Sacrament should be sacred?

After attending church today, I feel the need to vent a little among people that will actually listen to what I have to say. :problem:

Here’s what it all boils down to: for the past few months of attending sacrament, I am simply appalled with the general Mormon attitude towards Sacrament meeting. It frustrates me, and makes it difficult for me to have the motivation to go. A few months ago while attending an Institute class that was specifically structured to discuss the Atonement, we had a lesson on the symbolism and sacred nature of the Sacrament and sacrament meeting. I know that most of you are aware of some of the symbolism, but allow me to quickly paraphrase what I learned. My teacher spoke about how the entire meeting should be focused on the Atonement of the Savior. He pointed out how the ideal meeting should be much like a funeral for a loved one. We come dressed in our best clothing (typically conservative and simple) and should reverently enter the chapel. The chapel itself is to represent the sacred tomb where our Savior was laid to rest after his sacrifice for us. In a very real sense, we are entering his tomb, where his body symbolically lays covered in white at the sacrament table. Ideally our thoughts and hearts should be turned to Him the moment we enter the room.

After entering, we then begin the meeting with prayer and song. An important purpose of these two things is to unite all in attendance to the same special spirit. The reason why we all come dressed similar, bow our heads and fold our arms in a uniform way is to help us become united. The very essence of the English word Atonement is “at one ment”, meaning at one moment (together, united, connected, etc). That is the purpose of the Atonement– to help us become one with God. Christ is the perfect example because he is literally the perfect union of man and God. This is the same reason why we are encouraged to sing together. All of these processes are intended to help us to unify our hearts together and become one with each other and God through the Spirit. Another interesting thing my teacher taught my class is that as the priest kneels down and bows his head, he is acting at a proxy for Jesus Christ. It is as though Christ is blessing the sacrament for each of us, as he did for his apostles at the Last Supper.

The last piece of Sacrament meeting that I’d like to touch on is the talks given from the pulpit. As the sacrament is, in effect a funeral service, these talks should be on the person the funeral is for… Jesus Christ. This is where sacrament has really been getting to me lately. I come to hear others reflect on the Savior, and instead I get trip logs about girls camp and high adventures. Day one we did this… day two we did this… day three… and on and on. :yawn: This just doesn’t sit well with me! There’s a time and place for everything, but reporting about your trip during sacrament is not the right place! Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if the speakers synthesized their experience and turned it into a lesson of spiritual thought, but this is hardly ever the case. There are time when Christ isn’t even mentioned at all! Now I’m not saying that all the talks have to be on the same thing, but they should all tie back to Christ and His Atonement for man. At a real funeral, these talks would come before the body is removed, and my teacher pointed out occasions where he had attended meetings that did just that. It would be interesting to attend such a meeting where the Sacrament ordinance was the focal point of the entire meeting (the climax if you will). I feel like placing the sacrament at the end like this would greatly change the flow of the meeting.

Pondering the deeper meaning of these things really can change your whole perspective of the Sacrament. I feel guilty throwing stones at others when I know I too am imperfect. We are all in this together and I realize that. I just feel strongly that Sacrament service today hardly accomplishes what it was designed to do. I hope what I’m saying makes sense and I apologize for jumping around a bit. Perhaps I am wrong in my argument, and if I am please let me know. These are just me feelings, and I hope that if any of you are in positions of leadership that perhaps you could consider ways that you could help Sacrament be a little more sacred. Even if you’re not in leadership, we can each do our part. :thumbup: