In light of the spring season, I thought I'd post about the Resurrection. I'll share my take on couple of issues and as always, would love to hear your thoughts. I want to ask about the difference in sacrament prayers, as well as why the Resurrection is a universal gift, or if it is a gift for everyone.
First, the difference in sacrament prayers.
Blessing on the Bread
O God, the Eternal Father, we ask thee in the name of thy Son, Jesus Christ, to bless and sanctify this bread to the souls of all those who partake of it, that they may eat in remembrance of the body of thy Son, and witness unto thee, O God, the Eternal Father, that they are willing to take upon them the name of thy Son, and always remember him and keep his commandments which he has given them; that they may always have his Spirit to be with them. Amen. (D&C 20:77)
Blessing on the Water
Why does the blessing on the bread contain two conditions for the ultimate blessing (to have his spirit with us) that the water does not have? I don't know the answer to that, but would love to hear your thoughts. I want to focus my comments on the word “always.” I believe it comes from the universality of the Resurrection. It is for all people, therefore the spirit of the Resurrection should always be with us, whereas the spirit of the Atonement may come and go as we sin and repent. When I scraped my hand the other day on the corner of a cupboard, it bled a little. Now, however, the wound is healing quickly. I think this is evidence of the power of the Resurrection. My bones have found their way back together after a break, the muscles around my hip have formed around the bone on their own after a dislocation. These miracles happen every day, and while there are anatomic explanations for why they happen, I believe it is the body’s obedience to the Redeemer. He did redeem the body, and the spirit of that Resurrection can always be with us. I think our bodies heal themselves, and that the word "always" is in the prayer on the bread, because of the absolute universality of the Resurrection.
Thoughts on this, or other aspects of the blessing on the bread? I'll post my other resurrection thought in a couple of days.
2 comments:
Fire, you warm me with your flames of query and awe. I too have long wondered about the differences between the two prayers. It seems that they could have easily been identical with just the replacement of water for bread and blood for body, but they aren't the same, and I can only assume that there is some doctrine and meaning behind that. Here are some of my thoughts and understandings on the matter.
First, I have struggled with the idea that the resurrection is a "free" gift given to all, thanks to the resurrection of Christ. This is true, but also misleading when inserted into the logical reasoning of D&C 130:20 which states that all blessings obtained it is by obedience to the law upon which it is predicated. Therefore, I have long concluded that the blessing of the Resurrection is NOT free and is predicated upon some law. Furthermore, this infers that EVERYONE have obeyed this law since “the resurrection of Christ redeemeth mankind, yea, even all mankind, and bringeth them back into the presence of the Lord.” (Helaman 14: 17) What law has been obeyed by ALL people, even the wicked? The answer must be the first-estate. We know that the third of heaven that did not pass the first-estate were prevented from receiving a body. I believe that the reason why ALL will be resurrected is because they were obedient enough in the first-estate to receive a body and have it resurrected through the resurrection of the Savior. Now, the resurrection of the wicked is interesting to me. I remember once having a good white conversation at the table about if they will actually be worse off having a body than otherwise. That is interesting. Often times the higher someone climbs the harder they can fall (sons of perdition) and so I’m not able to dismiss the idea that someone who passes the first-estate (obedience) couldn’t end up worse off then someone who did not. But, there still seems to be a contract that they WILL be resurrected.
Fire, I will need you or Wisdom to verify this belief of mine. My dad is in accord but I don’t have many references to back it up. I have heard some conference talks that agree, but didn’t take the time to look them up. If the resurrection as a universal gift is not predicated upon obedience to a law, a central law and principle to our gospel is underminded. If the resurrection (or salvation) is “free” then why not exaltation? Why not just accept Jesus and be saved? Why even accept Jesus? The idea of “free” gifts don’t sit well with me. I do, however, believe that the Lord is an unfair deal-maker, in our favor. He seems to require obedience in exchange for blessings, but this exchange is not equal or balanced; he blesses us way more than we deserve. Imagine if this same relationship existed in the world; “Oh, Andrew, how nice of you to show up to work today, here is a new car.” “Hello Scott, you look nice today, how about a month-long vacation?”. “Spencer! Thank you for brushing your teeth, here is a sack of yummy bacon.” That would be nice.
I’ve been wanting to look at the different sacrament prayers side by side and look at which words are the same and which are different. I am emailing you a PDF file I made with the similarities and differences color-coordinated. Its interesting to note how very different they are. The first prayer on the bread is obviously with respect to the body of Christ, and the water with His blood. But Im not yet sure if the first is with respect to the resurrection and the second the atonement, because I have thought that the resurrection was part of the atonement. That his atonement was not complete until he was resurrected. Am I wrong on this Fire?
One last comment. I have wondered if the promise “that they may (always) have His spirit to be with them” is not a reference to the 2nd Comforter. My thinking on this is that the “may” indicates that it has not already received (i.e. the Gift of the Holy Ghost) and this is supported by the indication that it is “His” spirit, and not the Holy Ghost. Now, this may be looking to deep into the prayer because the Spirit of Christ, the Holy Ghost, and even just the blessings of comfort and peace associated with obedience could define the meaning of “His spirit”. There is one other interesting thing to note that the prayer on the bread includes the wording “that they are WILLING” and the prayer on the water states “that they DO”. I recently have wondered if the latter is an indication of completion of the former? Hmmmmm? Let us assemble the Whitenesses of the Table and discover more upon the matter.
PS: Fire and Light, are you guys planning on seeing X-Men Origins? I know that Fire is a spiritual giant with his ability to resist certain films of the world, but if either of you are interested, I can’t miss anything X-Men and am planning on seeing it. We could do a midnight party or a show together maybe?
Rev,
Thanks for your great comment. Lots to consider. I'm going to respond in this comment to your thoughts on the sacrament prayer (since that was the primary topic of the post), and then I'm going to post my part 2 tomorrow, which addresses more of the ideas on if resurrection is a gift, and why all will resurrect, etc.
As to the difference between the atonement and the resurrection, I have always thought (possibly erroneously) that there was a distinction between the two. I assumed that when the Savior says "It is finished" (John19:30) that is referring to His atoning for the sins of the world, and that the overcoming of death is a separate, equally important part. I guess it doesn't really matter; my point in saying that in the post was that I tend to think of the resurrection and things pertaining to the body when I take the bread, and think of things pertaining to my spirit and the atoning of sin when I take the water.
You bring up great points regarding the blessing of having "his spirit" with us. I once asked a white uncle (very scholarly, been published in FARMS etc.) what he thought of the promise of having His spirit to be with us, and he did indicate that it was a Second Comforter reference. My problems with that are as follows: 1) it could still be referring to the Holy Ghost because we are not guaranteed His companionship, so in other words it could still be a conditional "may always" blessing, and 2) why do they reference His Spirit? He does have a spirit, but he also has a body. Going back to the former post on CEMS, here's the Joseph Smith quote (as cited by J. Golden Kimball): I say that due to this quote from J. Golden Kimball, quoting Joseph Smith: "says Joseph: 'It is no more nor less than the Lord Jesus Christ, and this is the sum and substance of the matter, that when any man obtains this last Comforter he will have the personage of Jesus Christ to attend him, or appear unto him from time to time and even He will manifest the Father unto him.'"
Is that what always having His spirit to be with us means? Having our CEMS and having him appear unto us from time to time?
Why one prayer says "are willing" and the other says "do" is a mystery to me. I want to ponder and pray about these prayers, and see if revelation can answer some of these questions. I do think they are important for us to understand.
White on.
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