Offer Up Your Sacraments

In the section of the Doctrine and Covenants that we most commonly use to discuss the Sacrament and the Sabbath Day, the Lord said this, “And that thou mayest more fully keep thyself unspotted from the world, thou shalt go to the house of prayer and offer up thy sacraments upon my holy day” (D&C 59:10).  I’ve typically thought of that injunction as a request to go and partake of the Sacrament in a church service.  I think that’s right, but the language used is interesting: “offer up thy sacraments.”  Instead of the Lord telling us to partake of “the Sacrament” or “my Sacrament,” He said to us to offer “thy sacraments,” giving us a sense that we are offering something to Him.  This same kind of language is found in other verses as well in the Doctrine and Covenants.  In the same section the Lord invited us this way: “Thou shalt offer thine oblations and thy sacraments unto the Most High” (D&C 59:12).  The Savior spoke of “assembling yourselves together to offer up your sacraments” in one section and in another He counseled the Saints, “Assemble yourselves upon the land of Zion; and hold a meeting and rejoice together, and offer a sacrament unto the Most High” (D&C 89:5, 62:4).  In a revelation on the Kirtland Temple the Lord instructed the that “lower part of the inner court be dedicated unto me for your sacrament offering” (D&C 95:16).   Other scriptures, though, use the language that we are used to in the Church: we read about “partaking of the sacrament” and of what we “shall drink when [we] partake of the sacrament” and attending “your sacrament meetings” (D&C 20:68, 27:2, 46:4).  It seems from these verses that we both partake of the sacrament and offer up our own “sacrament” when we participate in this ordinance.    

            So what does the Lord mean when He invites us to come and offer our sacraments?  The word sacrament can mean “a sign, token, or symbol.”  We are clearly giving a kind of sign to the Lord when we come and partake of the break and water.  The words of the prayers indicate the covenant that we are making.  I’ve often imagined each person standing as they partook of the Sacrament and announcing to the rest of the group, “I will follow Jesus Christ this week.”  That of course would make for a slow process and a lot of noise so it may not be practical, but it is essentially what we are saying by taking of the sacrament.  The word sacrament also is very similar to the word sacrifice, at least in English, and I have to think there is a relationship there.  We go to the Sacrament table ready to make a covenant with the Lord and go seek approval before Him.  We bring before the table those things from our lives that we need to change and commit to do better; just as the ancient Israelites brought a sacrifice of animals to their altars, we offer can “offer a sacrament” to God perhaps by committing to more fully repent of our sins and striving to be clean before Him.  Perhaps this language in the Doctrine and Covenants is means to act as reminder that the Sacrament is a two way street, and as we commit to sacrifice and improve, the Lord commits with us that His Spirit will always be with us to guide us.  The Lord promised, “And ye shall offer for a sacrifice unto me a broken heart and a contrite spirit. And whoso cometh unto me with a broken heart and a contrite spirit, him will I baptize with fire and with the Holy Ghost” (3 Nephi 9:20).