Saturday Morning Common Sense 5 --- Zion Came Sneaking In
Saturday Morning Common Sense
Zion Came Sneaking In
We were waiting for a program. It came through the side door carrying a casserole.
A Little Common Sense for Latter-day Saints
Listen to the NEW Song: Zion Came Sneaking In
We had been looking for Zion in all the respectable places.
We looked for it in the handbook.
We checked the calendar.
We formed a committee and reserved the cultural hall.
We were fairly certain Zion would arrive with an announcement, a new program, and perhaps a sign-up sheet in the foyer.
But while we were discussing it, Zion came sneaking in through the side door.
It looked remarkably like Sister Jensen carrying a casserole to a widow who had not felt like cooking.
It looked like a teenager quietly dragging a neighbor’s garbage cans back from the street.
It looked like a brother making the telephone call he had postponed for six months and finally saying:
“I was wrong. Will you forgive me?”
It looked like someone sitting beside Brother Jones and asking:
“How are you really doing?”
Then staying long enough to hear the answer.
Nobody called these things a Zion initiative.
There were no matching shirts.
Nobody took attendance.
And somehow the Lord managed to recognize them anyway.
The scriptures do not describe Zion as the people with the finest organizational chart.
They describe a people who were “of one heart and one mind,” who lived in righteousness, with “no poor among them.” (Moses 7:18)
Alma’s people were willing to bear one another’s burdens, mourn with those who mourn, and comfort those who needed comfort. (Mosiah 18:8–9)
Among the people of Christ, contention disappeared “because of the love of God which did dwell in the hearts of the people.” (4 Nephi 1:15)
There is nothing wrong with meetings, calendars, or programs.
Sometimes love needs organization.
But organization cannot love anybody.
A calendar cannot notice a lonely person.
A committee cannot repent for me.
A program cannot knock on my neighbor’s door.
Only people can do that.
Maybe Zion will someday arrive in great power and fill the whole earth.
I believe it will.
But until then, perhaps little pieces of Zion keep appearing wherever ordinary people stop waiting to be assigned and begin loving the person directly in front of them.
So keep an eye on the side door.
Zion may not arrive carrying a banner.
It may come carrying groceries.
It may bring a covered dish.
It may sit quietly beside someone who hurts.
It may simply say:
“You do not have to stand alone anymore.”
We were waiting for Zion to be announced.
But Zion came sneaking in.
It looked like love.
And we nearly missed it.
Scriptures Behind This Message
Moses 7:18 — Zion is a people of one heart and one mind, living in righteousness, with no poor among them.
Mosiah 18:8–9 — Covenant people bear burdens, mourn together, and comfort one another.
4 Nephi 1:15–17 — Contention and division disappeared because God’s love lived in the people’s hearts.
Luke 17:20–21 — God’s kingdom does not come merely through outward observation; it is already among us.
Doctrine and Covenants 105:5 — Zion must be built according to the principles of celestial law.
Zion may begin with something small enough to do before supper.
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