LDS- Conducting An At-Home Sacrament Meeting

'Change Can Be Good'

- Performing the ordinance of the sacrament requires approval from your Bishop or Branch President

-  Like 'wild olive branches' Change Can Be Good

-  This is a chance to get new context for the Sacrament

-  How to conduct the ordinance of the sacrament according to the General Handbook

-  What the Bread and Water Represent

Note: Naan bread is actually Indian, but is similar to some types of unleavened breads in the Mediterranean and Middle-Eastern regions.

 

 

Podcast Links:

 

Apple Podcasts:  https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/cwic-media/id1428167000

 

Spotify:  https://open.spotify.com/show/3BNjs4EJqo0iK4LURdTPDb

 

alright so in this episode I thought

that I might go over a little bit about

what we do as a family for our home our

home-based sacrament meeting especially

the sacrament the ordinance of the

sacrament this is something that's very

new to some people and so I thought a

little bit of instruction would be good

this comes from the general handbook of

the church and then it's also on top of

that I wanted to talk just a little bit

about the significance of the sacrament

so let's go over just a little bit about

how we might set this up some of these

things are completely up to you and how

you want to do it they're not in the

handbook I'm just going to give you some

ideas perhaps here of what we do what we

have done and what we're going to

continue to do with the ordinance of the

sacrament so first of all III think that

during this time where we have this

disruption really a huge disruption but

a disruption in our worship services and

in our ordinances so to speak that we

can really take advantage of a few

things and what I would liken this unto

like we here in the Book of Mormon is

the Book of Mormon and Jacob

as we've just gone over with come follow

me in looking at the allegory of the

olive tree where you have the natural

branches of the olive tree and then what

the lord of the vineyard does is ask the

servant to come in and graft in some of

the wild branches of olive trees right

so then he's gonna bring them together

that's how i see this a little bit in

order to grow something in order to have

creation even you need some a little bit

of chaos to come into the world you need

a little bit of opportunity to see

things from a different perspective and

to create order out of that and so we're

we're put in this position now where

we're doing this at home you can look at

that as a new experience which in a

sense is a little bit like chaos but or

a little bit like a wild olive branch

but it's a great opportunity for us to

have additional context to the ordinance

of the sacrament and to our sacrament

meetings and to look at things just a

little bit differently and in fact what

we do is we do things purposefully

different I see a lot online where

people want to do things as close to the

same as possible and I get that that

that's great everybody's different I'd

like to do it just a little bit

differently I want us to have a

disruption a good disruption right in

the sense that we're thinking about this

differently this is an opportunity the

way I see it to be to get yourself out

of things that can become routine and

and a chance to look at something

with a different perspective and maybe

have with a fresh spiritual eyes a

new observation on the sacrament and on

your sacrament meetings as well so a

couple things that I wanted to go over

here number one I think what's important

even though this can feel a little bit

new and uncomfortable perhaps for many I

think it's really important that we try

to keep a lot of reverence in the

sacrament meeting it may not have to be

completely formal as we see as we do

in sacrament meeting but the sacrament

itself I think needs to be a little bit

formal right there are certain

guidelines that we're supposed to follow

and there's reasons for that this is a

ritual this is an ordinance and so we

should have a lot of reverence and make

sure that there is you know formality

helps bring in some of that reverence

into that experience so we want to do it

in an orderly and in a reverent fashion

right so a couple things first thought

that we get from the general handbook is

number one the cloths that we use are

supposed to be white and there are

reasons for that right and so we may be

using an old towel or not an old towel

but a colored towel we might be using

washcloths we might be using whatever it

might be

even if

of some sort but it's supposed to be

white right so that's one thing to

consider one reason is is white means

purity right and so we can have

something you could put something over

the table I don't have that now I just

have what we have covering the sack

emblems of the sacrament but it's white

and even you know last week where we

didn't really have something that I saw

that we could use I used a napkin white

napkins instead of other cloths that

were not white because this has several

there's symbolism to the white cloths

right one is this purity of course we

want to look at this as something of

purity this ordinance as an ordinance

of purity additionally we can look at

this as the veil right in a sense it is

veiling the body of Christ and the blood

of Christ right thirdly we get a lot of

temple imagery even in a lot of the

scriptures that have to do with Jesus's

death and these emblems have a lot

obviously to do with that sacred week

and the last couple days of the Savior’s

life and so as you remember in the tomb

right is is that he's wrapped up in

white linen and that was something that

was a formality it was a tradition and

yet when he resurrects and he has left

the tomb he leaves behind right the

napkins as they call them or the

garments or the robes and we weave one

term for that is the shroud right

there's an article of clothing called

the shroud and these are white right and

they're on where he is laying down which

is kind of like an altar in a sacrament

table is really a lot like an altar

right and so even in the general

handbook or instructed that those table

cloths whatever we're using are supposed

to be white so that's something to keep

in mind so what we do is we have the

sacrament song right and as we have the

sacrament song you remember

at the in the sacrament meeting one side

is going to be of the cloth is going to

be removed right and began the reason we

do this is because we want to make sure

always with a sacrament that there we

want to distinguish the two we have the

lower law which is the bread the Aaronic

law and we have the Melchizedek law the

higher law which is the blood of Christ

there are two different prayers for a

reason we always keep them separate

because one is the lower law and one is

the higher law one represents the erotic

priesthood and it's administration what

its it administers and one represents

the Montes the milk is Lee priests and

what it administers right and so with

the bread what we do is we're using non

bread right

and so non bread is a middle eastern

Mediterranean bread that's been very

common for centuries and centuries in

the Middle East and in the Mediterranean

region and so I want this to be

different again I want a different

experience for everyone and so and I

want bigger pieces I do I want people to

as if this was being passed around and

there were bigger chunks of this that

were handed out to everybody I don't

want it to be exactly the same I don't

think it needs to be while we're doing

this you know again that's just my

opinion that's all I want us to look at

this differently and so we're using this

and so while we sing the hymn whoever is

going to be blessing the sacrament you

may have one priesthood holder in your

home you might have two or more but

whoever is going to be blessing this the

bread would be breaking that at that

point now we typically have will

typically have about five different

people here for our sacrament meetings

in our family and so what I want to do

is I want to break these pieces out

where they're fairly even and you can

see I mean I'm gonna make them sizable

here with this and do something like

this right and I've got these five

pieces here that are laid out and I

don't care if people have to take two or

three bites of it that's fine with only

five of us here I don't want this just

to be done like that we're told in the

general handbook

we want to sit and ponder over this and

so without having a large congregation

where the trays are being passed around

and we have time to contemplate this is

something that can give you a little bit

more time everybody is chewing and

taking a little bit more time to consume

the bread partake of the bread so that

works out really well

another thing to think about in the

symbolism here of the bread that you

might not know about is that this is an

important part of covenant remember what

we're doing with the sacrament is that

we are renewing our baptismal covenants

and remember that the baptismal covenant

we often times mistake the renewal of

our baptismal covenants of what has what

happens when we are laid down into the

water and then pulled back up as a new

creature as a resurrected new being so

to speak remember that that's only half

of a baptism right we are baptized first

by water and then we are baptized by the

spirit or by fire again the lower law

right where we're baptized with water

don't think about the water that we

consume but that is that is the bread

right and then later we're baptized with

Melchizedek Priesthood Authority the

being baptized with water is with the

ironic priesthood Authority a priest can

baptize and then being baptized or with

fire is the Holy Ghost and that is the

Melchizedek Priesthood that gives us

that ordinance and so immediately when

we become members of the church we are

passing through these phases of the

Aaronic priesthood and the Melchizedek

Priesthood and together these two

ordinances these first two ordinances of

the gospel represent the lower and the

higher laws right the ironic and the

Moluccas anecdotes so when we renew our

covenants our baptismal covenants we are

renewing both the baptism of water as we

partake of the bread and the baptism of

fire and the Holy Ghost as we partake of

the water right and they represent also

two different salvations one is the

resurrection that is a

that we will all receive physical and

then the other is a spiritual salvation

which has to do with how we're going to

be resurrected what type of body we're

going to be resurrected with right where

we're going to end up but with the bread

we break the bread right we break the

bread remember this is all about

renewing covenant now for the ancient

Jews ancient Israelites they never made

covenants they didn't in our minds

that's what they do but they didn't call

it that they didn't call it making a

covenant what they did is they broke a

covenant and that's the right way to

look at it in Hebrew it's cut out bet

eat right it's a breaking of a

covenant you break the Covenant or you

cut you cut the Covenant right and so

I've talked about this before where

think of the term cleave right it has

two different meanings and this is how I

think of this with covenant number one

you can think of a cleaver right a knife

and what it does is it cuts something

and separates something out that's the

first half of a covenant you have to

have something separated before you can

have something brought back together and

so you look through the story of the

creation for example and you'll see all

of these separations that end up

happening and then the idea of covenant

is to bring everything back together

again

right so for example with Adam and Eve

you have Adam being separated from his

symbolic rib for example right and then

there's Eve and then the idea of

bringing Adam and Eve back together

again in a covenant marriage is the

process of again they were apart and now

they're going to come back together and

in all of the plan of salvation we have

a falling away from God that's the

separation right that's the cleaver that

is separating us and then the idea is to

be brought back together with him and to

cleave on to him

right so cleaving on to him the other

side of that word

is to be brought back together but it's

not just one mass right it's two

separate things cleaving to each other

right so a cleaver and cleaving are the

two sides of Covenant everything has to

be separated and then brought back

together that's the process of the plan

of salvation so the bread representing

the body of Christ the flesh of Christ

we are in a sense cutting the Covenant

here and that's how I look at it right

the cannot been eat here and so that's

an important part of this we can look at

other things

anciently the way they look at this and

you can see in the Bible a couple of

examples where you have a warnings

actually it's looked at it's looked at

as a negative thing where they were to

actually send out different parts of a

body that has been usually killed and

sent out to different parts of different

lands to different people as a warning

right but the idea of that is as it is

being pulled apart it's being separated

the myth of Osiris and Isis is where

Osiris is killed by his brother set

which is where we get the name Satan

from and he separates Osiris body who

was Egypt's God and sent it out to

depending on the story

typically the story is fourteen

different places around Egypt I think

and so then it's Isis his wife that goes

around and collects all these pre pieces

and brings Osiris back together again

and makes him whole right at one right

so if you think of that concept with

Christ it's it is he is killed right he

is killed by the world and he's

crucified and so in a sense that's

there's a there's a cutting there of the

Covenant in a sense and so as we partake

of a piece of the bread we are we are

partaking of his flesh

so to speak and then if you partake of

that and I partake of that and all the

members are partaking of this and then

we come together and act as

it's kind of like then being gathered

back together again right and being more

like a Zion people being have one that's

one way that I think of it anyway

that's not doctrine by the way that's

just something to consider

to think about as you're looking at why

do we why do we break the bread and so

what we'll do here like on the table

here is after the bread is broken and

the song and the sacrament hymn is over

then whoever's blessing the bread gets

down on their knees while typically the

other person the other person blessing

the sacrament would be here standing

just like we might see in a sacrament

meeting and then that's going to be

passed around now the way we did it last

week is first of all in my home I'm the

presiding priesthood holder and this is

in the handbook right as you notice in

the sacrament meeting you have the

usually a deacon go up and give the

bishop the first piece of bread and then

the first drink of water that's an

important part of what we do here this

is goes all the way back to the Old

Testament when you had a sacrifice at

the temple and usually you know

think of a burnt sacrifice and then that

meat is consumed you would always have a

high priest partake of that first right

the presiding priesthood holder there at

that sacrifice and so that is in the

handbook and that's what you I would

imagine should be doing in your home so

if I bless the bread which I did last

week what I'm going to do is I'm going

to take the first piece and hold it

myself you know so I hold the plate I'm

gonna take the first piece and then I'm

going to partake of that and then I'm

going to hand it out you know one by one

here to the table and have everybody

else partake of that so that's something

that is protocol right that's the

way you do that so if just keep in mind

whoever is the presiding priesthood

holder of the home is the one who should

be partaking of the bread first and of

the water first now you might feel a

little strange about that some people

might but that's what you're

supposed to do that's what we're told in

the hand

so once that's done remember you're

going to take the cloth and you're gonna

cover it back up over here on this side

usually there's not going to be any

bread left but I go ahead and cover that

back up and then before saying the

prayer on the water right then we're

going to uncover this side and again

what I do again thinking about that

disruption and the wild olive branches

coming in and trying to look at this a

little bit differently I'm handing out

actual cups right they're small these

are little tea cups you know that we're

doing that we're using here I fill it up

with a little bit more water than you

would have with the little plastic or

paper cups that we use in sacrament

meetings but again I want people to

think of this differently and they can

take this and you could take it with two

hands even if you wanted and I

put a little bit more water in maybe

four or five times actually that you

might get in a little a little a little

sacrament cup you know I don't like this

if I if you look at this right here what

I usually do is I'm going to fill that

up about only about 1/4 of the way right

that's what we did and it worked

out pretty well but I want people to

think about this differently and so from

here I don't have a plate you could use

a saucer of some sort or something but

whoever blesses the water is going to

take this themselves and then in my case

here they would give it to me first and

I would drink it and then that

priesthood holder would then hand these

out one by one to everybody and have it

and then collect them when everybody's

you know drink it themselves and collect

it and bring it back right and then put

it down and then you might even want to

have just a little period of silence

even after that if you feel like you

want to spend a little bit more time

allowing everybody to ponder over the

spiritual things that the sacrament is

meant for and pondering is an important

part of that that's in the general

handbook as well and a couple things

that you might think about with that

pondering is when you partake of the

bread you'll notice in the sacrament

prayer that it has the word commandment

in it right the water prayer does not

have the word command

the reason is that Commandments is

part of the lower Lodge part of the

Aaronic law and what it means is it's

what the velour law is what we do

it's our works it's our choices it's

what we do to reach up to God right and

so you might think about that during the

time you're partaking of the bread what

do I need to do in my commitment to my

baptismal covenant right in reaching up

to God and changing myself and following

the example of the Savior right and then

with the water you might focus at that

point there about remembering both

prayers have remember so remember about

what the Savior’s done I might think

about what oh I might follow his example

here with the bread what I need to do

and then remembering him with the water

you might think about what you know

actually what his time in Gethsemane and

his spilling of his own blood and being

on the cross and the opportunity that he

has given us the grace that he's given

us the love that he has for us to do

what he did and all the blessings

that come down from heaven and the mercy

that comes down from heaven to us as

part of the renewal of our covenants

with our baptism and so then once that

is God these cups are gathered again

then you would go ahead and cover this

back up and then what we do is just go

back down and we sit down in our spots

here around the table and we finish up

with our sacrament meeting and for us

what we do is we have a spiritual

thought that's going to be more like

five minutes long maybe five to ten

minutes long and then we have a talk

slash lesson that might go for fifteen

or twenty minutes where we can kind of

get involved have everybody involved and

have somebody that's assigned to lead

that another thing we did is we printed

out the lyrics to the hymns that we are

singing

and then I actually printed out a little

program just to make it a little more

formal there's a little program to say

who's saying prayers and who is giving

the spiritual thought who is giving the

talk slash lessons as well these are

crazy crazy times that we're living in

there are massive disruptions in our

lives it's probably going to get worse

in that sense I don't mean worse in the

sense of panic I mean worse in the sense

of social distancing and stresses that

might come up but this is a way I think

that we can look at that disruption at

least in a positive way where we can

take that disruption and create

something better a new set of spiritual

eyes a new experience that we have with

this very sacred ordinance and with our

own sacrament meetings in our own home I

appreciate you listening and we'll talk

to you next time