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LDS guided scripture meditations to help you find peace through Jesus Christ, so you can have the Spirit to strengthen you throughout your day. I'm Vauna, and I come from the perspective of my faith as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. These mindful devotionals follow Christ’s simple and beautiful promise in the Book of Mormon where he said, “If ye do always remember me ye shall have my Spirit to be with you.” Let’s contemplate some of the sweetest scripture verses together and remember that God is always inviting us to abide in His love.
Welcome to the O Remember podcast, where we take time to reflect deeply on a passage of scripture. This is episode 5, Sacrament Promises – Recommitting and Renewing Your Relationship with God, a mindful devotional and scripture meditation on Moroni 4:3 & 5:2.
My name is Vauna and I am pleased to share this time together with you to renew our hearts with light and peace, and expand our souls with greater faith in God. I come from the perspective of my faith as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Here we will follow Christ’s simple and beautiful promise in the Book of Mormon in 3 Nephi 18:7, where he said, If ye do always remember me ye shall have my Spirit to be with you. Remembering not easy to do in these distracting and distressing times. So today let’s come together and remember that God has given us a beautiful practice to renew our covenant relationship with Him as we partake of the Sacrament each week.
If you are also a member of the Church of Jesus Christ then you have heard today’s scripture many many times. In fact you’ve heard it nearly every time you’ve gone to church. And sometimes we don’t pay as much attention to things we are very familiar with. We might start to take them for granted and lose out on the power they have. And if the Sacrament is unfamiliar to you, then here is an opportunity to consider the power that renewing your commitment to God could have for you. So today let’s recharge our gratitude and appreciation for the Prayers and the ordinance of the Sacrament.
We can start by letting our mind and body relax so that we are open to the influence of the Spirit. Take a few deep, easy breaths here. Let that breath ease any tension in your chest, and feel that ease flow from your heart up through your neck and head, everything softens, and it circles and flows down through your shoulders, all the way through your arms and fingertips, the warmth and ease circles back up through your arms and bac down through your chest, relaxing your stomach, your hips, flowing easily down your legs and circling around your feet and toes, gently back up your legs to your heart. Let’s rest for a moment in that sense of warmth and wholeness.
Let’s think ahead and imagine the next time you are going to church. See yourself driving or walking to church as usual but this time you are already looking forward the peaceful practice we call the Sacrament. You’re so eager to express your commitment to Christ. You walk into the chapel, quietly greeting your friends with a smile as you take a seat. You notice the Sacrament table, maybe the Priests are finishing up as they set out the bread and fill the water and then gently spread a clean white tablecloth over the trays. Maybe the Deacons are settling into their rows of benches. Through the opening hymn and prayer, your heart is warming and opening to the Sacrament ceremony that will soon take place. As you join the congregation to sing the Sacrament hymn, you are filled with sweet reverence for the love Christ has for us and his gift of grace and redemption. The words of the Sacrament prayers come so soothing and reassuring. Yes, you are willing to take His name upon you. Yes, you will keep learning how to always remember Him. Yes, you will continue doing your best to keep His commandments, the best you know how to right now. You are filled with grateful praise for the promise that you may always have His Spirit to be with you. This is the joy and power of being in a covenant relationship with God, a relationship that will become deeper and stronger throughout timeless eternity.
What if you had that Sacrament experience? How would it change how you feel about going to church? How could the rest of your week change if you had that kind of reverent recommitment ceremony each week? Maybe it’s more like a recovenant ceremony, an expression that we are all in and still trying to follow Christ.
These simple prayers, the prayers to bless the sacramental bread and water, were given in the Book of Mormon and we repeat them word for word every Sunday in our Sacrament Meeting. It’s worth remembering that our main Sunday church meeting is called Sacrament Meeting, reminding us that the ordinance of the sacrament is the most essential purpose of the gathering. Elder Holland said, the sacrament “is not something to ‘get over’ so that the real purpose of a sacrament meeting can be pursued. This is the real purpose of the meeting. Jeffrey R Holland “This Do in Remembrance of Me” General Conf Oct 1995
As you continue attending church then you will be present during the Sacrament for many many times to come, probably hundreds of times. What a loss it would be if we mindlessly allowed that time to go by without whole-heartedly embracing the sweetness and power that God is offering us. I love the thought that during the sacrament, the chapel becomes an ordinance room like a baptismal font or a room in the temple. A holy and sacred place.
So let’s remember the two prayers we hear each week. I’m going to switch the original word “wine” in this scripture to water because our sacramental practice today, based on revelation in the D&C, has wisely been changed to offering water instead of wine for now. But I look forward to the day when as Christ promised he will return and drink the fruit of the vine with us again.
Now that we’ve thought about what an ideal Sacrament experience might be like, let’s consider our own experience with taking the Sacrament. What would you say your Sacrament practice has been like lately? What if it could be even a little deeper than it has been? Even if right now you’re in that busy stage of life where you have restless children surrounding you, what if it could be something special even while you’re watching over your little ones? I invite you to take that question to God and see what he has to offer you.
Maybe you can join me for a moment to ask heavenly Father to help us see how our Sacrament experience can expand. Heavenly Father, we appreciate that you designed the sacrament ordinance for our blessing and growth and happiness. Thank you for this time we have each week to be still and remember the covenant relationship with Jesus Christ available to us. We hope for the Sacrament to be a sacred time of refreshing our commitment to Christ, a time to feel the Holy Spirit and be renewed for the coming week. You know each of us and our situation right now, Please help us to be open today and able to hear the quiet impressions of how we can deepen our Sacrament practice in our unique circumstances. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Now it’s time for us to reflect on the Sacrament prayers. We are going read the prayers four times so you can go a little deeper into it each time. This first time, listen for a word or phrase that stands out to you.
Moroni 4:3
O God, the Eternal Father, we ask thee in the name of thy Son, Jesus Christ, to bless and sanctify
this bread to the souls of all those who partake of it; that they may eat in remembrance of the body of thy Son, and witness unto thee, O God, the Eternal Father, that they are willing to take upon them the name of thy Son, and always remember him, and keep his commandments which he hath given them, that they may always have his Spirit to be with them. Amen.
Moroni 5:2
O God, the Eternal Father, we ask thee, in the name of thy Son, Jesus Christ, to bless and sanctify this water to the souls of all those who drink of it, that they may do it in remembrance of the blood of thy Son, which was shed for them; that they may witness unto thee, O God, the Eternal Father, that they do always remember him, that they may have his Spirit to be with them. Amen.
Take a few moments here to reflect on the words that stood out to you.
Let’s read the prayers a second time, and this time center on that word or phrase that stood out to you. What does God want you to understand? Let’s let that thought grow.
O God, the Eternal Father, we ask thee in the name of thy Son, Jesus Christ, to bless and sanctify
this bread to the souls of all those who partake of it; that they may eat in remembrance of the body of thy Son, and witness unto thee, O God, the Eternal Father, that they are willing to take upon them the name of thy Son, and always remember him, and keep his commandments which he hath given them, that they may always have his Spirit to be with them. Amen.
Moroni 5:2
O God, the Eternal Father, we ask thee, in the name of thy Son, Jesus Christ, to bless and sanctify this water to the souls of all those who drink of it, that they may do it in remembrance of the blood of thy Son, which was shed for them; that they may witness unto thee, O God, the Eternal Father, that they do always remember him, that they may have his Spirit to be with them. Amen.
Take a few moments to contemplate the meaning of these verses.
Now we’ll read it a third time. This time let’s make it even more personal. Former church President Harold B. Lee suggested that people personalize the sacramental prayers by using the word ‘I’ in the place of ‘we’ or ‘they.’ He said if you will do this, it will bring you close to God and help you understand more fully the meaning of the covenant” (The Teachings of Harold B. Lee, 209). So this time, let’s switch it up.
O God, the Eternal Father, I ask thee in the name of thy Son, Jesus Christ, to bless and sanctify
this bread to my soul as I partake of it; that I may eat in remembrance of the body of thy Son, and witness unto thee, O God, the Eternal Father, that I am willing to take upon me the name of thy Son, and always remember him, and keep his commandments which he hath given me, that I may always have his Spirit to be with me. Amen.
O God, the Eternal Father, I ask thee, in the name of thy Son, Jesus Christ, to bless and sanctify this water to my soul as I drink of it, that I may do it in remembrance of the blood of thy Son, which was shed for me; that I may witness unto thee, O God, the Eternal Father, that I do always remember him, that I may have his Spirit to be with me. Amen.
Contemplate – Read a fourth and final time. And let’s keep the personalized version. Be still and rest in God’s presence. What will you take away? What action is God inviting you to do? What do you want to be different the next time you receive the sacrament at church?
O God, the Eternal Father, I ask thee in the name of thy Son, Jesus Christ, to bless and sanctify
this bread to my souls as I partake of it; that I may eat in remembrance of the body of thy Son, and witness unto thee, O God, the Eternal Father, that I am willing to take upon me the name of thy Son, and always remember him, and keep his commandments which he hath given me, that I may always have his Spirit to be with me. Amen.
Moroni 5:2
O God, the Eternal Father, I ask thee, in the name of thy Son, Jesus Christ, to bless and sanctify this water to my soul as I drink of it, that I may do it in remembrance of the blood of thy Son, which was shed for me; that I may witness unto thee, O God, the Eternal Father, that I do always remember him, that I may have his Spirit to be with me. Amen.
Whatever feelings you have had about the Sacrament, I offer that You might want to get a journal or notebook or something you can write with to capture any impressions that you get. I find that even strong spiritual thoughts can be fleeting if I don’t write them down so I can return and reflect on them later.
There’s a thought that I often turn to that has become very meaningful and helps me get into a reverent Sacrament mindset.
We know that the small bit of bread and sip of water we partake of symbolize the body and blood that Christ willingly gave to free us. He paid for our most joyful eternal life with his mortal life.
It’s fascinating to notice that as you consume that symbolic bread and water, it’s actually more than symbolic. It’s a real physical process as the bread actually becomes part of your body and the water actually becomes an element of your blood. Your body breaks down those reminders of Christ’s love and life and absorbs them so they quite literally become part of you. Flowing through you. Renewing you. What a beautiful ritual, every week, reminding us that as we seek Him, as we allow Him in, we are becoming more like Him.
I like to think that As we continue living in a covenant relationship, we absorb tiny bits of light and little sips of truth into our spirit and slowly transform into beings that radiate Truth and Light. Like HE does. It’s A sacramental transformation into boundless, everlasting beings who will live joyfully in the presence of God.
Thank you for joining me here. Wishing you a blessed, expansive, transformative Sacrament experience.
I hope you will join me Next time we will reflect on D&C 78:17 where we a reassured that the kingdom is ours and the riches of eternity are ours. Until then, O remember Christ that you may always have his spirit to be with you.