The sacrament prayer is found in the Book of Mormon in Moroni chapters 3 and 4. The version the early restored church was given to use is identical and is found in the revelation in D&C 20:76-79. What follows is a word by word analysis of the sacrament prayer. It is however only a beginning for the Lord has said there is no end to my works and words Moses 1:38 . God has chosen to speak to us through the gift of the Holy Ghost and through our own language see D&C 50:11-12 and 2 Nephi 31:3.
When the sacrament prayer starts with the words “O God” it invokes all the feelings of many scriptures. It is a pleading invocation and the most intense forms of pleading are done on our knees. In the first place D&C 20:75 says that we are kneeling:
75 It is expedient that the church meet together often to partake of bread and wine in the remembrance of the Lord Jesus;
76 And the elder or priest shall administer it; and after this manner shall he administer it—he shall kneel with the church and call upon the Father in solemn prayer
Though only the authorized representative of the Savior today is kneeling during the prayer, apparently, anciently all were kneeling. Today we kneel in our hearts. Many people with today’s illnesses of every kind would find it difficult to kneel.
What does kneeling suggest?
First of all, it is an ancient token of complete submission to a ruler or king who had power over life and death in his kingdom. The word Islam means submission and is related to the word shalom in Jewish greetings or Shelem in the Book of Mormon, the mountain on which we find the brother of Jared kneeling before the Lord to plead for forgiveness and later for light for his boats. The history of the world is replete with images of people kneeling before a ruler and pleading for their very lives. And so we come to the sacrament kneeling symbolically in our hearts in complete submission to the very God of Heaven and Earth who has power over life and death. It is He who sets the bounds of our life, our birth and death dates, and orders the stars and worlds he created to move and sustain us and gives us the very breath of life. We do not come to the God of the Universe to bargain as equals or worse yet to manipulate with threats and extortion. We come in the abject humility of one whose heart is broken and whose spirit is contrite and submissive before the omnipotent and omniscient King of Heaven. We are not trying to hide our thoughts or the desires of our hearts. We are opening up our very souls for inspection and scrutiny.
Jesus Christ showed us this form of humility when he removed his clothes to dress like a slave, kneeled down and washed the feet of the disciples. In Philippians 2:18 we read further of Christ’s ability to humble himself before God and man.
8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
In Isaiah we read:
Isaiah 57:15 For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.
King Benjamin’s words can be applied to the drinking of the sacrament water even though they probably have a different context:
Mosiah 3:18 For behold he judgeth, and his judgment is just; and the infant perisheth not that dieth in his infancy; but men drink damnation to their own souls except they humble themselves and become as little children, and believe that salvation was, and is, and is to come, in and through the atoning blood of Christ, the Lord Omnipotent.
After this life everything happens by the direct will of God. This life is the time for men to choose God. After this life every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is the Lord and Savior of us all. Here we have a choice, there we suffer the consequences of our choices. So here during the sacrament we have the opportunity to put ourselves into this eternal state of humility that exists in the hereafter. We subject our wills to the almighty and trust our souls to him who is mighty to save. Alma says that it is better to humble ourselves than be humbled by our circumstances.[i] The Lord in modern times tells us:
D&C 19:20 Wherefore, I command you again to repent, lest I humble you with my almighty power; and that you confess your sins, lest you suffer these punishments of which I have spoken, of which in the smallest, yea, even in the least degree you have tasted at the time I withdrew my Spirit.
So we have a choice to voluntarily humble ourselves or be humbled. The sacrament provides us with the perfect opportunity to do that.
In our humble state, we plead with the Lord, “O God”. This is the prayer of the sinner seeking forgiveness, of the child seeking help in a difficult world, of the saints seeking help in doing their callings, of Joseph Smith as he was shot and dying and jumping out the window to save the lives of his brethren, and of Jesus Christ on the cross pleading, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”[ii]
Enos prayed with this pleading, kneeling:
Enos 1:4 And my soul hungered; and I kneeled down before my Maker, and I cried unto him in mighty prayer and supplication for mine own soul; and all the day long did I cry unto him; yea, and when the night came I did still raise my voice high that it reached the heavens.
The king of the Lamanites bows or kneels before God after believing Aaron’s teaching and pleads with God for forgiveness using the very words of the sacrament prayer in Alma 22: 15-18.
15 And it came to pass that after Aaron had expounded these things unto him, the king said: What shall I do that I may have this eternal life of which thou hast spoken? Yea, what shall I do that I may be born of God, having this wicked spirit rooted out of my breast, and receive his Spirit, that I may be filled with joy, that I may not be cast off at the last day? Behold, said he, I will give up all that I possess, yea, I will forsake my kingdom, that I may receive this great joy.
16 But Aaron said unto him: If thou desirest this thing, if thou wilt bow down before God, yea, if thou wilt repent of all thy sins, and will bow down before God, and call on his name in faith, believing that ye shall receive, then shalt thou receive the hope which thou desirest.
17 And it came to pass that when Aaron had said these words, the king did bow down before the Lord, upon his knees; yea, even he did prostrate himself upon the earth, and cried mightily, saying:
18 O God, Aaron hath told me that there is a God; and if there is a God, and if thou art God, wilt thou make thyself known unto me, and I will give away all my sins to know thee, and that I may be raised from the dead, and be saved at the last day. And now when the king had said these words, he was struck as if he were dead.
Notice he is willing to give up all that he possesses in order to have his prayer for forgiveness answered. He is willing to give away all his sins to know God. He does just that and ends up giving up his kingdom as well. This is true humility. This is the pleading prayer of “O God” with which we begin our sacrament prayer.
Created originally October 26, 2004
[i] Alma 32:15 Yea, he that truly humbleth himself, and repenteth of his sins, and endureth to the end, the same shall be blessed—yea, much more blessed than they who are compelled to be humble because of their exceeding poverty.
16 Therefore, blessed are they who humble themselves without being compelled to be humble; or rather, in other words, blessed is he that believeth in the word of God, and is baptized without stubbornness of heart, yea, without being brought to know the word, or even compelled to know, before they will believe.
[ii] Matthew 27:46 KJV