A Name and a Blessing

"In His Constant Care" by Simon Dewey

In the first chapter of Luke, an angel named Gabriel appeared to Zacharias the priest and announced that his elderly wife would have a child. Gabriel directed that the baby's name should be John and then pronounced this blessing:

"For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord... and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother’s womb... And he shall go before [the Lord] in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord" (Luke 1:15-17).

Gabriel then appeared to the virgin Mary and declared that she, too, would give birth to a son. He declares that the baby's name is Jesus and pronounces a blessing on her child:

"He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end" (Luke 1:32-33).

These miraculous births remind us of others we find in scripture. Abraham, like Zacharias, was promised that his elderly wife would bear a son. The Lord declared, "and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him" (Genesis 17:19).

The prophet Samuel was born to a barren woman, Hannah, who covenanted to dedicate her son's life to the Lord if the Lord would allow her to get pregnant. When she did bear a son, she named him Samuel, a recognition that God had kept his covenant with her, and took him to the temple. The temple priest had blessed her before she became pregnant and did so again when she returned with the child. As she gave her son to the priest, she offered a prayer or song of thanksgiving, praise, and worship for the blessing she had received from the Lord.

In each of these examples, a name was declared and a blessing given. We are also commanded to give our children a name and a blessing:

"Every member of the church of Christ having children is to bring them unto the elders before the church, who are to lay their hands upon them in the name of Jesus Christ, and bless them in his name" (D&C 20:70).

The priesthood holder performing this ordinance stands in the place of Jesus Christ, as Gabriel did, as his servant and messenger. Unlike other priesthood blessings, the one acting as voice first addresses our Heavenly Father and declares a name. Then the child is addressed by name and a blessing is pronounced as it is given by the spirit.

The blessing is not intended to be another patriarchal blessing or purely a proclamation of desired future events. Rather, the child, dressed in white and given to the Elders whose right it is to preside, is, in essence, dedicated the Lord with a name that is recorded on earth and in heaven. As one who belongs to the Lord, the child is entitled to God's protection and care until they reach the age of accountability and can choose to enter covenants on their own.

By allowing their child to be so dedicated, the parents of a child who is named and blessed in this manner signify their trust in the will of God for their child and acknowledge their responsibility to raise the child in righteousness. Often, the parents are also blessed through the child (Abraham received the numberless posterity he desired through Isaac; Hannah bore five children after Samuel; and Mary was "blessed... among women").

Children are a gift from God (Psalms 127:3). Each is a miracle, made holy through the atonement of Jesus Christ, with divine lineage and potential (D&C 74:7). Through the ordinance of giving our children a name and a blessing, we lead them to Christ so that one day they can also be called by His holy name.

Missing the Mark

"Enos Praying" by Robert T. Barrett

Words matter. Often, when it comes to gospel study, there are lessons hidden in the use of particular words or the way they are strung together. Perhaps that is why so many talks in church begin with definitions-- it's a little cliche at this point, but still instructive.

The definitions for the word "sin" are boring on their face: An offense against God. Being truly guilty. Wrongdoing. Exactly what we would expect.

Yet, when we look at the Greek and Hebrew words that are translated as "sin," we find something else: Hamartia and Chatta'ah, respectively, both refer to missing the mark, like missing a target in archery, or failing to reach a divine standard or goal.

Missing the mark is not a trivial thing, particularly for those who have been baptized. Elder Bednar has reminded us on many occasions that the gift of agency was not given so we could do whatever we want, but so that we could choose to follow Christ. He is the mark-- our deliverer and jealous God who commands our loyalty (Exodus 20:1-6). Those who have been baptized have covenanted to "always remember him" (D&C 20:77)-- and sin is evidence of a breach of that contract. The Lord is clear that he "cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance" (D&C 1:31) and Jacob wrote that the Jews were destroyed, "because of their blindness, which blindness came by looking beyond the mark" (Jacob 4:14). 

But imagine yourself learning to shoot arrows at a target. You want to hit the target so it's easy to promise your instructor that you will aim there. You're pretty novice, but if you keep practicing you have hope that you could compete locally, nationally, or beyond-- maybe even at the Olympics.

You start out simple. As you get better, you start to get farther from the target and use more sophisticated equipment. And then, for some reason, you miss one. You get distracted or nervous or slip or whatever else happens... and you miss.

Do you quit trying? Do you walk away from your instructor and the support of your team? Or do you reset your aim, remind yourself of what you have learned from your instructor, maybe ask for a little coaching, and try again?

Professional archers are incredibly accurate because they have practiced so much they can be very consistent with their form, aim, and release. Hitting the bullseye does not get easier, but the effort to do so becomes second nature because they have practiced it so often. Yet, even the most elite make errors, misjudge the wind, have a slight break in form, or just miss. They have missed thousands of times over decades of improving in their sport. None of them got good by deciding a particular miss was too bad or that they had missed too many times. When they miss, they are quick to grab another arrow and try again. In other words, they are quick to repent.

The primary Greek word in the New Testament for repentance is Metanoia, which signifies a profound shift in heart and mind away from sin and towards God. If sin is missing the mark, repentance is refocusing our lives on Christ and trying again. Guilt and punishment enter the definition through translations to Latin, French, and English, and Paul taught that "godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation" (2 Corinthians 7:10), but the act of repentance is more about striving to improve, no matter how often or how terribly we've missed the target, than it is about feeling bad that we missed.

King Benjamin taught, "I cannot tell you all the things whereby ye may commit sin; for there are divers ways and means, even so many that I cannot number them. But this much I can tell you, that [ye must] watch yourselves, and your thoughts, and your words, and your deeds, and observe the commandments of God, and continue in the faith of what ye have heard concerning the coming of our Lord, even unto the end of your lives" (Mosiah 4:29-30). There are an infinite number of ways to miss; but as we use our agency to practice consistently hitting the target, even as the level of difficulty increases, and keep trying when we miss, following Christ will become a second nature for us in our actions, our thoughts, and our words.