The Entire Church Shall Take Hold of Christ

I have as my theme today a scripture from Isaiah:

And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach.¹

Right about now you are thinking I am either going to talk about polygamy or the end of times. Why, out of all the scriptures that I could have chosen, did I choose this verse?

For years I found this verse perplexing, and I didn’t like the interpretations that I heard or that I could come up with myself—they didn’t really ring true to me. Now, since this is a verse from Isaiah, there are likely many ways to interpret it. But I gained new insights about this scripture when I read a book by Dr. Alonzo L. Gaskill of BYU Religious Education; it is called The Lost Language of Symbolism.² In it, Dr. Gaskill explained some possible symbols in this verse that led me to an interpretation that has since made this scripture one of my favorites.

So first, let me give you a little primer on the ancient symbolism that Isaiah might have been thinking of when he wrote this verse:

• The number seven is often used in the scriptures to symbolize completeness, wholeness, and spiritual perfection.³
• Sometimes in scripture the Church is referred to as a woman or bride.⁴
• One man may be a reference to Jesus Christ.⁵
• From the covenants we have made or will make with Christ, we recognize that bread and apparel—or clothes—may have important covenantal significance in this verse.⁶
• And, of course, each week as we partake of the sacrament, we covenant our willingness to take upon ourselves Jesus’s name.⁷
• Finally, reproach may refer to sin, our mortal weaknesses and shortcomings, or maybe just any challenge we face in mortality.⁸

Considering these symbols, and with my apologies to Isaiah and my hope that this is what he had in mind, I would like to offer this rephrasing of the verse:

And in that day, the entire church shall take hold of Christ, saying, “We will make and keep sacred covenants; only let us take upon ourselves Thy name so that we can be whole and complete.”

Today I am going to focus on the first part of this verse. I love the image of all of us together taking hold of Christ—not at some future day but now. In my mind I have a picture of all of us going about our daily lives holding onto the Savior’s robes or arm and considering what the Savior would do if He were in our shoes.

What would happen if the entire Church—or even just all of the BYU community—took hold of Christ? What would that look like? What would you do to take better hold of Him? As referenced in the verse, we take hold of Christ through making and keeping covenants with Him. For a greater discussion on covenants, I will refer you to the entire April 2024 general conference, as it was replete with references to covenants. Today I would like to discuss six ways we can take hold of Christ that have come to me as I have studied the life of Christ. These actions will help us to better keep our covenants.

1. Fear Not

First, “Fear not!” In many revelations in the Doctrine and Covenants⁹ and in stories the Savior told throughout His ministry on earth,¹⁰ He repeatedly encouraged us to fear not. In the Gospel of Mark, we learn that the Savior and His disciples took several small ships out on the Sea of Galilee at night. A big windstorm arose and filled the ships with water. Jesus, likely exhausted from a day of teaching, was sound asleep in one of the ships, somehow oblivious to the wind and water. Fearing for their lives, the disciples woke up Jesus in a bit of a panic. He got up and calmed the storm. Then He said to His disciples, “Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?”¹¹

I have always felt a little defensive on behalf of His disciples because it is pretty clear to me why they were afraid. But they seemed to shrug off His rebuke and were just amazed at His ability to calm the storm.¹²

This story reminds me of an experience I had when I was an undergraduate student here at BYU. Being at college can be a really exciting time, but I found that it was also really challenging. And my guess is that although our specific challenges may be different, you can relate to how hard it was at times. My last semester was probably my most difficult semester emotionally, and I felt as if the wind and waves of life might sink me. My mom had passed away the previous year, and though I did not recognize it at the time, I was experiencing depression. Nothing felt exciting to me, and life did not really feel worth living. Every day it seemed that the best I could do was just to go through the motions.

On top of that, I had just completed an internship working in an orphanage in Eastern Europe. After seeing so many young children abandoned and neglected, I had a hard time seeing how my classes were meaningful, so I did not attend class as much as I should have. And then, of course, I wondered why I was not doing as well as I wanted to on some of my exams.

I had chosen public health as my major, and I had thought that by my last semester I would know just what to do with my life. But with graduation only months and then weeks away, I realized that I was clueless—maybe more clueless than I had ever been. Of course I did what most any BYU student would do: I prayed for direction. I prayed and I prayed. And I felt absolutely nothing. I was so discouraged and afraid. I felt as if I were in that boat with the disciples trying to shake the Savior awake, only this time He kept on sleeping. Where was the peace, and why had He abandoned me?

Now, in hindsight, I can see that the Lord was wide awake and calming the storm. He sent a friend who gave me encouragement and advice as I was having a meltdown in the process of applying to master of public health programs. I ran into one of my favorite professors who suggested that I apply to a program I had never heard of before but that I ended up attending. Even though I could not feel the Spirit guiding me—maybe that was because of my depression, maybe because I was still learning to interpret how the Spirit spoke to me, or maybe because He wanted to empower me to work things out—I now see that He still inspired my logic and reasoning so that I could figure out the next steps.

Eventually my inner storms were calmed. The depression lifted. I had a wonderful experience in my graduate program. I now realize that figuring out what to do with your life is a lifelong process, but I have loved the path that the Lord has guided me on.

When the storms of life hit us, how do we “fear not” in the moment? Sometimes just telling myself not to fear and remembering that I am in a covenant relationship with the Savior helps. Other times that just does not seem to work. But if we are truly to take hold of Christ, then fearing not is exactly what we will strive to do. I believe that one of the ways we can learn to fear not is to shift our perspective from the cares of mortality to the things of God.

Let me illustrate what I mean with the following example. For many students, I know that one of your fears is often linked to your performance in a class. You might be concerned about getting a certain grade, and so you repeatedly crunch the What-If Calculator to see what score you need on that final exam to eke out the A. (Sidenote: As a professor, I hate that calculator!) Some of you have mastered the art; some of you may be convinced that your professors randomly assign grades. It is tempting to focus on what grade you will get in a course rather than on what you are learning. However, research suggests that you may perform better in your classes if you focus on learning new skills and gaining knowledge rather than focusing on what grade you will get.¹³

I am not blind to the fact that grades matter at least to some extent in helping you get into a major, obtain scholarships, and get into graduate school. But if grades are causing you to fear because they have become the focus of your education, try shifting your perspective to what you can learn in a class rather than what grade you will get. This will take practice. Perhaps the next time you take an exam and see your score, rather than focusing on what the grade is, consider how it reflects your increased knowledge. Even if that score is far lower than you had hoped, it still reflects greater knowledge. And isn’t gaining knowledge part of the reason we chose to come to earth? As you shift your focus, it may become easier to fear not and to trust that the Lord is mindful of your financial situation, that He knows what you need to achieve to get into graduate school or find your dream job, and that He is aware of your anxieties about getting a certain GPA.

I recognize that all of us have a lot more to worry about than just our grades in a class. But whatever storms we face, if we shift our perspective to take hold of Christ, He will help us to weather those storms. And then we can go forward in confidence, fearing not.

2. Cherish the Journey by Building Connections with Others

My second suggestion for taking hold of Christ is to cherish the journey by building connections with others rather than fixating on the end goal.

Whenever I read the Gospels, I am touched by how the Savior often took detours on His way to do important things. When a synagogue leader, Jairus, asked the Savior to heal his daughter, the request was urgent—Jairus’s daughter was “at the point of death.”¹⁴ The Savior immediately went with Jairus, but the road was crowded, and the going was a little slow with all the people thronging about. This is when the woman with an issue of blood touched the hem of the Savior’s garment. Given the urgency of the young girl waiting to be healed, it has always amazed me that the Savior paused to identify, heal, and uplift the woman—after all, she already felt healed just by touching His garment. But for the Savior, that was not enough. He wanted the woman to more fully know Him, and He wanted to know her. Relationships were important to the Savior. He did not neglect Jairus and his family: Jesus raised the young girl from the dead. But He also did not neglect a woman who needed physical and emotional healing along the way.¹⁵

My experience applying to PhD programs was the opposite of my experience of finishing up my undergraduate degree. This time I felt very clear direction that I needed to get a doctorate, and I received some of the most distinct line-upon-line¹⁶ guidance of my life in the process. Because of how strong those promptings were, I figured that getting my PhD must be really important for me.

After I was accepted to Johns Hopkins University, I decided to visit the campus in Baltimore before making a final decision. I flew in on a Sunday so that I could visit a ward and get advice on where to live. I arrived at the Inner Harbor Ward church building early and took a seat on the back row of the chapel. As I waited for the service to begin, I heard a distinct voice in my mind say, “Ali, your PhD is important, but your experiences in this ward will be more important.” Because of this prompting, I made sure to find housing in the ward boundaries.

I learned so much from my associations with people in that ward. And I am so grateful for that prompting because I made sure that I prioritized the friendships and service opportunities that were extended to me. Otherwise, I think it may have been easy to put too much time and energy into my PhD and neglect building relationships with the people around me. There is not time to share the experiences I had with my ward, but I will say that it was because of the things I learned while serving with my ward family that I came to my dissertation topic. I believe I would have been far less successful in my program if I had not accepted both formal and informal opportunities to serve that allowed me to get to know the wonderful people in my Church community better.

When there is so much to do in life and when we face so many pressures, it can be tempting to just focus on getting your degree or publishing the next paper or enforcing the latest policy. But, like the Savior, we need to pause along the way to make sure we are building relationships.

In winter semester of 2016, then BYU president Kevin J Worthen opened his devotional address with these words:

My message today is summarized in a familiar scripture, Genesis 2:18, in which the Lord declared, “It is not good that . . . man should be alone.” I suppose most of you upon hearing this will think that I am about to deliver the standard BYU speech on marriage. You are wrong. . . . Although the principles I address will apply with full force to marriage, I wish to speak about a broader truth. . . . It is that no one can flourish in isolation and that the quality of our relationships with others will ultimately determine our level of fulfillment and happiness in both this mortal existence and the life to come. It is in this sense that it is not good for man—or woman—to be alone.¹⁷

Research that I have conducted with colleagues here at BYU also backs this up. We all go through challenges in life, and some of these challenges—such as abuse, neglect, and family dysfunction—can be traumatic. If these traumatic experiences happen before age eighteen, we call them adverse childhood experiences or ACEs. Numerous studies have indicated that ACEs are linked to worse mental and physical health throughout life. However, we have found that children and adults who have a variety of healthy relationships—with family, peers, other adults, God, and themselves—are more resilient in the face of these challenges and have better physical and mental health.¹⁸

My plea to all of us is that we take hold of Christ by developing healthy relationships during our time at BYU. All the degrees, publications, grants, and other things cannot make up for our need for healthy relationships. We need to take the time to pause and interact with one another while we are trying to meet deadlines. As former Relief Society general president Linda K. Burton advised, we need to “first observe, then serve.”¹⁹ It is only in pausing to truly see each other that we can better understand and fulfill needs. We may save a life as we do that—whether it is our own or the lives of those with whom we interact. As we learned from the Savior healing the woman with an issue of blood, our relationships need to be more than just touching a garment: we need to strive to truly see and acknowledge each other.

3. Listen to Others—Especially Those Who See Things Differently Than You Do

My next suggestion for taking hold of Christ is to listen to others, especially those who see things differently than we do, be that politically, culturally, religiously, or economically. In our politically polarized world, this is a time to reach out to others, whether they seem like they belong in our “group” or not. We need to make space for new perspectives. It is easy to think, “It’s those ‘make America great again’ far-right conservatives who are racist and who are destroying our country.” Or, “It’s those crazy liberals who focus so much on diversity that they forget that our primary identity is being children of God²⁰ who are the ones draining the nation of its moral compass.” Whichever side you are on, you have thought that, right?

But maybe we have it all wrong.

Maybe it is not that one side or the other is going to “ruin the world.” Maybe it is our inability to listen to others who see things differently that is so destructive. Maybe we have more in common with people on the “other side” than we think.²¹ After all, one of Christ’s friends was Nicodemus, a Pharisee—somebody we might think of as belonging to a politically conservative group today. Another of Jesus’s friends was Matthew, a tax collector for the Roman government—someone we might think of as politically liberal today. At the time, Christ’s acquaintances were wondering what He was thinking hanging out with people from backgrounds that seemed so wrong and different from their own.²²

Yes, we have to make judgment calls. President Dallin H. Oaks said:

We should seek out and support wise and good persons who will support [the inspired principles of the Constitution] in their public actions. We should be knowledgeable citizens who are active in making our influence felt in civic affairs.²³

But do we really understand where the other side is coming from? Is that side as bad as we make it out to be?

Sometimes our divisions seem so wide that we may wonder if it is possible for us to work together across our differences. At a BYU–Idaho forum last October, Church historian Dr. Melissa Inouye, who passed away in April from cancer, had this to say about how God works across seemingly vast differences. Referencing the parable of the olive tree in Jacob 5, she said:

God is running around, laboring in the vineyard, pruning here, shoveling manure there. This sets a pattern for us. . . . We can’t just burn the whole vineyard down and hope to start a new, awesomer vineyard from the ashes. We have to, as recent general Relief Society counselor Sharon Eubank put it, “clear away the bad as fast as the good can grow.”

And here’s a thought for you. What if the bad is not bad policies or bad politicians or bad government? What if the bad is bad relationships, bad blood, and broken trust? What if being on Team Jesus doesn’t mean together we triumph over all our foes because we are the awesomest and we trample the forces of darkness? What if being on Team Jesus means being a loyal teammate to everyone on Jesus’s team? And who is on Jesus’s team? Everyone!

Perhaps we can start by just being loyal to the people around us and our families, our neighborhoods, and church congregations. We want to be good players on Jesus’s team—the ones who build team members up, not the ones who drag everyone down and cause the coach headaches. Come on! The coach is Jesus! . . .

. . . I have made sacred promises to consecrate all I have to build up Zion, and Zion is over all the earth. I have covenanted to establish Zion with Saints in Nigeria whose worldviews are much more socially conservative than mine and with Saints in Sweden whose worldviews are much more socially liberal than mine.²⁴

I love that reminder that we are to build up Zion with those who see things differently than we do! This is aligned with what Isaiah said. He didn’t say that some individuals would take hold of Christ. Rather, he used the number seven to signify that the entire church would take hold of Christ. And as Dr. Inouye reminded us, the entire church comprises people from different races, cultures, and political persuasions, along with other differences. We need to grab hold of Christ, probably with both hands, because He can teach us how to work together across our differences to build Zion.

I am a person with strong opinions, as my family can attest. I am not nearly as good at listening to different viewpoints as I want to be. I try to read news from a range of sources and listen to podcasts from different perspectives in order to become more informed about a variety of positions. But I struggle. The interesting thing is that when I reflect on my political opinions and beliefs over the years, I notice that they have shifted. And as I continue to have experiences in life, I believe that my opinions will continue to shift. I think this is common for all of us. Let us remember what the Lord said in Isaiah 55:8–9:

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.

For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Let us all try to take hold of Christ by being humble enough to accept that our strongly held viewpoints are probably far from perfect and by allowing room for the Lord to teach us an even better way.

4. Use What You Have for Good

Next, we can take hold of Christ by using the resources we have for good, no matter how small or inconsequential they may seem. Resources can include material goods, but they more often include our time, skills, interests, and talents.

Sometimes we feel woefully inadequate or feel that what we have to offer is just not good enough to make a difference. But remember the widow who gave her mite. She had so little to offer. Why would the church need her offering more than she and her own family needed it? But she gave, and that personal sacrifice has meant so much to us through the centuries!²⁵

On the other end of the economic spectrum was the woman who anointed Christ’s head in preparation for His burial. Others were so critical of how she used her wealth. But we remember her offering of the expensive oil as a testimony of the Savior and as one of love for Him.²⁶

Today, whether these women who lived thousands of years ago were rich or poor has no bearing. Both offerings mattered.²⁷ There will be times in life when we feel our gifts are inadequate. At those times we can remember how much the Savior appreciated the widow’s mite, and then we will give what we can. There will be times when we feel we have a lot to give but feel the judgment of the world in how we choose to give. Again, we can remember how much the Savior appreciated the wealthy woman’s anointing, and we can give anyhow.

In all our giving, whether large or small, if our motivation is to glorify the Lord’s name, then I believe He accepts our offering. Jesus was our exemplar in this. He did everything to glorify the Father’s name:

Father, behold the sufferings and death of him who did no sin, in whom thou wast well pleased; behold the blood of thy Son which was shed, the blood of him whom thou gavest that thyself might be glorified.²⁸

As we take hold of Christ by giving what we can—whether it is time, money, talent, or other resources, no matter the size of the offering—with the motivation to glorify God, I believe the Savior is well pleased with us.

5. Suffer the Children “to Come unto Me”

A fifth way of taking hold of Christ is to remember Christ’s admonition to “suffer little children . . . to come unto me.”²⁹

When the Savior visited the Nephites, He asked them to bring their children forward. In my recent rereading of this account, I was struck by the fact that after the people set the children on the ground around Him, the Lord then asked all the adults to “kneel down upon the ground.”³⁰

And it came to pass that when [the multitude] had knelt upon the ground, Jesus groaned within himself, and said: Father, I am troubled because of the wickedness of the people of the house of Israel.

And when he had said these words, he himself also knelt upon the earth; and behold he prayed unto the Father.³¹

Life is hard. Just as at the time of Christ’s Resurrection there was a lot of wickedness that harmed the children, today there are also things happening in homes and in our communities that are harmful to children. The Savior is aware of the little children. But He is asking us to figuratively get down on the ground to participate in healing them. Yes, much of the strength that can come to children hopefully comes from their families. However, my research and that of others indicate that children need positive relationships with a variety of adults in their lives.³² It really is true that it takes a village to raise a child.³³

Part of suffering children to come to Christ is to hear them. During the Savior’s three-day ministry to the Nephites, He “loosed [the] tongues” of the children so that they spoke “great and marvelous things.”³⁴ With that in mind, I asked my Primary-aged nieces and nephews how they take hold of Christ. Here is what a few of them shared:

• Ty said that he takes hold of Christ by fasting, reading scriptures, praying, and giving someone a hug. These things, he said, bring you closer to God—always!
• Sophie said that she takes hold of Christ by praying.
• Jace said that he takes hold of Christ by following Christ’s example.

As you continue your work at BYU, whether as a student or as an employee, consider how what you are studying or doing will ultimately help children. You do not have to work directly with children to make a positive difference in their lives. Not everybody has to be an elementary school teacher or a pediatrician, as important as those occupations are. Some of you may be involved in work that strengthens adults and helps them to be more present in their children’s lives. Some of you may be involved in marketing and business and can consider how your products help or harm children directly or indirectly. Whatever your path may be, get down on the ground with the Savior to help the children to come unto Him.

6. Trust God

One last way we can take hold of Christ is to trust our heavenly parents. I love the trust that Jesus always demonstrated in Heavenly Father. He started His ministry in fasting and prayer³⁵ and frequently took time throughout His busy ministry to be alone to pray to God.³⁶ In the Garden of Gethsemane, He said, “Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.”³⁷ I appreciate that the Savior has repeatedly pointed the way to our heavenly parents.

In my own life, I have found that God has always had my back. He has always been there for me. I love Him.

Conclusion

How will you take hold of Christ? Maybe it will be to fear not or to focus a little more on the process and a little less on the outcome, noticing those around you a little bit more. Maybe you will take time to listen more and to love others who have a completely different perspective than you do. Maybe you will give in ways in which you are metaphorically rich and in other ways in which you are metaphorically poor, but you will give to glorify God. Or maybe you will find ways to bless the lives of children more. And it may very well be that you have been inspired about something else you can do to take hold of Christ. But pick something to work on to get a better hold on Christ. In whatever you choose, I hope you will seek to take hold of Christ by trusting God more.

As we—the entire BYU campus, a part of the entire Church—take hold of Christ, we will find that He is our “shadow in the daytime from the heat, and . . . a place of refuge, and a covert from storm and from rain.”³⁸ Let’s take hold of Christ individually and as an entire community so He can take away our reproach and complete us. I love our Savior. I know He will do this for us as we take hold of Him. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

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