Comments on: The Purpose of Priesthood Lessons

By: Gaz

Gaz — Thu, 24 Mar 2005 14:17:19 +0000

Seth: you mean like this blog?

By: Seth Rogers

Seth Rogers — Thu, 24 Mar 2005 07:12:33 +0000

In my opinion, the main point of Sunday meetings is not to be entertained, enlightened or edified by the lessons.

The point is to participate in a community of believers.

By: Sheri Lynn

Sheri Lynn — Mon, 14 Mar 2005 22:57:00 +0000

Caffeine deficiency on Fast Sunday….must…have….cola….bev…..ZzzzZZZzzzzzz

By: Mark Martin

Mark Martin — Mon, 14 Mar 2005 16:55:18 +0000

Annegb, thanks for making me laugh again! (Yeah, don’t put the problem guys in the library.) It’s also nice to hear that there’s a couple out there actually discussing insights from the day’s Priesthood/Relief Society lesson, as the brethren in Salt Lake City had encouraged when we began sharing the same manual.

As for Derek’s priesthood lab (#2), a couple of years ago I told some of my Institute classmates (“Preparing for Celestial Marriage” course) that I had attended enough lectures and heard plenty of theory over the years. What I needed was lab work!

By the way, I like and support the CES Institute program, but it was an eye-opening realization that I had been religiously (pun intended) attending weekly classes, when I could have spent some of those evenings home teaching or attending the temple.

By: annegb

annegb — Mon, 14 Mar 2005 15:24:11 +0000

My husband often shares with me about the priesthood lesson, which I have usually read because we are usually on the same one. He really gets into them and grows from them.

Sort of off the subject, but I suggested to him that they put a couple of problem guys in our ward in the high priest presidency. Those guys hardly ever do anything anyway, they could have the glory wihout getting on peoples’ nerves. Or how about the library? Well, maybe not the library, that’s pretty crucial.

By: Sarah

Sarah — Mon, 14 Mar 2005 04:02:09 +0000

This is one of the really great things about teaching in Primary. So far my kids have heard (they acted like it was the first time, and twice argued against my point until I convinced them) that God can do anything, that if you really truly repent he’ll forget your sins, that you have to have the right authority in order to do things in God’s name… and they’re starting to get good at recognizing which books (e.g. Jarom, Corinthians, Abraham) came from which compilation (they’re always on the lookout for the two that are from the Pearl of Great Price.) I figure it’s better than “Spiritual Hangman,” anyway –my next “oops, we have time left over” game will deal with recognizing figures from Church history based on items from their autobiographies (“this prophet was born in New York…”)

Anyway, the sense of wonder they displayed when they finally knew all the steps of repentance was really cool. Not something I saw much in Relief Society, or even Young Women meetings.

By: Jonathan Green

Jonathan Green — Mon, 14 Mar 2005 03:48:55 +0000

What I like about priesthood lessons is that they can have a hands-on practical focus in a way that would be out of place in sacrament meeting and often impossible in sunday school. With a focus on current practice and personal experience, the disparity between new members and old can be leveled out to a great extent. Our Stake scheduled us to teach today the missionary lesson that Wilfried mentioned. In a room filled with returned missionaries, some of the best comments came from a newly baptized member who had been ordained a priest 10 minutes earlier. The lesson wasn’t at all concerned about missiology, but rather what has worked for us and what we ourselves have done. When I taught lesson 15 last week (because the stake calendar had us skipping it in August), I kept the discussion of marriage focused on what works and what doesn’t in the marriages of the people in the room.

Wilfried, while I didn’t teach the lesson, I was struck by the list of five reasons to serve a mission given by DOMcK. The order and emphasis given to each reason weren’t at all what I was expecting.

By: Wilfried

Wilfried — Mon, 14 Mar 2005 03:18:58 +0000

Thanks, my friends, it’s good to hear some giggling after three hours in Church today. But the questions Kaimi raises are pretty serious ones, considering the time we spend in those lessons and the challenge to make them interesting. Next week I got to teach in Priesthood the lesson on “Every member a missionary”, to a group of some 70 high priests, all from these few streets surrounding the chapel without, I think, a single non-member. Suggestions welcome to fulfill the purpose of Priesthood lessons.

By: Silus Grok

Silus Grok — Mon, 14 Mar 2005 03:04:43 +0000

LOL!

By: Derek

Derek — Mon, 14 Mar 2005 02:57:57 +0000

To me, a Priesthood lesson is like a lecture. So why don’t we have Priesthood labs?

“Wenger, your specimen has died. Class, does anyone know why Wenger’s blessing failed? That’s right, he forgot…to…anoint! Wenger, go get another specimen and do it again.”