Sunday, October 16, 2011

Reverence in Every Aspect

This talk was given in Lake Arrowhead Ward this morning.


Brothers and sisters, I am very thankful to meet with you today. It is always a pleasure to come up for some fresh air. It is also a privilege to join you here in worshiping our Heavenly Father.
I bring you love and greetings from Pres. Garvin and his counselors. They do love you. They pray for you, and they want the best for each of you. We are grateful for the service, both seen and unseen, that you render to your fellow saints and to your community.
I pray that the Spirit of the Lord may continue to attend us so that we may commune with each other as the Lord intends.

We live in a world that grows increasingly noisy. As the standards of the world become more lax, the noise increases. Like it or not, we all listen to rap and many other offensive noises. As the volume goes up, so does confusion and contention.
We can appreciate Elijah’s experience. He felt a great wind, an earthquake, and fire (sounds a little like San Bernardino, doesn’t it?), and the Lord was not in them. And after the fire there was a still small voice, and Elijah noted the contrast (see 1 Ki. 19:9-12).
Through all the noise and static, the still small voice of the Spirit is still present, softly requesting our attention. It calls to mind a good blues song, called “God trying to get your attention.” The Spirit can be heard if we will learn to filter out the background noise. But we can’t just go into Radio Shack and buy a spiritual Dolby unit to reduce the noise. We must develop our own spiritual rectifiers to reduce the static and the background hiss of the world.
The Lord has commanded his servants to stand in holy places that we may be able to withstand the evils of our day. How do we do this? We can’t just hide in the chapel or in the temple. We still have to live our lives; we still have to get out into the world.
It all starts with reverence. What is reverence? How will it help us? In Primary we sing:
“Reverence is more than just quietly sitting:
It’s thinking of Father above,
A feeling I get when I think of his blessings.
I’m reverent, for reverence is love.

When I’m reverent, it shows in my words and my deeds.
The pathway to follow is clear.
And when I am reverent, I know in my heart
Heavenly Father and Jesus are near.”

Reverence is a profound respect mingled with love. It is a feeling of awe, respect, honor and godly fear. Howard W. Hunter said that reverence is the atmosphere of heaven.
David O. McKay spoke frequently of reverence. He said that the greatest manifestation of spirituality is reverence. He also said: “Reverence is profound respect mingled with love. It is a ‘complex emotion made up of mingled feelings of the soul.’ … Reverence embraces regard, deference, honor and esteem. … Reverence is the fundamental virtue of religion. It is one of the signs of strength; irreverence, one of the surest indications of weakness. ‘No man will rise high,’ says one man, ‘who jeers at sacred things.’”
Reverence is an outward manifestation of our inward commitment to our Heavenly Father. It makes God the center of our lives, and it will ultimately lead us back into His presence.
I have felt reverence in many places. I feel reverence when I listen to Beethoven’s 9th Symphony. I felt a reverent awe the first time I stood atop Mt. Whitney. I felt reverent the first time I extracted DNA in a science lab. I felt a profound reverence when I held a human brain in anatomy lab. I felt reverent when I visited St. Peter’s in Rome. I felt a reverence as I looked at Gutenberg’s Bible. I have felt a special reverence as I held each of our children for the first time. I feel reverence every time I visit the grave of our little son in Salt Lake City, and an increased reverence as I look about that cemetery and see the graves of the Apostles and Prophets. I feel a special reverence each time I enter the sacred doors of the temple and leave my worldly cares outside. And most of the time, I feel reverent when I enter our beautiful chapels.
But true reverence doesn’t come from a place or a thing. It must come from within. It is something that we can cultivate and develop. And reverence, like all other virtues, begins in the home.
As in all things spiritual, the Savior set the example for us. When he prayed, he hallowed or blessed his Father’s name. He zealously defended the sanctity of his Father’s house. All his words and actions reflected his reverence for the Father, and for his Father’s creations.
Brothers and sisters, are we following the Savior sufficiently? Do we feel the love and respect for our Heavenly Father that Christ exemplified? Do we feel a reverence for his house, for his children, for his servants and for all his creations? I feel certain that if we did, a great change would occur in our lives. We would grow in understanding, in truth, and in love for our fellowmen, and we would truly have the Holy Ghost as our constant companion. After all, the Lord has promised great blessings to all “who shall reverence [him] in [his] house,” (D&C 109:21) but he has said that our minds will be darkened if we treat holy things lightly (see D&C 84:54).
I am mindful of the words of one of our beautiful hymns, number 132:
God is in his holy temple.
Earthly thoughts, be silent now,
While with reverence we assemble
And before his presence bow.

He is with us, now and ever,
When we call upon his name,
Aiding every good endeavor,
Guiding every upward aim.

God is in his holy temple,
In the pure and holy mind,
In the reverent heart and simple,
In the soul from sin refined.

Banish then each base emotion.
Lift us up, O Lord, to thee;
Let our souls, in pure devotion,
Temples for thy worship be.

Our primary purpose in coming here on Sunday is to obey the Lord’s commandment in Section 59:9, 10: “And that thou mayest more fully keep thyself unspotted from the world, thou shalt go to the house of prayer and offer up thy sacraments upon my holy day;
“For verily this is a day appointed unto you to rest from your labors, and to pay thy devotions unto the Most High” (D & C 59:9 - 10).

In the Handbook of Instructions, we read: “Each sacrament meeting should be a spiritual experience in which members of the Church renew their covenants by partaking of the sacrament. Other purposes of sacrament meeting are to worship, provide gospel instruction, perform ordinances, conduct ward business, and strengthen faith and testimony.” (18.2.2)
Further, we read: “Leaders set an example of reverence during the time before sacrament meeting. The bishopric and the speakers should be in their seats at least five minutes before the meeting begins. This is not a time for conversation or transmitting messages. (My commentary here: please don’t bother the Bishop or his counselors during this five minutes: let him focus on feeling the Spirit before the meeting, too!)
“Setting an example of reverence encourages the congregation to be spiritually prepared for a worshipful experience.
“Members should be taught to make the time before sacrament meeting a period of prayerful meditation as they prepare spiritually for the sacrament. The bishopric encourages families to arrive on time and to sit together.” (18.2.2)
We come here to worship our Heavenly Father and to renew our covenants with him. In Moroni 6, we read that “the church did meet together oft, to fast and to pray, and to speak one with another concerning the welfare of their souls,” that they were “nourished by the good word of God, to keep them continually watchful ...” and that the meetings were “conducted ... after the ... workings of the Spirit.” (see Mni. 6:5,4,9)
There are several key points contained in these verses. In our meetings
1. We worship the Father,
2. We renew our covenants with him,
3. We fast and pray together,
4. We speak one with another concerning the welfare of our souls,
5. We want to be spiritually nourished, and
6. Our leaders conduct the meetings as they are led by the Spirit.
Let’s examine each of these in turn.

First, we go to church to worship the Father. We come here as guests in His house, and are expected to treat this as His house. When you visit Bishop McElhaney’s house, you dress appropriately for the occasion, you don’t leave candy wrappers on the floor; you don’t leave cheerios on his couch; and you certainly wouldn’t leave a big mess in his bathroom. You would treat his home with respect, because you love and respect Bishop and Sister McElhaney. If we show our Bishop’s house that kind of respect, isn’t Heavenly Father’s house deserving of the same kind of respect, perhaps even more?
When I was trained as a veil worker in the Salt Lake Temple, President Brown told us that we should always “use our temple voices” while we were in the temple. In the Lord’s house, on the Lord’s Day, should we not “use our chapel voices”? Let us remember whose house this is as we approach the doors of the church. As we sang in Primary, “The chapel doors seem to say to me, ‘Shh, be still.’ For this is a reverent place to be.”
One of our biggest challenges with reverence is that we love each other and we are happy to see each other here each week, especially after being away for three weeks. But we should learn to greet each other quietly in the foyers, and then enter the chapel quietly. Yesterday‘s football game and other topics are best addressed outside the building.
We cannot have reverence without the proper preparation. If we are rushed and annoyed with each other as we get ready for church, we will not have the proper spirit with us as we enter these sacred walls. Thoughts of school, work and social life should be left outside. This is a special time designated for each of us to lay our burdens down and rest from them. Think of it, brothers and sisters, just three short hours out of 168 hours each week that are designated for us to stop worrying about the cares of the world. I think that very, very few of us are completely free from the cares of the world. If we will leave them out in the car, or better still, at home, we will be free to commune with our Heavenly Father and to feel His Spirit as we attend to our devotions. And hasn’t the Lord promised to help us with our burdens anyway, if we will just ask him?
President McKay spoke at length about communion with God. He said that “we go to the Lord’s house to meet him and to commune with him in Spirit.” “Each one who comes to the house of God may meditate upon his goodness and silently and prayerfully express appreciation for God’s goodness.” He said that there should be nothing in our Sacrament Meetings that distracts us from receiving inspiration from the Holy Ghost. He said that we “may rest assured that [Heavenly Father] will be there to inspire us if we come in proper attune to meet him.”
Many of you have dealt with spiritual struggles in your lives. Perhaps you are struggling now. If you haven’t yet, believe me, you will. When you face trials in your life, it is your right and privilege as a citizen in the kingdom of God to ponder and feel the spirit in the chapel. And it is our obligation as fellow citizens to allow this to happen; we may need the inspiration ourselves the following week. What a blessing it is to know that we can come before the Lord, here, in his house, and receive the guidance that is increasingly important in our lives.
Reverence invites revelation, brothers and sisters. Is there any one of us who does not feel the need for God’s guidance and strengthening hand? If we are reverent before and during Sacrament Meeting, we will receive the inspiration we need to help us in our affairs, both spiritual and temporal.
President Packer stated that “no one of us can survive in the world of today, much less in what it soon will become, without personal inspiration. The spirit of reverence can and should be evident in every organization in the Church and in the lives of every member.” He continues, “While we may not see an immediate, miraculous transformation, as surely as the Lord lives a quiet one will take place. The spiritual power in the lives of each member and in the Church will increase. The Lord will pour out His Spirit upon us more abundantly. We will be less troubled, less confused. We will find revealed answers to personal and family problems without all the counseling which we seem now to need.”
Does that give you a sense of the strength to be found in reverence? This promise comes from an Apostle of the Lord, that if we become reverent enough to receive personal revelation while we worship, over time we will be able to overcome the problems that confront us in our lives. What a wonderful blessing that would be! President Packer adds the caution that such personal revelation is not to be shared; but that if we do so, we may forfeit our right to further revelation. Let us keep sacred things sacred, brothers and sisters.
As we worship the Father, we look upward to him in humility, and realize our dependence on him. You see, reverence is not something we engage in for just three hours a week, only to resume our normal programming when we return home. Reverence should be an integral part of our lives. We should be reverent in all aspects of our lives.
Now I have not read or heard any of the brethren say that we must avoid Star Wars, or popular music, or spectator sports or any other wholesome entertainment. They have not said that we must sit with our arms folded when we are at a game. But they have said that there is a proper time and place to give our attention to these things. When we assemble in our meetings, our minds should be focused on the Father and his love for us; on the Savior and his sacrifice for us; and on the Holy Ghost and his communication to us. This is true worship, brothers and sisters. This is what will exalt and perfect us.
Reverence requires practice. I will be the first to tell you that it takes some discipline to stop thinking of a captivating tune in meetings. I have memorized Redeemer of Israel, and sometimes I have to go through all six verses in order to clear my mind of outside thoughts and earworms. But it works! When I go to the temple, I use O My Father, with the same results. The prelude music should also invite reverence.
Reverence can also strengthen the sense of unity in your ward. As we worship together, and as we pray together (please remember, saying “Amen” makes the prayer ours), and especially as we sing together, we become united in the spirit. I cannot overemphasize the importance of singing together. It doesn’t matter if you can sing well or not. Singing will bring the spirit quickly. This I know from many experiences. And I recall the words of Hymn 119, “Let those refuse to sing who never knew our God.” Don’t let yourselves be numbered in that group, brothers and sisters. Sing with us.

Second, Sacrament Meeting should be the high point of our week. Can we do anything more sacred or far-reaching in such a brief time? We should treat these few moments with the respect and reverence they deserve. Just ask anyone who has been unable to take the sacrament for a time, be it due to worthiness or poor health. The first time they partake after an absence awakens deep spiritual feelings. It should have felt special to you today.
Everything that is said or done in this meeting should serve to uplift and instruct us all. We should bear simple testimony. We should teach the doctrines of the gospel through song and spoken word. All that we say or do here should glorify the Father and the Son, and invite the Spirit. We should never give a talk or a testimony that does not speak of the Savior or the Restoration. Any negativity, speculation, lengthy confessions, intellectual posturing or other improper discussions at this pulpit are not appropriate.
And in light of recent events, I would encourage each of you never to speak negatively of another’s beliefs. It is offensive to us; it is offensive to others as well. It neither shows reverence nor invites the Spirit. The Holy Ghost cannot dwell where there is negativity or criticism.
“There is so much good in the worst of us, and so much bad in the best of us, that it behooves all of us not to talk about the rest of us.”

Third, here we fast and pray together. There is great power in this unity. I have spoken of uniting with each other in worship and song. If we feel this unity with one another and this love for each other, we will not do anything that would distract from another’s worship and meditation.
When I was a young man, President Waite of our Stake Presidency spoke on reverence and talked of the importance of staying seated in meetings. He noted in one Sacrament Meeting, over one hundred “moving violations,” as he called them. President McKay said that the Saints should realize that it is the height of rudeness to leave a meeting (including a class) before it is dismissed. President Waite’s comments have stuck with me for nearly forty years.

Fourth, we meet to look after each other’s welfare. This can best happen in a reverent setting. When a member of your Bishopric inquires about your well-being, you can feel their love and concern for you. This comes from reverence. We are also to look after each other in the same way. But it must be done reverently, and appropriately. When someone seeks counsel regarding their teeth, I prefer to step out of the chapel to give my advice.

Fifth, we meet to be spiritually nourished. In particular, those who are continually serving others need this time to recharge spiritually so that they don’t wear down. But of course we all have the need to be nourished by the good word of God. Every member who speaks in church, either by assignment or in testimony meetings, should remember his or her responsibility to speak by the Spirit and say only those things that will edify and bless the lives of those who listen.
If we have the proper degree of love and concern for our brothers and sisters, we will also be mindful of those who wish to sit quietly and commune with the Spirit before and after meetings. This is the great blessing of having a designated worship time. If I love my brother or sister, I will not intrude upon his or her sacred quiet time in Heavenly Father’s house. Such quiet times are too rare in all our lives.
Along with this, it is important to silence and set aside our electronic devices for the period that we are in meetings. I sit on a Board of Directors, and we have voted to fine members of our Board if we hear their phones during our meetings. It is disruptive to hear ringtones during sacrament meeting, and it is just plain rude to the speakers and teachers for you to be texting during your meetings. If you are bored, you have not properly prepared yourself!
When I was in dental school, I had a good friend named Mike Haynie. I love and respect this man for his wisdom and his maturity. One Sunday, we were leaving a Sacrament Meeting that seemed very ordinary, like so many others I had attended. As we walked to Sunday School, Mike came up beside me and said “wasn’t that the best Sacrament Meeting ever?”
That caught me by surprise. I still think about it, nearly twenty-five years later. The difference between Mike and me? I think that he had prepared himself to feel the Spirit, and I had prepared myself to get to church.
Now please note: Joseph Fielding Smith said “I would not like to see our people come into a meeting-house as if they were going to a funeral. I want them to come into the house smiling, happy. I want them to be able to greet their neighbors, but to do it quietly, in a proper spirit, not by shouting across a number of rows or something of that kind. . . . Yes, greet those who are there; but do it quietly and in a spirit of reverence.”

Finally, our leaders are commanded to conduct this meeting as they are led by the spirit. If we are not reverent, we may prevent them from fulfilling this divine mandate, and thus cheat ourselves in the process. I have seen many occasions in the church where the Bishop or Stake President determines to make small, but inspired changes to the program. Often we are unaware that a change was made, but a life may be touched because the Bishop received a prompting from the Spirit. Let us be careful that we don’t prevent that.
In keeping with the spirit of reverence, we should also pray for those who lead and teach us. We have been counseled to ponder and pray before general conference that the speakers will be inspired to say things that will help us to solve our problems. What a difference it would make if we took the same approach to our regular Sunday meetings!
Instead of being critical of a teacher who is struggling, or a speaker who is rambling, or even worse, boring, shouldn’t we pray for them instead? I don’t know how many members pray for the High Councilors to give better talks, but I do. And I testify to you that I do feel the Lord’s direction as I prepare to speak each month.
We have the promise from the Lord that Zion and her stakes will be a place of refuge and protection from the evils of the world. As members of the San Bernardino California Stake of Zion, we have the right and the obligation to call upon God for his protection. I pray that we will have the faith and courage to do so.
In addition, I believe that it is our reverence that will help to protect our chapels and temples during these turbulent times. Time does not allow me to share stories of this, but please be assured, my brothers and sisters, that the Lord and his angels are watching over and protecting these sacred precincts.
Our homes should also be places of reverence. They should be places of refuge from the world, where we can feel safe and protected. Within the walls of our homes, the gospel is studied, personal and family prayers are said, and eternal family relationships are nurtured. This alone should make our homes the most sacred places on earth. Do our attitudes at home encourage our children and grandchildren to feel reverent and safe?
Of course, there are many things that are permissible in the home which we would not do at church. However, we can still make our homes a place where the Spirit of the Lord can dwell.
Indeed, if we cultivate a spirit of reverence, anywhere we stand can be a holy place.
Brothers and sisters, reverence is a very personal, individual matter. Each of us can make a difference, from the newest member to the Bishop. We can all affect the reverence in our wards.
Now let me return for a moment to our electronic companions. They seem to capture too much of our attention. They create a background noise that can drown out the still, small voice of the Spirit. That is something we cannot afford. It has never been more important to create a daily “quiet time” in which we set aside our cell phones, iPods, computers, and other devices and log on to the celestial web in order to hear the voice of the Spirit.
That quiet time is vital to our well-being as we study and ponder the Scriptures and commune with Heavenly Father in prayer. We cannot afford to be distracted from this. We all need the strength that comes from daily introspection, and we can’t get it any other way. If we fail to do so, we will not have the ability to withstand the increasingly negative influences of the world. Will you please make it a priority in your lives? I promise that if you do, you will experience great blessings in your lives, including an increased power to recognize and resist temptation and evil influences.

The Primary children sing a song (some of you may remember it) that we should all keep in mind:
“It shouldn’t be hard to sit very still
And think about Jesus, his cross on the hill,
And all that he suffered and did for me;
It shouldn’t be hard to sit quietly.

“I think of the miles he walked in the dust,
And children he helped to love and to trust;
It shouldn’t be hard to sit tall in my seat,
To listen politely, to quiet my feet.

“It shouldn’t be hard, even though I am small,
To think about Jesus, not hard at all.”

If our little ones can sit quietly, so can we.

I pray that we may be more reverent. I pray that our conduct will reflect our commitment to Heavenly Father and his plan, for reverence does come from within, and our reverence reveals what is in our hearts. It must disappoint Father at times to see how his children treat his house.
I testify that our Heavenly Father lives. He loves every one of his children with a perfect love. Considering what he has promised us, he asks for very little in return. Obeying his commandments is all he requires. Jesus Christ is his Son. He is our Savior. He made it possible for us to live again with our Father in Heaven, if we will follow his plan.
Of this I testify, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.