Sacrament Attendance - January 19, 2014

Have you ever woken up on Sunday and debated whether or not to go to Church? Have you ever thought about why Satan is working so hard to keep you from attending Sacrament? What do you think about while the Sacrament is being passed? What does the Sacrament mean to you? These questions may be some of several you’ve often asked yourself.

Growing up, one member’s behavior stood out to me during the passing of the Sacrament. This person kept their arms folded the entire time with their head bowed in a state of reverence seemingly pondering the Savior and his sacrifice or reflecting on their sins and gratitude for the Atonement. This is how I modeled my behavior during the passing of the Sacrament or at least until I had kids. Now I try to maintain my reverence along with teaching my kids to be reverent and reflect on the Savior.

Let’s highlight some content from the teachings of Joseph Fielding Smith: Chapter 6: The Significance of the Sacrament. Click here to read the complete chapter

 “We have been called upon to commemorate this great event [the Atonement of Jesus Christ] and to keep it in mind constantly. For this purpose we are called together once each week to partake of these emblems, witnessing that we do remember our Lord, that we are willing to take upon us his name and that we will keep his commandments. This covenant we are called upon to renew each week, and we cannot retain the Spirit of the Lord if we do not consistently comply with this commandment. If we love the Lord we will be present at these meetings in the spirit of worship and prayer, remembering the Lord and the covenant we are to renew each week through this sacrament as he has required it of us…It is our duty to carefully and thoughtfully consider the nature of [the sacrament] prayers when we hear them offered in our meetings. There are four very important things we covenant to do each time we partake of these emblems, and in partaking, there is the token that we subscribe fully to the obligations, and thus they become binding upon us. These are as follows:

1. We eat in remembrance of the body of Jesus Christ, promising that we will always remember His wounded body slain upon the cross.

2. We drink in remembrance of the blood which was shed for the sins of the world, which atoned for the transgression of Adam, and which frees us from our own sins on condition of our true repentance.

3. We covenant that we will be willing to take upon us the name of the Son and always remember Him. In keeping this covenant we promise that we will be called by His name and never do anything that would bring shame or reproach upon that name.

4. We covenant that we will keep His commandments which He has given us; not one commandment, but that we will be willing to “live by every word that proceedeth forth from the mouth of God.” [D&C 84:44.]

 If we will do these things then we are promised the continual guidance of the Holy Ghost, and if we will not do these things we will not have that guidance.”