Look to the future
Be good citizens, neighbors- Recognize good in people
At the close of "a wonderful conference" Sunday afternoon, President Gordon B. Hinckley told Church members that they must look to the future.
"We have been reminded that ours is a great inheritance," said President Hinckley. "The past is behind us. It is the future with which we must be concerned. We face great opportunities and great challenges."
He said the critics of the Church - both at home and abroad - are watching its members. "In an effort to find fault, they listen to every word we say hoping to entrap us. We may stumble now and again. But the work will not be materially hindered. We will stand up where we fell and go forward.
President Hinckley said the Church has nothing to fear and everything to gain.
"God is at the helm. We will seek His direction. We will listen to the still small voice of revelation. And we will go forward as He directs.
"His Church will not be misled. Never fear that. If there were any disposition on the part of its leaders to do so, He could remove them. All of us are beholden to Him for life and voice and strength."
The prophet urged members to be good citizens of the nations in which they live and good neighbors in their communities.
"Let us acknowledge the diversity of our society, recognizing the good in all people. We need not make any surrender of our theology. But we can set aside any elements of suspicion, provincialism and parochialism," he said.
Quoting the first Article of Faith - "We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost" - President Hinckley said the statement is the Church's primary declaration of faith.
"We speak unabashedly of the living reality of the Lord Jesus Christ. We declare without equivocation the fact of His great act of atonement for all mankind," President Hinckley declared. "That act brought assurance of universal resurrection and opened the way to exaltation in our Father's kingdom.
"This is the burden of our declaration to the world. It is the substance of our theology. It is the wellspring of our faith. Let no one ever say that we are not Christians."
President Hinckley then gave thanks to those who had been released during conference and welcomed all those who have been newly sustained.
"All of us at sometime will be released by one process or another. It matters not where we serve in this great cause but how we serve. Brigham Young and a handful of others are remembered from our pioneer history. But what of the unsung, the unheralded, the unrecognized, who lived the gospel, loved the Lord and did their daily work without fanfare or applause. Will their eternal reward be any less? I think not. So it is with us."
President Hinckley said each Church member makes his or her own contribution - and that contribution adds up to the building of the cause.
"Your contribution is as acceptable as is ours. . . . Brothers and sisters, we are all part of one great family. Each has a duty. Each has a mission to perform. And when we pass on, it will be reward enough that we can say to our beloved Master: `. . . I have kept the faith.'
"May each of you go safely to your homes. May you live together in love and appreciation and respect one for another. May you know the smile of heaven upon your lives."