What did you notice in Church yesterday? How did you react? Think differently?
This is the latest invitation for reactions to local meetings, continuing the spirit 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.
The point here is that no matter how poorly prepared the speaker or teacher is, 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.
So please, 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 or how that led you to think. It doesn’t have to be orthodox, traditional or even on topic. 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.
Comments
4 responses to “Your Reactions to Church Yesterday, 11/2”
Here are my reactions to yesterday’s Church meetings (11/2):
I was traveling, so my reactions are to what I was told of our ward’s meetings.
I had a miracle happen. Two weeks from now my 93 year old mother, with dementia, is moving into our house from out of state.
Our Bishop, to start the testimony meeting, testified of having to care for his mother, of whom I had never heard about before, likely as she is from Brazil, this past week and her very serious dementia problem.
He explained how he prayed and, miraculously, everything went incredibly well.
The fact that he bore this testimony of miraculous, even if temporary, healing at the time when we have much anxiety about my mother’s arrival is a second miracle to me.
In Sunday School, the teacher used the Saints settling in Nauvoo to talk about what it means to “live after the manner of happiness.” There were a lot of profound replies that I can’t do justice to here, centered on family and other relationships, accomplishment, purpose, meaning, service, etc. It was interesting that “keeping the commandments” didn’t come up, and the teacher finally asked about that.
The higher laws point us to the things that bring true happiness. (I liked how President Oaks’ talk about family in the last conference reminded us of some of those things and gave clear guidance on how to act on them without encouraging a “culture war” mindset.) Also, it’s clear that infidelity, deception, selfishness, unrighteous dominion/abuse, etc. will destroy the relationships that bring us true happiness. But it’s never been clearer to me that the commandments are just a means to an end. A legalistic or check-the-boxes approach to them misses the point entirely.
A woman who’s relatively new to the ward shared her testimony, mentioning how much she loves having fun and celebrating all the holidays. She then explained that she was wearing her grandmother’s shirt, which looked a bit unusual, to honor Day of the Dead. She talked about what Day of the Dead is and how her family celebrates their ancestors for it. Her daughter was also wearing earrings and other items from past relatives. I found it really inspiring. I took out my phone and started a family group text, sharing a simple story about my own grandfather. Even though half of my young adult kids don’t go to church anymore, they all responded positively to my message.