The impurities of the Body

I have a tendency to receive answers to prayers through dreams. Anyone who has been told the invitation dream knows this already. Saturday night, when I went to bed I prayed fervently once again to have revelation in my sleep, and once again received an 'answer' (cue Hank) to my prayer through my dreams. Here is what transpired:

A factory hummed and chugged around me as I walked distracted around displays showing just how impurities were being extracted from all manner of goods. It wasn’t clear what factory I was in--but what was clear was the impression that all types of foods were more tainted with poisons than we knew. I watched corn being washed and spun. Wheat passed through a shifting conveyer and sugar sifted though layers of mechanics tumbling into large potato sacks at one end of the room. It all seemed so much! At the end was a room full of baked goods--breads and cereals which had been made with these organic, safer and more pure goods. I chose a large bread, and hungrily looked over others--realizing in a wink I was no longer in the factory, but a church which was quickly filling with people.


Of course, I sat down. To my left and right families squeezed reverently in beside me--some faces I recognized, and most that I didn’t. There was a man up in front, and just as suddenly as this scenery had appeared, so too did the sacrament. It was time to take communion. Ahh, my bread! I recognized it at once. That freshly baked bread from the impurity cleansing factory was passing from hand to hand down the pew--and was being handed now to me. Except, it wasn’t quite my bread afterall? It was slathered most ceremoniously with peanut butter--a thick and imposing layer of Jiff. Was this the sacrament? What was wrong with these people? I could not take this offering! I held the bread, so longing to be communing with God but completely unable, and passed the bread to the family beyond me, who hungrily took a peace and passed it further down the row.

Just then, a small boy in the pew in front of me began a loud tapping. He was so loud in fact, he attracted the attention of most of the back portion of the church. Many adults on either side of him--in front and behind him--began admonishing him for his irreverence. They quickly became somewhat of an angry mob--each taking turns to tell him how disrespectful it was to make such noise in Church--and each more loud than the one before him.

I said nothing, but looked around with increasing anxiety. The church was turning into a free-for-all! After a few pained moments, I stood and implored to the space up-front. I called quite above the loud din of the parishioners, “Bishop, will you not stand in authority here? We need authority!” And true to the request, a man stood and walked up front, beginning to tell a rousing story that only excited the tone of the congregation rather than restoring reverence. I felt completely lost, contemplating running from the room…but choosing rather to hang my head and pray.

In the same immediacy already shown twice before, I found myself in the company of the Savior--his spirit my companion in a otherwise void place. We spoke together:

“They passed the sacrament, but you took none. Why did you not take communion with my body?” said He.
“The way it was....Should I have had, Lord?” I asked.

“They admonished the boy for his irreverence. And you said nothing. Why did you not speak yourself?”
“Weren't they hypocrites, Lord? Can you demand reverence?”

“You called for authority. Why did you ask for another to stand in authority?”
“ He should stand, shouldn't he? It is the Bishop's job isn't it, Lord?”

“And when the Church began to fall, you did not leave. You did not shout or run, you stayed and you prayed.”
“I didn’t want to be there, but I stayed. Should I have, Lord? ”


And there my dream, like a gentle kiss left me.

With more questions than answers--the Lord left me. And yet, I felt the sure feeling that God had responded. What was it that I prayed for you might ask?

I had asked, in great supplication….

God, how can I know how to feed the spiritual needs of my family? Where do I go--how do I feed them, being so different? How can I lead them? When I wake, which Church should I attend?


What do you think? In the same place-- what would you have done in that Church…with that bread? What authority would you act with--or not act with? What is your responsibility to Christ if not to the C-H-U-R-C-H? What is ‘wrong’ and what is ‘right’? What would the Lord say to me? Where does the Church start, and end? What defines our allegiance to Him? How do we show our faith in times of trial? These are the things in this dream---things I will ponder for some time, so thankful to Him that gave it to me.

How good God is!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0d25kA_XknM