Sabbath Day

LDS Quotes on the Sabbath Day

The Sabbath of the Lord is becoming the play day of the people. It is a day of golf and football on television, of buying and selling in our stores and markets. Are we moving to mainstream America as some observers believe? In this I fear we are. What a telling thing it is to see the parking lots of the markets filled on Sunday in communities that are predominately LDS. Our strength for the future, our resolution to grow the Church across the world, will be weakened if we violate the will of the Lord in this important matter. He has so very clearly spoken anciently and again in modern revelation. We cannot disregard with impunity that which He has said.

Gordon B. Hinckley  |  Look to the Future

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“Sunday is not necessarily a day to catch up on our sleep, but to rest from things of the world, although we usually find ourselves working harder on this day than any other. But it’s a different kind of work—it’s the Lord’s work. Thus, the Sabbath is our weekly opportunity to enter into God’s presence, . . . partake of His glory, and ultimately prepare ourselves for that reality.”

Gaye Strathearn

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“We can readily see that observance of the Sabbath is an indication of the depth of our conversion. Our observance or nonobservance of the Sabbath is an unerring measure of our attitude toward the Lord personally and toward his suffering in Gethsemane, his death on the cross, and his resurrection from the dead. It is a sign of whether we are Christians in very deed, or whether our conversion is so shallow that commemoration of his atoning sacrifice means little or nothing to us.”

Mark E Petersen  |  “The Sabbath Day,” Ensign, May 1975, 49.

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Spencer W. Kimball Portrait

“Stake president, bishops, and branch presidents, please take particular interest in improving the quality of teaching in the Church. I fear that all too often many of our members come to church, sit through a class or a meeting, and then return home having been largely uninspired. It is especially unfortunate when this happens at a time of stress, temptation, or crisis [in their life]. We all need to be touched and nurtured by the Spirit, and effective teaching is one of the most important ways this can happen. We often do vigorous work to get members to come to Church but then do not adequately watch over what they receive when they do come.”

Spencer W. Kimball  |  "Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball"

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“Sabbath observance is a good sign of a person’s religiosity. If [people] think enough to keep the Sabbath day holy, then they would likely be living . . . other precepts of their religion.”

Arnold Garr

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Spencer W. Kimball Portrait

Let us not be like the Church member who partakes of the sacrament in the morning, then defiles the Sabbath that afternoon by cleaning the house or by watching television or by choosing an afternoon of sleep over an afternoon of service.

Spencer W. Kimball  |  “The Example of Abraham,” Ensign, June 1975

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Don’t you be the means of causing someone to work on Sunday because you patronize their establishment.

Earl C. Tingey  |  Ensign, May 1996, p. 11

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“Two essential weekly signposts that mark our journey to our Heavenly Father are the perpetual covenant of the ordinance of the sacrament and our Sabbath observance. President Russell M. Nelson taught last general conference that the Sabbath is the Lord’s gift to us. Our devoted weekly observance of the Sabbath is our sign to the Lord that we love Him. … We are promised that, with devoted Sabbath day observance, the fulness of the earth will be ours.”

Randall K. Bennett  |  “Your Next Step,” general priesthood session

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The Sabbath involves much more than refraining from inappropriate activities. The Lord’s prophets have provided ample instruction on how to keep the Sabbath day holy. They include such things as reading the scriptures, conference reports and Church publications; studying the lives and teachings of the prophets; writing in journals; praying and meditating; writing or visiting relatives and friends; listening to uplifting music; family gospel instruction; family councils; genealogical research; fellowshipping neighbors and those of other faiths; and setting aside time for wholesome family activities. The Sabbath should be a day of joy, a day in which one’s spirit is lifted, in which the feeling of being a child of God touches the soul. And it will be for those who keep the Sabbath day holy.

Church News  |  Church News, July 6, 2002, p. 16

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Spencer W. Kimball Portrait

“A great person is reverent. He will be deferential in a house of worship even though he be the only soul therein. No congregation was assembled when the Lord commanded Moses: “Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground!” [See Exodus 3:5.] Presiding officers should plan so carefully that no whispering would be heard or seen on the stand. Parents should train and discipline their children and sit with them (except where class groups are supervised). Ushers should be trained to quietly care for seating with a minimum of disturbance. Attenders should arrive early, do their friendly greeting in subdued tones, slow their step, find seats toward the front, and sit in quiet contemplative mood. All should participate as fully as possible—singing with the singers, praying with him who prays, partaking of the sacrament with a grateful heart and a reconsecration to covenants previously made. An opportunity is given to follow sympathetically lessons that are taught, the sermons that are preached and the testimonies that are borne, judging not by eloquence but by sincerity. Here is a chance to drink deeply from fountain heads, for the humblest teacher or speaker will contribute thought which can be developed. As we quietly enter the door of the chapel we may leave behind us outside all criticisms, worries, and cares—all occupational, political, social, and recreational plans—and calmly give ourselves to contemplation and to worship. We may bathe in the spiritual atmosphere. We may devote ourselves to learning, repenting, forgiving, testifying, appreciating, and loving.”

Spencer W. Kimball  |  “Chapter 15: We Should Be a Reverent People,” Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Spencer W. Kimball (2006), 154–64

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