Sacrament Talk on Reverence

A few months back we both had the opportunity to speak in Sacrament Meeting in our ward. Below is Sean's talk on reverence and personal revelation:

For the past four years I’ve had the opportunity to do graduate work here in Seattle studying how our brains develop and work. Each of our brains contains hundreds of billions of neurons that are woven in a fine meshwork of pathways and connections, allowing us to learn, think, move, and feel. However, these pathways and connections are highly plastic, meaning they can change and re-form depending on the reinforcement we give them. Learn to play the piano, for example, and the pathways involved in hearing musical notes and coordinating your fingers will become stronger and more efficient. Stop playing, and eventually those pathways will start to atrophy. At a basic level, these changes happen in the connections between individual neurons. If one neuron sends more messages, or signals, to another, the receiver will become more capable of and efficient in receiving those signals. Something interesting happens, however, if the neuron sending signals starts sending stronger and stronger signals. Eventually the receiver will adapt, or in biology-speak, desensitize, to the strong signals, making it less likely, if not impossible, that it will respond to a subsequent signal unless the sender sends a much stronger signal the next time. At a basic level, this is how an addiction works, whether to drugs, pornography, or gambling. Our neurons begin to desensitize, requiring stronger and stronger stimuli.

However, for today’s talk I’m less interested in the desensitization that neurons show to the strong signals they might receive, than about the collateral damage that this adaptation causes. You see, if a neuron starts desensitizing to the loud signals of one neuron, that means that all other signals that are being sent its way, including those from other neurons, need to come in louder and louder volleys if they are to be perceived. Quiet, soft, or still, small signals will be completely lost, imperceptible under the loud noise of the more dominant signals, or missed in the expectation of something of greater magnitude.

By now I imagine you can see where I’m going with this analogy. Like individual neurons, we’re surrounded by signals, stimuli, and sounds that influence us, and in many ways determine our behavior. Our world is one of advertisement and admonition, instant gratification and information overload. Our senses are almost constantly taking in some sort of media, whether on the radio, TV, or Internet. These signals are raucous and rapid, complex and cluttered, always clambering for our attention. We’re accustomed to pop-up ads intruding into our consciousness, or having our attention diverted in 15 second spurts for commercials. We seem to have become a society that is, if not afraid of, at the very least unaccustomed to, silence, and that finds it increasingly difficult to focus our attention for extended periods of time. It’s not surprising, then, that we may feel that it is hard to perceive the still, small signals of the Spirit. If everything around us is noisy and loud, that’s what our brains, bodies, and spirits have become accustomed to. We may very well have become desensitized, making it more difficult for us to perceive the whisperings of the Spirit.

In a talk given nearly 20 years ago, President Boyd K. Packer stated:

“The world grows increasingly noisy. Clothing and grooming and conduct are looser and sloppier and more disheveled. Raucous music, with obscene lyrics blasted through amplifiers while lights flash psychedelic colors, characterizes the drug culture. Variations of these things are gaining wide acceptance and influence over our youth.

“Doctors even say that our physical sense of hearing can be permanently damaged by all of this noise.

“This trend to more noise, more excitement, more contention, less restraint, less dignity, less formality is not coincidental nor innocent nor harmless.

“The first order issued by a commander mounting a military invasion is the jamming of the channels of communication of those he intends to conquer.

“Irreverence suits the purposes of the adversary by obstructing the delicate channels of revelation in both mind and spirit.”

I think President Packer’s statements on reverence are even more relevant today than they were in 1991 when he first gave them. While it’s unlikely that the adversary has control over all the media on all the cable channels, radio stations, and websites in the world, in the end, we do. We can choose what media we allow into our home and minds, and we can choose the volume level of that media, both in a physical and spiritual sense. We can furthermore set aside quiet, peaceful time in our schedules, and in this way give the Spirit His equal share of time, and hopefully his equal share of influence. It may be difficult if we are not accustomed to it.

Desensitization means that our minds and spirits may prefer a noisy, cluttered environment to a soft, peaceful one. We may be easily distracted when searching our scriptures, pondering, or praying. That’s why it’s so important to eliminate all other signals when we are trying to be reverent. We should seek a place devoid of distractions, or choose a time when the world is quiet, so that the predominant signals our spirit receives are those sent by God. Facebook statuses, stock quotes, and sports scores will try to sidetrack us because they constantly change. In contrast, it is those things that are constant and unchanging- the Holy Scriptures and the principles of the Gospel, that we must be constantly studying so that they change us.

Desensitization is not irreversible. Our minds and spirits are plastic and adaptable. If we make an effort to find time to be reverent, we’ll become more accustomed to it, and find the Spirit’s influence more often in our lives. We already have three hours each week set aside for spiritual things in the form of our Church meetings. How effectively are we using these hours? Are our Church meetings a reverent worshipful refuge from the noisy world around us, or are we allowing ourselves to be distracted from the Spirit even here, in a building wholly dedicated to the Lord?

President Packer admonishes:

“Our sacrament and other meetings need renewed attention to assure that they are truly worship services in which members may be spiritually nourished and have their testimonies replenished and in which investigators may feel the inspiration essential to spiritual conversion.

“Our meetinghouses are designed so that we may enjoy socials, dancing, drama, even sports. All of these are important. But these auxiliary activities should be subdued when compared with what the world is doing. Music, dress, and conduct associated with them are quite different from what is appropriate in the chapel or classroom on the Sabbath day.

“When we return for Sunday meetings, the music, dress, and conduct should be appropriate for worship. Foyers are built into our chapels to allow for the greeting and chatter that are typical of people who love one another. However, when we step into the chapel, we must!—each of us must—watch ourselves lest we be guilty of intruding when someone is struggling to feel delicate spiritual communications…

“Irreverent conduct in our chapels is worthy of a reminder, if not reproof. Leaders should teach that reverence invites revelation.

“The reverence we speak of does not equate with absolute silence. We must be tolerant of little babies, even an occasional outburst from a toddler being ushered out to keep him from disturbing the peace. Unless the father is on the stand, he should do the ushering…

“No one of us can survive in the world of today, much less in what it soon will become, without personal inspiration. The spirit of reverence can and should be evident in every organization in the Church and in the lives of every member.”

Reverence, however, is more than just the noise level in our surroundings. It means actively seeking revelation by focusing on spiritual things; it means behaving, and even dressing, in a manner that shows respect for God and a desire to commune with Him. It means showing Him deference and prioritization at that particular time, and in that place, and in that thing we are doing.

In a CES Fireside given in 2002, Elder Ballard stated the following:

“As leaders, we see some patterns related to reverence that, if not corrected, may open up chinks in your spiritual armor. For example, we have noticed a growing trend in the Church… to arrive late at sacrament meeting, priesthood, and other meetings. Bishops and stake presidents report some members coming in as late as half an hour after the meeting has started.

Occasionally, there may be a legitimate excuse for not arriving on time… but in most cases it is because you simply plan poorly or do not care enough. The ideal would be to arrive five or ten minutes early so you can sit in the chapel quietly listening to the prelude music and preparing yourselves to worship. Our sacrament meetings belong to the Savior. When you arrive late, it not only interrupts the reverence of others, but it is a sign of your own disrespect and apathy.

“Far too often we see [those] who persist in whispering during the administration of the sacrament. Their minds and hearts are obviously not focused on the emblems of which we partake. It is hard for me to comprehend how anyone who has an understanding and an appreciation for the Atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ could allow this to happen.”

Elder Christofferson said something similar in a 2004 CES Fireside:

“We used to use the phrase “Sunday best.” People understood that to mean the nicest clothes they had. The specific clothing would vary according to different cultures and economic circumstances, but it would be their best.

“It is an affront to God to come into His house, especially on His holy day, not groomed and dressed in the most careful and modest manner that our circumstances permit. Where a poor member from the hills of Peru must ford a river to get to church, the Lord surely will not be offended by the stain of muddy water on his white shirt.

“But how can God not be pained at the sight of one who, with all the clothes he needs and more and with easy access to the chapel, nevertheless appears in church in rumpled cargo pants and a T-shirt? Ironically, it has been my experience as I travel around the world that members of the Church with the least means somehow find a way to arrive at Sabbath meetings neatly dressed in clean, nice clothes, the best they have, while those who have more than enough are the ones who may appear in casual, even slovenly clothing.

“Some say dress and hair don’t matter—it’s what’s inside that counts. I believe that truly it is what’s inside a person that counts, but that’s what worries me. Casual dress at holy places and events is a message about what is inside a person. It may be pride or rebellion or something else, but at a minimum it says, “I don’t get it. I don’t understand the difference between the sacred and the profane.” In that condition they are easily drawn away from the Lord. They do not appreciate the value of what they have. I worry about them. Unless they can gain some understanding and capture some feeling for sacred things, they are at risk of eventually losing all that matters most. You are Saints of the great latter-day dispensation—look the part.”

As you may have been, I was somewhat shocked at how direct and pointed these apostles were on the role of behavior and dress as related to reverence. I think their candor simply reflects the importance of reverence in the spiritual lives of each of us. As President Packer stated in 1991, “Reverence invites revelation” and “No one of us can survive in the world of today, much less in what it soon will become, without personal inspiration.” More recently, in this past April General Conference, President Packer stated, “Now, fathers, I would remind you of the sacred nature of your calling. You have the power of the priesthood directly from the Lord to protect your home. There will be times when all that stands as a shield between your family and the adversary’s mischief will be that power. You will receive direction from the Lord by way of the gift of the Holy Ghost.”

These apostles recognize that if we are to receive the guidance of the Spirit, an essential element of our spiritual defense and progression, we must be reverent. We must create an environment around us in which we minimize distractions, focus on the Lord, and set ourselves apart from the rest of the world and the rest of our week through our behavior, words, and dress. If we put time and effort into making our Sundays reverent, we are more likely to treasure them as precious opportunities to commune with God and recognize them as something distinctly different from our typical daily lives. Speaking of the requirements of the Jewish Sabbath, the author Herman Wouk writes that by keeping the Sabbath holy it “turns twenty-four hours of every week into a separated time, apart in mood, texture, acts, and events from daily existence.” How better to break free from the loud, overpowering signals of our week than to create a time in which we remove them altogether from our daily routine by ritually creating a different way of living?

Because the Spirit communes with us in quiet whisperings, we must be constantly wary of the noise of the environment surrounding us. We must set aside reverent time, on Sunday and during the week, wholly dedicated to the Lord, where we seek to make His voice the only one we listen to. If we do this, we are promised His guidance and protection. We are promised personal revelation, and a closer relationship with Him. That we may do this is my humble prayer….