Sister Tanner
We have been serving at BYU Hawaii now for exactly 1 year and 1 week. And, we are loving it.
When President Henry B. Eyring called us, he charged President Tanner to seek inspiration from Heavenly Father to know what he should do to accomplish what it was that needed to happen here. I am a witness to the many sleepless nights he spent studying and pondering and the many early mornings he spent praying to know the Lord’s will.
In his inaugural address last November he shared some of the revelation he received. He said, “I see a university that is intended to be not only ‘a school in Zion’ [1] but a Zion university—a place where people from many nations learn together in purity, peace, unity, and love. May this school savor so strongly and so sweetly of Zion that it creates an appetite in its graduates to build Zion everywhere.”
What is a Zion university and how can each of us do our part to establish it? (We talked about this with our employees at our ohana meetings a few days ago. We have deliberately chosen to be somewhat repetitive in our talks today, because we want the students and each of you to engage in this discussion and to become who the Lord would have us become during our time at BYU Hawaii.)
As John said, Zion is a place of “purity, peace, unity, and love.” It is a place, as the scriptures tell us where we are of “one heart and one mind [2] and there is “no contention in the land because of the “love of God which [dwells] in the hearts of the people” [3].
The fulfillment of our prophetic mission will require living with love and unity and peace. President David O. McKay prophesied that this school would produce leaders that the world is hungering for, that from this school would go “men and women whose influence will be felt for good toward the establishment of peace internationally,” and that this college, temple, and town would “become a missionary factor, influencing not thousands, not tens of thousands, but millions of people.” For the prophetic mission of this place to be fulfilled, we will need to not only understand what Zion is, but also live as a Zion people.
This is not easy, and we often fall short. Let me tell you, as some of you know, about our attempt at this a few weeks ago. We tried to have a Zion home in the month of July when we were tending 5 grandchildren, ages 1-7. We began with a Family Home Evening lesson on 3 important gospel principles, taught memorably with 3 simple Primary songs. The first principle was kindness, using the song, “I want to be kind to everyone, for that is right you see.” The next one was helpfulness. We sang, “When we’re helping we’re happy and we sing as we go.” And finally, obedience. “When my mother calls me, quickly I obey.” Be kind, be helpful, and be obedient. At the end of the week, we found we had not become perfect in those principles, so we taught the same lesson again. (Has that ever happened to you?)
How could these three principles help us create a Zion university?
To be kind is really to be “full of love one towards another.” This love is Christ’s love; it is charity. It suffereth long (is patient and meek); it envieth not (is not jealous or competitive); it seeks not her own (is selfless); and it is not easily provoked (is not angry, harsh, or mean). This love obliterates contention. This love is contagious; it spreads good-will and benevolence of feelings.
I saw it in action with three of our 7-year-old granddaughters. They were making sugar cookies and being very creative. One of them said, “I am making a mermaid.” The next one said, “Oh I want to make a mermaid too.” “No!” snapped the first one. I had the idea first.” And the argument continued. I said, “Girls, let’s be kind and try to understand how each person is feeling.” Then the third granddaughter piped in, “When someone copies your idea, it is really a compliment. It means they think you are very clever, and it is a way of showing how much they love and admire you.” And those were the kind words that burst the jealous, competitive bubble that had been building, creating a Zion moment. Can we use kind words and love to dispel envy and jealousy among roommates, among colleagues, among each other?
On another occasion we saw charity build a Zion community. In the mission field, one of our missionaries softened many hearts. His prize possession given to him from his father before he left on his mission was a superb yellow camera. It went missing. And because of some obvious clues, he was sure that it had been stolen from him by his companion. But the Elder at fault would not admit it, and it was creating a contentious spirit, not conducive to missionary work. Finally the owner of the yellow camera said to President Tanner, “I would like my companion to have the camera. I think he needs it much more than I do. Let’s move on as if none of this has happened.” His benevolent response was “not easily provoked,” the opposite of angry, harsh or mean, spreading a blanket of charity over and smothering the fire that had ignited. Can we at this university forgive wrongs that may unfairly be put upon us?
It may be hardest to have charity when we are tired, angry, or feel slighted, neglected, or wronged. President Thomas S. Monson said, “Charity impels us to be: sympathetic, compassionate, merciful, to notice the unnoticed, to lighten the load of the discouraged, to be patient, to resist the impulse to be offended, resist the impulse to categorize or judge or criticize others.” So Zion is built upon our ability to be charitable, to be kind.
Now let’s briefly turn to the principle of helpfulness. As President Monson says, charity impels us to “notice the unnoticed, lighten the load of the discouraged.” In my brief observations of only one year, I think this might be the principle where we are most Zion-like. I love what I have seen of the spirit of helpfulness on this campus. We see people selflessly reaching out in service in so many ways – being inclusive amidst diversity, tutoring others academically, cleaning up our community, professors sacrificing to help students beyond the classroom, home and visiting teachers fulfilling quiet needs, people giving a smile, an encouraging word, senior couples sharing their time and talents.
John Wesley, the 18th Century founder of Methodism may well have described our campus when he said,
“Do all the good you can,
By all the means you can,
In all the ways you can,
In all the places you can,
At all the times you can,
To all the people you can,
As long as you ever can.”
As President Eyring noted in the inauguration meeting, “the students you meet in the classroom or the people you meet at the PCC and the temple may not be the victims of a disaster, but they have needs you can choose to make your own. You can say, “How do you do?’ and they can feel that you really mean ‘I love you. Can I help?’” These acts of service savor of Zion.
And finally the principle of obedience. In a Zion community we obey our covenants. We turn to Jesus Christ, always remembering him and obeying his commandments. We turn to him for forgiveness when we fall short. We seek him for solace when we are downtrodden. We keep the honor code because we have promised to do so. We follow his example because we are striving to do what is right. When we walk in obedience and faith in Jesus Christ we are empowered with his light and love.
We have all felt his light and love. But because we are imperfect, like my grandchildren, we may periodically need to have a reminder lesson about being kind, helpful and obedient.
Becoming a Zion university, challenging as it will be, is a blessed goal, an opportunity for soul-transformation. President Gordon B. Hinckley said, “If we are to build that Zion of which the prophets have spoken and of which the Lord has given mighty promise, we must set aside our consuming selfishness. We must rise above our love for comfort and ease, and in the very process of effort and struggle, even in our extremity, we shall become better acquainted with our God.”
This is my plea and promise for each of us. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
President Tanner
ALOHA!
President Eyring declined to give me a charge when he called me to this position. Instead, he counseled me to get my charge from God. I remember at one point when I tried to coax him again to give some prophetic direction, he even pointed his finger heavenward and he directed me to go there for guidance.
Now I tried to do that. I prayed, we walked the campus, we talked with you, we read all I could about BYU-Hawaii, about the temple, about the PCC, about Laie. This book called “Something Wonderful”, became sort of my bible. It has many foundational talks about the University including and especially the talks by David O Mckay when the university was founded. And finally at my inauguration I sketched a vision for the university that had come to me. It was of a university that savors of Zion—a Zion university.
I was so gratified that Pres. Eyring affirmed this same vision in his inaugural remarks. He spoke about many ways that this university could and should savor of Zion.
He said that it would be difficult to establish a Zion community here and it always has been, for Zion is an inside job:
“Time and again the Lord has asked his people to establish a Zion community. As always, the greatest challenge has been in the hearts of the people.”
He said that “charity, the pure love of Christ,... will and must pervade a Zion university.”
He said that a Zion university would bridge the apparent conflict sometimes between academic excellence and charity. While “there will be different outcomes for each of us,” we will overcome “differences that are vertical” which may cause one person to feel superior to another.
President Eyring went on to say that in a Zion university “God will help us love each other so well that we will feel one another’s pains and joys as if they were our own.” And then he gave several examples of where he had tasted this savor of Zion in his experience at universities once while cleaning up flooding at Ricks College. Another time when he was here and there was flooding He said, “There was no hierarchy at that moment. Our shovels were the same.” Whether they were yelled by a president or by another person. He also glimpsed Zion while working side by side with students in research group at Stanford. He said, there “four of us had a chance to savor, for a short time, what a small pocket of Zion would feel like inside a great university.”
He reminded our students at the inauguration that “First and foremost, [a Zion university] will come because they will have the gospel of Jesus Christ planted so deeply in their hearts that their natures will be transformed by the Savior’s atoning sacrifice. I have often said that at this university we are about not just information, but transformation.” He said that, “Consecration and sacrifice will become part of their characters.”
And he also said this, I was interested he said that “All the presidents of BYU-Hawaii have known and felt this same charge.... [and] each has made a personal contribution to the university’s rising to its destiny as a Zion university.” He used that phrase a couple or three times, “a destiny as a Zion university”.
Amid all these remarks, I was really touched and gratified to hear President Eyring say finally, he finally issued the prophetic charge I had tried to coax out of him many months before. Or really rather, he ratified the charge that I felt I had received from Heaven. He said: “President Tanner, you have your charge to help the Lord build a Zion community here.”
So since this is my charge, from the Lord as ratified and confirmed by a Prophet of God. Sister Tanner and I felt that we should speak about becoming a Zion university with you today, even at the risk of repeating some of the things we said a few days ago at the ‘Ohana meeting. Because we want everybody, including you students who are hearing this for the first time, we want you all to reflect on what it means to build a Zion university and how you can contribute to this ideal.
Now it’s clearly a fact that Zion is an ideal. That idea of Zion is an ideal. It will not be fulfilled in its fullness until the Savior comes. For Latter-day Saints, Zion shines brightly on the horizon of our hopes and dreams. Not as a mirage but as a Millennial reality.
Hence in my inauguration both President Eyring and I spoke of this university savoring Zion we spoke of glimpsing Zion here. We know we’ll be imperfect but that we can approach the ideal. Just as Hugh Nibley’s books is entitled “Approaching Zion.” We know the full realization of the dream of Zion awaits the Second Coming. Nevertheless, we fervently embrace and strive to realize the dream of Zion all the same.
It is good for the soul to seek impossible dreams. I stand with Don Quixote who sings of the importance of the quest after impossible dreams in Man of La Mancha. Lofty goals lift our sights and fire our imagination.
President Kimball had quoted someone saying: “Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men’s blood.” [4]
C. S. Lewis wisely observed, “Aim at Heaven and you will get earth ‘thrown in’: aim at earth and you will get neither.” [5]
So we aim at Heaven. We shoot for the stars. Again I would like to quote President Kimball: “Ideals are like stars; you will not succeed in touching them with your hands. But like the seafaring man in the deserts of waters, you choose them as your guides, and following them you reach your destination.” [6]
Zion is such an ideal; it is our guiding star. Zion has served as an inspiring dream and fond ideal for Latter-day Saints from the earliest days of the Restoration. It is the theme of countless hymns by famous nineteenth-century LDS hymnists — such as W. W. Phelps, Parley P. Pratt, Eliza R. Snow, and Charles Penrose. “Glorious things of thee are spoken, Zion city of our God!” exults W. W. Phelps in one of several hymns he wrote about Zion. And Latter-day Saint still today fondly sing the refrain, “Zion, Zion, lovely Zion; Beautiful Zion; Zion, city of our God!”
Now as I have thought about this topic and the origins of this place and its unique connection to the land. I have come to feel that our branch of Zion U, being located in Laie, has a Hawaiian flavor. Zion here savors of Hawaii. For me, several important Hawaiian words are redolent with the sweet aroma of Zion. They ought to infuse the flavor of Zion here.
1. Aloha: First and foremost is “aloha.” This is a very rich word, with layers of meaning. It is much more than a touristy way of saying hello and goodbye. It connotes so much more. Above all, aloha connotes love. Aloha connotes charity—the pure love of Christ. This is the deep source of aloha.
We rightly speak also of the spirit of aloha, because aloha incorporates many values into a real but intangible spirit that comes when people live together in harmony and love—just as happens in Zion. There is a spirit of aloha and aloha has to do with the Spirit. People often talk to me about the special spirit that is here at BYU-Hawaii and at the PCC and Laie. We tell tourists that it is the spirit of aloha. But we know that at a deeper level it comes because of covenant keeping Latter-day Saints who have the Holy Spirit.
As you can see the idea of aloha overlaps with the idea of Zion. Zion, too, has a special feeling, a tone that may be intangible but is very real. There is and must always be a special spirit here at BYU-Hawaii. May you feel this spirit here; may you taste it, relish it, and may you add to the sweet savor of Zion.
And then when you leave this place may you cherish in your heart this experience of savoring Zion and an appetite for Zion wherever you roam. I envision our students taking the sweet savor of Zion, the spirit of aloha, the pure love of Christ—with them around the world. I imagine you building up little outposts of Zion in your homes, congregations, communities, and countries. There will be little branch campuses of BYU-Hawaii, little Laie’s as it were sprinkled across the world. These will bring aloha, light, love, and peace to bless and brighten a dark and tumultuous world.
In this way you will fulfill the famous prophecy of David O. McKay: “You mark my words, and from this school, I’ll tell you, will go men and women whose influence will be felt for good toward the establishment of peace internationally.”
2. Pono: Another important word in the lexicon of Hawaiian Zion is “pono,” meaning roughly righteousness. This word is inscribed in the Hawaiian State Motto:
Ua Mau Ke Ea O Ka Aina I Ka Pono
The life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness.
“Pono” must be inscribed in the hearts of a Zion people: for Zion is the pure in heart. [7] Without people with pono, there can be no Zion.
From its founding, David O. McKay insisted that the branch of Zion U to be built here must concern itself with character development. “Character is higher than intellect,” he said. This school’s purpose was to produce men and women of noble character. He called them “genuine gold.”
Another way to think about this mission part of our mission as a Zion University is to prepare our students with pono — righteousness, virtue, goodness. How this world need graduates with pono, more than skills and smarts, it needs honor, integrity, virtue, righteousness — pono. You degree, which bears this university’s name, tells the world that you can be counted on to perpetuate the life of the land in righteousness, for you are an alumni of the Hawaiian branch campus of Zion U.
3. ‘Ohana: Another critical concept from our founding and for the idea of Zion is ‘ohana. It means family. I hope that you have heard it many time and have felt it. We have.
This university will savor of Zion to the degree that we cultivate a family feeling, knowing that in the gospel we are all truly, in very fact, brothers and sisters. In eternity, all our titles and positions and honors of men will fade into insignificance. What will be left is our relationship as brothers and sisters. And what our Father in Heaven will care about is if we treated each other as brothers and sisters.
This family relationship is also part of a Zion ideal. In Zion all are treated equally. There are no “ites”. All are equally loved and important.
This gospel doctrine of the Fatherhood of God and its concomitant doctrine of the brotherhood of man, were vital to the vision of first Apostle McKay and then President McKay when he envisioned and established a school in Zion here. This was a place where all nations and races could live in love and harmony as equals united in brotherhood. The vision of this happening at the flag-raising ceremony made Apostle McKay weep.
He wrote in his diary in February 1921:
“As I looked at that motley group of youngsters... my bosom swelled with emotion and tears came to my eyes.... The Church of Christ will truly make of all nations one blood. May God hasten the day when this is accomplished.”
May you feel and may you cultivate the spirit of ‘ohana here. You are surrounded by your brothers and sisters; your aunties and uncles. Learn to love people of all colors and diverse backgrounds here. This savors of Zion.
4. Kuleana: Another important Hawaiian Zion word is “kuleana.” It means “stewardship.” It carries the notion of both rights and responsibilities, as does the LDS concept of stewardship. Remember from the Doctrine and Covenants how important the idea of stewardship is for Zion communities. Everyone was formally assigned a stewardship in the United Order. Each person was to care for and develop their stewardship—including the land or business they were assigned, or their particular talents. They were to be used for the good of the whole community.
In ways we don’t have time to develop, something similar happened in Hawaiian history. Families received a kuleana.
You, too, are called to learn your duty for your stewardship and act faithfully in it. If you are a student, you have a kuleana to yourself and the whole class to prepare and share, as our learning model outlines. If you are a faculty, you too have a kuleana, as do staff—whether you take care of grounds or admissions. In a Zion U, we all have our kuleanas. God expects us to magnify these responsibilities.
5. Malama ka ‘aina : Another similar Hawaiian Zion phrase is “malama ka ‘aina.” It means respect and love for the land. Zion a sacred place. A beautiful place. The Lord invited his saints to tend and take good care of their Zion homes.
At this island branch campus of Zion U, we are to do the same. Again, President McKay emphasized this when he founded the university. He said that our buildings should “radiate light.” He encouraged the community to keep its yards clean and to keep the streets clean. He wanted this community to reflect Zion community in its visible appearance and he wanted us to be good stewards.
6. Pu'uhonua: Another very important Zion Hawaiian word is “pu’uhonua.” It means place or hill of refuge. It refers to the ancient Hawaiian practice of designating some sacred places as sanctuaries, where one could find protection and sanctuary from enemies. These pu’uhonuas were also places of forgiveness and spiritual transformation.
Laie was anciently such a place—a place of refuge. This ancient may have led the Saints to seek Laie out as a gathering place. It certainly is consonant with the location of a temple here—the Lord’s sanctuary, house on a hill of peace and spiritual enlightenment and renewal newness of life.
As a Zion University, BYU-Hawaii can become a place of refuge, of gathering out of the world, of renewal, sanctuary, and refuge. A place which prepares you to go back into the world better people.
I pray that it will be so for you. That you will be renewed here. That you will be safe among us. It grieves me to hear when anyone is victim of aggression or unkindness. Here all should be safe in Zion. We all have a responsibility to make this an LDS pu’uhonua.
7. Hukilau: Zion is a place where everyone pulls together. All things are held in common. All work for the good of all, in a spirit of consecration.
The concept of “hukilau” captures this aspect of Zion for me. The tradition of hukilau was invented here, right out on hukilau beach. Pulling nets together was a way to feed the community. Like Zion, this is a place where LDS have long pulled together—in the sugar plantation first, and in the hukilau. The community had hukilaus to raise money to rebuild the chapel.
May we become a Zion community; may we live the principles of Zion here. So that this place, although it won’t be perfect, should savor of Zion. Where we can glimpse these great ideas. Where we can come together in a desire to create something wonderful, something magnificent, something that savors and tastes of Zion.
In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
[1]D&C 97:3
[2]Moses 7:18
[3]4 Nephi 1:15
[4]Daniel H. Burnham, quoted by Spencer W. Kimball
[5]Mere Christianity 134
[6]Carl Schurz, quoted by Spencer W. Kimball
[7]D&C 97:21
[8]President Eyring, Inauguration of President Tanner