Sacrament meeting is the most sacred, the
most holy, of all the meetings of the Church. When I reflect upon the gathering
of the Savior and his apostles on that memorable night when he introduced the
sacrament; when I think of that solemn occasion my heart is filled with
wonderment and my feelings are touched.
The partaking of these emblems [the bread and water]
constitutes one of the most holy and sacred ordinances in the Church, an
ordinance which has replaced the slaying and eating of the paschal lamb which
[symbolized] the sacrifice upon the cross of our Redeemer. … We have been commanded to meet often, not
merely once each year, and go to the house of prayer and there remember our
Redeemer and make covenant with Him in partaking oft of this holy ordinance.
I wish we could get the members of the Church to understand
more clearly the covenants they make when they partake of the sacrament at our
sacrament meetings.
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.
(Lesson given by Sister Cara Sullenger and taken from Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Fielding Smith, Chapter 6.)
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