A Time of Communion, by President David O. McKay
Uplifting thoughts from a prophet of God relating to communion, meditation, and the Sacrament, presented at the dedication of the Federal Heights Chapel in Salt Lake City on June 30, 1963.
The greatest comfort in this life is the assurance of having a close relationship with God. “Consciousness of God is the highest achievement in human experience, and is the supreme goal of human life. This is true religion. It is a mental, spiritual experience of the highest order.” Many of you to whom I am speaking this afternoon know what that experience is.
A house of worship, such as this one, furnishes us with an opportunity to commune with one’s self and to commune with the Lord, especially during the Sacrament period. This day we turn it over to Him. You may rest assured that He will be here to inspire us if we come in proper attune to meet Him. We are not prepared to meet Him if we bring into this room our thoughts regarding our business affairs, and especially if we bring into the house of worship feelings of hatred toward our neighbors, or enmity and jealousy toward the Authorities of the Church. Most certainly no individual can hope to come into communion with the Father if that individual entertains any such feelings. They are so foreign to worship and so foreign, particularly, to the partaking of the Sacrament.
I think we pay too little attention to the value of meditation, a principle of devotion. In our worship there are two elements: one is spiritual communion arising from our own dedication; the other is instruction from others, particularly from those who have authority to guide and instruct us. Of the two, the more profitable, introspectively, is the meditation. Meditation is the language of the soul. It is defined as a ‘form of private devotion, or spiritual exercise, consisting in deep, continued reflection of some religious theme’. Meditation is a form of prayer. We can say prayers without having any spiritual response. We can say prayers as the unrighteous king in Hamlet who said, “My words fly up, my thoughts remain below, words without thoughts never to heaven go.”
The poet, contrasting the outward form of worship and the prayer of the soul, said,
. The Power, incensed, the deseret,
. The pompous strain, the sacerdotal stole;
. But haply in some cottage far apart,
. May hear, well-pleased, the language of the soul.
. And in His Book of Life the inmates poor enroll.
. (Burns, “The Cotter’s Saturday Night”)
Meditation is one of the most secret, most sacred doors through which we pass into the presence of the Lord. Jesus set the example for us. As soon as He was baptized and received the Father’s approval, “This is my Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased”, Jesus retired to what is now known as the Mount of Temptation, where, during the forty days of fasting, He communed with Himself and His Father and contemplated upon the responsibilities of His great mission. One result of this spiritual communion was such strength as enabled Him to say to the tempter: “Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.” (Matthew 4:10) Before He gave to the Twelve the beautiful sermon on the mount, He was in solitude, in communion. He did the same thing after that busy Sabbath day, when He arose early in the morning, after having been the guest of Peter. Peter undoubtedly found the guest chamber empty, and when they sought Him they found Him alone. It was on that morning that Peter said, “All men seek for thee.” (Mark 1:37) And again, after Jesus had fed the 5000 He told the Twelve to dismiss the multitude, but Jesus went to the mountain for solitude, the historian says, “when the evening was come, He was there alone.” (Matthew 14:23) Meditation! Prayer!
I once read a book written by a very wise man, whose name I cannot now recall, which contained a significant chapter on prayer. The author was not a member of the Church, but evidently had a desire to keep in close communion with God, and he wanted to find the truth. Among other things, he said in substance, “In secret prayer go into the room, close the door, pull down the shades, and kneel in the center of the room. For a period of five minutes or so, say nothing. Just think of what God has done for you, of what re your greatest spiritual and temporal needs. When you sense that, and sense His presence, then pour out your soul to Him in thanksgiving.” I believe the short period of administering the sacrament is one of the best opportunities we have for such meditation, and there should be nothing during that sacred period to distract our attention from the purpose of that ordinance.
One of the most impressive services I have ever attended was in a group of over 800 people to whom the sacrament was administered, and during that administration not a sound could be heard, excepting the ticking of the clock — 800 souls, each of whom at least had the opportunity of communion with the Lord. There was no distraction, no orchestra, no singing, no speaking. Each one had an opportunity to search himself introspectively and to consider his worthiness to partake of the sacrament. His was the privilege of getting closer to His Father in Heaven. That is the ideal! We recommend that we surround this sacred ordinance with more reverence, with perfect order; that each one who comes to the house of God may meditate upon his goodness, and silently and prayerfully express appreciation for God’s goodness. Let the sacrament hour be one experience of the day in which the worshiper tries at least to realize within himself that it is possible for him to commune with his God.
Great events have happened in this Church because of such communion, because of the responsiveness of the soul to the inspiration of the Almighty. I know it is real. You will find that when these most inspirational moments come to you, you are alone with yourself and your God. They come to you probably when you are facing a great trial, when a wall is across your pathway, and it seems that you are facing an insurmountable obstacle, or when your heart is heavy because of some tragedy in your life. I repeat, the greatest comfort that can come to us in this life is to sense the realization of communion with God. Great testimonies have come in those moments. It is just such an experience as that which came to my father in the north of Scotland when, as I have told some of you before, he prayed to God to remove from him a spirit of gloom and despondency that overwhelmed him. After a night of worry and restlessness, he arose at daylight and repaired to a cave on the shore of the North Sea. He had been there before in prayer. There he poured out his soul to God as a son would appeal to his father. The answer came: “Testify that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God!” The cause of his discouragement flashing upon his mind, he said aloud, “Lord, it is enough!” Those who knew my father could testify as to his integrity and his honesty. A testimony of that kind has 100% value.
These secret prayers, these conscientious moments in mediation, these yearnings of the soul to reach out to feel the presence of God — such is your privilege. I know that some of you are saying to yourselves, “Music helps to intensify that feeling of communion.” When you stop to consider the matter, you realize that there is nothing during the administration of the sacrament of an extraneous nature so important as remembering our Lord and Savior, nothing so worthy of attention as considering the value of the promise we are making. Why should anything distract us? Is there anything more sublime? We are witnessing there, in the presence of one another, and before Him, our Father, that we are willing to take upon ourselves the name of Christ, that we will always remember Him, always, that we will keep His commandments that He has given us. Can you, can anybody living, who thinks for a moment, place before us anything which is more sacred or more far-reaching in our lives? If we partake of it mechanically, we are not honest, or let us say, we are permitting our thoughts to be distracted from a very sacred ordinance.
I was speaking recently to one man about this. He said, “Oh, but the beautiful music of the choir helps us to concentrate.” Concentrate on what? The more beautiful the music, the more your attention is attracted to it, to the player, or to the composer. If it is beautiful music poorly played, then the discord distracts your attention. Have that music in preparation up to the moment, yes, but when the prayer is said, and that young priest speaks for us, as he does, then remember that we are placing ourselves under covenant. It will be ideal if, during the fifteen minutes of the sacrament service, every man, woman, and child will think as best as he or she can of the significance of that sacred ordinance. But the lesson I wish to leave today is — Let us make that sacrament hour one of the most impressive means of coming in contact with God’s spirit. Let the Holy Ghost, to which we are entitled, lead us into His presence, and may we sense that nearness, and have a prayer offered in our hearts which he will hear.
My thought is partially expressed by Edwin Markham in the following lines:
. “The builder who first bridged Niagara’s gorge,
. Before he swung his cable, shore to shore,
. Sent out across the gulf his venturing kite
. Bearing a slender cord for unseen hands
. To grasp upon the further cliff and draw
. A greater cord, and then a greater yet;
. Till at last across the chasm swung
. The cable — then the might bridge in air!
. So we may send our little timid thought
. Across the void, out to God’s reaching hands —
. Send out our love and faith to thread the deep —
. Thought after thought until the little cord
. Has greatened to a chain no chance can break
. And we are anchored to the Infinite!
God help us, brothers and sisters, so to live that we may sense the reality of being able to have this close relationship, as I bear you my testimony today it is real; that we can commune with our Father in Heaven, and if we so live to be worthy of the companionship of the Holy Spirit, He will guide us into all truth; He will show us things to come; He will bring all things to our rememberance; He will testify of the divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ, as I do today, and of the restoration of the Gospel, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
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