Audience: Culpeper Ward
Location: Culpeper, Virginia, United States of America
Date: 15 October 2023
Introduce Myself and the Topic
Good afternoon brothers and sisters. For those of you that don’t know me, my name is David Mitchell. I am here today to speak on assignment as a Stake High Councilor. I am happy to see familiar faces and I hope to be better acquainted with those of you who I do not know yet.
Allow me to briefly introduce myself. I have lived in the Massaponax ward for about 11 years. I live with my wife Rachael, and with 5 of our 6 children. I have 5 sons from the age of 24 to 11. And our daughter is 5. My wife and I grew up in northern Virginia and met in middle school. Since being married, we have lived in West Virginia and Alabama, and now back in Virginia.
The subject of my talk today comes as an assignment from President Genho. He has asked for the High Council to speak about Reverence in the month of October. I don’t think the intention is for me to give an academic talk about what reverence is; but, I think the intention is for me to address ways we can better show our reverence. How we can better act reverently.
I think it does help to discuss for just a moment the meaning of the word. Of course reverence is a derivative of the word “revere”. And the Latin root “revereri” means “to stand in awe”. We often think of synonyms such as respect and honor. I think in the religious sense we would define it as a profound respect and love for the Savior. Showing reverence and being reverent is how we express our awe and love to Our Heavenly Father and to Jesus Christ.
For the bulk of my talk I plan to speak on a slightly different concept, and then tie it together with reverence. I want to speak about Worship.
What is Worship?
A question I have pondered while preparing for this talk is: how do Latter-day Saints worship?
And of course I have pondered, how do I worship?
As I speak today, I hope you also ask yourself that question as well. How do you worship? Hopefully the thoughts I share will allow the Spirit to prompt you on perhaps how you can also improve. I’ll be curious to hear thoughts you have that I didn’t speak on as well.
I think a lot of other religions have more obvious answers to this question than we do. And maybe we can learn a few principles about worship if we examine others.
Ramadan
I once had a conversation with a Muslim co-worker years ago during Ramadan. I was curious to learn more about it and he was very excited to share. For him, it was much more than fasting during the day for a month. Breaking the fast in the evening was a time to be with family and to worship together. He told me each week the focused on a different principle such as humility and charity. In fact, Muslims are encouraged to be more charitable during Ramadan. They are also encouraged to pray more and to study their scriptures. Many make it a goal to re-read the entire Quran during that month. He was telling me it was all designed to elevate you. To help you focus on becoming a better person and closer to God.
I had a very different conversation with a different Muslim much more recently. He was very jaded about all religions. In talking about Ramadan, and the daily prayers, and all the different rituals different religions have he wondered why people aren’t better. He said people go through all these motions to supposedly be better, but as soon as they finish they go back to their lives unchanged. Bad people continue to be bad people.
I have often thought about those two very different views. The first one worshiped. The second one observed people performing ritual and nothing more.
I think we can apply this to our own religious observance. Is our church attendance little more than a ritualistic routine? Or do we come to church with the intent that we will change and be a better person? I would like to set this a defining characteristic of worship: true worship involves repentance.
St. Patrick’s Cathedral
Other experiences I have with other religion’s worship is going to Cathedrals. In mid-town Manhattan, only about a 10 minute walk from the insane bustle of Times Square sits St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Once you step in, there is a sudden quiet. You can hear squeaking tennis shoes a hundred feet away. At one end are people kneeling as they light candles and offering a prayer, the wafting smoke representing their prayer being carried up to heaven. A cathedral is designed to capture all your senses. From the acoustics, to the stained glass lighting, to the smell of incense, everything is designed to draw you heavenward.
Our temples are also designed to bring your mind towards God. In the temple, there is also a quiet reverence. A second defining characteristic of worship is: true worship will draw us closer to God.
Should we treat our chapels the same? Our meeting houses are interesting places. On a Wednesday it’s a basketball court. On a Saturday it could be a dance hall with loud music for a bunch of rambunctious teenagers. I think we sometimes forget that on Sunday it is not those things, but it is a house of worship. We need to approach the chapel on Sunday with a different mind set than we do the other days of the week. And we need to help our children learn the difference as well. Sunday is not a day we when we find a ball we start to play with it in the cultural hall. It is not a day we run through the halls.
A comment I have heard a few times after bringing friends to church is they are shocked by how loud we are in our chapels. Over the years I’ve had mixed feelings about that. Sometimes, hearing the friendliness and the fellowship we have with each other feels beautiful. The friendly chatter makes it feel like a family. But other times, when I’ve come to church with spiritual needs, and I’ve wanted to sit and hear the prelude music, and find some peace, the chatter is very disruptive.
In other church buildings, the front part of the chapel, where the altar is and where the priest sits is called the Sanctuary. I think that name helps those who enter treat it more reverently. But, we also have the Sacrament table where we perform a sacred ordinance and make sacred covenants.
Evangelicals
Another experience I’ve had with another church is when I was a teenager and a friend invited me to their non-denominational evangelical worship service. There was a band, with a thumping drum. The preacher was charismatic and earnest. Lots of young people packed in I guess would otherwise be a store front. Hands raised, eyes to the sky, swaying, and losing themselves in the moment. There were shouts of joy. There were tears. They were praising God.
Now, I just stood there. And to be honest I was judging them. Even as a teenager I could feel the difference between the still small voice of the Holy Ghost and what I felt was a contrived counterfeit. But I do wonder if I judged them too harshly. The friends that invited me were sincere. Their desire to connect with God was real. And they expressed a praise for God and a great joy that in our church we are much more subdued about. Perhaps our testimonies could use a bit more praise and joy in them.
But, my third defining characteristic of worship is: true worship invites the Holy Ghost.
Latter-day Saint Worship
To recap, my observations of other religions’ worship led me to three characteristics of worship that I think we can apply to our worship.
- True worship leads to repentance.
- True worship brings us closer to God.
- True worship invites the Holy Ghost.
So, back to how do Latter-day Saints worship? Have you been prompted with ideas? And how do we keep it from becoming a ritualistic routine? In preparing this talk, here are a few things I want to make sure I do. Some are things I think I already do OK with, others I know I could improve:
- When I read my scriptures, don’t just do it academically, but while reading, look for what they say about how I need to repent.
- When I go to Sunday School, have that same attitude. If the Spirit is there, then it is probably prompting me how I can change.
- When I am getting ready to attend church, ask myself, how am I showing God my deep awe and love for Him. How am I worshiping Him today?
- While I take the Sacrament I can prayerfully express my praise and joy and humbly give my gratitude for the Savior and for His atoning sacrifice for me.
- My prayers can be more sincere and more praising and worshipful.
Conclusion
So, my assigned topic for this talk was Reverence, and instead I have mostly spoken about Worship. I believe the two go hand in hand though. If our intent when going to church is to primarily worship God, then I think we will naturally come to church more reverently. With that intent, I believe our experiences at church will be more spiritual and meaningful.
I would encourage you to sit in family councils and discuss how you can approach church more reverently.
[Perhaps mention councils in the Ward. Ward Teacher Council, EQ, RS, classes and quorums, primary, etc.]
I conclude with sharing my testimony. I know that Our Heavenly Father loves us. He wants to bless us and he wants us to have joy. I know that He sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to overcome this broken world and to overcome each of our broken lives. I know that through the atoning sacrifice of our Savior that we are redeemed and can return to live with Our Father in Heaven forever. I believe that God the Father and Jesus Christ deserve our worship. We should give praise and thanksgiving to our Savior daily. I believe we should give Him our reverence.
I say these things….