Since the early days of the Restoration, Latter-day
Saints have met together to receive gospel instruction.
While reviewing and editing the manuscript of the
translation of the Bible on Dec. 6, 832, the Prophet Joseph Smith received a
revelation instructing “the first laborers in the last kingdom” so “assemble
yourselves together and organize yourselves and prepare yourselves and sanctify
yourselves” (D & C 88:74).
Further, the Lord commanded the early Saints to “teach
one another the doctrine of the kingdom.”
He said. “Teach ye diligently and my grace shall attend you, that you
may be instructed more perfectly in theory, in principles, in doctrine, in the
law of the gospel, in all things that pertain unto the kingdom of God, that are
expedient for you to understand” (D & C 88:77-78).
While there are many opportunities in the modern Church
for gospel teaching and learning, one of the most important is sacrament
meeting. The places where we
receive gospel instruction should be places of prayer, fasting, faith, order,
righteousness and reverence.
President Boyd K. Packer said that when Latter-day Saints
meet together to learn the doctrines of the gospel, it should be in a spirit of
reverence.
“Irreverence suits the purposes of the adversary by
obstructing the delicate channels of revelation in both mind and spirit,”
President Packer said during his October 1991 general conference address. “Our sacrament and other meetings need
renewed attention to assure that they are truly worship services in which
members may be spiritually nourished and have their testimonies replenished and
in which investigators may feel the inspiration essential to spiritual
conversion…
“Irreverent conduct in our chapels is worthy of a
reminder, if not reproof. Leaders
should teach that reverence invites revelation.”
Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve said in
his October 2009 general conference address that the ordinance of the sacrament
makes the sacrament meeting the most sacred and important meeting in the
Church. He noted that it is the
only Sabbath meeting the entire family can attend together.
“During sacrament meeting—and especially
During the
sacrament service—we should concentrate on worship and refrain from all other
activities, expecially 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 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.”
As a missionary in London, President Gordon B. Hinckley
attended meetings in the Battersea town hall, which the Church rented. “The floors were hard, and we sat on
chairs. Every time a chair moved
there was a noise. But this was
not the worst aspect of the situation.
Far worse was the noisy socializing of the members of the branch,” he recalled
during an April 1987 general conference address.
On one occasion the missionaries invited a family whom
they had met while tracting. With
great expectation, they stood by the door to welcome them. “There was the usual convivial spirit
in the hall, with the members talking noisily one with another. When this family came into the room,
they quietly moved toward some chairs, knelt for a moment, and closed their
eyes in a word of prayer. They
then sat in an attitude of reverence amidst all the commotion.
“Frankly, I was embarrassed. They had come to what they regarded as a worship service,
and they behaved themselves accordingly.”
“At the close of the meeting they left quietly, and when
we next met they spoke of their disappointment in what they had
experienced. I have never
forgotten that.”
President Hinckley asked, “Why do we go to sacrament
meeting?
“We go, of course, to renew our covenants in partaking of the sacrament. This is the most important element of these meetings. As we also go to be instructed, to
meditate upon the things of God, and to worship the Lord in spirit and in
truth. We go because of the
commandment of the Lord…
“We need, every one of us needs, to pause from the hectic
pace of our lives and to reflect upon things sacred and divine.”
Meetinghouses are dedicated to the Lord. While in them, we partake of the
sacrament and pray for the Lord’s Spirit to be with us. We listen to prelude music and speakers,
sing the hymns and say “amen” at the close of prayers. Great blessings accompany reverence.
During the prayer offered at the dedication of the
Kirtland Temple, found in D & C 109:21, Joseph prayed to the Father that
when any of the Saints transgress, “they may speedily repent and return unto
three, and find favor in thy sight, and be restored to the blessings which thou
hast ordained to be poured out upon those who shall reverence thee in thy
house.”
President Joseph Fielding Smith called reverence a sacred
principle. “It is a principle of
the gospel. We show reverence to
our Father in Heaven, to the Lord Jesus Christ. We would not be boisterous in his presence. If he happened to be in this meeting, I
am sure we would all go in quietly and take our places. Why cannot we think, when we enter the
place of worship, that he is
there?” (Joseph Fielding Smith, Seek Ye
Earnestly, [SLC” Desert Book Co., 1970] p. 117).
Church News Week of June 23, 2013
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