We laid down a rule that every sacrament meeting talk and every lesson in Sunday School, Relief Society, and priesthood meetings must be related to the Atonement of Christ in a direct and express way. Our goal was to have all of our meetings filled with "life [and] substance [and] redemption" by having them connected to “the very root of Christian doctrine”: the Atonement of Christ. We told the bishops that if they wanted a sacrament meeting about the principles of emergency preparedness— important principles, to be sure—that meeting would be about “Emergency Preparedness and the Atonement of Christ." If you cannot figure out the link between the topic you are to teach and the Atonement of Christ, you have either not thought about it enough or you shouldn’t be talking about it at church. Your topic may be fine for the city council, your neighborhood organization, or the commercial break during SportsCenter, but in our limited time in church, we must be talking about the Atonement of Christ.
“The Very Root of Christian Doctrine” by Thomas B. Griffith (judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit when this devotional address was given on 14 March 2006). Speeches - Brigham Young University 2005-2006.
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