As a Stake Presidency, we have felt the spirit invite us to make the following changes and invitation to elevate and enhance our reverence, our worship, and our qualifying to receive the rich blessings the Lord desires to give to us.
- Families are encouraged to come 10-15 minutes before the meeting begins. We invite parents to have a family prayer, discuss questions or needs their children have, and help prepare a focus and reverence before entering the building.
- Invite every member to use “temple voices” (whisper) in the Chapel. This will require that parents teach and instruct their children in FHE and through their example.
- The Bishopric should be seated on the stand 10 minutes before the meeting begins. The Bishop is responsible for this most sacred meeting and ordinance. Announcements should be minimal and not distract from the spirit of the prelude preparation of the meeting. Meetings should not be over programmed. Music should be approved and appropriate. In all ways this meeting is to be conducted “after the manner of the workings of the spirit and by the power of the Holy Ghost” (Moroni 6:9)
- Prelude Music should be started 10 minutes before the meeting begins to invite the spirit and reverence symbolic of the temple.
- The Aaronic Priesthood should have the Sacrament table and emblems prepared 10 minutes before the meeting begins. The Aaronic Priesthood is responsible to ensure the chapel is clean and prepared for the Sacrament service (role of the Levitical/Aaronic Priesthood). Aaronic Priesthood should wear white shirts, ties and dress cloths/shoes when administering and passing the Sacrament. Hair styles or anything worldly should not distract from the sacred ordinance of the sacrament.
- Parents have the responsibility to meet the needs of their little children in relation to food and care in the chapel. We encourage parents to avoid bringing food into the Chapel if possible. Every family is responsible to clean up their area at the end of the meeting to make it clean and orderly for the next ward.
- Parents with small children should plan ahead in sitting in locations within the Chapel where they can quickly and quietly leave and return to the sacrament service. Noisy children should be taken out of the chapel as quickly as possible to be sensitive to others seeking to worship and return as quickly as they can. The Lord does not mind the voices, cries, and fidgeting of his little ones – all things need to be done in reverence and sensitivity to others seeking to worship. We can all be tolerant and loving, patient and caring, seeking to help another. The spirit will guide in this sensitive area. Parents of small children can counsel with RS and YW leaders to seek help in ways to support them.
- Our dress has become casual in many ways. We invite each parent to discuss with their children how our dress is an outward manifestation of our love and respect to the Savior. Sensitivity to those who may be struggling to have Sunday clothes can be addressed within Bishopric, PEC, and Ward Councils to determine how to assist.
- "For the past several years we have watched patterns of reverence and irreverence in the Church. While many are to be highly commended, we are drifting. We have reason to be deeply concerned. The world grows increasingly noisy. Clothing and grooming and conduct are looser and sloppier and more disheveled. Variations of these things are gaining wide acceptance and influence over our youth." Reverence Invites Revelation - Boyd K. Packer, October 1991 General Conference
- Turn off all electronic devices during the entire sacrament meeting. Let the spirit teach you and avoid being distracted. Parents this is your responsibility to teach and lead.
- Teachers (Primary, Sunday school) should not leave early from sacrament meeting. It is encouraged to have your students help in cleaning the rooms, straightening chairs, and preparing for the lesson. All class rooms should be left clean and in order.
- Ward members should be considerate of the older generation to ensure they have seats that are comfortable and able to hear the speakers.
We invite every member to come to the sacrament meeting each week to renew their personal covenants and receive divine revelation. This can be enhanced by coming prepared with specific questions or needs to seek answers and instruction for.
“When we are baptized, we take upon ourselves the sacred name of Jesus Christ. Taking upon us His name is one of the most significant experiences we have in life. Each week in sacrament meeting we promise to remember the atoning sacrifice of our Savior as we renew our baptismal covenant. We promise to do as the Savior did—to be obedient to the Father and always keep His commandments. The blessing we receive in return is to always have His Spirit to be with us.” Elder Robert D. Hales of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
We invite every member to prayerfully ask during each sacrament meeting, “who can I love and serve this week?” or “What will thou have me do?” - Come prepared to record the impressions and feelings you receive. Writing down your impressions demonstrates your appreciation and desires to follow the Savior in your life. Reflect upon the past weeks “assignments” and impressions to give an accounting unto the Lord. Show Him you desire to qualify for additional assignments from the spirit.
“Irreverence suits the purposes of the adversary by obstructing the delicate channels of revelation in both mind and spirit” Boyd K. Packer – Nov 1991 – “Reverence Invites Revelation”.
As we prayerfully prepare our hearts and our minds to offer unto the Lord an “acceptable offering” in relation to our reverence, the sacrament, and our desires to seek for revelation, we know that the Lord will bring forth the marvelous blessings promised. Our homes and families will be strengthened. Our faith will increase. Our love of the Savior and his infinite Atonement will heal and bless us. The Lord has stated, “Return unto me and I will return unto you” (Mal 4) As we give to him our hearts, He will give unto us His unspeakable gifts and blessings through our obedience, our faith, and our reverence of the ordinance that reflects his Atonement.
“Their meetings were conducted by the church after the manner of the workings of the Spirit, and by the power of the Holy Ghost; for as the power of the Holy Ghost led them whether to preach, or to exhort, or to pray, or to supplicate, or to sing, even so it was done.” Moroni. 6:9
“Draw near unto me, and I will draw near unto you; seek me diligently and ye shall find me; ask and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” D&C 88:6
The Lord desires to endow us with power from on high. We are usually the ones that “deny the power of God” through our casual worship and lack of reverence and understanding of the laws upon which “all blessings are predicated”. We express our love and appreciation to every member of this Stake. We have been blessed and directed from above in receiving the Stake Vision. We testify that these impressions and invitations are from the whispering of the Spirit as we have sought to ask the Lord what more we could do to come closer to Him.
The Salem Utah Stake Presidency
