Easter 2019 Sacrament Meeting Talk

Easter Sunday 2019
Sacrament Meeting | April 21, 2019 | Wm. Calvin Hughes

It’s an honor to speak about the Savior on Easter Sunday! But it’s certainly a challenge to speak after 2 weeks of sitting at the feet of Prophets, Apostles, 70’s and our inspired Stake Leaders! And then today, to follow the man, the legend, the greatest Cougar of all time… How on earth could I add of any value to all of that???

 

I loved Elder McKay’s teachings about the Sacrament and the Savior… about connecting our Sacrament Meetings with the experience of the Apostles and Jesus in Gethsemane when the Savior asked them to watch and pray and WAIT for Him for an hour while He took upon Him the responsibility for the sins of ALL the world. Elder McKay asked us to think about the Savior… to do the same thing – to think about Him, to watch for Him, to wait for Him, and to pray about Him during our hour-long Sacrament Meeting.

 

Can we use our Sacrament Meeting hour to focus more exclusively on the Savior, to be more thankful for Him, to be more appreciative of His sacrifice and of His Atonement? To reflect about our commitment to try and be more like him? Those words had a significant impact on me, and I hope I never forget them as I try to implement them in my Sabbath worship.

 

I particularly appreciated Elder Mckay’s words about partaking of the Sacrament with the right mindset. As we do, are we thinking about partaking of the Savior’s goodness, partaking of His mercy, His love, His forgiveness, and partaking of His Atonement? “Will we watch and wait and pray with Him for one hour?”

 

Perhaps my favorite hymn is hymn number 120, “Lean On My Ample Arm”. Often, I review the words of this hymn during the Sacrament – it’s short – it’s only 2 verses long. It happens to be 1 of only a few songs in the hymnal where the Savior is speaking in first-person. These are His words, speaking directly to us:

 

Lean on my ample arm, O thou depressed!
And I will bid the storm cease in thy breast.
Whatever thy lot may be on life’s complaining sea,
If thou wilt come to me, thou shalt have rest.

 

Lift up thy tearful eyes, sad heart, to me;
I am the sacrifice offered for thee.
In me thy pain shall cease, in me is thy release,
In me thou shalt have peace eternally.

 

This hymn helps me remember the Savior… and appreciate Him… and reminds me that I can receive strength from Him to overcome anything. I have often thought about the reference in this hymn to the Savior’s arm. It refers to His arm being “Ample”! For the longest time I thought that it just meant “Strong”. But I have since learned that it means much, much more than that.

 

Not only is the Lord’s arm strong enough… strong enough to bear the entirety of the sins of the world… strong enough to create everything in the universe… strong enough to take on the Adversary and reverse the effects of the fall…  

 

It’s also “long” enough. It’s long enough to reach us no matter how far away we are… it’s long enough to reach us no matter how lost we are… it’s long enough to reach out to us no matter how undeserving or how unworthy we might be… His arm is long enough, and His Atonement is large enough, and His determination is strong enough TO SAVE US - - regardless of HOW worthless or unredeemable we may believe we are. Because to Him, we are infinitely valuable - - to Him, we are of infinite worth!

 

Not long after we were first married, we’d gone to the temple. We lived in the same Ward where the Patriarch that gave both Natalie and I our patriarchal blessings lived. Our Patriarch had passed away but his sweet wife “Clytie Wilkinson” continued to live in the same home. She worked at the temple and was there frequently. On this occasion she greeted us as we arrived at the temple doors and our discussion gravitated toward the Atonement. She said something that I have never forgotten – and it’s been over 3 decades! She said, “I can hardly even say the word ‘Atonement’ without getting emotional,” and she said it softly – barely a whisper, and with a tear in her eye. Those words made me evaluate my feelings and my casual use of the word “Atonement”. On many occasions since it has made me pause, and consider what the Savior’s Atonement meant to me. It made me realize that I didn’t have nearly enough appreciation or reverence for what the Savior did for me. And I made a promise to myself that I would work on learning as much as I could about the Atonement, and be much more appreciative of Him and of His sacrifice!

 

When I think about the Savior and His Atonement, I see a kind of paradox. On one hand, I think about Mary finding the tomb open and empty… and the sorrow and grief she must have felt wondering who had taken the Savior’s body and where they had taken Him. I think about the concern and confusion the grieving disciples must have experienced as they first learned about the empty tomb.

 

On the other hand – in stark contrast, we learn of an “innumerable hosts” of spirits that were also witnessing this same event… but paradoxically, they were rejoicing! D/C 138:15 tells us about the reaction of the heavenly spirits as they witnessed the empty tomb -- it says,”…they were filled with joy and gladness and were rejoicing together…” Why were they so happy? The scripture continues, “… because the day of their deliverance was at hand!” They had just received the best news of their existence! They were going to be resurrected! The reality of a resurrection was something they’d been waiting for and looking forward to for centuries!

 

There are lots of uncertainties in life… especially about the future. Relationships, finances, employment, politics, the choices we will make and our children will make, what kinds of calamities we'll face, and so on. But there’s one thing that is absolutely certain about our future, and every single person who has ever lived, or who will ever live can be assured of this CERTAIN event in their future.

 

Because of the Savior's death and victory over the grave, ALL will be resurrected – we will all be resurrected with a glorified and eternal body. A perfected body, one where “every hair will be restored.” That's part of the good news of the gospel! The other equally important part of the good news of the gospel is that the Savior paid for our sins and we will live with Him again if we: 1) strive to follow Him, 2) keep His commandments, and 3) repent when we make bad choices (sin)!

 

There’s another part of the paradox – cemeteries or graveyards are most commonly known as places of mourning and sorrow, BUT someday they will become places of great joy and happiness! They will be centers of joy and rejoicing – as the bodies of those who are presently sleeping there will “awake and arise” – they will be resurrected and reunited with their spirits to have perfected, eternal bodies because of the Atonement and resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ!

 

It’s CERTAIN, the grave will NOT be the final resting place for us!

 

From this year’s Church Easter message –

 

“In a coming day, fear will die; pain will die; loneliness will die; despair will die!

 

“In a coming day, sadness will die; sickness will die, disability, deformity, darkness, and anxiety will die!

 

“War will die; hatred will die!

 

“In a coming day, death will die! And we will all live again! Because of Him! Because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ!”

 

After all of the testimonies, all of the doctrine taught, and all of the spiritual witnesses given over the last 2 weeks, can you hear the Savior speaking to you? Can you hear Him calling out to you? Can you see Him reaching out to you with His AMPLE arm? Can you hear His invitation to ‘come to Him’ and to ‘follow Him’? Can you hear Him saying, “Happy Easter! I love you!”

 

I testify of Him – of His goodness – of His resurrection – of His infinite and continuous Atonement!

 

In the name of Jesus Christ, amen!