Hear Him Heal You
This podcast is for those who are looking to experience the Savior more in their lives because of the peace and healing that only He can offer through revelation. Come unto Christ to get out of the mental mire, find meaning in emotion, leave bad behind, and finally, be whole. This is where we hear Him to be healed.
Hear Him Heal You
A Morgan Message: The Day We Ran Out of Bread
Have you ever considered what our spiritual lives would be like without Christ? In this deeply reflective episode, Morgan revisits a sacrament talk from years past that continues to resonate with listeners, exploring the profound symbolism behind our most frequent ordinance.
Beginning with a compelling story about what happened when his ward ran out of bread one Sunday, Morgan invites us to consider the spiritual parallel: without the bread—without Christ—we would have no resurrection, remain forever subject to the adversary, and live without hope. This stark reality highlights why our weekly sacrament experience should be far from routine—it should be the spiritual highlight of our week.
Drawing wisdom from Elder Tad R. Callister's "The Infinite Atonement," Morgan challenges the common approach to sacrament time. While many focus exclusively on seeking forgiveness, the sacramental prayers emphasize remembrance. This remembrance isn't simply a mental exercise but a catalyst that inspires repentance and transformation. "The better we remember Christ, the more constant times we think on Christ will directly correlate with how often we repent and how greatly we change," Morgan explains.
The episode unpacks multiple layers of sacrament symbolism: the altar-like sacrament table where we place our spiritual burdens; the repetition of prayers until perfect, mirroring Christ's patience with our imperfection; the bread as Christ's body and our spiritual nourishment; the water as the ultimate spiritual solvent that dissolves sin; and the white cloth representing purity and covenant. Perhaps most poignantly, Morgan highlights how the individual pieces of bread and separate cups remind us that Christ suffered for each of us personally, while the act of passing the sacrament to others reflects our responsibility to share Christ's healing power.
Regardless of where you are in your spiritual journey, this episode will transform how you experience this sacred weekly ordinance. Take time to reflect on these symbols and discover how remembering Christ more fully can bring healing, renewal, and profound spiritual connection to your life.
Welcome to Hear Him Heal you with Morgan and Joel. This podcast is for those that are imperfect, rough around the edges but are still wanting to come unto Christ. Join us to get out of the mental mire, find meaning in emotion and leave bad behind. This is where we hear Him to be healed. All right. So we are back with another Morgan message. I'm actually diving back into the archives of past sacrament talks to bring you this episode, this one I gave man going on three years, three years ago. I actually have a friend that frequently texts me about this talk I gave. In fact, she asked me to send it to her, and it's her constantly texting me talking about how she goes back over this talk that I want to bring this episode to you guys.
Speaker 1:One thing that I have found immense satisfaction in, and a lot of very poignant spiritual moments, has been reflecting on symbols during ordinances, whether that is ordinances in the temple and the symbols that they show us there, or symbols of baptism, or even symbols of the sacrament. I've always found greater understanding, greater meaning and greater direction for my life by reflecting on these constant symbols, and the one ordinance I want to really dive into today with you guys is the symbol of the sacrament. I think, because we receive the sacrament so often, it can become routine, it can become very monotonous, it can be just another day when, in fact, the sacrament should be the highlight of our week. It should be the time we actually feel renewed, where we recommit to Christ. And I kind of want to go over the symbolism behind the sacrament because I've found a lot of, like I said, meaning behind it and I want to share that with you guys. Keep in mind there's probably a lot more symbols out there besides the one I'm going to share. So feel free to find your own, even your own, definitions. And I have to give a shout out to Elder Callister from his book the Infinite Atonement, who really spurred this talk and really taught me a great lesson when it comes to showing up for sacrament. And really taught me a great lesson when it comes to showing up for sacrament.
Speaker 1:So I do actually want to start with a story before I even get into the sacrament symbols. So I remember, when you're a deacon, a teacher and priest and you have the responsibility of the sacrament growing up, it's really easy to be like this sucks, I don't want to do this, why can't we have other people do it and in reality it's your responsibility all the time. But I remember one Sunday I showed up to church and we get to like we've sung the first song, the prayer, they've done sustainings, announcements, all that stuff, and then they start singing the sacramental hymn, his announcements, all that stuff, and then they start singing the sacramental hymn and then I see like one of the teachers pop his head up and they're like we don't have any bread and like everyone's kind of like what do we do? Like we like everyone's looking around, like in my hometown there's actually two. We had like a stake center with two chapels in it. So when someone ran over to the other chapel to try to find bread, nothing. And so we're looking everywhere and finally I remember that my grandparents at the time lived right across the street. So I get up, I run across the street, my grandma was the only one home and I was telling her the situation, and so finally she finds some bread and I I run back and I remember the whole time I was gone. I guess they were singing hymns, and so I walked back into sacrament and it was kind of like I saved the day, right, everyone's looking around smiling and they're finishing up this last hymn and I walked to the front, put the bread, give the priest at the time the bread, lo and behold, we have sacrament right.
Speaker 1:But this story actually, as I've thought back on it, has actually brought up a lot of good points. We definitely know that the bread represents the body of Christ and I kind of want to just point your minds back to if there was no bread, meaning there was no Christ, where would we be? I think the first and biggest thing I think of is there would be, because in my mind, the bread represents the body of Christ and our eventual perfection and resurrection. So one thing we have to keep in mind if there was no Christ, there would be no resurrection, and Nephi lays this out perfectly in 2 Nephi 9, and he says this flesh must have laid down to rot and to crumble to its mother earth and rise no more. If our bodies never rose again, that would mean we would never be able to live in the presence of God. Because we know you have to have a perfected body to live in the presence of God. Because we know you have to have a perfected body to live in the presence of God we also know, because we wouldn't be able to live with God, we wouldn't be able to live with our families again. There's just so much that if we didn't have the resurrection, all the pains, all the imperfections of our body in this lifetime wouldn't go away. We wouldn't ever find a completion or a fulfillment of that right.
Speaker 1:The second thing is, if there was no Christ, our spirit would forever be subject to the devil. And once again Alma and Nephi go over this. And in 2, nephi or well, in Alma it says this we would have all power, or he would have all power over you, referring to the devil and seal you his, and thus we would be angels to a devil. And then Nephi goes on in chapter 9 as well, and he says we'd be shut out of the presence of our God. So I want you to think about that.
Speaker 1:If there was no bread, meaning there was no Christ, that means any mistake we could never repent of, because there was never an atonement performed that gave Christ the power to forgive sin. He would have never taken our place, he would have never understood how we felt the guilt, the shame, and he would never been able to help us because he had never been to the places we go when we sin the emotional destitute, the loneliness we go when we sin the emotional destitute, the loneliness, the self-loathing. He would never be able to help us out of those places. And I think Mosiah says it best. In chapter 2, mosiah 2, he says we would endure a never-ending torment. I think that's exactly like if we were forever subject to the devil. That's what we would have.
Speaker 1:We would forever be tormented by our past mistakes, never being able to move on from them, always being kept up at night and harrowed by those things, which I think is the greatest torment knowing that we've caused harm, we've hurt ourselves and we can never make it right, or there was no one out there like Christ who could make it right. And then the last thing this comes from Corinthians and said in fact, we would truly be without hope If Christ had not risen then is our preaching in vain and our faith is also vain. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are all men most miserable. So think about that. I know definitely in times of my life I'm only running on hope in Christ, that I know definitely in times of my life I'm only running on hope in Christ, that he is going to come through on his promises that life can get better, that I can be forgiven.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I couldn't imagine never feeling like things could get better, knowing I was stuck man. That would be tough. There's moments where I do feel like that. Sometimes, when my faith isn't as strong as I'd like it to be, I do feel like sometimes I slip into that place, but I wouldn't want it to be permanent, that's for sure. I wouldn't want to be hopeless forever. So I hope this story kind of illustrates the point I'm trying to get to is, if there was no bread, there would be no Christ. And ask yourself where would that lead me? Think back on your life where Christ has always been a part of that.
Speaker 1:Now that we know that isn't a scenario and that's just a hypothetical kind of like I mentioned at the beginning of this episode, the book of the infinite atonement taught me a lot about the sacrament and how we're to behave during the sacrament, and I just want to read this part. So Elder Tad Archallister says the Savior knew that an honest contemplation of the atonement turns our thoughts and actions heavenward. This is why we have such great emphasis on remembering the Savior and his atonement. It is a central component of the sacramental prayers. To remember the Savior's sacrifice is a repeated theme of the scriptures. The Lord knows that such reflection is more than a mental exercise. It is, in truth, a precursor to Christlike works.
Speaker 1:So this one really, really changed me. I think about when I was little. I had great parents. They definitely taught me what to do, but I definitely remember growing up my mom would say you're supposed to pray during the sacrament, ask for forgiveness for everything you've done wrong that week. I don't think that's a bad thing, but I just think it was a missing piece. The other piece that I think that we need to add to it is the remembrance part, and this is what the book the Infinite Atonement taught me.
Speaker 1:If we're not taking a moment to remember Christ during the sacrament, then we're missing the whole point of the sacrament. Are we truly thinking about what Christ has done for us, the opportunity he's given us to improve, to repent? Do we remember those moments? Do we think of his pain and suffering, the ultimate price he paid so that we could have a better life and not live without a resurrection, not be subject to the devil, not be shut out from the presence of God and live in endless torment and to not live hopelessly our entire lives. I think we should be praying for forgiveness, but not just during the sacrament. I think we should be praying for forgiveness every day, constantly, because we are forever failing. But if we're not taking the sacrament, if we're not taking that time during the sacrament to remember Christ, did we truly partake of the sacrament, which is a physical representation of our remembrance of him and our promise to forever remember him. So I want you to keep that in mind when you show up to sacrament the next day.
Speaker 1:I think if we all did a better job of really thinking on Christ and I think that is a form of communion with Christ then our lives would be changed for the better, because On every given Sunday we're having a memorial service to remember our champion and Savior, jesus Christ. And yes, first and foremost, the sacrament is a physical reminder of God's love and saving power for all people and generations. Our ability to focus on the Savior and connect with him during the sacrament is proportionate to our ability to repent and change. Change the better we remember Christ, the more constant times we think on Christ will directly correlate with how often we repent and how greatly we change. The physical eating and drinking of the bread and water does not cleanse us. It's the Savior that does. Let me say that again because I want this point to get through.
Speaker 1:The sacrament does not save or cleanse us. It is Christ. But if we forget about Christ then we forget to repent, we forget to change. That is why it's so important to keep a remembrance of Christ, because if we're always thinking on what he's done for us and given us, we are more likely to feel a healthy dose of guilt and be imbued with a desire to change. And when that desire chain grows within us, it carries us to go out and actually bring forth fruits of repentance. Whether that is a renewed effort, whether that's talking to the bishop, whether that is stopping doing certain actions and trying to be better. That all happens because of Christ, not because we took the sacrament on Sunday. The sacrament is just a physical manifestation that Christ is real and that his atonement's real and that God does not want us to forget it. It is no wonder we receive the sacrament more often than any other ordinance in the church. Not many people go to the temple every week. Not many people go do baptisms for the dead every week, let alone get baptized every week. We only do that once. So the constantness of the sacrament is really interesting. It is a constant emphasis from our Heavenly Father to remember his son, jesus Christ, and what he did. So I really want to emphasize that. So, as I've thought about this over time, certain symbols have really stuck out to me over the years and I want to share those with you and, like I said, there's going to be plenty other ones that you might come up with.
Speaker 1:The first thing is I want to start with the sacrament table. It is an altar that we kneel before and pray over. It symbolizes back in time when they would sacrifice sheep. During that time, they would sacrifice and burn the sacrifice as a way to remember or point their minds forward to the time when Christ would pay the ultimate sacrifice. Now we have the sacrament to point our minds back to Christ's sacrifice. We may no longer give a sacrifice of blood, but we are asked to symbolically sacrifice our sins, burdens and pains. The sacrament is not just a time to ask for forgiveness. The sacrament is also a time to ask for help to acknowledge the sufferings and burdens you have and leave them at the feet of Christ. With Christ's death, he offers up the bread of life and the spring of living water which we symbolically promise to partake so we can find rest, new life in his death and resurrection to sustain us and to endure to the end. That is what the sacrament table represents. I hope that was like helpful in some way. The next part is this one hit me Once again. I think this one comes from the book the Continuous Atonement by Elder Wilcox.
Speaker 1:I think we've all been in a sacrament where, like, someone is saying the prayer and they can't get it right, and they have to say it again, and once again they can't get it right, and that prayer is repeated over and over and over again until it is perfect. I don't know if there's any part of the sacrament that I can resonate more with, because that's what Christ offers us. He offers us the chance to fail repeatedly until we get it right. He allows us to try again until we are perfect. And the best part is there is no shame. No one gets up and tells that priest like, oh, you're doing terrible, you're the worst. They don't let him. They don't like kick him out and put someone in his place for him to, so that someone could get it right. There is no shaming, it's just like we let them try again until they get it right. This is the act of repentance. I love that part of the sacrament. It's I. Whenever it happens, I kind of smile to myself because I'm like I'm right there with you, buddy, I'm still trying to. I have to repeat it over and over again, no matter how many times I get it wrong. I'm doing this until I get it right. That was a new one for me when I realized that, and I think it's a very big symbol of the sacrament.
Speaker 1:Next is the bread. I kind of hinted at this earlier. I really think the bread represents the body of Christ. I think this is important to realize that Christ condescended. He descended from a divine throne where he was the right-hand man to God. He chose to do that so he could experience what we would experience in this life, so he could suffer the same pains, afflictions, emotional turmoil, the mortality that just kind of beats us down day in and day out. He chose to do that, so it's not only a symbol of his body that he gave up, but it's also a symbol of the life he lived. It's a symbol of his earthly service, his ministry, his power over physical illness. It's his power over death and it's a symbol of his resurrection and a promise that we will receive a perfected body after we die. But it also says this Christ is the source of all spiritual food as well, because he is the bread of life. We cannot survive spiritually if we don't have the bread of life. There have been times in my life where I go without truly acknowledging Christ, and those moments are always harder than the times I am acknowledging Christ, and it's because I am starving spiritually. This also points us to our need for daily nourishment from the hand of God.
Speaker 1:I also want to think about the process of bread. Bread is made with leaven. Leaven is what makes bread super fluffy, soft when we eat it right. Leaven causes the bread to rise and become more. It becomes bigger because of the leaven. This also points to one of the powers of Christ has in our life. He is our leaven. He causes us to rise up when we fail. He causes us to rise to the occasion when we are asked to do more and essentially, he also makes us more because we invite him into our life. These are all the symbols of the bread, not just of his body and his life he gave. It's much more deep and beautiful than just that.
Speaker 1:Now let's go to the counterpart, which is the water. In my mind, I feel like the water represents more of the Garden of Gethsemane or his suffering for sin, because this is really the price he paid His blood was shed for our sins. He is also the fount of everlasting water that never runs dry, kind of like how we have to be constantly nourished by the daily bread, or the bread of life. We also have to go to his well constantly and drink of it, because without it, once again, we would die of thirst, spiritually speaking. Obviously, there's something else I learned. So I have a background in physiology and I took a lot of chemistry classes as part of my degree.
Speaker 1:One thing I've learned is water is the greatest solvent on earth, meaning it dissolves almost any material that's put into it, no matter how resistant it is to being dissolved. Christ, too, is the great solvent of our lives, no matter what sin, pain, suffering, weakness, when it is exposed to Christ and his power, it is eroded, it is eaten away to the point that it is no longer existent in our lives. He can dissolve sin, addiction of any kind, out of our lives, the worries and the storms of life. They're not too great, they're not too dark for him to make them disappear and give us a crystal clear mind and life. I just really want you guys to know that, like when we partake of that water, nothing can stand up to the atonement of Christ. So if we are willing once again to invite him into our lives, to place those things upon the altar and let him wash away those things, they too will no longer be existent in our lives and will only be left with the love of Christ.
Speaker 1:Another big part of the sacrament that I love is the cloth. You know, we lay out a white cloth, we put the white trays on top of that cloth, we cover with another white cloth, just like how we wear white in the temple. All the temple buildings are white too. It's a symbol of cleanliness, heaven and our covenants. It means that when we repent and come unto Christ, we too can be made clean again. It's also a promise that we can receive heaven. It also is a symbol of greater covenants we've made in the temple. We can't forget about those. So the sacrament is not only just talking about our baptismal covenant. It's also pointing to the temple, where this theme of whiteness is continued. It also means there's more to come. Our baptismal covenants aren't the only things covenants we're going to make.
Speaker 1:Another really cool part of the sacrament is the passing of the sacrament. Every priesthood holder is a stand-in for Christ. It's like him saying here am I, I will give you to eat and drink of my body and my blood. And then we turn to the person next to us and with our action, say hey, here is Christ who has changed me. Now I want you to partake of his divine help too. Every calling, every assignment, every meeting of the church is for us to go out and share Christ with others. And it's beautiful that the sacrament has us physically doing that to each and every one of us. We partake, we pass it on, I kind of. To each and every one of us. We partake, we pass it on I kind of. This kind of leads to the next one. But it's also very interesting that we break the bread into individual pieces and we drink from individual cups.
Speaker 1:Christ suffered and was broken under the weight of our individual sins so that we could individually be saved by him. He gives himself individually to us. He has time for each and every one of us. The Savior, too, asks us to bring a sacrifice of a broken heart and a contrite spirit as well, as if it's him saying it's okay to be broken. In fact, I think he prefers it and requires it. I love how the church places us all on the same standing before Christ.
Speaker 1:Everyone is offered the chance to take the sacrament, obviously, aside from allergies, we are all offered the same food and water, whether we are rich and poor, male or female, and regardless of our race or ethnicity. In fact, accommodations are made for us to take the sacrament in occasions of sickness, disability and special circumstances. I don't know how better Christ could express to us that he cares about the one. He cares about you individually. There is nothing too big or small. There is no. He is not too busy to go out of his way to reach out his hand and tell you he loves you and wants to help you. That's what we do.
Speaker 1:We dedicate a significant amount of time in our sacrament meeting to ensure everyone gets that chance to partake of the sacrament individually. It's not like we all go up there and we have like. It's not like we all sit down in the pew and have a piece of bread and water placed before us. That's not what God wants us to take away from. Sacrament is just hurry, get it over with. He wants us to have it brought to us. He wants us to know there was a piece set aside for us. And then, even in times where you are incapable of going to the sacrament because of whatever's going on, he's like I still don't forget you. I'm going to go out of my way to come to your home and give you the sacrament, because that's what Christ would do he would go out of his way to find you in your home and minister unto you.
Speaker 1:I actually left a stake not too long ago where they had a very interesting policy. Their policy was if you wanted to partake of the sacrament, you had to be in the sacramental room or the chapel, if anybody I'm sure everyone showed up to church late and they stood out in the foyer and then usually they would have people go into the foyer to pass the sacrament. However, our stake president at the time thought it was very needed, because it was part of this ordinance, for them to see the sacrament be broken, blessed and covered by the cloth. Some may disagree with this policy, but it did teach me a lesson. I thought the symbolism was great.
Speaker 1:At the beginning of every sacrament, and before we even started the sacrament, we would invite those in the foyer to come in into the chapel and sit and be with us. That's what Christ wants from us. He doesn't want us to feel ostracized or outcast and we have to only partake of his atonement in an obscure foyer. No, he wants us to enter in with him, sit down at his pew in a way, kneel before that altar, bow our head before that altar and be wholehearted participants in his atonement or in the sacrament. He asks us to leave all distractions behind, put away the phone, but he's also saying he wants you to leave whatever unworthy behavior, any doubts, any bad thoughts of yourself at the door. Leave it there and please be a part of my people, with me we all have physical and spiritual foyers that we Leave it there, so we don't deny him the opportunity to minister unto us. So I thought that was a beautiful policy.
Speaker 1:I know not everywhere has that, but it, its symbolism, imagery, comes to us more readily and more repeatedly than any in our life. It comes in what has been called the most sacred, the most holy of all the meanings of the church. It should be a powerful, reverent, reflective moment. It should encourage spiritual feelings and impressions. I hope this episode, you guys walk away, take great things, think about Christ more, because, and actually go find your own symbolism I miss some probably somewhere, but go think on it, see how it points you to Christ, because that is the whole purpose of the sacrament is to remember him and let it change us. Remember him and let it change us. So, with that said little flock despair, not build upon the rock, do good and always hear him. No-transcript.