Each Sunday in Priesthood Quorum, and again on Tuesday during Mutual night, the Young Men of the Aaronic Priesthood and their leaders stand as a group and recite the Young Men’s theme. :
We are sons of your Heavenly Father and disciples of Jesus Christ. We act in Faith, hope charity and love with an eye single to the Glory of God. As a bearer of the Aaronic Priesthood, I will:
BECOME converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ and live its teachings.
SERVE faithfully in priesthood callings and fulfill the responsibilities of priesthood offices.
GIVE meaningful service.
PREPARE and live worthily to receive the Melchizedek Priesthood and temple ordinances.
PREPARE to serve an honorable full-time mission.
OBTAIN as much education as possible.
PREPARE to become a worthy husband and father.
GIVE proper respect to women, girls, and children.
Now, the young men will notice some differences in what I just read from what we have been reciting. In researching for this talk, I discovered that what we’ve been reciting for the past 6 years is a bit different than how the official church document reads. Therefore, we will be learning the accurate wording, and re-memorizing our Young Men’s theme to properly align ourselves with the written doctrine. Look on the bright side young men, this means that you get another opportunity for another Cold Stone run once you successfully recite the theme from memory. It’s okay if you don’t all memorize it immediately, I am happy to make more than one trip to Cold Stone.
Brothers and Sisters, what we have been reciting varies ever so slightly from the official church document, but I feel it’s important that we make the necessary changes to re-learn the theme correctly. Furthermore, as we fumble through the wording over the next number of months, this will afford us an opportunity to focus on the content of the Young Men’s theme; and I am excited about this focus—the young men and us leaders will surely draw closer to our Heavenly Father as we strive to imprint these words not only upon our minds, but upon our hearts.
On pages 3-4 from True to the Faith, we read:
The Aaronic Priesthood is "an appendage to the greater, or the Melchizedek Priesthood" (D&C 107:14). It is often called the preparatory priesthood. As a priesthood holder serves in the Aaronic Priesthood, he prepares to receive the Melchizedek Priesthood, to receive the blessings of the temple, to serve a full-time mission, to be a loving husband and father, and to continue in lifelong service to the Lord.
Let’s look at the Young men’s theme again with this in mind: that the Aaronic priesthood is preparing him for lifelong service to the Lord.
First and foremost the preamble to the theme reminds the young men of who they are: We are sons of Heavenly Father and Disciples of Jesus Christ.
For the past 11 years, I have worked as a teacher in a residential treatment center. I have personally witnessed the struggles of over 1000 teenagers as they try to make sense of their life, and put themselves on a road to happiness. These teenagers are lost. They don’t know who they are, where they’ve come from, and where they are going. With few exceptions, the parents are lost, too. It is truly sad to see. Most of these families have no belief that they are children of a loving Heavenly Father who loves them. It is no wonder they are confused, angry, depressed, hopeless, and fighting.
They young Men’s theme reminds the boys of who they are. The young men of the church are not lost: they. I feel blessed to serve as a young men’s leader just so that I can recite this theme twice a week and remind myself of who I am.
The remainder of the theme is comprised of 9 stanzas. (Re-read them)
Taking them out of order, they can be grouped into three groups: Those that charge the boys to perfect themselves, those that call the boys to service; and those that invite the boys to prepare.
The first stanza invites and reminds the boys to become converted and live the gospel.
OBTAIN as much education as possible.
However, we understand that the education we receive is for the purpose of serving others. The young men have the examples of the general authorities in this regard. Each of those brethren have obtained as much education as possible, be it education through formal institutions such as universities and colleges or education through their career experiences.
Two of the stanzas start with the verb Give
GIVE meaningful service. And GIVE proper respect to women,
girls, and children.
Another Stanza begins with the word Serve
SERVE faithfully in priesthood callings and
fulfill the responsibilities of priesthood offices.
I commend the youth in our ward for their service. The mutual nights where we perform service for others are some of the best attended by the youth. Our youth are learning to work hard and serve others.
A couple of months ago I dropped by a young man’s house so he could help me administer the sacrament to some ward members who couldn’t make it to church. As we finished up about 35 minutes later, we hopped in the van at our last house so I could take him home. This young man turned to me and said: “Thanks for taking me. I didn’t really want to go, but I really glad I did. And I will go again when you need me.” I replied: “I feel that way a lot of times, too. It’s sometimes hard to get out, but it always feels good to help others.”
If you want happiness for an hour, take a nap. If you want happiness for a day, go fishing. If you want happiness for a year, inherit a fortune. If you want happiness for a lifetime, help somebody.
Author: Chinese Proverb
Three stanzas in the Young Men’s theme start with the verb prepare
PREPARE and live worthily to receive the Melchizedek Priesthood and temple ordinances.
PREPARE to serve an honorable full-time mission.
PREPARE to become a worthy husband and father.
In large part, the YM theme focuses upon perfecting one’s self, serving others, and preparing to serve others.
Leo Tolstoy wrote:
The meaning of life lies in two major areas: your personal perfection and service to other people. You can serve while you are moving toward perfection, and you can move toward perfection by serving people.
Testimony and end.
