A LIFE WITHOUT HOPE

 

“One Sunday morning our teenaged son stood with two other priests to administer the sacrament, as they had done on many prior occasions. They pulled back the white cloth, but to their dismay there was no bread. One of them slipped out to the preparation room in hopes some could be found. There was none.

“Finally, our troubled son made his way to the bishop and shared the concern with him. A wise bishop then stood, explained the situation to the congregation, and asked, “How would it be if the sacrament table were empty today because there was no atonement? I have thought of that often – what would it be like if there were no bread because there had been on crucifixion, no wager because there had been no shedding of blood?

“If there had been no Atonement, what would the consequences be to us? Of course, the question is now moot, but it does put in perspective our total dependence on the Lord. To ask and answer this question only heightens our awareness of, and appreciation for, the Saviour. What might have been, even for the “righteous”, if there had been no atoning sacrifice, stirs the very depths of human emotion.

“First, there would be no resurrection (2 Nephi 9:7); second, our spirits would become subject to the devil and we would become like him (Alma 34:35; 2 Nephi 9:9); third, we would be shut out from the presence of God forever (2 Nephi 9:9); fourth, we would “endure a never-ending torment” (Mosiah 2:39); fifth, we would be without hope, without faith and be of all men most miserable (1 Cor 15:14,19).

-          Tad R. Callister, “The Infinite Atonement” p 57,58)

During the strict covid restrictions when we could not go to Church, I sat at my daughter's kitchen table twice as my son-in-law reverently blessed the sacrament. Each time he did so I couldn’t control my tears. As I sat there I pictured the Saviour sitting at just such an ordinary table and blessing the emblems of His sacrifice and I understood what it was He had actually done for me.

For Him there was no chapel with cushy seats, no organ to assist the song, no fluffy white bread to pleasure the tongue. As my son-in-law passed the sacrament to me on the kitchen plate I came to know what it means to 'eat His body' as I have eaten from that kitchen plate before. Never before or since have I felt so close to the Saviour during Sacrament as I have at my daughter's kitchen table.

If you were not,

I would not be,

Silence would have wept at Calvary!

 

If you were not,

I would not be,

As death would claim me eternally.

 

If you were not,

I would not be,

Joyless would be my destiny.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Breaking Bread by B. Laura Wilson)