prepared before the foundations of the world to come to earth as the Messiah and redeem a fallen world as the one savior of all mankind. 

We were created and reared as spirit children to our Heavenly Parents in our preexistent first estate and chose to accept the Plan of Salvation, which included Christ as our Savior (to the glory of the Father) and by so doing punched our ticket to come into this mortal world (our 2^nd estate) to learn and be tested. 

As it stated in Moses 3: verse 5:

“And every plant of the field before it was on the earth and every herb of the field before it grew.  For I the Lord God created all things, of which I have spoken, spiritually before they were naturally upon the face of the earth.”

And then in verse 7 He says:

“And I the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul, the first flesh upon the earth the first man also. Nevertheless all things were before created, but spiritually were they created and made according to My Word.”

What word could this scripture be referring to?

In John 1:1 it says:

”In the beginning was the word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were created by Him and without was not anything made that was made.”

So…here we have it…Heavenly Father is the Engineer and Jesus Christ is the builder, not only of everything that was made, but of the plan through which we are able to return to that celestial home from whence we came.

He was the perfect example of all we need to aspire to.  It is not that there aren’t others that are worthy of emulation, but, in order to fulfill all that is required of us, if we are to return to our eternal home, we only need to do one simple thing.

As He stated many times from the shores of the Sea of Galilee, to the people of the American continent, and to the present day:

“Follow Me!”

For the next few minutes I want us to ponder the most important of Jesus’s attributes.  This attribute is foundational to all else that He was:

He so eloquently expressed it on that darkest and most horrific of nights in the Garden of Gethsemane, knowing full well what he was asked to do by His Heavenly Father. He had a full knowledge of what was about to befall him, when he said:

“Oh, My father if this cup may not pass away from me except I drink of it…Thy will be done.”

From the beginning in the preexistence to the present day, His one driving force was to do the will of His Father in Heaven, our Father in Heaven.

If we are to follow Christ as He suggests we do; how do we do it? In my mind it seems that I must do as he did and do the will of Our Father in Heaven.

I realized as I pondered this that so many times these ideas are presented as commandments with rewards and punishments associated with compliance and noncompliance.  I have decided to hire Christ as my life coach so I can one day be as much like him as possible. Since I cannot have face to face meeting and lessons I must use what is available to me.

Now…we know from scripture that anything in righteousness that is important to us is important to Heavenly Father. Look it up…it’s in the D & C.

Firstly I must show Heavenly Father that this is important to me. I must study, pray, fast as needed, attend meetings where inspired speakers can help me along the way.  Most importantly I must keep the commandments, repent constantly as needed, honor my covenants, and magnify my priesthood and enduring to the end, do everything in my power to accomplish this goal of being Christ like. Why would I do all of this?

Because Heavenly Father is true to his word…As He says in Doctrine and Covenants 82:10:

“I the Lord am bound if you do what I say; but when you do not what I say you have no promise.”

 He will work on our behalf so we can accomplish our most important righteous objectives. Secondly, we have the opportunity to have a member of the Godhead with us at all times.  The Holy Ghost can be our constant source of information as to the Will of God with respect to our daily activities. Through all of these means I have the ability to choose my thoughts, words, and deeds to be in accordance with God’s Will or not.

I have been paying very close attention this last year as to when the Holy Ghost is most present.

Sometimes, it feels I am walking along with a close friend like Dory. I am receiving promptings, I am responding to them, and there is this amazing peace and joy.  The path seems so clear.

Other times it is like having a reluctant partner.  He wants to help. I can feel His presence, but there is some distance and so our communication is limited.

Then there are times when He is just gone.  It is devastating.  I have really screwed up and frantically search my behavior to determine what has driven Him away.

In the process of pondering all of this I had a vision:

I was walking through a forest and came across a small fawn.  It was so beautiful, innocent and intensely sensitive and alert to my every move.  Watching me, it was ready to bolt if I made one wrong move. However, if I was careful and approached it lovingly it would permit me to caress it. In other words it would abide my presence.

I like to think the Holy Ghost is like that small fawn. It is a being of such purity and love that it wants nothing more than to comfort and guide us.  However it cannot abide the least amount of evil. When I am mean spirited, when I get angry, judgmental or negative in any way, or worse, I think that The Spirit must flee my presence.

The beauty of this for me is that in some ways it is like a sentinel.  When I know it is there, I know I am on the correct path. When it isn’t, I know that I need a correction of some kind.

When I am following Christ through that forest, no matter how far ahead of me He may be.  I have a sweet, innocent, pure, companion, guide and comforter to assist me in my journey.  I am never alone. With the Holy Ghost walking along with me I am inspired to be a better man, a better husband, a better brother, father, friend and especially a truer servant of my Beloved Heavenly Father.

As I obey those promptings and learn the will of God with respect to my life I can “wax strong in the presence of God” and face to face with Jesus one day when He asks “Whom do you Hugh say I am?”  I can say to Him with complete confidence Thou art the Christ.

I testify that Jesus Christ is our older brother. By whatever means I know not He came to this earth, (part man, part God) and took upon himself by whatever means I know not, all the sins, trials, tribulations and pain of all mankind and redeemed each and every one of us when we repent and Follow Him.

As we strive to follow him and learn the Will of the Father and practice those Christ like attributes the Holy Ghost will comfort and guide us along the path back to our eternal home.

I testify that Jesus Christ did actually rise from the dead and opened the doors for us to eternal life.

I know the Book of Mormon to be the word of God and that Joseph Smith was the first prophet in these latter days. He restored the fullness of the gospel to the earth.  I testify that Thomas S. Monson is a true prophet and leads Christ’s church and I say these things in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.