All right. This is the last talk written for my collection, "To the Saints: A Rousing Cry."
It is very much a first draft, not meant to be in publishable form. It is neither formatted nor cited consistently.
It's about 8,100 words, so make sure you have some spare time to read when you do. Thanks.
-Neal
Talk #7: A New Call for Consecration
by Neal Silvester
Brothers and sisters, it is customary for me to begin with a story or parable from popular culture, something relatively universal like Star Wars or Batman. But this time I’d like to start with a parable directly from Christ. It is the Parable of the Talents.
Three servants are each given a different amount of money by their master to go and use them to make increase. The servant who is given five talents returns with five talents more, and the second, who is given two, also returns with two more. To each of these servants the master gives perhaps the highest praise our own God could give any of us: “Well done, thou good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things.” But the third servant returns with a confession: he did not invest his talent, but instead hid it in the earth. The master calls him a wicked and a slothful servant, and gives what he would have given to the third to the first.
On a historical but still very relevant note, these servants were not mere slaves blindly and anonymously doing their master’s will; in the system of the time, these servants had the ability to rise up and progress, earning money and reputation for themselves in addition to their master, who wasn’t a slave-driver, but a benevolent patron who entrusted his own riches in the hands of the servants, making them temporary stewards of those riches. The ones who used their talents and gained an increase were given larger stewardships, and thus an increase of glory. The steward who had failed to even try lost his stewardship entirely, and ended with less than he started.
LDS author and sci-fi legend Orson Scott Card pointed out something else about this parable. It wasn’t just that the two good servants got more, earned more, for themselves. That alone wouldn’t be very helpful to anyone else, and wouldn’t be in the benevolent master’s concern as much at all. No, part of the good that the two faithful servants did had to do with the investing itself: using that small amount of money to get more money wouldn’t just help them, but others who the servants had invested in. Part of the master’s plan was to increase his own wealth, but the other part was to increase the wealth of all those around him, those who benefitted from the investments. If that servant gains more talents, so do those around him. If a servant hides it in the ground, it benefits no one, and is utterly wasted.
Now I’d like to call attention to the title of the parable itself: the Parable of the Talents. That is a curious name, isn’t it? Talents. Seems rather fortuitous that the name of a monetary unit two thousand years ago turns out to mean something so applicable to this parable in our modern day: talents as skills or abilities. But it is, in fact, not fortuitous at all. The modern use of the word “talent” comes directly from this parable, as something we have been given by our master, something that we can develop and gain increase in, something we can use to expand our own soul and in turn help those around us.
Now to the important part. This term, “talents,” features prominently in the concept of consecration, as set forth in the temple: pledging our time, talents, and all that with which the Lord has blessed us, or may bless us, to the building up of the kingdom of God on the earth and to the establishment of Zion.
At this time we don’t live the law of consecration, at least in financial terms. When it comes to our finances and personal resources, we live the law of tithing. We give 10% of our earnings to the church, to the building up of the kingdom and the establishment of Zion. This, as we know, is the lower law, implemented because we weren’t spiritually able to keep up with the higher. As well, in this era, due to modern-day legal and financial complexity, it would be a very difficult and convoluted affair to live with all things in common, with God---or God’s representative---at the head of such a large, out-of-place economic unit like the community would be. So we live tithing instead, though we are asked to voluntarily and privately contribute what surplus we have to the various charitable causes within the church.
To put it another way that you might or might not have heard before, think about missions. Young men are asked to put in two years of total devotion to spreading the gospel, which at that point in their life, is about ten percent of all their years. Afterwards, the rest of their life is free for them to live as they choose. This is another aspect of the law of tithing.
So in contrast, to live the law of consecration like we live the law of tithing, it could be said that one would be asked to give not just two years of their life, but the entirety of it. And this, brothers and sisters, is my challenge to you. This is a new call for consecration. A consecration not of just our financial and material goods, but of our whole lives---of all our time, talents, and everything else with which the Lord has blessed us.
It is all already His anyway, isn’t it? All our material possessions, all the mundane matter that we treasure so, is already His. The earth is His footstool. So with that perspective, what the law of consecration demands of us isn’t much. Or it shouldn’t be, in any case. But that isn’t all consecration asks of us, is it? Not just money, or physical resources. It asks for our heart. It asks for our time. It asks for our will.
Elder Neal A. Maxwell wrote, “The submission of one’s will is really the only uniquely personal thing we have to place on God’s altar. It is a hard doctrine, but it is true. The many other things we give to God, however nice that may be of us, are actually things He has already given us, and He has loaned them to us.”
If all else belongs to Him, it thus belongs to His work. And it is our responsibility to use it as He directs. If our will is against the grain of God, we will hold our gifts close to our chests, refusing to part with them, taking personal credit for all that we do for them.
However, “Thou shalt not covet thine own property,” saith the Lord, “but impart it freely” (D&C 19:26). In the case of this verse it was for Martin Harris to impart his property to the printing of the Book of Mormon. For us it is to impart our property, our resources, our talents and gifts to the work, to whatever the Lord wants us to do with it. For that is the reason we are given talents and gifts in the first place: not to claim superiority or show off or boast in our own ability, but, in fact, to recognize our own inferiority, and that we’ve been given these talents. In our reception of these gifts, just as when we are given callings, it is our place to be humble and to give all we have to this great cause.
It is also our place to, as Paul said, covet the best gifts. Not for our own personal glory, but for God’s, and ultimately for the benefit of His children. “Seek ye earnestly the best gifts,” the Lord says in Section 46 of the Doctrine and Covenants. And then He adds, “always remembering for what they are given.” For what purpose are they given? As we’ve covenanted in the temple, they are to be used to build up the church and establish Zion.
In the Topical Guide in the back of our Bible, the word “talent” is actually synonymous with “gift,” meaning anything given to us by our Creator. Our talents are not something to be boasted of, but freely offered. They are not ours to bury beneath the earth, or hide under a bushel. They are given to us for us to, with them, change the world. That is how Christ operates. Through servants. Through instruments. We are His instruments, and our talents are our instruments.
And of course bear in mind that others aren’t the only ones to be blessed by our consecrated talents. We ourselves are blessed by them, and blessed for using them. In using them we develop them, and in developing them we enlarge our souls. We become closer in degree to our Father in Heaven, the Master of all, and the giver of every good gift. Through that development we proceed on that path to perfection, and help others walk down that same road.
One excellent definition of consecration as it pertains this talk is found in D&C 82:17-18:
And you are to be equal, or in other words you are to have equal claims on the properties, for the benefit of managing the concerns of your stewardships, every man according to his wants, inasmuch as his wants are just---
And all this for the benefit of the church of the living God, that every man may improve upon his talent, that every man may gain other talents, yea, even an hundredfold, to be cast into the Lord’s storehouse, to become common property of the whole church---
Every man seeking the interest of his neighbor, and doing all things with an eye single to the glory of God.
What is the glory of God? The salvation and exaltation of His children. So when you read scriptures where prophets or Christ Himself gives the glory to God, remember that that means we’re the true beneficiaries. We are all in this for each other, and God and Christ are in it only for us.
Those verses, by the way, come from the same section of Doctrine and Covenants in which the Lord tells us that “to whom much is given, much is required” (D&C 82:10). This, of course, means that those of our number with the greatest gifts also have the greatest responsibility. Elder Boyd K. Packer has stated, “You who are gifted may not be more deserving, but you are much more responsible than the rest of us.” Certainly this was true of our exemplar, Jesus Christ, the greatest among all the children of God who also had the greatest task to perform, and in accomplishing that task became the greatest and most profitable servant of our Father in Heaven.
The apostle Peter, that great spiritual rock of a man, lived what could be called a consecrated life, but not at first. It took him personal censure by the Savior to put him on that path after he had gone back to a life of mere fishing, and not of men. Elder Jeffrey R. Holland in his October 2012 general conference talk, “The First Great Commandment,” dramatizes the exchange between the resurrected Christ and his senior Apostle, in which He asked Peter three separate times, “Do you love me?” Peter answers in the affirmative three times, but, as Elder Holland says, perhaps didn’t fully understand the question. So Elder Holland elaborates what Christ may have meant with the following dramatized response:
“Then Peter, why are you here? Why are we back on this same shore, by these same nets, having this same conversation? Wasn’t it obvious then and isn’t it obvious now that if I want fish, I can get fish? What I need, Peter, are disciples—and I need them forever. I need someone to feed my sheep and save my lambs. I need someone to preach my gospel and defend my faith. I need someone who loves me, truly, truly loves me, and loves what our Father in Heaven has commissioned me to do. Ours is not a feeble message. It is not a fleeting task. It is not hapless; it is not hopeless; it is not to be consigned to the ash heap of history. It is the work of Almighty God, and it is to change the world. So, Peter, for the second and presumably the last time, I am asking you to leave all this and to go teach and testify, labor and serve loyally until the day in which they will do to you exactly what they did to me.”
Brothers and sisters, if we aren’t serious about this work then we do not understand it. Peter, it seems, did not, even after traveling as the Savior’s right hand man throughout the three years of the Messianic ministry. But he went on to devote his entire life to the work, even, as we also covenant to, to the point of dying for it.
If we love Him, we will do as He asks. Just like how good works show our inner faith, so does our willingness to give our lives to Him show our love for Him inside ourselves. He asks us, and we have all made a covenant to life consecrated lives, giving our all to our Savior.
Now, does such consecration mean we all live as full-time missionaries? No. We have the opportunity to consecrate our lives even in seemingly mundane circumstances. Though Orson Scott Card is not a general authority, his words here are appropriate. He writes, “When the Consecrated Saint has to choose between job promotion and the needs of his or her family, the family wins. The Consecrated Saint does not look at co-workers as competitors or rivals, but rather as people engaged in a common effort, whom he will help whenever he can. The Consecrated Saint becomes a valued employee because he seeks not himself; instead, he works with others as Christ would have him work. Because all his time and talents — even his time at work, his time in the world — belong to Christ, and therefore must be used as Christ would have him use it.”
There are ways to consecrate even in our ordinary lives. But even then it involves a quite extraordinary commitment. One that is often all too easy for Satan to shut down. Elder Holland, in another talk, referenced the story of the First Vision, how before the sacred moment in which Joseph Smith saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, a force of darkness overwhelmed him, and attempted to bind his tongue so he could not utter a prayer at all. Such does Satan wish to do with all of us, all of us who are God’s potential servants. If he can get us to shut our mouths and bind our tongue, he has succeeded not just in destroying us, but part of God’s work as well.
One of Satan’s primary tools against the work in today’s age of the internet and constant entertainment is distraction. If he can get us worried about something other than that glorious cause, something other than our souls or our families, he can effectively neutralize any contribution we might have otherwise made. These distractions come in many and varied forms, but some primary examples might include potentially useful or by-themselves-ambiguous things like the internet, television, video games---here I’ll pause and share with you the slogan used by one video game system in its advertisements---”Never Stop Playing”---is that a subtly satanic slogan, or what? If the adversary can get us to live our lives solely in virtual worlds offering mere simulated growth in the form of illusory increased abilities, then he has successfully debilitated our real growth, stunted it so we stay spiritual children forever, so we cannot do the real work of this world. But even good things like school and reading, if obsessed over, can take us away from the fight. Any one thing to excess, in fact, will eventually be something that takes us away from the gospel, away from our missions in life. Elder Holland said, in the aforementioned talk in General Priesthood Meeting in October 2011, Satan’s “effort to stop the work will be reasonably well served if he can just bind the tongue of the faithful.” Our tongues can be bound by many things, but probably mostly through distraction, laziness, apathy, idleness, or an uncaring attitude.
Again, I will repeat, brothers and sisters, if we are not serious about this work, then we do not understand it. True, we are all at different levels of engagement with the work given that we are at different levels of spirituality, different levels of capability, and at different points on the path. But all of us have the same infinite potential, and we are all thus charged with advancing our souls to fulfill that potential. If we are on the straight and narrow, honestly and sincerely attempting improvement in our spiritual lives, that is an essential part of living a consecrated life. We must strengthen ourselves before we can strengthen others, but remember that in strengthening ourselves, we are strengthening others.
That, in fact, is the subtext of the Parable of the Talents. I’ll bring up Orson Scott Card once more: a character in a parable he wrote about consecration delivers the following speech: "Now I understand the parable of the talents. Now I know the real sin of the unrighteous servant, the one who buried the one talent in the ground. He was treating the money as if it belonged to him, withholding it from anyone else, so that it couldn't be used for anything. But the other servants, knowing that the money didn't belong to them, put it out with moneylenders so that it could be used to build things, to make things. Everyone profited -- the servants who shared freely, the moneylenders, and the people who borrowed and then repaid. But the one who clung to his money and let no one else use it -- no one benefited, not even him."
D&C Section 60, verse 2: “But with some I am not well pleased, for they will not open their mouths, but they hide the talent which I have given unto them.” Verse 13: “Thou shalt not idle away thy time, neither shalt thou bury thy talent that it may not be known.”
Living the Gospel is all about being anxiously engaged in a good cause, in THE good Cause, in not just avoiding doing bad things, but choosing to do good things. For instance, what is the point of an inoffensive movie if in addition to having no inappropriate content, has no enriching content either? It is merely idleness, ambivalence, which the devil capitalizes on all the time. He wants us to waste our time, and in pursuing those things which he is using as a dangling carrot, he takes us farther and farther away from that straight and narrow path, and succeeds in totally wasting our precious and irreplaceable time.
Brothers and sisters, scientifically speaking, time is change. And change is what God wants us to do. Change into something glorious. Something even paradisiacal. And so He has given us time. Time to change, and time to change others.
The Lord watches to see what we do with that time, and with our talents, and we will be judged by it in the hereafter. He says in D&C 72:3-4 ----
v3: ...It is required of the Lord, at the hand of every steward, to render an account of his stewardship, both in time and in eternity. v4: For he who is faithful and wise in time is accounted worthy to inherit the mansions prepared for him of my Father.”
Brothers and sisters, let us not waste time. Let us not waste talents. Let us not waste all that the Lord has given us, or will give us, and instead use it, use and consecrate these gifts of time and talents to do as we have covenanted to do: build up the kingdom of God and establish Zion. And remember that in doing that, we must be strengthening ourselves, strengthening others, and using these gifts to bring souls unto Christ, adding souls to God’s kingdom.
We may not see ourselves as extraordinary. We are ordinary people, with apparently ordinary skills. But by the simple definition of our beliefs, we are an extraordinary people, a people who are above the ordinary by virtue of our knowledge of Christ’s gospel. We are 14 million out of nearly 7 billion. That is far from ordinary. Because we have the extraordinary gift of the gospel, it is imperative that we live extraordinary lives that spring out of that pure pool of truth.
It is our duty to build the kingdom of God. That is an extraordinary calling. And if we don’t do it, who will? Remember Elder Holland: this faith, this church, is not consigned to the ash heap of history. It is in fact the culmination of history. And we are the ones who will bring it about. We cannot afford to live ordinary lives. We cannot afford to merely blend in.
Now, brothers and sisters, you may have noticed that I have spoken of talents and gifts in a very abstract, ill-defined manner. I intend now to make this more concrete, but please know that the tangible examples I am going to share today are not the extent or limit of what consecration holds, but merely what to me is a very personal area in which I think we can see more devotion. What I speak of is the realm of art, music, and literature, a realm where very particular talents can see their greatest shine.
We all have spiritual instincts that we have gained from our Heavenly Father: those parts of us that make us His offspring, that make us like Him. Brothers and sisters, I believe our deepest spiritual instinct is to create. That is what Heavenly Father is, no? A Father, a Creator. Designer of the universe, from the unending cosmos as a whole down to the genetics of the smallest insect. He is a builder of worlds, and more importantly, a builder of souls. He creates, and because He does, so do we as His children have that same desire.
We create in many different ways. Some paint, some write, some play piano, some compose. Those are just the obvious ones that come instantly to mind, but even beyond conventional art, we create. Pulling together people into a team that can accomplish things is creating. When we write in our journals, we are creating. When we establish friendships and give light to the lonely we are creating. When we raise our children and teach them truth, we are acting in the creation of a soul, joined together with our Heavenly Father in the creation of a divine being. Whatever it is, we all have the innate desire to form order out of chaos, to organize disparate parts into something new, whole, and beautiful.
Why did God create this universe, this galaxy, this solar system, this planet? So He could have a place for His children to dwell and to learn and to be tested. He created all of it not to boast, but to further His work of exalting His children. His is the noblest creative act of all: He is trying to create gods. And He lets us be a part of that work, if we so choose. In fact, He commands us to be a part of it, to join Him in His work and His glory. And brothers and sisters, He wants us to use our powers of creation, our deepest spiritual instinct, to help Him in that noblest work. That is the kind of consecration I call for today. A consecration of our arts, even our unconventional arts, and of all our gifts, to the church, to the gospel, to the work of saving souls.
So how can this be done? What are the spiritual possibilities with art, with music, with literature? I immediately think of the Savior. He taught with stories, with literature, with parables that not only taught, but resonated with literary value. Those parables are the principles of our beliefs and our theology made concrete, made real. Most stories today are what a good friend of mine once called “interesting wastes of time.” Stories that make us keep reading, but leave us empty and unchanged. Such works may be “interesting” but the reader then moves on and perhaps even forgets he or she even read it. But the power of art and media can be great if used properly.
Wendy L. Watson, wife of Elder Russell M. Nelson of the Twelve, has said regarding the effects of media, “When you interact with someone repeatedly over time, it changes you. That’s why what you watch on TV or read or see in magazines is so critical. So watch what you watch. Be careful with whom you are interacting. These recurrent interactions change your cells. They change your soul. They change your countenance.” [p. 58-59 The Temple by Truman Madsen]
Brothers and sisters, THIS is the power LDS artists could have! With our artistic abilities, we can change people! And in doing so, we can change the world. [to be put in later: quote from OSC about artists making the world we know, filling our heads and our hearts more so than any other profession]
Take a look at today’s popular media, and witness what the other side can do with that great power. Satan has co-opted music---remember what music used to be? Now look at what popular music is: catchy, sure, but cheap, dirty, unrefined stuff that furthers the work of degeneration of our culture. Even popular music used to be about love. These days you’ll more often find songs celebrating not love and devotion and commitment, but merely the sex act alone, without subtlety or nuance or any art to it at all. Brothers and sisters, we can reject that process and reverse it. If not entirely, at least within the hearts of the some few souls within our realm of influence, which only expands with the increased quality of our work. Advance in skill in your talents in addition to your spirituality and the greater the impact you will have on the world around you.
I’d like to bring up the example of one of our earliest great artists, the poet Eliza R. Snow. Today she is most known for the words to the hymn, “O My Father.” I wonder what the full extent of her effect on the church and on investigators was over the past 165 years. How much has she affected our religious beliefs, from just that one poem? A poem written after searching the soul, finding out the mysteries of God by inquiring, just as we are taught to in D&C 6:11 - “And if thou wilt inquire, thou shalt know mysteries which are great and marvelous; therefore, thou shalt exercise thy gift, that thou mayest find out mysteries, that thou mayest bring many to the knowledge of the truth.” She certainly exercised her literary gift, and she has brought many to the knowledge of the truth of our Heavenly Mother. Through her careful ponderings and poetic meditations, the existence of a Heavenly Mother is now an essential doctrine of our faith. President David O. McKay called the masters of literature the “minor prophets.” Surely Sister Snow could be thought of in that way. What else is out there for us to discover? What other mysteries are there that can be solved by a thoughtful, faithful artist? What new understanding can be depicted in the arts, that can be explained in a rational, reasonable way to the world who might otherwise reject religion at face value?
Brothers and sisters, I’m not asking us to resort to didacticism and simple moral lessons at the end of a story. I am, however, asking us to use our art to package our testimonies in new, creative ways. Through creative gifts we can help the world understand our theological principles and even points of doctrine. Through the great avenues of literature, through visual arts and music and film, we can depict our theology, our principles, and share them with the world in ways they’ll understand. To convert these souls we must speak in their own language, according to their understanding. So does the Lord speak to us, as we learn in D&C 1:24.
For the work of the gospel cannot be taught in one tongue alone. So many people in the world, seeing that something has to do with religion, may reject it outright because they find it ridiculous, or beneath them. To these people we must communicate in their own language, in ways they’ll understand. In Alma 29:8, Alma says, “For behold, the Lord doth agrant unto ball nations, of their own nation and ctongue, to teach his word, yea, in wisdom.” So to reach these kinds of people, we must use familiar language and elements they find reasonable in order to convey ideas a secular audience wouldn’t be open to initially. Secular academics, for instance, would almost never be open to learning about the gospel if preached to them in traditional methods. They must be taught in the language of academia, just as the gospel being preached in other nations also requires the knowledge of the language of those nations.
We can build our depictions block by block, reasonable premise after reasonable premise, until it culminates in the end with the illustration of a particular concept or teaching, and the reader can say something to the effect of, “...Oh. That makes sense.”
Mormon literary critic Karl Keller has written, "When someone becomes capable of creating imaginative worlds where Mormon theological principles are concretely true, then we will have a writer of the stature of Flannery O'Connor. Because she was a Catholic, she said, she could not afford to be less than a good artist."
Keller’s example of Flannery O’Connor teaches us a great lesson: she was not a great writer in spite of her Catholicism, but because of it. So, Keller argues, will be the case with the great Mormon writers. Our faith informs our art, or it should. And because we have that leg up spiritually, we have the potential to achieve greatness, if we choose to pursue it.
This vision of Mormon greatness in the arts began in 1888 when Orson F. Whitney, one of the Quorum of the Twelve at the time, called for a new age of Mormon literature, and gave the following as his caveat to those starting out: “Above all things, we must be original. The Holy Ghost is the genius of ‘Mormon’ literature....No pouring of old wine into new bottles. No patterning after the dead forms of antiquity. Our literature must live and breathe for itself. Our mission is diverse from all others; our literature must also be....In God’s name and by his help we will build up a literature whose top shall touch heaven” (“Home Literature” Contributor 9.8 (June 1888): 296-300) (173).
That is a heavy responsibility, and only has it been in the last few decades that we’ve seen this promise begin to be fulfilled. But it has not yet. President Spencer W. Kimball in his inspiring 1978 article, “The Gospel Vision of the Arts,” wrote, “We are proud of the artistic heritage that the Church has brought to us from its earliest beginnings, but the full story of Mormonism has never yet been written nor painted nor sculpted nor spoken. It remains for inspired hearts and talented fingers yet to reveal themselves. They must be faithful, inspired, active Church members to give life and feeling and true perspective to a subject so worthy. Such masterpieces should run for months in every movie center, cover every part of the globe in the tongues of the people, written by great artists, purified by the best critics.
“Our writers, our motion picture specialists, with the inspiration of heaven, should tomorrow be able to produce a masterpiece which would live forever. Our own talent, obsessed with dynamism from a CAUSE, could put into such a story life and heartbeats and emotions and love and pathos, drama, suffering, fear, courage;
President Kimball regrets that this has not happened, and repeats emphatically that there should be no reason for this, that the Miltons and the Shakespeares and the Beethovens and the Michelangelos have not necessarily run dry in our modern age. There’s no genetic reason why they shouldn’t have. So the reasons why they haven’t emerged, I believe, have very much to do with the victories of the Adversary on the battlefield first of culture, and second of the individual soul in his quest to bind the tongue of the faithful.
One possible impediment pushed by Satan is theological illiteracy in our young people, the field from which the next generation of great artists will have to emerge. LDS scholar and literary critic Eugene England wrote concerning Elder Whitney’s call for Mormon literature and suggests some of our mightiest doctrines as fertile fodder for creative expression:
“To fulfill this hope,” he writes, “Mormon writers need some theological literacy. B. H. Roberts, whom some consider Mormonism's finest historian and theologian, provides an extensive overview in The Truth, The Way, The Life and a concise explication of what is most dramatic and unusual in Mormon thought in Joseph Smith, the Prophet-Teacher. Others could be added: Joseph Smith, of course, especially the King Follett Discourse (uncreated being and godlike potential); Doctrine and Covenants 88 and 93 (God's relation to nature and to human agency); 2 Nephi 2 (the doctrine of essential opposition in everything) and Alma 42 (how the atonement works) from the Book of Mormon; and Brigham Young's sermon, "The Organization and Development of Man" (our basic need for eternal progression)” (Preface to Tending the Garden, http://mldb.byu.edu/dawn.htm).
Understanding these concepts, and being able to articulate them to those of the world in new and persuasive ways could be an incredible boon to the work of the Gospel. They are ripe to be portrayed in ways literary and fantastic, creative and powerful. Certainly Satan is working to prevent our understanding of these great and eternal concepts, and is active day and night in his fight to suppress our souls and halt our pens in rational declaration of these noble truths. In doing so, he quashes both our potential and that of those we may have taught or influenced. He shows us an easier path, full of distractions and apathy and even condescension of our own religion and the art it has inspired, calling such art “kitsch” and “cliche” in comparison to the art of the world. Many artists may think they have more important things to write about, true art to express, and dealing with and even teaching gospel truths is considered didactic and artless.
This point, I confess, is not a straw man. The possibility for overt didacticism when aiming to portray positive principles and explore or depict our theology in a concrete way is very high, and can be confused as the same thing. Karl Keller said of such well-meaning but ineffective stories, “The didactic sells the Church without making it very believable.”
Eugene England explained further, “Most thinkers in this tradition have understood that the more directly literature teaches, the less delightful and persuasive it becomes. In contrast, a vivid and honest story, interesting and complex characters, powerful images, and affecting rhythms and sounds can often move the reader into new dimensions of moral understanding and religious experience.”
What does this mean for the goal of a consecration of the arts? It means our writers have a fine line to walk between didacticism and depiction, and between, I might say, sermon-preaching and subtle teaching. But successful balance and success on the required multiple levels can bring forth the greatness Elder Whitney, President Kimball, and Elder Packer have called for.
Though we are all under the obligation of taking our message to the world, there are so many varied and possible ways it can be done. It doesn’t have to be explicitly about church, about God, about religion. It doesn’t need to be overtly couched in the context of didactic doctrine. Christ’s parables weren’t! But neither do they have to have simple meanings in the end. After all, the best parables are the ones that work on levels both literary and spiritual, and that carry implications loaded with meaning that aren’t brought up outright, as the Parable of the Talents does. Theoretically, it should teach through a natural understanding of the story. Remember Keller’s words: “creating imaginative worlds where Mormon theological principles are concretely true.” What does that mean? I think it means exactly what it says. The worlds we create for our stories, for our art---and I don’t just mean in fantasy or sci-fi texts; new worlds need to be created for literary, non-genre works, too---these worlds should be built according to the spiritual laws of the gospel. I do not mean LDS cosmological laws, but theological principles.In Orson Scott Card’s Ender and Ender’s Shadow series take place in a futuristic earth where Mormonism doesn’t turn out to be true, and yet he is still able to promote our ideas---and ideas Card must hold very dear to his heart---about family and about marriage, and how important those institutions are. Those books are not didactic in the slightest, and yet they still teach. Such should we make our highest art.
With President Kimball and Elder Packer, I again call to the Mormon artists to produce greatness, a dual greatness: greatness in the eyes of both the world AND the church. It is not an impossible line to toe, though it might no doubt be difficult. To this President Kimball has said, “If we strive for perfection—the best and greatest—and are never satisfied with mediocrity, we can excel.” And Elder Packer adds, "Let the use of your gift be an expression of your devotion to Him who has given it to you." The best art, even true art, will certainly lead one to God, via one way or another.
And so I say, in whatever gift you have, whatever talent you choose to develop, make sure the Lord has a reason to help you. Consecrate your gift to God and you will see it bloom and bear fruit that could not have otherwise been born. Search deeply to understand why you might have the gift that you have, the potential for greatness. Realize that He hasn’t given it to you to merely gain the glories of the world, but if, in the process of developing it, you do gain the glories of the world, use that unique platform to share the Gospel, to proclaim truth, and live as an example of Christian principles. Show the world what the gospel of Jesus Christ can produce, what the fruits and effects of Christ’s gospel are.
Our faithful musicians are the latter-day equivalent of the Psalmist. Look at the extraordinary example of David Archuleta, who is not only a popular singer in the eyes of the world, who is not only a devout and unashamed Latter-day Saint, but who has declared implicitly and courageously that his faith is more important than his art by serving a mission, leaving the spotlight and fame to blend in with all the other white shirts and ties out there preaching the gospel. In David Archuleta we find someone who has used and most certainly will use in the future his God-given gifts and talents to share the gospel with the world. He is able to preserve both his artistic integrity and his devotion to this work, and in fact combine the two in using his talents for the benefits of the gospel. The pattern he has set should be emulated by every Latter-day Saint artist the world over: establishing ourselves in the eyes of the world, then using that influence and that platform to bear our testimony to them, to share with them what is truly important and in ways they’ll listen to. Other examples include the burgeoning violinist Lindsey Stirling and rock and roll musician Brandon Flowers, who have participated in the inspired “And I’m a Mormon” public relations campaign. In doing this, in sharing our testimony from the tower of fame, we can become great symbols of our church and of our God, and cast the light we treasure in our souls to the world entire.
Sometimes, however, our artists lose track of what is truly important. Sometimes that light is kept hidden beneath the bushel. Brothers and sisters, might I remind you that your art is NEVER more important than your faith. Devoting ourselves to the creations of our own hands instead of the Creator of all is a sad mistake that is repeated often amongst our greatest artists. You’ve seen them, I’m sure; I don’t need to repeat their names here. Elder Packer has said, “We find that there have marched through this grand parade of mortality men and women who were sublimely gifted, but who spent all, or most, in the world and for the world. And I repeat that they may well one day come to learn that "many men struggle to reach the top of the ladder, only to find that it is leaning against the wrong wall."
“Behold, there are many called, but few are chosen,” the Lord says. “And why are they not chosen? Because their hearts are set so much upon the things of this world, and aspire to the honors of men” (D&C 121:34-35).
I am reminded of the story of the play Corianton by B.H. Roberts, popular in the late 19th century in Utah. It was eventually taken by others to Broadway, but not before being stripped of the spiritual values that once defined it. It lasted only a week, failing miserably because it tried merely to gain the glories of the world, and not to add glory to God.
The Book of Mormon has a verse about such cases. Helaman 4:13 reads “And because of this their great wickedness, and their boastings in their own strength, they were left in their own strength; therefore they did not prosper, but were afflicted and smitten, and driven before the Lamanites, until they had lost possession of almost all their lands.”
Brothers and sisters, we do not want to be left alone to our own strength. We need God in our lives, and for Him to be in our lives, I repeat that we need to give Him a reason to help us. That reason will almost always be that we need His help to convey His truth to the world. In doing so, we have to keep our eye single to His glory, to the building up of Zion.
Think of the story of the lepers healed in the river---only one came back to thank Christ for that miracle. How many of us have received of the glorious bounties and blessings of the Atonement....and then gone off to do our own thing, to do what we want to do?
Remember the battle that we’re supposed to be waging. Remember what this whole scene actually is. This isn’t some game where we can bide our time and do whatever we want, “whatever we love,” until we die. This is a war. And in a battle that will determine eternities, we must keep in mind what is truly important. As the rousing chorus of Battle Hymn of the Republic resoundingly declares, “Let us live to make men free.” THAT, brothers and sisters, is the battle, the epic war of this world. And in war we have allegiances. Who or what are you loyal to? Who or what are you fighting for?
Do you want to stand there at the great and last Day, trembling before the Judgment Bar of God, and try to explain that your own secular artistry was more important than spreading the Gospel?
“Go to, then,” Elder Packer has said, “you who are gifted; cultivate your gift. Develop it in any of the arts and in every worthy example of them. If you have the ability and the desire, seek a career or employ your talent as an avocation or cultivate it as a hobby. But in all ways bless others with it. Set a standard of excellence. Employ it in the secular sense to every worthy advantage, but never use it profanely. Never express your gift unworthily.”
How you go about that missionary work is up to you. Whether it be allegory or through drama or however else you think you can be effective in communicating the principles of the Gospel, it must be done. It is commanded that it should be done. We endowed members have covenanted to consecrate all of ourselves, all, to this work.
How blessed are we? As pointed out earlier, 14 million out of 7 billion. Why are we so blessed to have the Gospel? Because it isn’t just a blessing. It’s not even just a privilege. It’s a responsibility. We cannot go around saying, “Oh joy, I am saved!” --- We must be about our Father’s business, or else we are not worthy of our hire, a wicked and slothful servant. And though I have spoken primarily of the creative arts, this commandment extends to all abilities, all professions, all places in life.
Brothers and sisters, there is work to do. The "great and marvelous work" is meant to be done by us. And we must do more than our best. For right now, we are not yet what we can be. One might say, “Brother Silvester, that’s not grace. We mustn’t be too hard on ourselves.” But the whole idea of eternal progression is about constantly improving what our best can be! “Best” is not a rigid, inflexible goal; it is fluid, it rises, it beckons us ever onward. Christ gave us eternal life. Surely we can consecrate to Him our mortal life.
I call to the rising generation of this church. I call out to all to become masters of their gifts, whatever they may be, to become champions of the Lord and use what He has given them to spread the gospel to the world, and bring souls unto Christ.
In D&C 82 the Lord tells us of the law of consecration, “This order I have appointed to be an everlasting order unto you, and unto your successors, inasmuch as you sin not.”
An everlasting order! What does that mean? That this is the order of heaven! This is a celestial society! Developing our gifts in “the interest of [our] neighbor” with ultimately the glory of God as our goal. D&C 104:63 -- “And I give it unto you from this very hour; and now see to it, that ye go to make use of the stewardship which I have appointed unto you.”
Go find what the Lord has given you. It is your duty to find it, to develop it, to use it to further the cause, and then to receive the promised multiplicity of blessings to faithful stewards. Orson Scott Card has pointed out that in all the evolution of the temple endowment over the years, as some covenants and some scenes have dropped away, the covenant of consecration, though we think of it as a relic of the past, is still there---it still applies to all endowed latter-day saints, and it will forever.
Let us make art, music, and literature that brings souls to Christ. Let us infuse our art with meaning! Let our art lead to truth, to God! And let us not spend our time critiquing the Brethren, and instead spend it supporting them, sustaining them, joining them in the war against the rapidly spreading evil that is so pervasive in the world today. The Lord and His servants needs allies, not critics.
What can we expect to tell God at Judgment Day about our time spent on earth when, in this brief but oh so important life, we are purely pursuing our personal passions, and not doing the work that will last the eternity?
Let us find ways to instead channel those passions as they were meant to be used: for the Lord! To use them to enhance, further, and promote the work, to lay a foundation of understanding in the people who are searching for the truth and prepare them to receive the Gospel when they finally hear it. Let us be witnesses of God at all times and in all things and in all places that we may be in, and consecrate our time and talents to the work of Zion. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
