Renewing Our Covenants

I gave a talk in church today on renewing our covenants. I'm one of those weird ones who actually quite like preparing and giving talks, so minus the lack of time that I had (I wrote it during work last night), it was quite enjoyable to prepare. I'm pretty sure I have never learned more from preparing a talk than I did in this time around.

Also, ever since I took a religion class at BYU (from Brother Bott), I have prepared talks differently. He heavily emphasized that you should have a good solid outline, but to never write it out word for word. I have done that for the last 3 talks. This one, however... for some unexplainable reason, as I started doing my research I strangely felt the need to write this one out. I don't know if it was for coherency's sake or what, but I wrote this one out.

So... since I actually wrote it and since my 'research' had so many insights I didn't even know about, I'm going to include it here. Enjoy.

Last week, Brother Cowley asked me to speak on renewing our covenants. Let me start off by asking, what exactly is a covenant? According to the LDS Gospel Library, “A covenant is a sacred agreement between God and a person or group of people. God sets specific conditions, and He promises to bless us as we obey those conditions. When we choose not to keep covenants, we cannot receive the blessings, and in some instances we suffer a penalty as a consequence of our disobedience.” 

The most commonly talked about covenant is our baptismal covenant, as that is the first of many covenants we will make in this life. It can also be argued that it is the most important because without this covenant, we cannot progress to make further covenants with our Father in Heaven. 

In Mosiah 18, Alma discusses baptism by saying, “Behold, here are the waters of Mormon… and now, as ye are ^adesirous to come into the ^bfold of God, and to be called his people, and are willing to bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light;

Yea, and are ^awilling to mourn with those that ^bmourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as ^cwitnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death, that ye may be redeemed of God, and be numbered with those of the ^dfirst resurrection, that ye may have eternal life.”

Brigham Young elaborated on baptism by saying, “They covenant to cease sustaining, upholding and cherishing the kingdom of the Devil and the kingdoms of this world. They enter the new and everlasting covenant to sustain the Kingdom of God and no other kingdom. They take a vow of the most solemn kind, before the heavens and earth, … that they will sustain truth and righteousness instead of wickedness and falsehood, and build up the Kingdom of God, instead of the kingdoms of this world.”


Now, when most of us hear ‘renewing our covenants’, we automatically think of our Baptismal Covenants. But as I started researching more on what exactly entails renewing covenants, I came to realize that it is much, much more than that. 


Each week, we are given the privilege of partaking of the sacrament where we are once again able to renew our covenants with the Lord. Now, if it’s not just baptismal covenants, what else is it?


In the March 1995 Ensign, John E. Mackay stated:

“According to our latter-day prophets and leaders, when you partake of the sacrament you renew whatever covenants you have made with the Lord. For example, if you have been baptized only, that is the covenant you renew. If you have received the Melchizedek Priesthood, you also renew that part of the oath and covenant related to your having received that priesthood. If you have received your endowment, you also renew the covenants associated with it. Further, if you have been sealed, you also renew that covenant. In other words, when you partake of the sacrament, you renew all the covenants you have made with the Lord.”


Reading this article was somewhat of an “aha” moment for me. I knew the purpose of the sacrament was to renew our covenants, but I didn’t actively think of or review all the other covenants I have made with the Lord while partaking of the sacrament.


The three main things we are reminded of in the sacrament prayers are to promise our Father in Heaven:

1. To take upon us the name of Christ.

2. To always remember Christ.

3. To keep the commandments of Christ.


President Ezra Taft Benson said, “We go to our chapels each week to worship the Lord and renew our covenants by partaking of the sacrament. … Our agreement to keep all the commandments is our covenant with God.”


Part of keeping the commandments of Christ includes keeping our personal covenants that we have made with the Lord… and sincerely renewing them each week.


In 1989, President Howard W. Hunter emphasized that our Father in Heaven knows us each individually and that the covenants we make with Him are all one-on-one. He stated,

“I have always been impressed that the Lord deals with us personally, individually. We do many things in groups in the Church, … but … the most important things are done individually. We bless babies one at a time… We baptize and confirm children one at a time. We take the sacrament, are ordained to the priesthood, or move through the ordinances of the temple as individuals—as one person developing a [personal] relationship with our Father in Heaven. … Heaven’s emphasis is on each individual, on every single person.”

In Virginia, I was one of very few members in my high school. A sneaky way I had of getting friends to come to church with me was “I’ll visit your church if you visit mine.” I remember going with my best friend to her church once. They also had the sacrament but the cups were passed around and each patiently waited until everyone had a cup in their hand. The pastor said a prayer and then, at his direction, they all drank in unison. It was a very weird experience for me to see 200 heads all go back at the same time. It never occurred to me until I started preparing for this talk just how important it is that we are given our own chance instead of partaking in mass numbers.

While we may all participate in the sacrament at the same time, it is not in unison. It is one after another… each with our own turn… each renewing our own individual covenants made with the Lord.

One thing we mustn’t forget though, is our attitude and our thoughts during the actual blessing and passing of the sacrament. I know I have been guilty on several occasions of letting my mind wander every which way while the sacrament is being passed. My mental checklist of to-dos, my hungry stomach, trying my hardest to keep myself awake… the list is endless. But the way we treat those few sacred minutes can and will make all the difference.

When I was in Young Women’s, one of my teachers taught an unforgettable lesson. She taught of the importance of reverence during the sacrament and emphasized that we need to keep our mind from wandering but instead focus on what it really means to be renewing our covenants. We should be thinking of our Savior and his atoning sacrifice; we should have the spirit of repentance in our hearts, and the determination to be better and rise from our past misdeeds. She recommended reviewing the words of the sacrament hymn during the passing of the sacrament to keep our minds focused. Ever since that lesson, I always keep my hymnbook open so I can re-read the words that were just sung.

The Gospel Principles manual also gives advice on preparing oneself for the sacrament. It states, “During the sacrament service we should dismiss from our minds all worldly thoughts. We should feel prayerful and reverent. We should think of the atonement of our Savior and be grateful for it. We should examine our lives and look for ways to improve. We should also renew our determination to keep the commandments. We do not need to be perfect before partaking of the sacrament, but we must have the spirit of repentance in our hearts. The attitude with which we partake of the sacrament influences our experience with it. If we partake of the sacrament with a pure heart, we receive the promised blessings of the Lord.”

Most covenants that we make are a one-time thing. Unless extenuating circumstances are present, we are only baptized once, we only go through the temple and receive our own endowments once, we are only sealed once, and so on. So how do we remember what those covenants are and what exactly it is that we promised our Father in Heaven if the ordinance itself is only performed once? This is one of the reasons the Lord has given us the privilege of partaking of the sacrament each week. If we forget our covenants, where does that leave us?

According to President Kimball, “Remembering covenants prevents apostasy.”  What happened to the Nephites when they forgot their covenants with the Lord? There is a reason we need to be reminded so frequently of what we have promised. Our finite minds require immense amounts of repetition to stay on the straight and narrow. That weekly reminder helps us to better maintain those promises that we made last week, last year, or 10+ years ago. Our covenants don’t change, the Lord doesn’t change – only we change. And it’s up to us in what direction we change.

In the April 1989 New Era, H. Verlan Andersen stated, “If … you live a normal life span, you will probably renew the sacrament covenant more than 3,000 times before you die. That covenant must be highly important to the Lord or he would not ask us to repeat it so often. But… if we make the same covenant that many times and then fail to keep it, what will he say to us when we meet him? On the other hand, if we keep it, we will obtain those blessings which are ’the most desirable above all things.’ ”

It seems that oftentimes many of us get into such a set routine that it becomes nothing more than ‘just another part of Sacrament Meeting.” But the sacrament is the whole reason for this meeting! It’s not ‘just another part’ – it’s the sole purpose. We don’t “have” to partake of the sacrament – we get to…so long as we are worthy. The moment you are no longer allowed to take the sacrament is the moment you realize what you have been taking for granted.

I had a close friend who once slipped up and was working through the repentance process.  She told me that it was the worst feeling every week knowing that she couldn’t take the sacrament and had to pass it along to the next person without partaking. She also had never been so eager to take the sacrament as she did the day her bishop told her she was once again okay to partake. She was absolutely overjoyed.

In a 1995 Ensign, Bonnie D. Parkin discussed the joys of covenants, and of renewing them. She asked, “How did you feel the last time you partook of the sacrament? Did you ponder those covenants made in fonts and within temples? The sacrament enables us to renew our covenants. Thus, if we keep those covenants with honor and exactness, we can feel as fresh and as pure as we did when we were first baptized. We can feel as committed to a temple sealing as we did as a new bride or groom. Covenants keep us new.”

Who wouldn’t want to take advantage of the opportunity we are given each week to feel clean again? Who wouldn’t want to remember the way we felt as we came out of the waters of baptism or after we came out of the temple for the very first time? The Lord blesses us with that opportunity – if we so choose – each and every week. It is our privilege given to us by our loving Father in Heaven to renew our covenants with him every Sunday.  

It is my testimony that treating this weekly experience – this weekly blessing of being able to renew our covenants with reverence and with sincerity will help us grow that much closer to Heavenly Father.  

 (PS, for those of you VA people who know the Quantico ward, that YW teacher was Betsy Garner. She probably doesn't even remember the lesson, but I definitely do)