It shouldn’t be hard to sit very still
And think about Jesus, His cross on the hill
It shouldn’t be hard, even though I am small
To think about Jesus
Not hard at all
But behold I say unto you, by small and simple things are
great things brought to pass (Alma 37: 6)
The first stanza is a song I recently taught the littles in
nursery. We were having a lesson on the
sacrament. The song was the suggested song to help the little ones know what to
focus on when the bread and water are being passed around.
The scripture is not one that is usually associated with the
sacrament, but it is the scripture that came to my mind as I was reflecting on
the song that I had helped the littles learn. Thinking of Jesus shouldn’t be
hard…in essence it should be simple. The sacrament prayers are simple in
language. The time the sacrament takes to administer is a small amount of time
in the scheme of our Sabbath worship, and certainly in the time that comprises our
week. Yet, there is so much greatness packed into that simple ordinance. Matter
of fact, our salvation lies in our participation in that ordinance. Jesus
taught, “And no unclean thing can enter in his kingdom; therefore nothing
entereth into his rest save those who have washed their garments in my blood (3
Nephi 27:19).
Elder Jeffrey Holland has stated: “One of the invitations
inherent in the sacramental ordinance is that it be a truly spiritual
experience, a holy communion, a renewal for the soul.
That is some heavy stuff for such a simple prayer and
ordinance. How do we unpack that prayer to get the most from our worship during
the administration of the sacrament?
Honestly, I’m pretty sure it is a process and there are
times in life when we get more out of sacrament than other times. I am also
confident that there will be times that we will gain a different perspective of
the sacrament, Christ’s atonement and how it applies to us.
I had a recent experience with this, gaining a new
perspective on Christ’s sacrifice and atonement, as I listened to one of the
young men in our ward bless the sacrament for the first time. With his
permission, I share this experience with you. This young man has some physical
limitations that make him a bit self-conscious at times. His mother had shared
that because of those limitations, he wasn’t sure about participating in the
blessing of the sacrament. Eventually, he did decide to not only participate in
the ordinance by being on the stand, but by blessing the bread. As he prayed
over the bread, the Spirit filled my heart bearing witness that this was a
poignant example of Christ’s atonement. Christ allowed his body to be bruised,
broken, torn for us so that after our death our bodies can be restored. Elder
James J Hamula taught in the October 2014 General Conference:
With torn and broken bread, we signify that we remember the
physical body of Jesus Christ—a body that was buffeted with pains, afflictions,
and temptations of every kind,19 a body that bore a burden of anguish sufficient to bleed at
every pore,20 a body whose flesh was torn and whose heart was broken in
crucifixion.21 We signify our belief that while that same body was laid to
rest in death, it was raised again to life from the grave, never again to know
disease, decay, or death.22 And in taking the bread to ourselves, we acknowledge that,
like Christ’s mortal body, our bodies will be released from the bonds of death,
rise triumphantly from the grave, and be restored to our eternal spirits.23
I cried as I listened to Jason bless the bread and as the
Spirit filled my soul and granted me a deeper understanding of the words in
that simple prayer.
The bread isn’t the only symbol of Christ’s sacrifice of
which we partake. We also drink the water in remembrance of the blood that He
shed for us. The shedding of His innocent blood is what satisfied the demands
of justice placed on us. Elder Hamula taught this about the water:
With a small cup of water, we signify that we remember the blood
Jesus spilled and the spiritual suffering He endured for all mankind. In taking
the water to ourselves, we acknowledge that His blood and suffering atoned for
our sins and that He will remit our sins as we embrace and accept the
principles and ordinances of His gospel.
So as we choose to freely participate in eating the bread
and water, we are committing to:
1.
Exercise faith in Christ
2.
Believe His words
3.
Follow His commandments
4.
Be his disciple, which means to stand as a
witness for Him
Those simple acts can be challenging. Christ understands
that perfectly so He has made us a great promise within those simple prayers.
He promises that as we seek for Him and try to do our best to follow His will,
His spirit will be with us. His spirit provides us strength, beyond what we
could do ourselves. Consider this short example shared by Elder Terance M
Vinson in October 2013 General Conference:
A young boy
was trying to smooth out the dirt area behind his house so he could play there
with his cars. There was a large rock obstructing his work. The boy pushed and
pulled with all his might, but no matter how hard he tried, the rock wouldn’t
budge.His father watched for a while, then came to his son and said, “You need to use all your strength to move a rock this large.”
The boy responded, “I have used all my strength!”
His father corrected him: “No you haven’t. You haven’t had my help yet!”
They then bent down together and moved the rock easily
When we rely on Christ to help us, we are able to do things
beyond what we thought humanly possible. In the October 2013 General Conference
Elder Timothy Dyches shared a story about Corrie ten Boom, a Christian woman
who had been interned in Ravensbruk during WWII. After the war, Corrie
participated in many public speaking engagements to share her experiences and
also talk about the power of forgiveness. At one public appearance, one of her
former captors approached her to ask her forgiveness. Here are her words:
“‘How
grateful I am for your message, Fraulein,’ he said. ‘To think that, as
you say, He has washed my sins away!’
“His hand
was thrust out to shake mine,” Corrie recalled. “And I, who had preached so
often … the need to forgive, kept my hand at my side.“Even as the angry, vengeful thoughts boiled through me, I saw the sin of them. … Lord Jesus, I prayed, forgive me and help me to forgive him.
“I tried to
smile, [and] I struggled to raise my hand. I could not. I felt nothing, not the
slightest spark of warmth or charity. And so again I breathed a silent prayer.
Jesus, I cannot forgive him. Give me Your forgiveness.
“As I took
his hand the most incredible thing happened. From my shoulder along my arm and
through my hand a current seemed to pass from me to him, while into my heart
sprang a love for this stranger that almost overwhelmed me.“And so I discovered that it is not on our forgiveness any more than on our goodness that the world’s healing hinges, but on His. When He tells us to love our enemies, He gives, along with the command, the love itself.”
The grace of Jesus Christ allows us to do things beyond what
we can ever imagine possible. He has promised that his grace is sufficient and
will cover our weaknesses.
Having his Spirit with us is not just receiving His grace.
Sister Cheryl Esplin in her 2014 General Conference talk, reminds us that
Christ taught the Nephites that the Spirit heals and renews our souls.
Christ said:
“He that eateth this bread eateth of my body to his soul; and he that drinketh
of this wine drinketh of my blood to his soul; and his soul shall never hunger
nor thirst, but shall be filled.
“Now, when
the multitude had all eaten and drunk, behold, they were filled with the
Spirit.”
Brothers and
sisters, the sacrament prayers are simple. The ordinance itself only takes a
few minutes. Yet, there is much greatness packed into that simple ordinance.
The ordinance is meant for our perfection, but we don’t need to be perfect to
participate in it. My thanks to a special young man for reminding me of that.
All our Heavenly Father asks is that we continue to try, to put forth our best
effort, and be willing to rely on Christ when we feel as if we cannot go on.
I close my
talk with this story shared by President James E Faust of a mother who had
purchased tickets for her family to watch the great Polish pianist Paderewski:
“The night
of the concert arrived and the mother and son found their seats near the front
of the concert hall. While the mother visited with friends, the boy slipped
quietly away.
“Suddenly,
it was time for the performance to begin and a single spotlight cut through the
darkness of the concert hall to illuminate the grand piano on stage. Only then
did the audience notice the little boy on the bench, innocently picking out
‘Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.’
“His mother
gasped, but before she could move, Paderewski appeared on stage and quickly
moved to the keyboard. He whispered to the boy, ‘Don’t quit. Keep playing.’ And
then, leaning over, the master reached down with his left hand and began
filling in the bass part. Soon his right arm reached around the other side,
encircling the child, to add a running obbligato. Together, the old master and
the young novice held the crowd mesmerized
President Faust concludes with this thought:“In our lives, unpolished though we may be, it is the Master who surrounds us and whispers in our ear, time and time again, ‘Don’t quit. Keep playing.’ And as we do, He augments and supplements until a work of amazing beauty is created. He is right there with all of us, telling us over and over, ‘Keep playing.’”
I bear witness that Jesus Christ lives for us. His grace is
sufficient if we will turn to Him. I love Him with all of my heart.
I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
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