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What is the covenant path?

By Staff | Sep 28, 2024

Courtesy Intellectual Reserve

Partaking of the sacrament is an essential part of Latter-day Saint Sunday worship.

President Russell M. Nelson was set apart as the 17th president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Jan. 14, 2018. Two days later, he spoke during a live broadcast from the annex of the Salt Lake Temple.

During these first remarks to the membership of the worldwide church as its new leader, Nelson offered this counsel to church members: “Keep on the covenant path.”

“Your commitment to follow the savior by making covenants with him and then keeping those covenants will open the door to every spiritual blessing and privilege available to men, women and children everywhere,” Nelson said.

What is the covenant path? As the title suggests, it is a journey, and covenants are made along the way.

Covenants

According to Elder D. Todd Christofferson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, who addressed the topic of covenants during an address at the church’s April 2009 general conference, a covenant is an “agreement between God and man, an accord whose terms are set by God. In these divine agreements, God binds himself to sustain, sanctify and exalt us in return for our commitment to serve him and keep his commandments.”

“We enter covenants by priesthood ordinances, sacred rituals that God has ordained for us to manifest our commitment,” Christofferson said.

The path

The path is the journey through one’s lifetime along with constant learning of and living the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Along the way, a series of covenants are made with God. These covenants are made in a certain order, one building upon another.

“Covenants mark the path back to God,” said Elder Adeyinka A. Ojediran of the Seventy during the church’s April 2022 general conference. “The ordinances of baptism and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, priesthood ordination and the sacrament lead us to the Lord’s temple to partake of his ordinances of exaltation.”

Following the path

The covenant path includes the following: baptism, confirmation and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, partaking of the sacrament, priesthood ordination (for boys and men) and temple ordinances, including the endowment and the sealing of families together forever.

Baptism

Baptism is the means by which people join the Church of Jesus Christ. Those who are baptized are cleansed of their previous sins and placed under covenant to live the principles of the gospel.

Confirmation

A person becomes a member of the church only after being both baptized and confirmed. A person is confirmed a member of the church after baptism by a priesthood holder who puts his hands on the head of the person and blesses him or her to “receive the Holy Ghost.”

Sacrament

The sacrament is the formal blessing and administering of bread and water representing the body and blood of Christ to church members, usually during a Sunday worship meeting.

Priesthood ordination

There are two levels or orders of priesthood in the Church of Jesus Christ. The Aaronic Priesthood is conferred upon faithful male members of the church beginning at age 12. The greater of the two levels or orders of priesthood is the Melchizedek Priesthood, which is conferred upon faithful male church members beginning at age 18.

The temple

At the temple, church members participate in endowment and sealing ceremonies.

  • Endowment: The word endowment means “a gift,” and during the endowment, church members receive greater knowledge of the Lord’s purposes and teachings, make certain covenants and are promised blessings now and forever.

The endowment is available to church members who are at least 18 years old (and no longer attend high school, secondary school or the equivalent) and are faithful and prepared to do so.

  • Sealing: The word sealing refers to the joining of a man and a woman and their children for eternity. When a man and a woman are married in a temple, the ceremony is referred to as a sealing. Children born to this couple are considered automatically sealed to their parents.

Couples who joined the church after their marriage or did not marry in the temple originally for other reasons still have the opportunity to be sealed together in the temple later. Parents can have their children sealed to them at that time.

Covenant descriptions sources:

Newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org

Gospel Library, churchofjesuschrist.org