Heather's Sacrament Meeting Talk

Well, this is a first for Heather. I was always reluctant to enter the blogging world because I thought, "Who cares what I have to say?" or "Who would read it anyway?" After too many emails full of pictures that took forever to send, I decided that blogging was a great way to share family pictures with our loved ones who live far away. However, I still wasn't convinced that actual writing (more than a cute caption) was necessary or would even get read by anyone. Well, here I am writing my first writing blog entry with no pictures. Scary! So I've given you plenty of warning (if anyone is even reading this far) to move on to another post with cute pictures.

A few months ago I was asked to speak in sacrament meeting at church. Normally this would have been a little unpleasant, but I would have willingly done it. However, the scheduled speaker had backed out at the last minute, and I had only three days to prepare. The topic was "Faith in the Atonement" which is pretty heavy duty, and is the sort of topic I would have liked a few weeks (at least!) to mull over and research. A year ago I had given a talk about Family Home Evening which would have been no problem to pull together in a few days, but this topic deserved and required a great deal of thought.

The bishopric counselor who asked me could tell I was hesitant and told me I could take a day to think about it and get back to him. I told him my concerns which were that Vaughn was out of town, and I didn't see a time where I could actually sit down and prepare it. He said for me to think about it and let him know the next day, and it was ok if it was too much. Of course, I can never say no to things, and I told him that it would save me a phone call if I just told him right then that I would do it, rather than waiting for the next day to give him the same answer. He told me again to think about it and get back to him after checking with Vaughn to see what his schedule was.

Well I thought about it, and I thought I could easily say no. I had four kids home from school, my husband was out of town, and I had multiple activities and other commitments. I also thought that the bishopric would then have to ask someone else, and other people have busy lives too. Why was my schedule and life too busy or more important than someone else's? More importantly, I had the distinct impression that this assignment, particularly, this topic, was something I needed to do. So, I fired off an email to the bishopric counselor agreeing to speak. (Note: One of my stresses was doing sharing time in primary so I came up with the idea for the bishopric counselor to come in and speak to the kids for a few minutes about the Holy Ghost. He readily agreed knowing we were doing each other a big favor.)

I had this assignment weighing on my mind for the next few days. Once I put the kids to bed, I sat down at the computer and printed out a bunch of articles from lds.org about the atonement. Each one I read, I would end up crying over, which actually isn't saying much because I cry at the drop of a hat these days. But, again, I felt like this was a topic I needed. I thought the easy way to go would be to regurgitate one of these articles, because an apostle can surely tackle this topic better than me, right? Again, I felt like I needed to come to my own understanding of faith in the atonement.

I had the idea to use a story that I had heard 15-20 years ago. This story has been bouncing around in my mind for years, and I've always thought there was an analogy to draw from it. I thought it would be great to use in a talk, but I could never make it work with other topics I'd been given. I called my dad to double-check the facts of the story, and ended up having a great conversation with him about his experiences as a bishop and how he saw the atonement work in people's lives. One of the things he learned was that the Lord wants us to succeed and is willing to give us chance after chance after chance to turn our lives around. He never gives up on us. As a bishop, he saw people repeatedly make mistakes and even commit grievous sins, but by applying the atonement in their lives, they became new people.

So, armed with the promptings of the Spirit and the thoughts and feelings I had over those few days, I came up with with the following talk. As stated above, I think this topic was given to me for my own spiritual growth, but my hope is that others may be able to benefit from it. Also, I have since continued my study and research on this topic, so if anything, the assignment to speak was a stepping stone for me to study the Atonement further.

Sacrament Meeting Talk Given by Heather Larsen in the Hingham Ward, Hingham, MA, August 10, 2008:


I grew up about 15 miles north of Reno, NV in a community called Silver Knolls. Silver Knolls is in a valley with a large dry lake surrounded by sagebrush-covered mountains. For those of you not from the desert, a dry lake is a large tract of land usually devoid of vegetation that is dry during periods of drought, but can turn into a shallow lake during heavy rains or years of good rain and snowfall. This area is fairly rural with most people living here having horses, cattle and other livestock. The area is also home to coyotes, mountain lions, mustangs, and large predatory birds.

Growing up, we had a good family friend named Gary Herron who was a neighbor and also our home teacher for several years. He worked for the Nevada Department of Wildlife in rehabilitating wild birds like hawks and falcons that had been injured for various reasons. He had a falconers license and also kept his own birds as pets. He had large cages in his backyard that were always housing some very large and beautiful birds of prey.

When his family would go on vacation, they would ask my brothers and me to help take care of their animals and plants. My duties included feeding and watering the dogs, watering the house plants, and changing the food and water for the indoor parakeets. My brothers got the more gruesome task of feeding the big birds. I never saw them actually feed the large birds, but I know it involved frozen pigeons. The reason I know this is because I inadvertently opened a package in our extra freezer in the garage to discover a frozen solid pigeon, feathers and all. I am a fairly squeamish and perhaps dramatic person (especially as a teenager) so of course I screamed. After that, I had no interest to watch the big birds eat the little birds.

Anyway, Gary would take his own falcon hunting in the valley. The valley was big enough and rural enough for his bird to find plenty of food and give his wings a good stretch. He would often tell us stories about his birds and their hunting trips. The exciting stories usually involved run ins with eagles or owls. Apparently, falcons and owls are arch enemies. If a falcon sees an owl from 1000 feet up, it will dive down and attack the owl. On one occasion, Gary said he saw an owl and his falcon collide in mid-air and fall to the earth. The owl flew away, but his bird was a little dazed and just stood there. Luckily, it had only lost a tail feather in the encounter.

One story Gary told us about his friend’s falcon has always stayed with me. This friend lived in the same valley, but his home was on a hill. One evening around dusk he had his peregrine falcon tied to a post on a hill on his property while he went back down to the bird’s cage to get something. The bird had a hood on over its head and eyes. This keeps the bird from seeing distractions and helps keep it calm and quiet while being transported. He was only gone a few minutes, but when he came back, he was stunned to find that a great-horned owl had quietly swooped down and killed his falcon.

Of course, Gary’s friend was devastated about the loss of this bird especially under these preventable and sad circumstances.

I have often thought about this poor falcon tied down to the fence post, unable to see the approaching owl and unable to defend itself. If the falcon was not tied down and hooded, it would have seen the owl in time to fly away. It would have escaped easily since falcons are faster than owls. Unfortunately, the owl could see that the bird was vulnerable and took advantage of the situation.

Like the falcon, we can be bound and so blinded by sin that we cannot defend ourselves from the adversary. Satan will take advantage of our spiritual vulnerability and triumphantly devour our souls as we succumb to spiritual death. The falcon was left alone to fend for itself, but we have not been left alone. The Savior suffered for our sins in the Garden of Gethsemane and died on the cross so that we could escape the bands of sin and sorrow.

The scriptures have several accounts of people that have broken the bonds of sin through repentance and have gone on to not only be clean from sin but to be leaders in his church. Acts Chapter 9 tells the conversion story of Saul who later became the great apostle Paul. I think this is a perfect illustration of how the atonement can change the course of a life. Saul was a Pharisee and had a hand in the persecutions and deaths of the early Christians. He was present when the disciple Stephen was stoned to death, and Acts 8:1 says, "And Saul was consenting unto his death." Verse 3 states, "As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women committed them to prison."

In Chapter 9 we learn that Saul is on his way to Damascus to find and imprison any disciples of Christ. In verses 3-6, we read,

"And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven:

And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?"

Right here I want to point out that the tone of the Lord’s voice to me doesn’t sound angry, but rather sad or disappointed. He is compassionate to Saul just as he is to all of us.

"And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.

And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do."

Now Saul became blind after this experience and his traveling companions led him the rest of the way into Damascus where he was without sight and food and drink for 3 days.

At the same time a disciple named Ananias had a vision from the Lord that told him to find Saul. Ananias reacted the way we would have probably reacted. He said, "Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to they saints at Jerusalem:" Ananias was fearful of Saul and his authority to imprison the disciples.

But the Lord told Ananias, "Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel:

For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake."

So Ananias went to find Saul and restored his sight and baptized him. Of course we know that Saul changed his name to Paul and became a major influence in the early church.

What I learn from this story is that the Lord loves us unconditionally. No matter how great our sins are, we are his children, and he sees our great potential to live up to being his heirs in his kingdom. I also learn that even grievous sins can be forgiven through the atonement, and we can become like a new person with a clearer idea of the Lord’s plan for us.

Contrarily, Satan will tell us that we have gone too far for redemption, and that we are inherently bad people so we can’t change. President James E. Faust said, "The evil influence of Satan would destroy any hope we have in overcoming our mistakes. He would have us feel that we are lost and that there is no hope."

It is difficult for our mortal minds to grasp the miracle of the atonement and resurrection. He suffered in the Garden of Gethsemane and bore the sins of the world to the extent that he was bleeding from every pore. He later endured inquisition, beatings and death by crucifixion all because of His love for us. This great act gave us two gifts. The first gift is the gift of resurrection and mortality which is given to everyone regardless of their good or evil acts. The second gift is the gift of exaltation and eternal life, which is the blessing of living in the presence of Heavenly Father and our Savior forever. This second gift requires action on our part in the form of keeping the commandments and repenting of our sins.

When we are sinning it is easy to feel and think that nothing can fix what we have done. That is the miracle of atonement. By humbling ourselves before the Lord with a broken heart and contrite spirit, we can repent and overcome sin. We can pay our debt the best we can, but the Lord will pay the remaining seemingly insurmountable debt.

In my own extended family, we had a very painful experience that involved adultery. A family was torn apart, and the effects were far reaching as we were a tightly-knit family that did many things together. There was a lot of pain as I watched my cousins lose their family, and as we all tried to accept the new situation. However, after many years, the person involved in the sin recognized the magnitude of his actions and finally began the repentance process. Gradually over about 15 years, this person was rebaptized and had all his temple blessings restored to him. The miracle of the atonement was obvious to all when all the parties involved in the sin were able to attend the temple wedding of their youngest child. It was not an easy road, but through the atonement, repentance was rewarded by forgiveness.

The atonement is not only for the sinner, but for the victims of the sinner’s actions. Through the atonement, we can have a forgiving heart towards our trespassers and find peace. I recently read a book called, Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust. It is an autobiography of a survivor of the 1994 Rwandan Holocaust named Immaculee Ilibagiza. The book details the horrors and atrocities committed in a mass genocide where most of Immaculee’s family and friends died cruel and gruesome deaths at the hands of their former neighbors and friends simply because they were part of a different tribe.

Immaculee survived the holocaust against all odds mostly because of her faith and many miracles. After the genocide, Immaculee had the opportunity to confront her family’s murderer in prison. The guard expected her to come in and spit at the man and yell at him, and he would have allowed her to do just about anything to avenge her family’s death. Instead, she quietly told the man that she forgave him.

As years passed, she was able to forgive the people that committed the violence and find peace that radiated to all those who knew her. In her travels, she met other holocaust victims who had not forgiven the people who committed the atrocities, and they visibly carried that burden on their shoulders to the extent that their mental and physical heath were deteriorating rapidly. When one of these people met Immaculee, they recognized the difference in her countenance and asked how she too could forgive and find peace. This peace is only possible through exercising our faith in the atonement.

Without exercising faith in the atonement, we are like the falcon tied helplessly to the fence post, awaiting a sure death. However, we have the power to free ourselves from the bonds of sin by having faith in the miracle of the atonement and exercising that faith through repentance and forgiveness. It is impossible to free ourselves by our own will power or inner strength. We must rely on the atonement and the Lord's mercy and grace to allow us to rise above our own mortal inadequacies and weaknesses.

I hope that I can learn to fully take advantage of the atonement in my own life. I believe that every sin or sorrow, great or small, can be wiped clean from the slate of our lives if we accept the miracle of the atonement. In the name of our beloved Savior, Jesus Christ, amen.