“Grateful to Gather,” Liahona, January 2025.
Grateful to Gather
May we be ever grateful for the privilege and trust the Lord has bestowed upon us as we gather to the Savior, gather with the Saints, and gather in His service.
In Humility, Our Savior, by Jay Bryant Ward, may not be copied
For many years, I owned a handsome pocket watch that once belonged to my grandfather Andrew C. Nelson, whom I never met. He died when my father was only 16 years old.
My father inherited Grandfather Nelson’s watch. When I got older, he gave the watch to me. I treasured that watch as a tangible link to one of my faithful ancestors.
Grandfather Nelson’s parents, like all of my great-grandparents, joined the Church in their native Europe. I will be forever grateful for these pioneer predecessors. Because of their faith and sacrifice to gather with the Saints, my posterity and I have enjoyed the blessings of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.
Grandfather Nelson’s watch reminded me of our solemn obligation as Latter-day Saints to gather our Father’s children on both sides of the veil. His watch also reminded me that our ancestors watch and wait for us to identify them and see that their temple ordinances are performed so that they have the opportunity to be gathered eternally into the Father’s fold.
Gather to the Savior
With my Brethren in the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, we declare: “This Church is anchored in the perfect life of its chief cornerstone, Jesus Christ, and in His infinite Atonement and literal Resurrection. … He invites all of us to come unto Him and His Church, to receive the Holy Ghost, the ordinances of salvation, and to gain enduring joy.”
Because the Restoration is moving forward through continuing revelation, “the earth will never again be the same, as God will ‘gather together in one all things in Christ’ (Ephesians 1:10).”
“All things” includes His sheep. The Savior is calling us to leave behind the wickedness of the world and gather to Him. He wants His sheep to be a light that shines brightly, setting a standard for the rest of the world by reflecting how true disciples live, including how they experience true joy as they focus their lives on the Savior.
We gather to the Savior as we come unto Him (see Matthew 11:28) by exercising faith unto repentance, accepting baptism into His Church, and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost.
We gather to the Savior as we experience the spiritual healing that comes from partaking of the sacrament, witnessing that we are willing to take upon us His name, always remember Him, and keep His commandments (see Doctrine and Covenants 20:77, 79).
We gather to the Savior as we daily fill our lives with His words and truth, including the teachings of His prophets, seers, and revelators.
We gather to the Savior as we refine our ability to hear Him, living worthy of the whisperings of the Holy Ghost.
We gather to the Savior as we strengthen our conversion, increase our faith, deepen our discipleship, emulate His example, and strive to become a little better each day.
We gather to the Savior as we make sacred covenants and receive holy ordinances in the temple.
We gather to the Savior as we submit ourselves with patience and courage “to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon [us]” (Mosiah 3:19).
Finally, we gather to the Savior as we teach and testify of Him, inviting our families, friends, and neighbors to gather with us to “the light, the life, and the hope of the world.”
Gather with the Saints
When we come together and unite as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we enter into fellowship and companionship with one another. We sustain, teach, and edify each other. We strive, in the Savior’s words, to “be one” (John 17:21; see also Doctrine and Covenants 38:27) and to “love one another” (John 13:34).
President Dallin H. Oaks, First Counselor in the First Presidency, has taught, “Church attendance gives us the strength and enhancement of faith that come from associating with other believers and worshipping together with those who are also striving to stay on the covenant path and be better disciples of Christ.”
At Church we find spiritual rest and renewal. We find ordinances and the priesthood authority to administer them. We find restored truth, pure doctrine, and personal revelation. We find welcoming arms, consoling hearts, and encouraging voices. We find opportunities to live the two great commandments (see Mark 12:30–31).
The Lord has warned us that “the enemy is combined” (Doctrine and Covenants 38:12). To protect our families and thwart Satan’s growing influence, our worshipping together as Saints becomes even more essential.
Gather in His Service
The Prophet Joseph also said, “The day is fast hastening on when the restoration of all things shall be fulfilled, which all the holy prophets have prophesied of, even unto the gathering in of the house of Israel.” One of those who so prophesied was Jeremiah in the Old Testament:
“Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that it shall no more be said, The Lord liveth, that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;
“But, The Lord liveth, that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands whither he had driven them” (Jeremiah 16:14–15).
The Prophet Joseph further declared, “We are the favored people that God has made choice of to bring about the Latter-day glory … when the Saints of God will be gathered in one from every nation, and kindred, and people, and tongue.”
To accomplish that work, “I will send for many fishers, saith the Lord, and they shall fish them; and after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks” (Jeremiah 16:16).
Brothers and sisters, as latter-day covenant Israel—members of the restored Church of Jesus Christ—we are the Lord’s fishers and hunters. We are called to gather the Lord’s elect from every mountain, hill, and hamlet. We are called to give God’s children the opportunity to become full heirs to all He has promised His faithful children. That is the greatest service we could ever render.
We fulfill that divine directive by gathering Israel on both sides of the veil—sharing the good news of the Restoration with others, searching for our deceased ancestors, and performing vicarious ordinances for them in the temple. We also fulfill that directive as we share the Savior’s love through our service, example, testimony, and invitation to others to join with us.
“The Lord is leading the Restoration of His gospel and His Church,” said President Henry B. Eyring, Second Counselor in the First Presidency. “He goes before us. He knows the future perfectly. He invites you to the work. He joins you in it.”
A Privilege and Trust
What happened to Grandfather Nelson’s pocket watch? A few years ago, I passed it on to my son. As it did for me, that watch now links him to his progenitors and reminds him of his duty to his posterity.
And so it goes. Each covenant generation carries on the work of the Lord, doing its part in preparing the world for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.
May we be ever grateful for the privilege and trust the Lord has bestowed upon us as we gather to the Savior, gather with the Saints, and gather in His service.