Sabbath Devotional: Liberating Peace

When I learned last night of President Nelson’s passing, I decided to shift the focus of my Sabbath devotional today. This morning, I asked my dad for his impressions of Russell M. Nelson, the person. My dad spent his career working for the Church and had many interactions with various apostles and other Church leaders. He said, “President Nelson was as kind as he encourages us to be.”

Dad continued, remembering various interactions he'd had. But his initial tribute is remarkable. President Nelson was a man of consistency. He was who he appeared to be.

A couple hours after my conversation with my dad, I learned the chilling and heartbreaking reports about a shooting during a sacrament meeting in Michigan. Undoubtedly, we are all reeling from that news, which piles on other incidents of violence over the last weeks, months, and years. There are no words of comfort I can offer.

In 1992, Russell M. Nelson said, “Mourning is one of the deepest expressions of pure love.” Grief, accompanied by secondary emotions of confusion, anger, and doubt, is normal. In fact, we need to grieve. We can and should recognize that grief comes from a place of love.

We can also choose to turn our grief into love rather than hate — to use our mourning as a means to unite rather than divide. Although it is human nature to respond with anger and try to figure out who or what ideology is to blame, that does not ease the pain of loss. In 2023, President Nelson posted on social media: “It is not always easy to forgive those who have hurt you. You can receive strength from Jesus Christ. . . . I invite you to remember the principle of seventy times seven and extend forgiveness to someone who has wronged you. As you do, Jesus Christ will relieve you of anger, resentment, and pain. The Prince of Peace will bring you peace.”

What a promise! In our deepest grief, we can be relieved of the burdens of anger and resentment. As we choose to seek the difficult road of extending forgiveness, the Prince of Peace will give us the gift of peace.

In his recent article in Time, President Nelson gave what could be considered his last sermon. He taught, “Each of us has inherent worth and dignity. I believe we are all children of a loving Heavenly Father. But no matter your religion or spirituality, recognizing the underlying truth beneath this belief that we all deserve dignity is liberating — it brings emotional, mental, and spiritual equilibrium — and the more you embrace it, the more your anxiety and fear about the future will decrease.”

We live in such a difficult time with violence and hate surrounding us. I sometimes feel as if the walls are closing in on me with the weight of the world. President Nelson uses the word “liberating” to describe what can happen to me when I recognize another’s worth and dignity. That message doesn’t only apply to the marginalized; it applies to the oppressors and perpetrators of hate, as well. It is liberating to me when I allow myself to look for and acknowledge the humanity of another. I have experienced this.

President Nelson continued, “Love your neighbor and treat them with compassion and respect. A century of experience has taught me this with certainty: anger never persuades, hostility never heals, and contention never leads to lasting solutions. Too much of today’s public discourse, especially online, fosters enmity instead of empathy.”

He doesn’t say this to make us feel guilty for the natural human emotion of anger — but he is right. If I want to be persuasive, I need to let my anger go. And it’s hard to let go. But with help, I can process anger and grief in a way that can result in healing and solutions, as promised by President Nelson. We can all recommit ourselves to empathy instead of enmity, to love instead of hate, to creating peace instead of giving up.

President Nelson has often called us to be peacemakers. “Imagine how different our world could be if more of us were peacemakers — building bridges of understanding rather than walls of prejudice — especially with those who may see the world differently than we do. . . . There is power in affording others the human dignity that all of God’s children deserve.”

This is a very difficult day in a difficult time. But I am inspired by the way my dad described President Nelson. “He was as kind as he encouraged us to be.” May we be as forgiving, as loving, as committed to peacemaking as we encourage others to be.

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Megan Rawlins Woods is the nonpartisan root senior director at Mormon Women for Ethical Government.