For the past 4 Sundays the weather was contrary to our purposes of gathering and worshiping and partaking. On 3 Sundays we did not partake of the Sacrament, but on a 4th somewhere in the middle we did. I realized after the 3rd Sunday that I missed, those little tokens of bread and water. I asked my husband what did we need to do to have sacrament at "home". He said we needed permission from the Bishop and two priesthood holders to administer; our home teachers could do the job. I thought "Well that's great honey, but if we can't get to church, how can our home teachers make it to us?" We pondered that question and left it for another missed Sunday. I started reading 3 Nephi chapter 18 in the Book of Mormon. I love the entire book of 3 Nephi because it details the Savior's/Jesus's visit to his people in what we know as the "America's." It is awesome really, because in this very chapter he is teaching his disciples concerning the "sacrament" which is a form of the "Covenant of Friendship" that was initiated by Jehovah with Adam & Eve, Abraham & Isaac; Jacob , and David & Jonathan to name a few. John 15:13-14 Greater love hath no man than this, that he would lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you.
It is no coincidence that Jesus is teaching this to the Nephites, only after he has taught his disciples and led them into baptism and repentance of sins. This is so much more than eating bread and drinking water, it is about remembrance and building a relationship with Christ. How can we "remember" someone we haven't seen ? Do we treat it as a long distance relationship? Those never work out. In 3 Nephi 18:7 And this shall ye do in 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. 3 Nephi 18:7 gives us a commandment which is doctrine, and also a principle with a promise. We remember him by being obedient, by partaking of the sacrament when it is made available to us. As we do this with pure intent, we will have the presence of the Holy Spirit with us, who by the way, will help us to remember Him, by prompting us to "love one another". And in all of this we build a testimony of the Savior and his love for us, and his atoning sacrifice for us and his friendship, so that we can bare witness with our own lives to our Heavenly Father. So I guess you could say that I have been literally missing my "friend" in Jesus, a homesickness for my brothers and sisters in Christ.
So in celebration of Friday, I found a poem by my new favorite poet Mary Oliver, and a new/old favorite song Celebrate Me Home sung by Ruben Studdard.
Why I Wake
Early
Hello, sun
in my face
Hello, you
who make the morning
and spread
it over the fields;
and into
the faces of tulips and the nodding morning glories,
and into
the windows of, even, the
miserable
and the crotchety—
best
preacher that ever was,
dear star,
that just happens
to be where
you are in the universe
to keep us
from ever-darkness
to ease us
with warm touching,
to hold us
in the great hands of light—
good
morning, good morning, good morning
Watch, now,
how I start the day
In happiness,
in kindness
Mary Oliver
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