I feel like I could just repeat the introduction I made three weeks ago, to the lesson for the week ending April 6th, which also spoke about the gathering. However, this week’s lesson is a little different, since it focuses on why we are gathered instead of simply that there is a commandment to gather.

Since I explained three weeks ago that the nature of gathering has changed over the history of the church, from a physical gathering to a spiritual gathering, its no surprise that the reasons for gathering are different as well. But I suspect that today’s reasons can be seen as simply spiritual versions of the temporal reasons given in the early days of the Church.

 

God gathers us to bless us.

While the simple reason for following any commandment is that it’s a commandment, there’s always a deeper reason, and that reason is always about how the Lord will bless us.

In the following poem, English convert Mary Dunger explains to her sister why she is emigrating from England to gather with the saints. After beginning with the gathering being a commandment, she goes on to explain that gathering frees members from “the evils of the present day.” The saints will find a land that will serve as a heritage and a treasure for the saints.

Today we also gather as a commandment, as well as a way of escaping today’s evils. And I believe the best of our congregations also serve as a heritage and a treasure for their members.

 

Why do the Saints Gather?

by Mary Dunger

You ask me why, my sister dear,

I leave my native land?

I’ll tell you, then, the reason’s good-

It is our Lord’s command.

 

Why did the Israelites of old,

With Moses for their guide,

Go forth into the wilderness,

And journey side by side?

 

Was it not that the Lord their God,

To them a promise made,

The land of Canaan should be theirs,

If they His will obey’d?

 

And we, the Saints of latter days,,

Think God is still the same

To day as heretofore, and will

Unchangeable remain.

 

Therefore, when, by His Prophet’s voice,

He warneth us to shun

The evils of the present day,

And flee the wrath to come,

 

We go unto His chosen land;

And if we faithful prove,

“Twill be for us a heritage,

A land of light and love.

 

I go because my treasure lies,

And it I’d still conceal,

Where moth and rust can not corrupt,

Nor thieves break through and steal

 

In that bless’d land I long to dwell,

Where God is truly known,

That I may learn His righteous ways,

And worship at His throne.

 

For there the Gospel truths do shine

In mellow, hallow’d light;

There do the rays of love shed forth

A halo clear and bright.

 

I would not be like one of those,

Who, when the bridegroom came

Went to receive him unprepar’d,

And hung their heads in shame.

 

No, I would always ready stand,

And wait the coming hour,

When Jesus shall to earth descend

In majesty and power.

 

And I would have my lamp well trimm’d,

My garments white and pure,

That I may make my calling good,

And my election sure.

1855

 

“Hear my voice and follow me.”

Hearing the Savior’s voice and following him sounds like a commandment, not a blessing—unless you find the voice comforting. Often listening to someone else is a relief from having to make decisions for yourself. And yes, that can feel peaceful—the peace of not having to worry.

The following poem was included in the LDS hymnal up to the LDS Psalmody of 1920. In it, W. W. Phelps expresses the peace that comes from faith in Christ, from, we might say, spiritually gathering to Him. Of course, this doesn’t mean that anyone can hide from personal responsibility or from the need to change to become more like Him. Instead, faith gives us the peace to follow Him without the anxiety of the influence of the world.

 

My soul is full of peace and love

by William W. Phelps

My soul is full of peace and love,

I soon shall see Christ from above;

And angels too, the hallow’d throng,

Shall join with me in holy song.

The Spirit’s power has sealed my peace,

And fill’d my soul with heav’nly grace;

Transported I, with peace and love,

Am waiting for the throngs above.

Prepare my heart, prepare my tongue,

To join this glorious, heav’nly throng:

To hail the Bridegroom from above,

And join the band in songs of love.

Let all my pow’rs of mind combine

To hail my Savior all divine;

To hear his voice, attend his call,

And crown him King, and Lord of all.

1833

 

If I am prepared, I don’t need to be afraid.

The anxiety we often feel doesn’t come from God—instead it comes from the influence of the culture that humanity has constructed, not from any inspiration from God. Gathering in the 1830s was a way of escaping from the world, and even today gathering spiritually gives us a way of counteracting much of the evil influences from around us.

I’m uncertain about the author of this poem. It appears in the 1840 LDS Manchester hymnal, and it is possible that it was borrowed from a non-Mormon source. But so far I haven’t been able to find that source. Regardless, the hymn does urge us to leave aside the anxiety and fear of the world around us.

 

Dismiss your anxious care

By ??

Dismiss your anxious care,

O all ye sons of need!

Consider how the ravens are

By heav’nly bounty fed.

Jehovah will provide

Your clothing and your food:

Think how the ravens are supplied;

And trust a faithful God.

You have no present store

Laid up for future needs;

Yet He will not forget the poor,

Who hungry ravens feeds.

Your Father will bestow

On you your daily bread;

The ravens neither reap nor sow,

And yet are richly fed.

How mean these creatures are!

Yet God supplies their wants;

And he that doth for ravens care,

Will not forget his saints.

For you the Saviour died;

Heav’n is prepared for you:

He that for ravens doth provide,

Will feed his children too.

If Satan should suggest,

God will not hear your cry,

He hears young ravens in their nest,

And answers from the sky.

His gracious word believe,

Forget your long complaint;

If God doth food to ravens give,

He will not let you faint.

1840

 

God wants us to “be one.”

Perhaps the biggest blessing of gathering is the community support we get. But it’s not guaranteed, since just being part of a group doesn’t mean that the group will support all its members.

W. W. Phelps hints at the problem in this poem, suggesting that even though the church exists, it still needs to “be gathered, / Into the one Spirit of God”. Phelps here seems concerned more with the battle between good and evil, but part of this is seeing those in the church gathered into one.

 

The pure testimony pour’d forth in the spirit

by William W. Phelps

The pure testimony pour’d forth in the spirit,

Cuts like a keen two-edged sword;

And hypocrites now are most sorely tormented,

Because they’re condemn’d by the word.

The pure testimony discovers the dross,

While wicked professors make light of the cross,

But Babylon trembles for fear of her loss.

 

Is not the time come for the church to be gathered,

Into the one Spirit of God?

Baptiz’d by one spirit into the one body.

Partaking Christ’s flesh and his blood?

They drink in one spirit, which makes them all see

They’re one in Christ Jesus wherever they be,

The Jew and the Gentile, the bond and the free.

 

Then blow ye the trumpet in pure testimony,

And let the world hear it again;

O come ye from Babylon, Egypt and Sodom,

And make vour way over the plain;

And gird on your armour, ye saints of the Lord,

For Christ will direct you by his living word,

The pure testimony will cut like a sword.

 

The great prince of darkness is mustering his forces,

To make you his pris’ners again,

By flatteries, reproaches, and vile persecution,

That you in his cause may remain;

But shun his temptations wherever they lay,

And mind not his servants whatever they say,

The pure testimony will give you the day.

 

The world will not persecute those who are like them,

But hold them the same as their own;

The pure testimony cries up, separation,

And calls you your lives to lay down,

Come out from their spirit and practices too,

The track of your Saviour keep still in your view,

The pure testimony will cut the way thro.

 

A battle is coming between the two kingdoms,

The armies are gathering round;

The pure testimony and vile persecution

Will come to close battle ere long:

Then wash all your robes in the blood of the Lamb,

And walk in the spirit, as Jesus has done;

In pure testimony you will overcome.

1840

 

Heavenly Father wants to give me the riches of eternity.

In the end, the biggest blessing of gathering is that it helps us toward the ‘richest of eternity’—the blessings of eternal life, of returning to the home we once knew.

Here, Joseph L. Townsend invokes poetically the feeling of returning home, to eternal relationships strengthened by earthly experience. This is the kind of blessing that comes from reaching eternal life.

 

Spirit Memories

By J. L. Townsend

There’s a song of songs in my heart to-day,

A song the angels are singing;

While my thoughts in holiest faith essay

To gather the music ringing.

 

‘Tis a song whose words in a sweet refrain,

And melody sweetly falling,

Are like dreams, that, vanishing, yet remain

In memories faint recalling.

 

And the song that lingers in memory,

Recalls a heavenly glory;

In the scenes of elysian homes I see

That faintly are shown before me.

 

There’s a home where brothers and sisters dear,

And mother, a queen of heaven,

As a childhood’s dream of another sphere,

Appears through a vail light riven;

 

And the glimpse I see of this home of love,

My heart oft thrills with the longing

To regain this beautiful home above,

With spiritual kindred thronging;

 

And the song of songs in my heart must be

A song I have joined in singing

With my kindred there, ere eternity

Rolled on, my probation bringing.

 

And this song of songs I may hope to hear,

The vail be completely riven,

When my spirit meets with the angels near,

Returning in joy to heaven.

1882