Drawn Onward!

Talk delivered in Biltmore Ward sacrament meeting on 3/13/2011:

Good morning, Brothers and Sisters.

I want to talk about two ideas embodied by the sacrament.  The first is that it is a remembrance of our Savior, Jesus Christ, his life and infinite atonement, as well as our relationship to him through our own sacrifice.  The second is that it is a renewal of our baptismal covenants.

When Jesus instituted the sacrament among his discples in Jerusalem before he completed his great work of atonement, he broke bread and poured wine and told the assembled disciples “this do in remembrance of me.”  As we partake of the sacrament, we partake of the bread and water in remembrance of his body and blood and we promise to always remember him.  In turn, he promises to bless us with the companionship of the Spirit.

In 3 Nephi 18:7, Jesus said: And this shall ye do in a remembrance of my body, which I have shown unto you. And it shall be a testimony unto the Father that ye do always remember me. And if ye do always remember me ye shall have my Spirit to be with you.

What does it mean to remember?  Many of our remembrances, our commemorations occur annually.  We celebrate and commemorate Christ’s birth and resurrection at Christmas and Easter.  We commemorate the foundation of our nation on July 4th.  Our mothers have days devoted to them annually, as do our fathers, bosses, secretaries and teachers.  Nowadays, we have days for remembering to eat ice cream and pancakes.  March itself is a month for remembering: to adopt a rescued guinea pig, exotic winter fruits and leeks and green onions, poison prevention and music in our schools among many others. Every year on August 28th, we remember my birth.  And on December 19th, Sister Reber and I commemorate our wedding anniversary (see, I haven’t forgotten yet!).

As a newly married couple, we commemorated our marriage weekly, then monthly.  As I contemplate it now, it seems to me that our excitement in such frequent commemorations had something to do with the recentness of the event.  Additionally, a son, brother or sister who has recently left on a mission might be remembered weekly, and then monthly as his time stretches toward his return.  A loved one who is away might also be remembered similarly.  Recent events are fresher in our minds, more easily and frequently remembered.  An infant’s life is measured in days, then weeks, then months, then years.  We don’t measure our temporal proximity to distant events by weeks or months.  It doesn’t make much sense to say that my lovely bride and I have been married for 690 weeks.

Part of the difficulty of remembering Jesus is that most of have never met him and it has been a long time since he has been here.  We have never had the pleasure of spending time with him, of shaking his hand.  We know of him through our scriptures, though.  We can read about him as the prophets who have met him have recorded their meetings with him.  Their records teach us what he was like.  But merely reading the words of the scriptures do not give us enough of an understanding of him to say that we remember him.  Sure, we may remember some words we read about him in the scriptures. We remember the Brother of Jared’s encounter with Him and what the Brother of Jared’s encounter teaches us about him.

Is the Lord suggesting that we remember a vague incident, that our remembrance of Him should be akin to remembering the Alamo?  Or that our remembrance of him should be guided solely by events passed down to us through scripture two-thousand (or two hundred) years old?  It is absurd to think that our remembrance of the Savior would be so impersonal and distant, and I don’t think this is what he means when he tells us to remember him.

No, indeed, I would suggest that the word remember is not like a commemoration, or recalling a nice story.  It connotes a personal knowledge or experience.  Where the Nephites had observed him in the flesh, we have observed him through the Spirit by revelation.  He has made his influence known to us through the power of the Atonement.  We have felt the mercy of His forgiveness.  When we remember him, we remember that mercy, and that revelation.

In times before His coming, He commanded that sacrifices should be made.  These sacrifices were made in anticipation of his coming.  They were to teach about his coming and his sacrifice.   Vaughn J. Featherstone wrote in the September 2001 Ensign:

“Under the law [ of sacrifice] there were three kinds of sacrifice: (1) sin offerings, (2) burnt offerings, and (3) peace offerings. The Bible Dictionary states that the fundamental idea of the sin offerings “was atonement, expiation. They implied that there was a sin, or some uncleanness akin to a sin, that needed atoning for before fellowship with Jehovah could be obtained. …

“Trespass or guilt offerings were a particular kind of sin offerings.

“The burnt offering got its Hebrew name from the idea of the smoke of the sacrifice ascending to heaven” (“Sacrifices,” 766). It was placed on the altar and completely burned, symbolizing complete surrender and total devotion to God and parallels the process of justification and sanctification, a process of “retaining a remission of [our] sins” (Alma 4:14).

“As the obligation to surrender [to God] was constant on the part of Israel, a burnt offering, called the continual burnt offering, was offered twice daily, morning and evening. …

“Peace offerings, as the name indicates, presupposed that the sacrificer was at peace with God; they were offered for the further realization and enjoyment of that peace. …

“… When the three offerings were offered together, the sin always preceded the burnt, and the burnt [preceded] the peace offerings. Thus the order of the symbolizing sacrifices was the order of the atonement, sanctification, and fellowship with the Lord” (“Sacrifices,” 766–67).

…The Atonement is the foundational doctrine of all things, including the sacrament. The law of sacrifice was a similitude of the Atonement. During sacrament meetings we may offer a sin offering of our own, so to speak, by repenting and coming to Christ. We may offer a burnt offering by surrendering ourselves to Him and always remembering Him. And we may offer a peace offering as we express our gratitude for His bounteous blessings. Our sacrifice is not a literal sacrifice of animals but is a sacrifice of time, money, talents, and a broken heart and a contrite spirit. The Atonement lifts us to a level of opportunity to become joint heirs with Christ and to be exalted with the blessings of “eternal lives” (D&C 132:24).”

It is interesting to note that the sacrament is the only ordinance that we repeat. We are only baptized once, confirmed once.  The priesthood is conferred upon a worthy man once.  A man and woman make sacred temple covenants one time for themselves and they are sealed in eternal marriage one time together.  None of our covenants are repeated or revisited or renewed like the sacrament.  This is another hint as to the sacred and revitalizing nature of the sacrament.  This ordinance is so vital to our spiritual well-being that we repeat it.  Not annually, not monthly, but once every Sabbath.

Every week, we are able to renew our covenants made at baptism.  Remember what he promises when we are baptized.  To wash our sins away.  We are born again in Christ when we rise from the waters or baptism.  When we are baptized, we are washed pure.  Remember back to the time you were baptized.  If you can, remember those feelings.  If, like me, those memories are dimmed by the haze of childhood, think back to the time when your heart was converted to the Lord and you felt the forgiveness of His mercy.  And consider that each time we take bread and water from those trays, we can be washed clean again. We can be purified, like we were when we were baptized, like we were when we were converted.

When we are pure, we will know him.  And when we see him again, we will remember him, because we will be like him.  It is my prayer that we will be pure like he is, as we partake of the sacrament worthily.  In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

This was a talk I gave at Biltmore Ward’s ward conference priesthood meeting on 3/18/2012.

  “Are we not drawn onward, we few? Drawn onward to new era!” I begin my talk today, brethren, as I will end it, with a palindrome.

A palindrome is a series of letters or words which, if written backwards produce the same sequence of words or letters. In other words, a palindrome reads the same forward or backward.

I like palindromes and wordplay. I like the power of language to invoke states and images in our minds. I am fascinated by the word choices we find in our scriptures.

Palindromes are neat. I have a special love of things that begin as they end. For some reason I appreciate that kind of symmetry.

I chose to begin with this particular palindrome “are we not drawn onward, we few? Drawn onward to new era!” because of its memorable nature and because it encapsulates some big ideas that I feel impressed to touch upon today.

I will speak first about how we are drawn onward, second about how we are only a few, a brotherhood of peculiar people and third of the destination to which we ought to be drawn.

First, “are we not drawn onward?” In 2 Nephi chapter 2, Lehi teaches Jacob about the nature of agency:

11 For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things. If not so, my first-born in the wilderness, righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad. Wherefore, all things must needs be a compound in one; wherefore, if it should be one body it must needs remain as dead, having no life neither death, nor corruption nor incorruption, happiness nor misery, neither sense nor insensibility.

16 Wherefore, the Lord God gave unto man that he should act for himself. Wherefore, man could not act for himself save it should be that he was enticed by the one or the other.

In these scriptures, Lehi establishes that we are enticed to act. And because there is opposition in all things, there are two enticements. Really there are way more than two, but there are effectively only two; the good and the evil or the Holy Spirit and the evil one.

And so we are enticed and we act for ourselves; whether we will be enticed by the Holy Spirit, which entices us to put our foot upon the straight and narrow path or the evil one, who attempts to draw us away from that path. We have set our feet upon that path when we were baptized. So the question is, whether we choose to continue to be drawn down that path or whether we choose to be drawn away.

Here’s another palindrome. This one is in Latin, because it’s not a palindrome if you say it in English: “In girum imus nocte et consumimur igni” In English it means: “We go wandering at night and are consumed by fire”. This palindrome has multiple meanings. On the one hand it is talking about moths and their penchant for burning themselves up in the flames to which they are drawn. It is also a metaphor for sexual desire. In the end those who are drawn after their carnal appetites are consumed by them and they are led by the neck with flaxen cords until they are dragged down to hell by Satan.

And so we get to choose. That’s the beauty of not being moths. They really don’t know better and their fiery demise isn’t really their fault. They have a deep compulsion to pursue the light. Ours on the other hand is always our fault. That’s not to say we don’t have a deep compulsion, ’cause we do. But we know better, having been instructed by the spirit and by our teachers. We may be deceived, but we always choose by whom we will be drawn. And diverging steps away from the path invariably take us far from our initial destination as Elder Uchtdorf has taught us on several occasions.

Here’s where being drawn onward falls apart a bit. As I said, I am fascinated by the word choices we find in the scriptures. In our theme for ward conference, Nephi admonishes us to “press forward”. The problem is that being drawn and pressing seem opposed to each other. Being drawn is so passive where pressing is so active. Nevertheless, we are compelled at the beginning to enter into the path. No, compelled is the wrong word. We are enticed by the sweet ministrations of the Spirit. Once upon the path we walk with the Spirit. And with his encouragement and continuing ministrations we are able to press forward. So even though we press ourselves, we are still being drawn and allowing ourselves to be influenced by the Holy Spirit and not the evil one.

I don’t want to sound depressing; once your foot is off the path, it’s straight down for you boy! Of course that’s not the case. Even if we are drawn away from the path by the evil one, the Savior extends his hand out to draw us back if we will let him. Our hope in his power and might to save must be perfect!

We must be vigilant of the drawers we choose to follow.

That brings me to part 2: we few

I like these two words together. They’re a little self-contained palindrome dropped in the middle of this longer one. And yet, they’re kind of abhorrent, aren’t they? Is there any question that we are few? My intent is not to be boastful or proud. We must remember that we are not a elite club. We invite all to come unto Christ. But why are there so few here? Why have so few of the people who live in this area come to be with us in this meeting today?

Lehi and Nephi saw that many left the path and few reached the tree of life. There were many in the great and spacious building jeering at those who pressed forward along the path.

We are here, where we should be right now. That is good! Thank-you for being here, brethren. I am sorry you went to all the effort of being here, and now you’re a captive audience for my ramblings. We have entered in at the gate and are on the path.

But this should not be back-patting time. We haven’t made it yet! In fact, we have a long way to go. This is pressing time! Where are the rest of us? Where are all the people we home teach? They can’t all be teaching Primary! If they have strayed from the path, let us be an instrument in bringing them back. Let us by our ministrations remind them that they are not alone, and that they don’t need to do it by themselves.

Third and last: Drawn onward to new era!

Where should we be drawn to? What should we be pressing toward? What should be the defining purpose of our lives and the unrelenting desire of our hearts? We are in the thick of the dark mists now. Occasionally the mist parts and we are granted a glimpse of our final goal: a new era! A new life. An eternal life. A life even as God lives; with Him, with Our Savior, and with our families for the eternities.

We are faced with a multitude of paths; every second of every day we must be vigilant that our feet fall upon that straight and narrow path and that we are not drawn into paths which do not lead to the new era where we shall live with Jesus Christ, Our Savior evermore.

I bear witness that He is real, that he has all power to save and that when we have been drawn from the path, His hand is stretched out to draw us back into the bosom of his love.

And so I end, brethren, as I began with a palindrome: are we not drawn onward, we few? Drawn onward to new era!

In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.