Catholic traditionalists don’t like the newfangled approach where the priest faces the congregation while he undergoes the rite of the mass. (It used to be the priest faced away from the congregation, to the east, ad orientem.) The mass, they say, is a rite of worship. The congregation isn’t worshipping the priest and the priest isn’t worshipping the congregation, ergo, they shouldn’t be gawking at each other. They also say that the mass is a sacrifice. To whom is the priest sacrificing? Not to the congregation, surely. Thus Catholic traditionalists.

There has never been anything Mormon parallel to the ad orientem issue. Until this General Conference.

Though he was speaking more metaphorically than of our rites, Elder Robbins was firm about the direction we face. We face the people as spokesmen for God. We do not face God as spokesmen for the people. Acting as advocates for the crowd, he said, is apostasy.

I was moved by his image of Christ facing us as a representative of God the Father so well that he became one with God.

Elder Robbins’ talk illuminates the nature of Mormonism. Trivially, it shows Mormonism’s roots in the radical Protestant milieu where the sermon was the center of church services. Less trivially, it shows that for Mormons the Real Presence in our services isn’t in the sacrament but in the sacrament-performers. It is God acting through the priesthood. The prophet’s voice is our mass.