Elder Patrick Kearon speaks at young adult devotional – Deseret News

Thousands of young adults sang a Latter-day Saint anthem at a rather sluggish pace during a Sunday devotional broadcast featuring Elder Patrick Kearon of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

They did so under the instruction of the apostle, who had previously instructed — and begged — longtime organist and composer Richard Elliot to play the hymn “Let Us All Press On” draggingly.

“This is one of my favorite hymns and in many ways it is a hymn, an anthem of redeeming love,” Elder Kearon said. “And yet, sometimes we actually sing it like that.”

In a stop-and-go manner, Elder Kearon directed the choir and congregation of young adults participating in the broadcast from the Conference Center and abroad to sing the hymn with progressively stronger faith, vigor and intensity.

This is “not about organists,” he said. “It’s not about it being done badly. It’s about us getting transformed as we learn to sing with redeeming love, as we bring our faith up close … so that it can eclipse everything else in brightness (and) in light.”

Throughout the devotional broadcast, Elder Kearon and his wife, Sister Jennifer Kearon, shared clips of a conversation they’d previously had with a group of young adults, expanding on their questions and pleading with young adults worldwide to put their faith in the foreground and trust in God’s redeeming love.

They also noted and celebrated with young adults the 100th anniversary of the church’s Institute of Religion program.

“It takes action. It takes vision. It takes selection to put the things we need to emphasize into our spiritual foreground that we might eclipse (fear and anxiety),” Elder Kearon said to young adults. “I plead with you to practice this (singing the song of redeeming love)” — at church, at institute and anywhere else “holy and beautiful,” he said.

What kind of world do ‘you want to pass on to your children?’

Elder Kearon’s message was prompted by the promise and invitation that President Dallin H. Oaks extended young adults in a roughly 90-second video that was shown as part of the devotional broadcast.

In the video, President Oaks acknowledged young adults “live in a day when noise and confusion are common.” He invited young adults to counter this noise by consistently attending institute and encouraging friends and others to do the same.

“At institute, you will learn to distinguish truth from error, build your relationship with Heavenly Father and his Son Jesus Christ, find direction and discover answers to life’s greatest questions (and) meet others to help you along the covenant path,” the prophet said in the video.

“I promise that your time in institute will bring the Savior’s peace, joy and divine love.”

As Elder Kearon pondered on President Oaks’ promise, he said he thought of the teachings of other prophets — in particular, those of Alma the younger in the Book of Mormon.

Alma the younger had “vigorously” opposed the church until he had “such a dramatic dawn to his faith” and committed his life to preaching the gospel because of the exceeding joy he felt, Elder Kearon said.

Elder Kearon then listed some of the prophet’s teachings and introspective questions, emphasizing one which reads, in Alma 5: “If ye have experienced a change of heart, and if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now?”

Reading the question aloud, Elder Kearon then envisioned a hypothetical situation where a young man called Samuel (in his example) nervously answered Alma’s question with a confession that he is struggling to because of doubt and fear for his crops and his future.

“These are real concerns, Samuel, and they weigh upon you,” Elder Kearon imagined Alma replying to the young man. “But Samuel, you know who you are … you know who your Savior is.” Please Samuel, Elder Kearon continued, “sing the song of redeeming love.”

Turning again to present day young adults and members of the church, Elder Kearon said Alma’s invitation is one “we can all practice.”

“You know these truths… and you have a living prophet today who is promising you the Savior’s peace, joy and divine love, and you know where to find it,” Elder Kearon said.

What receiving these and all blessings will require is for each individual to bring faith and understanding of the truth to the “foreground” of one’s heart and mind so it is in front of one’s fears and anxieties, the apostle added.

Further reflecting on President Oaks’ video, Elder Kearon said that during a lunch conversation with the prophet on Friday, he asked President Oaks what more he would say to the young adults that would hear his message Sunday.

“He would like you to think about what kind of world you want to pass on to your children,” Elder Kearon said.

“I don’t know how many of you are thinking such things at the moment,” he continued. But “it’s a prophet-like question, and I pray that those things that we’re discussing tonight prepare you to prepare the world more effectively for the coming of your children, who he said, ‘will have a profound influence upon it.’”

Listen to Christ’s voice and not the voice of a ‘stranger’

Fear, self-doubt and that self-deprecating voice that individuals at times allow to roam in their minds are some of the “most significant” roadblocks that keep young adults from experiencing God’s love and reaching their full potential, Sister Kearon said in reply to a question from one of the young adults.

“Voices of discouragement, voices that tell you that you’re a failure, voices that tell you you are not measuring up,” are common and can stem from a variety of trials and disappointments, she said. But “what does the Savior’s voice in your head sound like?”

Reading from John 10 in the New Testament, Sister Kearon invited listeners to consider the Savior’s words, when he taught:

Sheep hear the voice of their shepherd, he that “calleth his own sheep by name and leadeth them out.” He that “goeth before them…, for they know his voice. And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.”

Sometimes young adults have a stranger’s voice in their heads, Sister Kearon taught.

“The voice of one who doesn’t know you, who doesn’t care about you, and in fact, who is bent on destroying you,” she said. “We must not listen to those voices … but instead listen to the voice of our good shepherd, who is always encouraging, always loving, always hopeful.”

Yes, Christ calls for improvement and repentance, but “his voice is always one of a person, of a Savior, who loves us, who has paid the ultimate price for us, and in fact, who is bound by covenant to each one of us,” she added. “So, feast upon the words of Christ, not the words of a stranger.”

Elder Kearon said another major roadblock is thinking the test of life mirrors academic exams with trick questions and impossible curves.

This sort of mindset can be an “impediment to our approach” to our time, mortality and eternal life, he said. Life’s tests are “opportunities to stretch and to learn, not because someone’s keeping some great eternal scorecard, but because we need to grow and develop … and come to an understanding of who we are.”

Look up, outward and away from contention

Answering another young adult’s question about how one can find peace and joy in the Savior when dealing with anxiety or anxious feelings, Elder Kearon said one way is by looking outward and serving others.

He acknowledged the need some individuals have of receiving professional help and the blessing it is to have resources available. However, turning to the example of Jacob in the Book of Mormon and the anxiety he experienced for the well-being of his people, Elder Kearon taught that looking outwards helps relieve anxiety.

“My anxiety, far too much of the time, is about me and how I’m doing,” he said. But “something I’ve learned over and over again, and have to keep learning and relearning, is that if I think of somebody else, my anxiety lifts. I just have to think about somebody else’s well-being, and my anxiety starts to lift. In fact, it’s gone, often.”

Sister Kearon taught that in an age of instant gratification, individuals have grown accustomed to immediately being relieved of any pain or discomfort. She said it is important to remember and accept that moments — and even periods — of discomfort are a part of life, and interwoven with joy.

However, she also spoke of the anxiety that comes from living in a world of contention and unrest. “Our spirits are not meant for contention,” she taught. “Jesus teaches so clearly that the spirit of contention is not of him — our spirits are meant for gentleness and meekness and love and forgiveness and peace.”

Thus, Christ invites his followers to “be of good cheer” in spite of tribulation, Sister Kearon said.

Why? Because he has overcome the world, she continued. “We need to make sure that we disconnect from our social media news feeds enough to connect with our Savior and to draw upon his peace. … Take the weight and the worry off your chest and lay it on him. He is strong enough to bear it.”

Other questions Elder and Sister Kearon addressed in the devotional broadcast included ones regarding how to minister to friends drawing away from the Savior, how to find joy amid uncertainty and how to understand Christ’s atonement better. The young adults that previously met with Elder and Sister Kearon to ask their questions were from the United States, Mexico, Norway, the Caribbean island of Curacao and the Republic of the Congo.

Be one in a million

Welcoming young adults at the start of the broadcast, Brother Chad H. Webb of the church’s Sunday School general presidency invited young adults listening to “be one in a million.”

He noted that the number of young adults enrolled in institute increased by more than 100,000 in the past two years. Combined with the youth enrolled in the church’s seminary program, the two programs are “quickly approaching one million youth and young adults enrolled in classes.”

“Every one of you who attends institute this year will literally be one in a million … known and numbered by our father in heaven,” Brother Webb said. “We invite you all, no matter what your stage in life or circumstance, to come and be one in a million. You will find meaningful friendships, you will increase your faith in Jesus Christ and in his restored gospel.

More information on institute’s beginnings and why young adults are joining in record numbers can be found here.