By participating weekly and appropriately in the sacrament we qualify ourselves for the promise that we will always have His Spirit to be with us.
Some in the rising generation, and even some adults, have not come to understand the significance of sacrament meeting and the importance of personal reverence.
Our manner of dress indicates out level of understanding of the ordinance in which we will participate.
Those who try to walk the straight and narrow path see inviting detours on every hand. We can be distracted, degraded, downhearted, or depressed. How can we have the Spirit of the Lord to guide our choices and keep us on the path? – By reverent weekly participation in the ordinance of the Sacrament.
Typically the sacrament is administered, passed, and received by the members in an atmosphere of quiet reverence. The conducting of the meeting, including the necessary business, is brief and dignified, and the talks are spiritual in content and delivery. The music is appropriate, and so are the prayers. This is the standard, and it represents great progress since the experiences of my youth.
I sense that some in the rising generation and even some adults have not yet come to understand the significance of this meeting and the importance of individual reverence and worship in it.
The things I feel impressed to teach here are addressed to those who are not yet understanding and practicing these important principles and not yet enjoying the promised spiritual blessings of always having His guiding Spirit to be with them.
We are seated well before the meeting begins. “During that quiet interval, prelude music is subdued. This is not a time for conversation or transmission of messages but a period of prayerful meditation as leaders and members prepare spiritually for the sacrament” (“Worshiping at Sacrament Meeting,” Ensign, Aug. 2004, 27).
With the Sacrament, as with going to the temple, our manner of dress indicates the degree to which we understand and honor the ordinance in which we will participate.
During sacrament meeting we should concentrate on worship and refrain from all other activities, especially from behavior that could interfere with the worship of others. Even a person who slips into quiet slumber does not interfere with others. Sacrament meeting is not a time for reading books or magazines. Young people, it is not a time for whispered conversations on cell phones or for texting persons at other locations. When we partake of the sacrament, we make a sacred covenant that we will always remember the Savior. How sad to see persons obviously violating that covenant in the very meeting where they are making it.
How wonderful when every person in attendance joins in the worship of singing – especially in the hymn that helps us prepare to partake of the sacrament. All sacrament meeting music requires careful planning, always remembering that this music is for worship, not for performance.
President Joseph Fielding Smith taught: “This is an occasion when the gospel should be presented, when we should be called upon to exercise faith, and to reflect on the mission of our Redeemer, and to spend time in the consideration of the saving principles of the gospel.” (Doctrines of Salvation, 2:342).
When we join in the solemnity that should always accompany the ordinance of the sacrament and the worship of this meeting – we are qualified for the companionship and revelation of the Spirit. This is the way we get direction for our lives and peace along the way.
The sacrament is the ordinance that replaced the blood sacrifices and burnt offerings of the Mosaic law, and with it came the Savior’s promise: “And whoso cometh unto me with a broken heart and a contrite spirit, him will I baptize with fire and with the Holy Ghost” (3 Nephi 9:20).
- All who officiate in this sacred ordinance stand on sacred ground.
In administering discipline to Church members who have committed serious sins, a bishop can temporarily withdraw the privilege of partaking of the sacrament. That same authority is surely available to withdraw the privilege of officiating in that sacred ordinance.
What I said earlier about the importance of appropriate dress for those who receive the ordinance of the sacrament obviously applies with special force to the young men of the Aaronic Priesthood who officiate in any part of that sacred ordinance. All should be well-groomed and modestly dressed. There should be nothing about their personal appearance or actions that would call special attention to themselves or distract anyone present from full attention to the worship and covenant making that are the purpose of this sacred service.
Elder Jeffrey R. Holland gave a valuable teaching on this subject in general conference 13 years ago. Since most of our current deacons were not even born when these words were last spoken here, I repeat them for their benefit and that of their parents and teachers: “May I suggest that wherever possible a white shirt be worn by the deacons, teachers, and priests who handle the sacrament. For sacred ordinances in the Church we often use ceremonial clothing, and a white shirt could be seen as a gentle reminder of the white clothing you wore in the baptismal font and an anticipation of the white shirt you will soon wear into the temple and onto your missions” (“This Do in Remembrance of Me,” Ensign, Nov. 1995, 68).
Finally, the sacrament is administered only when authorized by the one holding the keys to this priesthood ordinance. This is why the sacrament is not generally served in the home or at family reunions, even where there are sufficient priesthood holders available.
We need to qualify for the cleansing power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. We do this by keeping His commandment to come to Him with a broken heart and a contrite spirit and in that wonderful weekly meeting partake of the emblems of the sacrament and make the covenants that qualify us for the precious promise that we will always have His Spirit to be with us (see D&C 20:77).
Instruction:
- During the interval after we arrive and before the meeting begins, while prelude music should be setting the atmosphere, is not a time for conversation or transmission of messages but a period of prayerful meditation in preparation to partake of the Sacrament.
- Sacrament meeting is not a time for reading books or magazines.
- Every person in attendance should join in the worship of singing – especially in the hymn that helps us prepare to partake of the sacrament.
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