Greetings and blessings to you my friends wherever you might be in your journey. Thank you for your At-ONE-Ment in reading this blog and your e-mails and comments.
A common refrain from many members of the church is that church is so boring. In a post-correlation church, there is often little room to maneuver or freedom to share in a church meeting. On the surface this can be an annoyance in the least, and at worst it can even become a trigger for many to drop out of church activity. However, it is not uncommon to hear that church is boring with regards to other churches of differing faiths. In fact, the image of an individual falling asleep in any church because of the "same-old" dull sermon has become nearly ubiquitous. As a result, many congregations of other faith traditions have adapted and turned their worship services into something akin to a rock concert. Many members of our own church would not mind a loosening up on traditional restrictions in Sacrament Meetings. Sometimes known as the Gladys Knight Effect, some LDS congregations are allowing some gospel(ish) choir components to be a part of their services. While Millennial Mormonism Today welcomes this wholeheartedly, I would remind the reader that being bored in a Sacrament Meeting has profound and deep symbolism that can assist you in your millennial journey.
As a child being born and raised in the church, I've been through my share of dull meetings. While today, many cope by using the latest technology, one thing that I enjoyed doing was to look at the maps in the back of my scriptures. For some reason, those maps were always interesting to me. My favorite map (you won't be surprised) was the one that showed the route the ancient children of Israel took in their exodus out of Egypt into the promised land. The route was marked by red arrows leading out of Egypt into the desert wilderness. The portion of the journey that always stuck in my head was the circular course that characterized their "wandering in the wilderness for 40 years." I always wondered why they had to walk around in circles for 40 years when the promised land was so close! Why would God do that to them? They must have seen the same mountains and desert brush over and over again. The same rocks and sand over and over again. A contemporary analogy today would be a plane circling the airport until it can come in for a landing. A holding pattern.
It is typical that most members of the church will identify the cause of the children of Israel's "wilderness holding pattern" as a punishment from God because they worshipped a golden calf. This uber-literalist Nicodemus interpretation is acceptable to most. However, Millennial Mormons see deeper levels of meaning. The worshipping of the calf was merely a symptom of a deeper problem. The ancient Children of Israel refused to have a personal and one-on-one relationship with God. The evidence for this can be found in my previous post Let the Journey Begin Part 1 (the relevant scriptures are Exodus 20:19 and D&C 84:23-27 if you are interested). As a result, God gives his children what they want and they subsequently have Moses as an intermediary and are given strict laws and commandments to follow. This refusal to have a personal relationship with God, not living by personal revelation, and wanting a prophet to speak on their behalf is played out today in the church and as a result, history has repeated itself. Many members of the church have no idea that they are wandering in the wilderness and thus they will continue to wander in the wilderness for 40 years until they wake up. The number 40, of course, is symbolic of any period or length of time that is for cleansing, preparation and generating conscious awareness. Nicodemus Mormons will see 40 years as just, 40 years. "40 years" can be any length of time and it is more important to pay attention to the symbolism of the number 40. The reader may want to think of other examples of the number 40 in the scriptures to help them understand the symbolism.
So, as you "meet together oft" each Sunday for 3 hours and have the same correlated lessons week after week after week, then you can understand perhaps what God is trying to teach you on a deeper level. It is supposed to be that way for you because that is where you are at in your life. The REPETITION of talks and lessons is reminiscent of the meaning of the word Deuteronomy. Once Priesthood Correlation was put into effect, we became a deuteronomic people. Interestingly, there is some evidence of prophetic concern on the part of Pres. David O. McKay and his counselor Hugh B. Brown that the expanding Priesthood Correlation Committee could have a stifling effect on the church. However, it is what the people needed at the time and apparently it is still what the church needs today. While we have it, we can recognize it as a deep symbol of wandering in an external wilderness for 40 years.
Another symbol of wilderness wandering is that the Sacrament Meeting is usually presided over by the bishop of the ward and the ordinance of the sacrament is attended to by the lesser priesthood. There are numerous members of the church that think that the office of bishop is within the Melchizedek priesthood. This is not true. A bishop is an office in the Aaronic priesthood. This is critical and important evidence that the congregation is wandering in a desert wilderness. The bishop is a common judge in Israel and is tied to the structure and hierarchy associated with Moses and the children of Israel. The Aaronic priesthood itself is inseparably connected to the world of the law and the prophets or the Telestial world. The Aaronic Priesthood or Levitical Priesthood is the PREPARATORY GOSPEL. A friend of mine pointed out that a careful reading of the D&C will show that the elders of the Melchizedek priesthood are actually to administer the sacrament and priests are only to do it if there are no elders present.
"The priest’s duty is to preach, teach, expound, exhort, and baptize, and administer the sacrament" (D&C 20:46). However, verse 50 states that the priest, "when there is an elder present, he is only to preach, teach, expound, exhort, and baptize" (D&C 20:50). Administering the sacrament is deliberately left out and appears to be the sole duty of the elders when elders are present! The symbolism perhaps is that though there are probably many with the Melchizedek priesthood in the congregation they still may not be "present" for a variety of reasons that the reader should ponder not the least of which is that they are not consciously aware and have not yet woke up. In addition, D&C 20:58 says: "But neither teachers nor deacons have authority to baptize, administer the sacrament, or lay on hands."
Because many members of the church are in a state of preparation and wandering in the wilderness for 40 years, it is fitting and appropriate for the time being that the sacrament should be presided over by the Aaronic priesthood which is to administer over temporal, external and outward activities. It seems that most of the church perhaps is in the Nicodemus stage of their journey so this would make perfect sense. The living prophet of course has the power to generate current policy for the church and thus the Aaronic Priesthood is left to administer the sacrament today. If most of the church were in a Millennial phase of their journey we would see a different meeting. Perhaps you will witness a new day when the sacrament will look much more like the ordinance that Jesus, The Nephites and Joseph Smith instituted. For now, Millennial Mormons will concern themselves with the internal sacrament more than the external sacrament.
Another important symbol that the church as a whole is wandering in the wilderness (for 40 years) is the actual sacramental emblems themselves. JST Genesis 14:18-19 states: "And Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought forth bread and wine; and he break bread and blest it; and he blest the wine, he being the priest of the most high God, And he gave to Abram, and he blessed him, and said, Blessed Abram, thou art a man of the most high God, Possessor of heaven and of earth;"
As most members of the church know, wine was used by Melchizedek, Jesus Christ and his Apostles in Jerusalem, the Nephites in the Book of Mormon, and in the early history of the Mormon church. When the Church moved West, and later at around the time of the prohibition movement, obedience to the Word of Wisdom's restricitons became little by litte the new policy, and water completely replaced the wine. In many ways it is an example of a reversal of the miracle Jesus performed by turning water into wine. While most members of the church today will see nothing significant about that, for Millennial Mormons, the symbolism is profound and evident. Today in the church there continues to be a mythology spread that the "wine" that was used by Jesus and Joseph Smith was pure grape juice. This of course is not true. The accusations of being a "winebibber" against Jesus Christ and Joseph Smith would hardly carry any significance and would be folly if the wine was merely grape juice. However, in some instances grape juice has been used for the sacrament in the past, as well as actual wine. The symbolism of moving from wine to grape juice to water is significant. A friend of mine suggests that this is symbolic of the "watered down" spirituality of many members of the church. He also said that the small "crumb of bread" contrasts sharply to many examples in the scriptures where the physical and spiritual bread completely filled the individual. Do you see the symbolism for yourself dear reader? Many members of the church today are certainly not being filled physically by the Sacrament nor spiritually in many instances, as portrayed in our current Sacrament Meeting. Thus, as a result, they may say it is dull or boring.
Another symbol that Nicodemus Mormons are wandering in the wilderness for 40 years (which tends to be dull and boring) is the physical surroundings within the chapel itself and certain policies related to sacrament meeting talks. In the chapel you will find absolutely no artwork and typically it is not ornate in the least. The walls are typically made of concrete cinder blocks. The concrete mixture to produce the blocks are made of SAND or very fine gravel. Thus a person in the chapel could be said to be surrounded by sand! Sounds like a desert to me! (Hmmmm. Also, isn't there a primary song that talks about sand????)
While visual aids are strictly forbidden to be used in conjunction with talks from the pulpit in a sacrament meeting, and there is no artwork hanging on the walls within the chapel itself, one thing that does hang on the wall is a clock. Most Nicodemus Mormons will simply see it as merely just a literal clock. However, Millennial Mormons will see this as a symbol of the Telestial and that we are immersed in time and space rather than transcending time and space into eternity. In a dull or boring meeting, the clock will serve as a "constant reminder" that you are not consciously awake and that you are still wandering in the wilderness for 40 years. Perhaps the clock should have an alarm on it to wake Adam (Spirit) from "his" deep sleep. Perhaps the alarm could be a voice that would call to Adam. What would the voice say dear reader?
President Henry B. Eyring tells an interesting story in his book "To Draw Closer to God". He shares an incident when he was at a sacrament meeting with his father and they listened to a High Counsel speaker who young Henry considered to be DRY (like a desert) and dull. Young Henry was perplexed because during the same talk he noticed his father's face "beaming". His father, one of the greatest LDS scientists of all time, told his son that from the time that he was a young man, when he listened to a speaker at church, he would listen carefully to the speaker and what he or she was intending to talk about and then he would help the speaker by giving himself an additional sermon internally. What a great example of creating an internal millennium within oneself! President Eyring then concludes this treasured story with his father finally saying to him: "Hal, since then I have never been to a bad meeting." (Henry B. Eyring, To Draw Closer To God, page 23).
While many disaffected Mormons feel that they have no power or say in how the church operates, Millennial Mormons see clearly that the church is always recreating itself and changing. The change is tied to the prayer in the hearts of the collective membership. God knows what His children need and desire before and/or without any of his children themselves knowing what they need or desire. If we choose to avoid being sanctified and having a personal relationship with God and want instead "Moses" to speak on our behalf, we are granted our request. As a result, we will follow the prophet in the wilderness for 40 years. Why is church SO boring and dull? Because we are internally boring and dull! Once we choose to create an internal millennium we will see things differently and there will be no such thing as a boring, dull or bad meeting. As more and more members of the church move from being Nicodemus Mormons to Millennial Mormons, God will reveal this secret to his servants the prophets and the church will once again re-create itself as it has many times before. Let those who have ears, let them hear what the symbolism means for themselves.
Take care my friends. I hope your Sunday meetings are millennial both internally and externally.
Keep it millennial until next time!
