Becoming Disciple-Citizens
Paul Edwards
October 29, 2024 11:15 AM
"As we move through contentious times in our respective nations, may we be the peacemakers President Nelson has commanded us to be and the law abiding, informed, moderating, engaged disciple-citizens President Oaks has encouraged us to be, conscientiously seeking and contributing to the peace and welfare of the communities in which we find ourselves, as children of God, as children of the covenant, and as disciples of Christ.<br/>"
Thank you for welcoming me here today. There’s just such a great spirit here at Ensign College.
President Kusch, thank you for your dignified leadership and the opportunity to be with you today. And I appreciate the spirit you brought with you today.
I just wanted to note…I used to be at Deseret News. The building for Deseret News is right on your campus. And I used to have the opportunity to have lunch each month with, then, President Larry Richards. And he had such high hopes for Ensign College. President Kusch is realizing those hopes. And I hope that what I share with you today will not detract from the sweet spirit that we’ve felt so far.
I hope you, like I, feel richly blessed to be a part of this educational system that’s been provided by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Although education is not essential to salvation, it is such a blessing that the Church devotes extraordinary resources to develop disciples of Jesus Christ who are leaders in their homes, the Church, and their communities.
And it is that third prong of the Church Educational System mission –developing disciples of Jesus Christ to who are leaders within our communities – that I want to address specifically today.
I want to explore what our discipleship obligates us to do in our role as citizens.
We all remember our basic Article of our Faith that “We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law.” [1]
Abiding by the law is our foundational obligation as disciple-citizens.
Disciple-citizens, however, are asked to do much more than merely refrain from breaking the law.
So, what are some of those obligations?
Let me reach all the way back in history to the time of the Babylonian captivity.
The Book of Mormon, you’ll remember, opens at the very beginning of the reign of King Zedekiah. Zedekiah was a vassal king installed by the Babylonians. Lehi, alongside other prophets, Like Jeremiah, warned Jerusalem that unless the people repented and turned again to follow the prophets, that there would be tremendous destruction.
Now, Lehi’s family escaped before the Babylonian emperor Nebuchadnezzar laid complete waste to Jerusalem. But during this period thousands of Jews were taken into captivity and exiled into the city of Babylon.[2]
If you were one of those Jews forcibly carted away to Babylon after your home had been destroyed, would you think that you had any obligation to Babylon?
Consider carefully this command from Jeremiah:
“Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, unto all that are carried away captives, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem unto Babylon; Build ye houses, and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them; Take ye wives, and beget sons and daughters …that ye may be increased there, and not diminished.
And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the Lord for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace.” [3]
An English translation used by many Jews today translates the final verse:
“Seek the welfare of the city to which I have exiled you, and pray on its behalf to the Lord, for in its peace there shall be peace for you.” [4]
The Lord didn’t ask them to just shamefully keep their heads down and submit. Nor did he ask them to rise up in rebellion. Instead, he asks the captives to live their lives with full purpose, to be fruitful and multiply, to be peacemakers, and to contribute positively to the society in which they now find themselves.
Jeremiah doesn’t go into great detail about how to “seek the peace” or the “welfare” of Babylon.
But you and I are fortunate to live in a day when those whom we sustain as prophets, seers, and revelators have given us very clear and specific direction on what it means to fulfill our obligations as citizens in the various societies in which we find ourselves.
For instance, in our April 2021 General Conference, President Dallin H. Oaks gave a magisterial talk titled “Defending Our Divinely Inspired Constitution”. The constitution that President Oaks makes specific reference to in that talk is the Constitution of the United States of America – but President Oaks was clear that the principles he spoke about to in that talk are universal principles.
Many of us, regardless of our nationality, are blessed to live in an age in which our voice as ordinary citizens, is integral to who makes and executes our laws within constitutional systems of governance.
This year alone, no fewer than 67 countries have held national elections affecting the governance of nearly half the world’s population.
Most of our ancestors, certainly mine, didn’t have a voice in their government. I guess if you descended from a monarch or an aristocrat, or a warlord, maybe your ancestors had that kind of a voice. But most were governed by the whim of the person or the small group who had claim to the monopoly of violent force within the territory in which they lived. And if there were any changes to that kind of authority, they were typically made through heredity or violence.
Speaking about the founding of the United States, President Oaks said:
“In a time when sovereign power was universally assumed to come from the divine right of kings or from military power, attributing sovereign power to the people was revolutionary. Philosophers had advocated this, but the United States Constitution was actually the first to apply it.” (April 2021)
He went on to admonish, “Sovereign power in the people does not mean that mobs or other groups of people can intervene to intimidate or force government action. The Constitution established a democratic republic, where the people exercised their power through their elected representatives.”
Now this talk is one that I really commend to you. I am going to quote extensively from it today, but I would encourage you to take time to look it up. Again, this is from the General Conference of April 2021.
I did a word search of the talk, and I looked for the word “should”.And here are some of the “shoulds” of citizenship from that talk that apply to us as disciples of Christ.
“We should learn and advocate the inspired principles of the Constitution.” [and constitutionalism]
“We should seek out and support wise and good persons who will support those principles in their public actions.”
“We should be knowledgeable citizens who are active in making our influence felt in civic affairs…. civilly and peacefully within the framework of our constitutions and applicable laws.”
“We must pray for the Lord to guide and bless all nations and their leaders.”
And finally...
“On contested issues, we should seek to moderate and unify.”
Let’s spend a little time with each of these obligations.
How can we learn inspired principles of constitutionalism?
First, as I’ve already said, prayerfully read and study President Oaks’ talk. Follow up on the passages he cites from the scriptures.
Second, take very seriously your general education requirement at Ensign College regarding American History and American Government.
And if you wish to go even deeper, there are some excellent resources online. I might recommend The National Constitution Center. It has something called “Constitution 101”. My own institute--the Wheatley Institute—if you go there, to our webpage—there’s a thing called the content library, and follow it to the curriculum tab, and there’s a whole set of readings on the constitutional principles elaborated by President Oaks.
How do we seek out and support wise and good persons who will support constitutional principles in their public actions?
There was a letter to church members in the United States last year, dated June 1, 2023, from the First Presidency. And they wrote:
“Citizens of the United States have the privilege and duty of electing office holders and influencing public policy. … We urge Latter-day Saints to be active citizens by registering, exercising their right to vote, and engaging in civic affairs, always demonstrating Christlike love and civility in political discourse.”
The First Presidency continued:
“We urge you to spend the time needed to become informed about the issues and candidates you will be considering. Some principles compatible with the gospel may be found in various political parties, and members should seek candidates who best embody those principles.
“Members should also study candidates carefully and vote for those who have demonstrated integrity, compassion, and service to others, regardless of party affiliation.
“Merely voting a straight ticket or voting based on ‘tradition’ without careful study of candidates and their positions on important issues is a threat to democracy and inconsistent with revealed standards (see Doctrine and Covenants 98:10).”
I find it remarkable that with all of this encouragement from the Church to engage in civic life, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, consistently remains neutral with regard to partisan politics.
It affirms its right to engage in the political process on issues that affect religious liberty, on matters of public morality, and on issues that “Church leaders believe are essential to preserving democracy or the essential functioning of the United States Constitution”. Nonetheless, the Church honors our agency to make our own choices in the exercise of our franchise.[5]
President Oaks talks to this directly to this point:
“There are many political issues, and no party, platform, or individual candidate can satisfy all personal preferences. Each citizen must therefore decide which issues are most important to him or her at any particular time. Then members should seek inspiration on how to exercise their influence according to their individual priorities. This process will not be easy. It may require changing party support or candidate choices, even from election to election.”
“Such independent actions will sometimes require voters to support candidates or political parties or platforms whose other positions they cannot approve. That is one reason we encourage our members to refrain from judging one another in political matters. We should never assert that a faithful Latter-day Saint cannot belong to a particular party or vote for a particular candidate. We teach correct principles and leave our members to choose how to prioritize and apply those principles on the issues presented from time to time.” (April 2021)
I hope that if you are a citizen of the U.S., 18 years or older, that you have registered and will cast an informed ballot in this year’s important election. If you are eligible to vote in Utah and have not already registered, voter registration is available at local polling sites on Election Day, a week from today, Tuesday, November 5. There are numerous locations in Salt Lake County. You can go to any of those sites, regardless of where you reside, but the closest one to us at Ensign College is over at the Salt Lake Public Library, over on 400 South. You would need to bring a valid ID. And the polls open at 7:00. If you’re in that position, please, make the effort.
How can we be knowledgeable citizens who are active in making our influence felt in civic affairs … civilly and peacefully within the framework of our constitutions and applicable laws?
Well, first of all, we need to follow the admonition given to us in Doctrine & Covenants 88:79, where we’re asked to understand, “things which have been, things which are, things which must shortly come to pass; things which are at home, things which are abroad; the wars and the perplexities of the nations, and the judgments which are on the land; and a knowledge also of countries and of kingdoms.” That’s why I ask you to take seriously those courses on government and history.
In a high school commencement speech given to the American Heritage School in American Fork, Utah, on May 25, 2021, President Oaks cautioned against getting news and information exclusively, “from sources that pander to pre-existing opinions and make little intention to be objective and seldom even acknowledge contrary views.”
He warned that technology, like hand-held devices and social media, increase our vulnerability to what he called “incomplete, fake, or distorted knowledge.” His counsel was, “Be acquainted with what you can call ‘the other side.’ And don’t limit your learning to what you can get in a few minutes on a hand-held device. Be a regular reader of newspapers and magazines.”
As to making our influence felt, President Oaks has taught that, for those living in democracies, “political influence is exercised by running for office (which we encourage), by voting, by financial support, by membership and service in political parties, and by ongoing communications to officials, parties, and candidates. To function well, a democracy needs all of these, but a conscientious citizen does not need to provide all of them.”
I would supplement President Oaks’ list by adding membership and service in civic organizations, commissions, and boards; career civil service; and serving in appointed government positions.
For richer counsel on what it means to exercise our influence civilly and peacefully within our constitutional framework, I would refer you to another foundational address given by President Oaks at the October 2020 General Conference. That address was called “Love Your Enemies”.
Among his teachings in that talk,
“An essential part of loving our enemies is to render unto Caesar by keeping the laws of our various countries. Though Jesus’s teachings were revolutionary, He did not teach revolution or lawbreaking. He taught a better way….
“This does not mean that we agree with all that is done with the force of law. It means that we obey the current law and use peaceful means to change it. It also means that we peacefully accept the results of elections. We will not participate in the violence threatened by those disappointed with the outcome. In a democratic society we always have the opportunity and the duty to persist peacefully until the next election.”
I trust we know what it means to pray for the Lord to guide and bless all the nations and their leaders. My question to you is, are you doing that?
What does it mean to moderate and unify on contested issues? We could say a lot about this.
But, in a free society people will have different opinions, so unity cannot mean that we’re going to be thinking alike. But unity does mean finding ways to act together. And that requires that we recognize the dignity of others in our society, each individual, honoring their agency, and – in a spirit of humility – seeking to build upon where there is agreement, even if it’s a narrow band of agreement, and even though there may be some fundamental disagreements that persist.
You’ll remember that President Nelson promised that you and I can “literally change the world—one person and one interaction at a time. How? By modeling how to manage honest differences of opinion with mutual respect and dignified dialogue.” [6]
As I was preparing these remarks, my wife Margo and I were talking about people that we knew who exemplified uncommon public virtue. We both thought immediately about Ed. Ed was our Sunday School teacher when we were 14 years old. We were living in the Englewood Ward, in Colorado, just south of Denver. (And yes, Margo and I grew up in the same ward).
Ed was one of these guys that had a permanent smile, a ready chuckle, and an easy sense of humor. And one reason Ed was so memorable to us was because he would occasionally take our Sunday School class to worship services at other denominations, all with the approval of the bishop, mind you.
The only Buddhist worship service I have ever participated in was in downtown Denver with Ed. The first Catholic service I ever attended was with Ed.
We attended some of the protestant denominations in our community.
Ed arranged these field trips, because as a returned mission president he was keen that young people in the Church develop both a knowledge and appreciation for the faith traditions of the people that they would be meeting and teaching as missionaries.
Ed was also a distinguished public servant. He held graduate degrees from the University of Hawaii and the University of Utah in Social Work, with a specialty in gerontology.
Among the many posts that he held, he was a probation officer, he served with the Red Cross, the Veterans Administration, he was the first director of the Utah Commission on Aging, a commissioner for the Colorado Administration on Aging; and he served as regional director for the Office of Human Development for what was then called the department of Health, Education & Welfare.
I recently perused some of Ed’s diaries that are available in an archive at the University of Utah.
They are filled with notes about his professional work, and also with memorable and meaningful quotes and jokes, and the entire journal is laced with gratitude for family, for colleagues, for his community, and for his country.
What I haven’t told you, is that Ed’s last name was Okazaki.
Although a native of Hawaii with American Citizenship, he was of Japanese descent.
Ed was living in Hawaii, and 18 years old when Imperial Japan bombed Pearl Harbor.
He and his family were caught up in one of the saddest episodes of U.S. History.
Although they were American Citizens who lived impeccable lives, our government considered them a national security threat solely because of their ethnicity.
Ed and his family, like nearly 120,000 other Japanese Americans, were rounded up from their homes and without any more process than confirming their ethnicity, were transported to and held in desolate internment camps in the Western interior of the United States.
When finally allowed to, Ed, with other Japanese American young men, volunteered to fight with the U.S. armed forces in Western Europe.
Ed was a member of the 442nd Infantry Combat Team, which became the most decorated Allied unit during World War II.
He fought for the liberation of Italy, and was wounded in France during the legendary rescue of the 36th Texas Division, also known as the “Lost Battalion”.
Ed received the Purple Heart and the Silver Star for gallantry above and beyond the call of duty.
After the war, Ed married Chieko Nishimura who you may know as the beloved former member of the General Relief Society Presidency and prolific author, Chieko Okazaki.
Despite the Okazaki’s high educational achievement and their demonstrable patriotism, they faced bigotry and persecution as they made their way in post-World War II America.
But they quietly persisted. They raised an exemplary family, contributed in myriad ways to their community, and rose to prominence in their respective careers.
Ed Okazaki had every reason to be bitter about the mistreatment from his country, to resent his exile, and to stew over the prejudice he and Chieko experienced.
But instead, Ed and Chieko were exemplars of Jeremiah’s admonition to disciple-citizens. They lived lives of integrity and purpose – building and dwelling in their home, planting and harvesting their garden, raising their family, and seeking the peace and welfare of the community in which they lived, praying on its behalf, recognizing that it was in its peace and welfare that they would find their own peace and prosperity.
As we move through contentious times in our respective nations, may we be the peacemakers President Nelson has commanded us to be and the law abiding, informed, moderating, engaged disciple-citizens President Oaks has encouraged us to be, conscientiously seeking and contributing to the peace and welfare of the communities in which we find ourselves, as children of God, as children of the covenant, and as disciples of Christ.
In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
[1] Article of Fatih 12
[2] 1 Nephi Chapters1-7
[3] Jeremiah 29:4-7
[4] Koren Tanakh-Magerman Edition.
[5] Letter From the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, June 1, 2023.
[6] President Russell M. Nelson, “Peacemakers Needed”, April 2023 General Conference.
President Kusch, thank you for your dignified leadership and the opportunity to be with you today. And I appreciate the spirit you brought with you today.
I just wanted to note…I used to be at Deseret News. The building for Deseret News is right on your campus. And I used to have the opportunity to have lunch each month with, then, President Larry Richards. And he had such high hopes for Ensign College. President Kusch is realizing those hopes. And I hope that what I share with you today will not detract from the sweet spirit that we’ve felt so far.
I hope you, like I, feel richly blessed to be a part of this educational system that’s been provided by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Although education is not essential to salvation, it is such a blessing that the Church devotes extraordinary resources to develop disciples of Jesus Christ who are leaders in their homes, the Church, and their communities.
And it is that third prong of the Church Educational System mission –developing disciples of Jesus Christ to who are leaders within our communities – that I want to address specifically today.
I want to explore what our discipleship obligates us to do in our role as citizens.
We all remember our basic Article of our Faith that “We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law.” [1]
Abiding by the law is our foundational obligation as disciple-citizens.
Disciple-citizens, however, are asked to do much more than merely refrain from breaking the law.
So, what are some of those obligations?
Let me reach all the way back in history to the time of the Babylonian captivity.
The Book of Mormon, you’ll remember, opens at the very beginning of the reign of King Zedekiah. Zedekiah was a vassal king installed by the Babylonians. Lehi, alongside other prophets, Like Jeremiah, warned Jerusalem that unless the people repented and turned again to follow the prophets, that there would be tremendous destruction.
Now, Lehi’s family escaped before the Babylonian emperor Nebuchadnezzar laid complete waste to Jerusalem. But during this period thousands of Jews were taken into captivity and exiled into the city of Babylon.[2]
If you were one of those Jews forcibly carted away to Babylon after your home had been destroyed, would you think that you had any obligation to Babylon?
Consider carefully this command from Jeremiah:
“Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, unto all that are carried away captives, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem unto Babylon; Build ye houses, and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them; Take ye wives, and beget sons and daughters …that ye may be increased there, and not diminished.
And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the Lord for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace.” [3]
An English translation used by many Jews today translates the final verse:
“Seek the welfare of the city to which I have exiled you, and pray on its behalf to the Lord, for in its peace there shall be peace for you.” [4]
The Lord didn’t ask them to just shamefully keep their heads down and submit. Nor did he ask them to rise up in rebellion. Instead, he asks the captives to live their lives with full purpose, to be fruitful and multiply, to be peacemakers, and to contribute positively to the society in which they now find themselves.
Jeremiah doesn’t go into great detail about how to “seek the peace” or the “welfare” of Babylon.
But you and I are fortunate to live in a day when those whom we sustain as prophets, seers, and revelators have given us very clear and specific direction on what it means to fulfill our obligations as citizens in the various societies in which we find ourselves.
For instance, in our April 2021 General Conference, President Dallin H. Oaks gave a magisterial talk titled “Defending Our Divinely Inspired Constitution”. The constitution that President Oaks makes specific reference to in that talk is the Constitution of the United States of America – but President Oaks was clear that the principles he spoke about to in that talk are universal principles.
Many of us, regardless of our nationality, are blessed to live in an age in which our voice as ordinary citizens, is integral to who makes and executes our laws within constitutional systems of governance.
This year alone, no fewer than 67 countries have held national elections affecting the governance of nearly half the world’s population.
Most of our ancestors, certainly mine, didn’t have a voice in their government. I guess if you descended from a monarch or an aristocrat, or a warlord, maybe your ancestors had that kind of a voice. But most were governed by the whim of the person or the small group who had claim to the monopoly of violent force within the territory in which they lived. And if there were any changes to that kind of authority, they were typically made through heredity or violence.
Speaking about the founding of the United States, President Oaks said:
“In a time when sovereign power was universally assumed to come from the divine right of kings or from military power, attributing sovereign power to the people was revolutionary. Philosophers had advocated this, but the United States Constitution was actually the first to apply it.” (April 2021)
He went on to admonish, “Sovereign power in the people does not mean that mobs or other groups of people can intervene to intimidate or force government action. The Constitution established a democratic republic, where the people exercised their power through their elected representatives.”
Now this talk is one that I really commend to you. I am going to quote extensively from it today, but I would encourage you to take time to look it up. Again, this is from the General Conference of April 2021.
I did a word search of the talk, and I looked for the word “should”.And here are some of the “shoulds” of citizenship from that talk that apply to us as disciples of Christ.
“We should learn and advocate the inspired principles of the Constitution.” [and constitutionalism]
“We should seek out and support wise and good persons who will support those principles in their public actions.”
“We should be knowledgeable citizens who are active in making our influence felt in civic affairs…. civilly and peacefully within the framework of our constitutions and applicable laws.”
“We must pray for the Lord to guide and bless all nations and their leaders.”
And finally...
“On contested issues, we should seek to moderate and unify.”
Let’s spend a little time with each of these obligations.
How can we learn inspired principles of constitutionalism?
First, as I’ve already said, prayerfully read and study President Oaks’ talk. Follow up on the passages he cites from the scriptures.
Second, take very seriously your general education requirement at Ensign College regarding American History and American Government.
And if you wish to go even deeper, there are some excellent resources online. I might recommend The National Constitution Center. It has something called “Constitution 101”. My own institute--the Wheatley Institute—if you go there, to our webpage—there’s a thing called the content library, and follow it to the curriculum tab, and there’s a whole set of readings on the constitutional principles elaborated by President Oaks.
How do we seek out and support wise and good persons who will support constitutional principles in their public actions?
There was a letter to church members in the United States last year, dated June 1, 2023, from the First Presidency. And they wrote:
“Citizens of the United States have the privilege and duty of electing office holders and influencing public policy. … We urge Latter-day Saints to be active citizens by registering, exercising their right to vote, and engaging in civic affairs, always demonstrating Christlike love and civility in political discourse.”
The First Presidency continued:
“We urge you to spend the time needed to become informed about the issues and candidates you will be considering. Some principles compatible with the gospel may be found in various political parties, and members should seek candidates who best embody those principles.
“Members should also study candidates carefully and vote for those who have demonstrated integrity, compassion, and service to others, regardless of party affiliation.
“Merely voting a straight ticket or voting based on ‘tradition’ without careful study of candidates and their positions on important issues is a threat to democracy and inconsistent with revealed standards (see Doctrine and Covenants 98:10).”
I find it remarkable that with all of this encouragement from the Church to engage in civic life, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, consistently remains neutral with regard to partisan politics.
It affirms its right to engage in the political process on issues that affect religious liberty, on matters of public morality, and on issues that “Church leaders believe are essential to preserving democracy or the essential functioning of the United States Constitution”. Nonetheless, the Church honors our agency to make our own choices in the exercise of our franchise.[5]
President Oaks talks to this directly to this point:
“There are many political issues, and no party, platform, or individual candidate can satisfy all personal preferences. Each citizen must therefore decide which issues are most important to him or her at any particular time. Then members should seek inspiration on how to exercise their influence according to their individual priorities. This process will not be easy. It may require changing party support or candidate choices, even from election to election.”
“Such independent actions will sometimes require voters to support candidates or political parties or platforms whose other positions they cannot approve. That is one reason we encourage our members to refrain from judging one another in political matters. We should never assert that a faithful Latter-day Saint cannot belong to a particular party or vote for a particular candidate. We teach correct principles and leave our members to choose how to prioritize and apply those principles on the issues presented from time to time.” (April 2021)
I hope that if you are a citizen of the U.S., 18 years or older, that you have registered and will cast an informed ballot in this year’s important election. If you are eligible to vote in Utah and have not already registered, voter registration is available at local polling sites on Election Day, a week from today, Tuesday, November 5. There are numerous locations in Salt Lake County. You can go to any of those sites, regardless of where you reside, but the closest one to us at Ensign College is over at the Salt Lake Public Library, over on 400 South. You would need to bring a valid ID. And the polls open at 7:00. If you’re in that position, please, make the effort.
How can we be knowledgeable citizens who are active in making our influence felt in civic affairs … civilly and peacefully within the framework of our constitutions and applicable laws?
Well, first of all, we need to follow the admonition given to us in Doctrine & Covenants 88:79, where we’re asked to understand, “things which have been, things which are, things which must shortly come to pass; things which are at home, things which are abroad; the wars and the perplexities of the nations, and the judgments which are on the land; and a knowledge also of countries and of kingdoms.” That’s why I ask you to take seriously those courses on government and history.
In a high school commencement speech given to the American Heritage School in American Fork, Utah, on May 25, 2021, President Oaks cautioned against getting news and information exclusively, “from sources that pander to pre-existing opinions and make little intention to be objective and seldom even acknowledge contrary views.”
He warned that technology, like hand-held devices and social media, increase our vulnerability to what he called “incomplete, fake, or distorted knowledge.” His counsel was, “Be acquainted with what you can call ‘the other side.’ And don’t limit your learning to what you can get in a few minutes on a hand-held device. Be a regular reader of newspapers and magazines.”
As to making our influence felt, President Oaks has taught that, for those living in democracies, “political influence is exercised by running for office (which we encourage), by voting, by financial support, by membership and service in political parties, and by ongoing communications to officials, parties, and candidates. To function well, a democracy needs all of these, but a conscientious citizen does not need to provide all of them.”
I would supplement President Oaks’ list by adding membership and service in civic organizations, commissions, and boards; career civil service; and serving in appointed government positions.
For richer counsel on what it means to exercise our influence civilly and peacefully within our constitutional framework, I would refer you to another foundational address given by President Oaks at the October 2020 General Conference. That address was called “Love Your Enemies”.
Among his teachings in that talk,
“An essential part of loving our enemies is to render unto Caesar by keeping the laws of our various countries. Though Jesus’s teachings were revolutionary, He did not teach revolution or lawbreaking. He taught a better way….
“This does not mean that we agree with all that is done with the force of law. It means that we obey the current law and use peaceful means to change it. It also means that we peacefully accept the results of elections. We will not participate in the violence threatened by those disappointed with the outcome. In a democratic society we always have the opportunity and the duty to persist peacefully until the next election.”
I trust we know what it means to pray for the Lord to guide and bless all the nations and their leaders. My question to you is, are you doing that?
What does it mean to moderate and unify on contested issues? We could say a lot about this.
But, in a free society people will have different opinions, so unity cannot mean that we’re going to be thinking alike. But unity does mean finding ways to act together. And that requires that we recognize the dignity of others in our society, each individual, honoring their agency, and – in a spirit of humility – seeking to build upon where there is agreement, even if it’s a narrow band of agreement, and even though there may be some fundamental disagreements that persist.
You’ll remember that President Nelson promised that you and I can “literally change the world—one person and one interaction at a time. How? By modeling how to manage honest differences of opinion with mutual respect and dignified dialogue.” [6]
As I was preparing these remarks, my wife Margo and I were talking about people that we knew who exemplified uncommon public virtue. We both thought immediately about Ed. Ed was our Sunday School teacher when we were 14 years old. We were living in the Englewood Ward, in Colorado, just south of Denver. (And yes, Margo and I grew up in the same ward).
Ed was one of these guys that had a permanent smile, a ready chuckle, and an easy sense of humor. And one reason Ed was so memorable to us was because he would occasionally take our Sunday School class to worship services at other denominations, all with the approval of the bishop, mind you.
The only Buddhist worship service I have ever participated in was in downtown Denver with Ed. The first Catholic service I ever attended was with Ed.
We attended some of the protestant denominations in our community.
Ed arranged these field trips, because as a returned mission president he was keen that young people in the Church develop both a knowledge and appreciation for the faith traditions of the people that they would be meeting and teaching as missionaries.
Ed was also a distinguished public servant. He held graduate degrees from the University of Hawaii and the University of Utah in Social Work, with a specialty in gerontology.
Among the many posts that he held, he was a probation officer, he served with the Red Cross, the Veterans Administration, he was the first director of the Utah Commission on Aging, a commissioner for the Colorado Administration on Aging; and he served as regional director for the Office of Human Development for what was then called the department of Health, Education & Welfare.
I recently perused some of Ed’s diaries that are available in an archive at the University of Utah.
They are filled with notes about his professional work, and also with memorable and meaningful quotes and jokes, and the entire journal is laced with gratitude for family, for colleagues, for his community, and for his country.
What I haven’t told you, is that Ed’s last name was Okazaki.
Although a native of Hawaii with American Citizenship, he was of Japanese descent.
Ed was living in Hawaii, and 18 years old when Imperial Japan bombed Pearl Harbor.
He and his family were caught up in one of the saddest episodes of U.S. History.
Although they were American Citizens who lived impeccable lives, our government considered them a national security threat solely because of their ethnicity.
Ed and his family, like nearly 120,000 other Japanese Americans, were rounded up from their homes and without any more process than confirming their ethnicity, were transported to and held in desolate internment camps in the Western interior of the United States.
When finally allowed to, Ed, with other Japanese American young men, volunteered to fight with the U.S. armed forces in Western Europe.
Ed was a member of the 442nd Infantry Combat Team, which became the most decorated Allied unit during World War II.
He fought for the liberation of Italy, and was wounded in France during the legendary rescue of the 36th Texas Division, also known as the “Lost Battalion”.
Ed received the Purple Heart and the Silver Star for gallantry above and beyond the call of duty.
After the war, Ed married Chieko Nishimura who you may know as the beloved former member of the General Relief Society Presidency and prolific author, Chieko Okazaki.
Despite the Okazaki’s high educational achievement and their demonstrable patriotism, they faced bigotry and persecution as they made their way in post-World War II America.
But they quietly persisted. They raised an exemplary family, contributed in myriad ways to their community, and rose to prominence in their respective careers.
Ed Okazaki had every reason to be bitter about the mistreatment from his country, to resent his exile, and to stew over the prejudice he and Chieko experienced.
But instead, Ed and Chieko were exemplars of Jeremiah’s admonition to disciple-citizens. They lived lives of integrity and purpose – building and dwelling in their home, planting and harvesting their garden, raising their family, and seeking the peace and welfare of the community in which they lived, praying on its behalf, recognizing that it was in its peace and welfare that they would find their own peace and prosperity.
As we move through contentious times in our respective nations, may we be the peacemakers President Nelson has commanded us to be and the law abiding, informed, moderating, engaged disciple-citizens President Oaks has encouraged us to be, conscientiously seeking and contributing to the peace and welfare of the communities in which we find ourselves, as children of God, as children of the covenant, and as disciples of Christ.
In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
[1] Article of Fatih 12
[2] 1 Nephi Chapters1-7
[3] Jeremiah 29:4-7
[4] Koren Tanakh-Magerman Edition.
[5] Letter From the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, June 1, 2023.
[6] President Russell M. Nelson, “Peacemakers Needed”, April 2023 General Conference.