Sunday Report

Dear Sisters,

How grateful we are for those of you who work so hard to serve our children and youth. Wherever you are serving you are missed in Relief Society, but your service is vital to the families in the ward and we are all blessed by it. We want to share a little of our Sunday Relief Society meeting with you and encourage you, as part of your personal scripture study, to read the lessons we have been given from the Gospel Principles book and the Conference issue of the Ensign.

We are all getting in the holiday mode with Thanksgiving just ten days away and Christmas coming soon thereafter. Days are busy but it is also a time of year for quiet reflections on our blessings.

The lesson for the day was Chapter 20 of the Gospel Principles book on Baptism.

Baptism is the first ordinance of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and is built on the foundation of the first principles of the gospel, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and Repentance. It is through faith in the Lord and repentance, which He made possible, that we qualify for baptism which will wash away all of our sins. It is by the ordinance of baptism that we become members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Being baptized by water in the name of Jesus Christ, we can then, through the ordinance of confirmation, receive the Holy Ghost.

We are baptized in the same manner that the Lord was baptized, though being sinless, He needed no remission of sin, but He said that His baptism was necessary to "fulfill all righteousness." (Matthew 3:15) Ours is also necessary to show our obedience for we are commanded to do the things we saw the Lord do. Baptism is the initial saving ordinance that is necessary for us to begin our journey to the Celestial Kingdom.

For our baptism to be recognized by the Lord and by the Church, it must be done by the correct mode which the Lord revealed in both ancient and modern day scriptures. It is a rite or a sacred, physical ceremony symbolic of the Lord's death burial and resurrection, therefore immersion is necessary and with it we begin a new life, sinless and with our feet on the path to return to our Father in Heaven. It can only be administered as the Lord commanded and one must have reached the age of accountability, eight years old or older to receive it. Little children cannot sin and therefore need no remission of sin and are as the Lord said automatically of the Kingdom of Heaven. Those who are mentally incapable of knowing right from wrong are not required to be baptized either.

Baptism as an ordinance is a place where covenants are made. We are promising to do certain things, including being numbered among the people of God as we take the Lord's name upon us. We show we are willing to help and comfort one another, and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all places. We are promising to serve God and obey His commandments. He in turn promises forgiveness for our sins, and the opportunity to continue to repent as we, being human, fall short of perfection and sin again. He pours out His Spirit upon us for comfort and guidance and warning each day of our lives. Further He promises that if we keep the covenants we have made we will come forth in the First Resurrection and gain eternal life. Baptism allows us to begin a new life, a new way of life. that can lead us, if we are faithful and humble, to the Celestial Kingdom and all that the Father hath.

The Relief Society Presidency