Showing posts with label holiness. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Making our Sacrament more Christ-Centred 3/3

What We Can Do to Prepare for the Sacrament

Some of the items and suggestions in this list came out of our discussion in our Relief Society Meeting last Sunday. You are welcome to add to these ideas on our Facebook page, to encourage others to make our Sacrament more Christ-Centred.

Remember the sacredness and holiness of the Sacrament.
Put ourselves into the correct attitude before coming to church.
"The Chapel Doors seem to say to me, "Shh, be still." For this is a reverent place to be, "Shh, be still."
The Chapel is a Sacred Space. Keep conversation and business outside in the foyer. (By all means, be welcome to fellowship and greet one another while in the foyer. We are genuinely happy to see each other.) Once you enter the Chapel, recognise that you are now entering a sacred space. Now is time for reflection and meditation on spiritual things. (The prelude music can help.)
Participate in the elements of the Sacrament Meeting. Listen to the invocation and respond with 'Amen'. Sing the hymns and understand their meaning. During the Sacrament service itself, meditate upon Jesus Christ's atonement and what it means to you. Truly listen to the Sacrament prayers and understand the covenants you renew.
Meditation hint: Pick a focus and dwell on that.
- Think about Christ in Gethsemane. What thoughts went through his head during that time?
- Think about Christ's hands. What did they accomplish?
- Think about how Christ treated others. How can we emulate his example?
- Think of Christ's miracles. What did he do?
Educate your children. The Sacrament is for the whole family. Teach them to sing hymns, teach them to meditate and give them appropriate focal points during the Sacrament so they, too, can understand what the Sacrament means.
"Being quiet" is not necessarily reverence, and reverence isn't necessarily being quiet. It is better to whisper spiritual things in children's ears than to insist upon complete silence.
Do they know that they should be thinking about Jesus Christ at this time? It is your job to teach this. Children are less likely to misbehave when they are focused on something. Bored children will find things to keep themselves occupied.
A board book or quiet book about the Sacrament or Jesus Christ can help children focus their thoughts.
Please don't let children play with the Sacrament cups. Not only are they noisy, but these are the vessels of a sacred token and are not toys.
Freely offer and accept assistance from other adults to help with unsettled children.
Find a way to discover joy through the Sacrament.

Please join us for Part 1, which summarises the importance of the Sacrament, and Part 2, which asks several questions regarding our attitude. Your comments, sisters, on our Facebook page are welcome.

Want to read more about the Sacrament?

Family Guidebook: Priesthood Ordinances and Blessings
This Do in Rememberance of Me(Ensign, Oct 1995)
As Now We Take the Sacrament(Ensign, Apr 2006)
Worshiping at Sacrament Meeting (Ensign, Aug 2004)
Sacrament Meetings and the Sacrament(Ensign, Oct 2008)

Making our Sacrament more Christ-Centred 2/3

Our Attitude When Partaking of the Sacrament

Part 2 of 3

1. Before partaking of the sacrament, we are to prepare ourselves spiritually.

"During the sacrament service we should dismiss from our minds all worldly thoughts. We should feel prayerful and reverent. We should think of the Atonement of our Savior and be grateful for it. We should examine our lives and look for ways to improve. We should also renew our determination to keep the commandments." (Gospel Principles, Ch 23: The Sacrament)

Question: What should be going through our minds during the Sacrament time?

2. Elder Russell M. Nelson said, "Those participating [in a Sacrament Meeting] should be seated at least five minutes before the meeting begins so they can be spiritually prepared for a worshipful experience. 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)

Question: How can I prepare spiritually at the beginning of Sacrament Meeting?

3. Elder L Tom Perry said, "The sacrament is one of the most sacred ordinances in the Church. Partaking of the sacrament worthily gives us an opportunity for spiritual growth.

"I remember that when I was a child, beautiful music was played during the passing of the sacrament. The Brethren soon asked us to stop that practice because our minds were centered on the music rather than on the atoning sacrifice of our Lord and Savior. During the administration of the sacrament, we set aside the world. It is a period of spiritual renewal as we recognize the deep spiritual significance of the ordinance offered to each of us personally. If we were to become casual in partaking of the sacrament, we would lose the opportunity for spiritual growth." ("As Now we Take the Sacrament" Ensign, Apr 2006)

Question: What can you do to centre your mind on the Sacrament?

4. Elder Russell M Nelson said, "Each member of the Church bears responsibility for the spiritual enrichment that can come from a sacrament meeting.... We personally ponder the Atonement of Jesus Christ. We reflect upon the significance of His suffering at Gethsemane and His Crucifixion on Calvary. At this time, each of us is to “examine himself” (1 Cor. 11:28) and reflect upon personal covenants made with the Lord. At this time, we meditate upon the sacred things of God." ("Worshiping at Sacrament Meeting" Ensign, Aug 2004)

Presiden David O. McKay said, "I believe the short period of administering the sacrament is one of the best opportunities we have for . . . meditation, and there should be nothing during that sacred period to distract our attention from the purpose of that ordinance. . . . We [must] surround this sacred ordinance with more reverence, with perfect order, that each one who comes to the house of God may meditate upon his goodness and silently and prayerfully express appreciation for God's goodness. Let the sacrament hour be one experience of the day in which the worshiper tries at least to realize within himself that it is possible for him to commune with his God" (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: David O. McKay, p. 35-36).

Question: How do I meditate upon the sacred things of God during the Sacrament?

5. Elder Dallin H Oaks said, "During sacrament meeting—and especially during the sacrament service—we should concentrate on worship and refrain from all other activities, especially from behavior that could interfere with the worship of others.... Sacrament meeting is not a time for reading books or magazines. Young people, it is not a time for whispered conversations on [mobile] 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." ("Sacrament Meeting and the Sacrament" Ensign, October 2008)

Question: How can I help my youth and children to focus on things of Christ during the Sacrament service?

6. Jeffrey R Holland recommends, "The administration and passing of the sacrament is preceded by a hymn which all of us should sing. It doesn’t matter what kind of musical voice we have. Sacramental hymns are more like prayers anyway—and everyone can give voice to a prayer!

"It is an important element of our worship to unite in such lyrical and moving expressions of gratitude.

"In the simple and beautiful language of the sacramental prayers [our] young priests offer, the principal word we hear seems to be remember.

"If remembering is the principal task before us, what might come to our memory when those plain and precious emblems are offered to us?" ("This Do in Remembrance of Me" Ensign, Oct 1995)

Question: How can we better invoke our memory and remember?

Please join us for Part 1, which summarises the importance of the Sacrament, and Part 3, which contains a summary and further ideas, as developed during the Relief Society meeting the previous Sunday. Your comments, sisters, on our Facebook page are welcome.

Making our Sacrament more Christ-Centred 1/3

Making our Sacrament more Christ-Centred

Part 1 of 3

Good Morning sisters. What follows in the next few posts is the text from our Relief Society Inspired Message of December 2012. We started our lesson on Sunday, but it is still ongoing, as we are taking the things we've learned here and are applying it to our Sacrament Meetings for the month of December and beyond. Please join us on our Facebook page for further discussions and brainstormings about what we can do to make our Sacrament more Christ-Centred.

"The sacrament is a very sacred ordinance. Partaking of the sacrament provides opportunity to remember the life, teachings, and Atonement of Jesus Christ. It is a time to renew the covenants made with the Lord at the time of baptism (see Mosiah 18:8–10)." (Family Guidebook, (2006), 18–25)

Elder Jeffrey R Holland said, "...every ordinance of the gospel focuses in one way or another on the atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ... surely that is why [the Sacrament] with all its symbolism and imagery comes to us more readily and more repeatedly than any other in our life. It comes in what has been called [by President Joseph Fielding Smith], “the most sacred, the most holy, of all the meetings of the Church” (Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, comp. Bruce R. McConkie, 3 vols., Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1954–56, 2:340).

"Perhaps we do not always attach that kind of meaning to our weekly sacramental service. How “sacred” and how “holy” is it? Do we see it as our passover, remembrance of our safety and deliverance and redemption?

"With so very much at stake, this ordinance commemorating our escape from the angel of darkness should be taken more seriously than it sometimes is. It should be a powerful, reverent, reflective moment. It should encourage spiritual feelings and impressions." ("This Do in Remembrance of Me" Ensign, Oct 1995)

L Tom Perry stated, "Partaking of the sacrament provides us with a sacred moment in a holy place." ("As Now we Take the Sacrament" Ensign, Apr 2006)

Are we treating the Sacrament as a sacred moment in a holy place? I do not think we are. This needs to change.

Significance of the Ordinance

“And that thou mayest more fully keep thyself unspotted from the world, thou shalt go to the house of prayer and offer up thy sacraments upon my holy day;

“For verily this is a day appointed unto you to rest from your labors, and to pay thy devotions unto the Most High” (D&C 59:9–10)

Elder Russell M Nelson said: "[Christ] instituted the sacrament to remind us of His Atonement. As a final and specially prepared Passover supper was ending, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to His Apostles, saying, “Take, eat” (Matt. 26:26). “This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me” (Luke 22:19). Then He took the cup, said a blessing of thanks, and passed it to those gathered about Him, saying, “This cup is the new testament in my blood” (Luke 22:20), “which is shed … for the remission of sins” (Matt. 26:28). “This do … in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do [proclaim] the Lord’s death” (1 Cor. 11:25–26). "

"We commemorate His Atonement in a very personal way. We bring a broken heart and a contrite spirit to our sacrament meeting. It is the highlight of our Sabbath-day observance (see D&C 59:8–13)." ("Worshiping at Sacrament Meeting" Ensign, Aug 2004)

The Covenants We Renew during the Sacrament

We covenant that we are willing to take upon ourselves the name of Jesus Christ. By this we show we are willing to be identified with Him and His Church. We commit to serve Him and our fellowman. We promise that we will not bring shame or reproach upon that name.

We covenant to always remember Jesus Christ. All our thoughts, feelings, and actions will be influenced by Him and His mission.

We promise to keep His commandments.

We take these obligations upon ourselves when we are baptized (see D&C 20:37; Mosiah 18:6–10). Thus, when we partake of the sacrament, we renew those baptismal covenants.

Question: When we are partaking the Sacrament, what are we doing in that moment to be more Christ-Centred?

Please join us for Part 2, which asks several questions regarding our attitude, and Part 3, which contains a summary and further ideas, as developed during the Relief Society meeting the previous Sunday. Your comments, sisters, on our Facebook page are welcome.