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Picture this setting of an outdoor sacrament meeting: 60 priests blessing the sacrament on a long row of cloth-covered folding tables, with 180 deacons passing the bread and water to an estimated 2,100 teens, adult leaders, and guests sitting quietly on a grassy hillside.
Two Church leaders speaking at the service—Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and Brother Stephen W. Owen, Young Men General President—both commented on how they saw those before them as being similar to Book of Mormon scenes. For Elder Holland, he recalled the resurrected Savior instituting the sacrament after appearing and ministering to 2,500 Nephites, while Brother Owen made mention of Helaman’s 2,000 stripling warriors.
But by the end of the hour-long worship meeting—held Sunday in conjunction with the 2017 National Scout Jamboree, as LDS youth and leaders from across the country gathered together—both Elder Holland and Brother Owen set the focus of their messages not on the past but rather placed present opportunities and responsibilities firmly on the shoulders of the young Aaronic Priesthood holders.
Elder Holland set his tone by saying he can’t remember as a youth receiving a serious message—delivered “nose to nose, face to face, eyeball to eyeball” by an adult mentor—on the Atonement and the important roles of the sacrament ordinance performed by deacons, teachers, and priests.
Uncertain if such a lesson was ever delivered or merely forgotten, Elder Holland took such an opportunity with those gathered. “Have you ever thought of what it means to administer the Lord’s emblems?” he asked.
To read the full article on the Church News, click here.