I have been asked to take a few moments and talk about the importance of the Sacrament in my life. I am going to ask that you put down everything else that you are doing for just a few minutes; you turn off your cell phones, you put down the scriptures - yes put your scriptures away, put down the Ensign or anything else that might distract you; and you just listen. If you will listen I promise you that you will feel and learn something today that will be of great worth to you.

This advice comes from the fact that I worry about each of you a great deal during the day and a good deal throughout the night as well. I constantly wonder what I can do better to help you; to protect you. So I will offer some advice of what you can do to protect yourself.

I will not speak long today; I am going to tell a little story, I will share a scripture, share my testimony and then sit down. However; if you will really listen; what is said here today it will resound in your ears for a little while longer. What you will learn will not come from what I or President Downs say; as much as it will come from what you feel; what you are impressed to do.

Lastly; I will excuse anyone who is perfect; just so we are aware that I am talking to the right group.

From my youth I remember that our family always set in the very front row at church. This row included my grandfather, my grand mother, my mother and father and my three siblings. Later in life I learned why we had taken such a position.

During the early days of the old Layton 2nd ward the sacrament was passed in a a different manner than it is today. Before the days of plastic sacrament cups, before the days of paper sacrament cups, even before the days of crystal sacrament cups - which I do remember. The deacons would carry buckets down the aisles and would dip a ladle into the bucket filling the ladle with water that had been blessed. Then carefully hand the ladle to the first person on the row. The ladle would then be passed down the row, as it progressed down the row each member would take a sip. I suppose that some of the little children; and some of the real old ones would put as much back as they took out.

That was the reason why my grandfather insisted that we always be one of the first families to church; so that we could sit on the first row.

Now; while that might have been the reason why originally my grandfather encouraged us to be there early. It was not the case when I was a young boy. You see my Grandfather and Grand Mother had developed good habits from their youth. The idea that being there early fav them opportunity to prepare for the sacrament.

so from my earliest memories I was taught the purpose of this meeting - it was to partake of the sacrament. Sacrament meeting for us began at 5 pm, it was as I recall a very sacred meeting. It was different from all of the other meetings.

Growing up on a farm and in a farming community meant that the chores needed to be attended to just like the other days of the week. The reason why our sacrament meeting started so late was because you do not just change the habits of milk cows. The cows needed to be milked according to their schedule this made it a sacrifice to get the cows feed and those that had milk cows to get their herds milked in time to get to sacrament meeting by 5.

My grandfather and grandmother knew a little secret; and they were teaching me. That while you may not be able to change the fact that the chores still need to be done - you can make time to leave the cares of the day behind for a few minutes - to make the day a little different from the other 6 days of the week.

Over the years the sacrament has taken on new meanings as I have learned and grown in the gospel.

Rather than just say what the sacrament means to me I would like to share a couple of things that I have learned and how to make the sacrament have a much greater meaning in your life.

1) First; You need to sacrifice a little to learn a lot. What do I mean? Just as the farmers from the day when I was a little boy knew that they had to alter how the chores were done in order to attend sacrament meeting - we need to do the same. We need to alter our activities on the sabbath, we need time to prepare to partake of the sacrament; and we need to do that before we come to sacrament meeting.

2) Second; We live in a very noisy world; our senses are crowded with noise from every direction. Whether you recognize it or not you need to take a break from that noise. The sacrament is a good time to do that. What does that mean? It means that you do not need to read a book or a conference talk during that time, and it means that you should not allow a text or a game or anything else to distract your thoughts. It is a chance to petition the Lord; what text can you receive that has a higher priority than receiving direct personal revelation from the Lord?

We have been taught that the scriptures are an example for us. I think that there is a great deal of symbolism between what transpires in 3 Ne 11 and partaking the sacrament.

1 AND now it came to pass that there were a great multitude gathered together, [ all the people were gathered for some event, and whatever the reason for the gathering they did not know that Christ was going to appear. ] they had gathered at temple in the land Bountiful; they were marveling and wondering one with another, [ What do you suppose they were saying to each other? the  destruction over the land was not uniform.  some cities were destroyed altogether, some had escaped barely with their life. They would have come from many different locations. As such everyone wanted to get caught up on what had happened where. They would have wanted to know find out the condition of friends and family living in another place. What were they talking about? Current events - the great and marvelous change and destruction which had taken place. [ What can we draw from this? It would appear that they were gathered for a spiritual event but that they were talking more about current events. In other words they did not come spiritually prepared for what was about to happen and they almost missed it. What do you need to apply more effort to that you might be prepared for the sacrament each week? ]

We are then told they were also conversing about this Jesus Christ - well that has to be great worth then right?, [ What had they been told on the previous day?  They were taught that they needed to offer a broken heart and contrite spirit going forward.  The principle that we learn here is that they are not doing bad thing as they are conversing about Christ. They are trying to figure out what all of this means - they are having gospel discussions so to speak. A good lesson for us. That doing good things at the wrong time can lead to a less than preferred result. is there a lesson here for us? Do we allow for the spirit to speak to us during the sacrament? Or are we still creating noise?. They were discussing, they were doing other things - and while not bad things the result was that they were not listening. There is a proper place for everything. Ask yourself what can or should I be doing during the sacrament each week?

It was during this time that they heard a voice as if it came out of heaven; and they cast their eyes round about, for they understood not the voice [ Why would they not have understood the voice? Had they done what they were told to do the day before? Did they attend with a broken heart and a contrite spirit? If they did not listen and did not do as they were told then they would not be ready to hear the Lords next commands . How often does the Lord tell us to do something (or give us a prompting ) and we do not do it; so that we are not ready for what comes next.

What is the Lord prompting you to do that you are not doing?

What is the Lord prompting you to stop doing that you are continuing to do?

What do I need to do to better prepare myself for the sacrament this week?

If we like them are not used to listening to the voice we like them will not recognize it. Remember, Elijah found the voice of the Lord was not in the wind, nor in the earthquake, nor in the fire, but was a ‘still small voice.’ (1 Kgs. 19:12.) ] And what are we taught about the voice that the people of Nephi heard? “it was not a harsh voice, neither was it a loud voice; nevertheless, and notwithstanding it being a small voice it did pierce them that did hear to the center, insomuch that there was no part of their frame that it did not cause to quake; yea, it did pierce them to the very soul, and did cause their hearts to burn.” [ so what can we imply from that? The voice did not make them or force them to listen. The voice was there; It was auditory they heard it, while it was soft it was also firm and they felt it - so much so that they shook. Does the burning in their hearts then make it such that it was a spiritual experience of sort? This voice was both heard and felt - and yet they continued on their marry way. The lesson for us is that we must make an effort to try to listen for the voice; to prepare to hear it or we like them will miss it. ]

Then they heard the voice the second time, and they did not understand it. [ They hear and feel the voice again the second time - still they are not in the frame of mind to hear it. The Spirit usually does not get our attention by shouting or shaking us with a heavy hand. Rather it whispers. It caresses so gently that if we are preoccupied with anything - it does not matter with what - we may not feel it at all.“Occasionally it will press just firmly enough for us to pay heed. But most of the time, if we do not heed the gentle feeling, the Spirit will withdraw” (“The Candle of the Lord,” Ensign, Jan. 1983, 53). ]

Once again they heard the voice [ What was different about the third time? They opened their ears - It is not until they stop talking and take an active role to listen, and look up into heaven that they see Christ.  ] This time is different; this time they hear the voice, or rather they pay attention to it. Because we are told that they did open their ears to hear it; and their eyes were towards the sound and they did look steadfastly towards heaven, from whence the sound came. [ There is one thing that they did differently the third time they turned toward the voice; they acknowledged it. Is there symbolism there for us in the fact that they used their eyes to look toward the direction of the voice. Is it because they did something on their part.

so we might ask ourselves what do I need to do to take a more active part in the sacrament?

It was when they tuned in the third time they heard these words:

“7 Behold my Beloved son, in whom I am well pleased, in whom I have glorified my name—hear ye him.” [ What is it that the voice wanted to teach them? The answer is found in verse 11. The message is this: that the Savior said he accepted Heavenly Fathers plan in the pre-mortal world and that he would offer himself to be the one to make it all possible. He was part of the creation of the world. He lived a perfect life as he was asked to do in order to make it possible to take upon himself the sins of the world and work out the atonement. He submitted to the Fathers will in all things - including giving up his life as part of the atonement. He accepted the responsibility to judge us - removing that burden from our Father in Heaven. ]

Wouldn’t it be great if we could personally hear those principles taught to us each week? Would it not give us more strength as we go into the world? Is this not the reason that we gather each week? Is this not what we are to remember as we prepare and partake of the sacrament and renew our covenants with our Father in Heaven week? We like the people of Nephi need to change; to do things differently; we need to do as they learned the third time they heard the voice - we need to turn toward the voice.

And what does the Sacrament teach us about repentance? First have you noticed that the prayer must be given perfectly - that is the standard. So it is the standard for us and our lives - we are to be perfect - that is the goal.

What happens when the prayer is not given perfectly? It is done over; and the process is revisited until it is done perfectly. There is no open shaming brought upon the priest who is trying to do his best in administering the prayer. But the standard is not changed because the priest made a mistake. The prayer needs to be perfect, and so the process is repeated until it is perfect. What does that teach us of the atonement?

What role does the Bishop play in the process? His role is to make sure that the prayer is delivered correctly. Have you ever noticed that even when another is presiding over the meeting; the responsibility to see that the prayer is done correctly is still left to the Bishop. The Bishop is the common judge for the members in the ward, you see how we are taught with great symbolism each week if we will turn toward the voice.

Now I will readily admit that I do not understand all of the complexities of how the atonement works. I do know this - that is does work - I have seen it’s effects over and over again in your lives, and in my life.

At this point in my life I suppose that I have a strategic advantage from many of you. I have the opportunity to sit with you; to council with you; to understand your heartaches, your challenges, to discuss your individual weaknesses - and then to see the atonement absolve them, remove them from your lives.

I get to see those who have strayed for a time return and partake of the sacrament once again. I get to see the light in your eyes as I see you partake of the sacrament again many for the first time in what for them has been a long journey. So when you see me weeping on the stand it is because of the knowledge that I have in the plan of redemption. It is that sure knowledge that God is happy with you; that knowledge that you are on the right path.

I do know that God does live - that he is a working God, and I am confident that if he had the knowledge to create us and the world upon which we live then he certainly has the knowledge to work out the logistics to remove our sins. I pray that you might re-evaluate how you participate in the sacrament. That you will take a few moments to reflect on what you can do better to prepare and participate in the sacrament.