January 1. 2016
Seems like I see more people wandering off the path of discipleship these days. Lots of distractions and temptations out there for us all. We have lots of lessons at church about the basic things we need to do to remain on the path, but reading a recently published article,written almost 100 years ago by Melvin J. Ballard, gave one clear-cut piece of advice that rings so true to me.
"...No man goes away from the Church and becomes an apostate in a week, nor in a month. It is a slow process. The one thing that would make for the safety of every man and woman would be to appear at the sacrament table every Sabbath day. We would not get very far away in one week--not so far away that, by the process of self-investigation, we could not rectify the wrongs we may have done.The road to the sacrament table is the path of safety for Latter-day Saints. "
I would say that this is true for all Christians, regardless of the denomination. Different churches probably partake of the sacrament more or less often than others. In the LDS Church we take the holy sacrament every single week. In fact, it is the focus of our Sunday worship service, which we call sacrament meeting. Partaking of the sacrament helps us to remember and be grateful for the Atonement Christ made for us. It affords us the opportunity to renew our baptismal covenants every Sunday, to remember our covenant with God to follow the example of Jesus in all we do and say with the promise that in turn we will have His Spirit to be with us. It is a time to reflect on mistakes we have made during the past week, to repent, and to ask God's forgiveness and help in doing better for the next week. It means starting with a clean slate each week.
I would really be interested in comments from any of you reading this who may not belong to the LDS Church and hear what taking the sacrament means to you. How often do you take the sacrament? It's been a really long time since I took the sacrament at the Baptist Church, or the Episcopal Church, and my memory of it is pretty foggy.
Seems like I see more people wandering off the path of discipleship these days. Lots of distractions and temptations out there for us all. We have lots of lessons at church about the basic things we need to do to remain on the path, but reading a recently published article,written almost 100 years ago by Melvin J. Ballard, gave one clear-cut piece of advice that rings so true to me.
"...No man goes away from the Church and becomes an apostate in a week, nor in a month. It is a slow process. The one thing that would make for the safety of every man and woman would be to appear at the sacrament table every Sabbath day. We would not get very far away in one week--not so far away that, by the process of self-investigation, we could not rectify the wrongs we may have done.The road to the sacrament table is the path of safety for Latter-day Saints. "
I would say that this is true for all Christians, regardless of the denomination. Different churches probably partake of the sacrament more or less often than others. In the LDS Church we take the holy sacrament every single week. In fact, it is the focus of our Sunday worship service, which we call sacrament meeting. Partaking of the sacrament helps us to remember and be grateful for the Atonement Christ made for us. It affords us the opportunity to renew our baptismal covenants every Sunday, to remember our covenant with God to follow the example of Jesus in all we do and say with the promise that in turn we will have His Spirit to be with us. It is a time to reflect on mistakes we have made during the past week, to repent, and to ask God's forgiveness and help in doing better for the next week. It means starting with a clean slate each week.
I would really be interested in comments from any of you reading this who may not belong to the LDS Church and hear what taking the sacrament means to you. How often do you take the sacrament? It's been a really long time since I took the sacrament at the Baptist Church, or the Episcopal Church, and my memory of it is pretty foggy.
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