Your Reactions to Church Yesterday, 10/12

Kent Larsen

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This is the latest invitation for reactions to local meetings, in the vein of my post on September 25th 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.

Let me emphasize that this is NOT a place to criticize what is wrong with church. The point is to post what you learned because of what happened at Church. Think of it in the format, “They said or did this, and I said that.” Even the things you dislike the most can be turned into lessons for what the gospel teaches we should do.

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.

[I should also note that I skipped last week because it was following General Conference — the most heavily examined meetings of the year, the best prepared, and the most discussed. I don’t think I need to add more discussion about Conference. Instead, I think we can benefit from thinking about our weekly local meetings differently and finding ways to get the most out of those meetings.]

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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

10 responses to “Your Reactions to Church Yesterday, 10/12”

  1. Kent Larsen

    Here are my reactions to yesterday’s Church meetings (10/12):

    • Last week, one of the reactions I head to Pres. Nelson’s passing was that he made a lot of changes to the Church. I have to agree. Changing any large organization is a little like turning a supertanker—you turn the rudder and then an hour or two latter you finally see the tanker begin to turn. Making changes in large organizations is hard and takes a lot of time.
    • An example of this is the Church’s Unit History Tool which almost no one knows about, but could make a wonderful impact on many Stakes, districts, wards, and branches.
    • Our ward held fast & testimony meeting this week, and a couple of the testimonies talked about memories of President Nelson and prior prophets. One talked about having mixed feelings about a new prophet because of the prophet’s previous statements and politics, and eventually coming to have a testimony of that prophet’s calling. I think this is a common struggle, and like many struggles, the struggle itself has value.
    • Another testimony talked about seeing people change over time. I love that idea — it takes a certain positive sensitivity to notice that someone else is changing. I hope I can someday learn to have that sensitivity.
    • Our Bishop announced that next weekend the different congregations in our neighborhood—from several different denominations (Jewish, Lutheran, Catholic, Baptist, etc.) will all present their sermons or focus their worship on the idea of “Love Your Neighbor”. On Sunday afternoon we will then all meet together for a pot luck dinner. This sounds like a wonderful way to get our neighborhood united!

      • I think that’s quite enough from me. What happened in your congregation? What are your reactions?

  2. Coffinberry

    Ours was a sweet testimony meeting; a child shared the comfort that came when he was concerned about a sister’s injury; a positive personal experience from an older single sister who gave herself a challenge to increase her fast offering: a father who hadn’t in the past considered what personal answer he hoped for from conference, and had coasted on his wife’s plan, only to be surprised when he found himself paying close attention in her place (she had come down with the flu and was sleeping) only to have Sister Browning’s talk speak to his soul answering an urgent question he hadn’t realized he had.

    Wouldn’t know about Relief Society… I run off to Primary. But I can tell you Singing Time is Where It’s At. Man oh man, let me tell you: the Spirit lives there! When Senior Primary begs to sing their favorite “Because”… well, even the choir in the Conference Center would be proud.

    Oh, and a line of multicultural CTR 4s getting brave practicing to do their special unique bit in the Primary Program, singing This Little Light of Mine (Yes, with claps on 2 and 4). That pure joy is truly something to behold.

  3. Taylor Anderson

    In the nursery yesterday, I watched a new little boy (who has just moved into our ward this week) get curious and ask why a little girl made a particular [ASL] hand gesture when she asked for more goldfish crackers during snack time. And then we observed him immediately start to use that same gesture himself to ask for more goldfish crackers. So cool to watch the little wheels turning in his head and see the new learning implemented. Oh, how I love nursery!

  4. Mhermitmom

    We had testimony meeting and relief society. In RS, they took a moment to allow people to share thoughts about Pres. Nelson. One sister said she had grown up being friends with one of Pres. Nelson’s daughters. Nelson had a house rule of absolutely no caffeine sodas in the house. Unbeknownst to him, his wife, the first one, loved diet coke. She hid diet coke under the bed. Her children would bring her cases when dad was out of town. It wasn’t until after she died and the house was being deep cleaned that he found out. He was offended that there was diet coke and demanded to know who brought it in the house. All the kids told them, it’s Mom’s and we helped her get it. I can’t verify the story but it was amusing.

  5. ji

    In my ward’s sacrament meeting, it was announced that we needed to start arriving ten minutes before the meeting starts, as the building doors will be locked at that time and everyone arriving after that time will have to pass through a single set of doors where they will be admitted by an usher. In elders quorum, men were asked to volunteer to serve on the security committee, almost jokingly as an excuse to roam the halls instead of attending future sacrament and Sunday School/priesthood meetings. I offered that we don’t need a dollar’s worth of security for a nickel’s worth of threat and I cautioned against overplaying our hand, but I was ignored.

  6. James Olsen

    Well Kent, you skipped last week because of General Conference, but in Qatar our meeting this past weekend (on Friday) was a gathering to watch the second session. Following your lead to steer clear of GC analysis, I’ll simply add that I find a deep value in gathering with others to watch sessions live. Obviously many do this by attending Temple Square, but even on the far side of the globe there are opportunities. It dovetails well with the clear D&C theme of gathering and conferences, which has been a standout takeaway for me this year. And especially as the pre- and post- video interactions were the most valuable element of the meeting for me, I hope to make sure I’m always gathered in some way for at least one session of GC.

  7. RLD

    Our Elder’s Quorum lesson was on Elder Uchtdorf’s talk from the October conference. The teacher had us think about the spiritual gifts we would say that other members of the quorum had, and then had us share some without naming names. Philosophically, I like the implication behind spiritual gifts that we’re all different and can best serve by playing to our strengths while letting others make up for our weaknesses, but that day I felt prompted that I could improve some of my weaknesses by imitating the strengths of others.

    The bishop read over the pulpit a letter of sympathy and support from a local Jewish spiritual leader, which was appreciated.

    (I’m with you ji, but I’m not surprised by the reaction. Our brains aren’t wired to handle dramatic events with an extremely low probability of recurring.)

  8. TexasAbuelo

    Highlight of Sunday was having to wait extra long after the meetings while my wife comforted and gave moral support to her co-teacher (they “co teach” the 3 yr olds) who is going through a serious scary life crisis and doesn’t have anywhere/anyone to turn to.
    My wife is a great combination of hard nosed practical ideas (call the cops), spiritual support (blessing?) and emotional support without minimizing what’s happening or giving the usual “everything will work out… just go to the temple more” malarkey
    Plus my recently activated friend couldn’t wait to tell me how well his assigned gospel principles class had gone the week before GC, and how hopeful he was they’d ask him again. Otherwise, grateful for the availability of the ordinance of the sacrament which is the recent I went in the first place.

  9. Jack of Hearts

    I was struck this week by the final verse of “There Is a Green Hill Far Away,” which I’ve sung countless times at this point in my life but seemed newly revealed: “Oh dearly, dearly has he loved! and we must love him too/And trust in his redeeming blood, and try his works to do.” I can’t think of a better summary of the gospel that I’ve heard recently than this, even though I’ve sung it so many times before.

  10. Kent Larsen

    Thank you all for these!! I’m very inspired and motivated about what to look for in church meetings.

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