Your Reactions to Church Yesterday, 9/28

Kent Larsen

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A few days ago I posted about how we can take what happens in Church meetings—sermons, lessons and anything else—and enter a conversation with them, magnifying what was said or adding what we think.

I’m convinced that even if the speaker or teacher is poorly prepared, we can still find elements in what is said and what happens that inspires and edifies us. Even if church meetings aren’t conducted in a way that reaches us, we can take responsibility and find a way to feel the spirit.

My suggestion for putting this into practice is to write down reactions and thoughts to what happened in Church. You might keep your own ‘spiritual journal’, or, if you like, you can post your reactions below. I’m adding my own reactions and thoughts as a comment to this post — because those reactions aren’t any better than anyone else’s.

My hope is that these reactions serve as an example of a better way to treat what happens at Church instead of the perennial complaints about speaker or teacher preparation or ability, or complaints that the Church should do things differently.

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Below, I’m adding my “conversation” with what happened at Church this past Sunday in the first comment. Feel free to add your “conversations” with what you experienced below.

Comments

2 responses to “Your Reactions to Church Yesterday, 9/28”

  1. Kent Larsen

    Here are my reactions to yesterday’s Church meetings (9/28):
    * At the end of one row in the chapel was a suitcase, for someone who was traveling right after the meetings (I’m in New York City — most people don’t drive cars to Church). But the suitcase made me think about what baggage I might be bringing myself to Church — what are the preconceived ideas that would lead me to ignore or dismiss what I might learn at church?

    * One speaker suggested that “priesthood also comes through callings.” While I’m sure that’s been said before, it struck me a little differently this time. What does this mean exactly? Can it replace ordination to priesthood office? Does it mean something completely different?

    * The speaker told two different stories about administering to the dying, one occasion in which he was administering to someone he didn’t know well, and didn’t do as prompted, and the other in which he was administering to someone he did know well, and did do as he felt prompted. I really liked the juxtaposition of these two stories because it made me think about the effects of the environment on how we act to help others. How well we know those we serve is clearly a factor. What other factors might there be?

    * The closing prayer in Sacrament Meeting included a plea to bless our political leaders to do good, for our communities, our nations and for others. What a great way to pray! I admit that I am struggling to have the faith that such prayers can be answered, given our current leaders. Perhaps it would help my faith if I pray for that more.

    * In priesthood meeting we had a number of new people brought by the missionaries — enough that they were about a quarter of the class. Given Pres. Nelson’s passing, the lesson was on our understanding of the role of a prophet and our reactions to Pres. Nelson’s service. I had mixed feelings about how we described the role of a prophet to the newcomers — as I have changed over time, the conventional way of describing the role of prophet has seemed increasingly incomplete. But I have to admit that it’s probably the best way to explain it to someone new.

    * One of the newcomers, an unbaptized man, said a couple of things that I found unusual. First, he said that he thought we needed prophets because we can become “muted in our relationship with God.” And second, he expressed a need to “protect [his] child from [his] sins.” Wow, ‘muted’ is a great way to express a relationship that isn’t full — I hope my relationship with God can become less ‘muted.’ As for protecting children, the fact that he said that demonstrates, I think, a sensitivity to personal weaknesses and a vulnerability that is often missing today.

    * Another participant in the discussion talked about the idea that we can’t really aspire to be a prophet. He said that it’s not like you can attend a “prophet school” and graduate to be a prophet. Of course, his observation is good, but the term “prophet school” stood out because, as many familiar with the history of our Church know, we once had a “School of the Prophets.” This led me to a couple of thoughts.

    First, that there could well be an advantage to aspiring to be like a prophet — knowing what a prophet knows and having the kind of relationship with God that a prophet has. If so, then what is the difference between aspiring to be a prophet and aspiring to be like a prophet? And how do we do one and avoid the other?

    Second, in the term “School of the Prophets”, ‘prophets’ is plural, and in the Bible there are often times when there are multiple prophets. Yes, I know that we sustain 15 people at a time as “prophets”, but, as I already stated, I believe our conventional definition of the term ‘prophet’ is incomplete. What else might the plural in the term mean? Is it possible that in seeking to be like a prophet, we actually become part of that plural? And does the plural mean that the term prophet is not as exclusive as it seems?

  2. ji

    stake conference leadership session, Saturday

    Area Authority Seventy taught a lesson from the scriptures, with much engagement. He did not press us for improvements in our performance or numbers, as stake presidents and bishops usually seem to do. Frankly, it was refreshing!

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