LDS Worship: What Would You Keep?

Nathan, you always start such interesting threads!

I really wonder what it would take for the church leadership to seriously consider some changes. I think it is a common feeling for many (like myself) that they would be welcome. Part of my day job is to make sure I instill efficiency throughout my company…and look for ways of eliminating wasted time, resources, and money so we can be more profitable as a company. This mindset (efficiency) is a curse for me when I go to church…because there is often so much that is inefficient with a volunteer/lay clergy leadership which impacts the meetings. There are good aspects of it also…such as participation and learning how to develop leadership and followership, but my Sundays are grueling and I try to remind myself I will be blessed by learning charity and patience.

The first thing to change, I think, is to go to a 2 hr block and make it more meaningful 2 hrs. There is so much time wasted in switching classes, making announcements, doing prayers and introductions again and again…clearly we could cut out an hour of our block meetings if we were more efficient.

Besides efficiency, effectiveness could be improved if Bishoprics were more involved in the meetings and the content each week. I get the fact that each person can speak in sacrament meeting…and we should keep that…but there needs to be more hard-hitting messages delivered by the leadership of the ward that is dealing with family issues in leadership meetings. I really think they should have bishops more involved in delivering sermons, and consider that when calling bishops.

The first thing to change, I think, is to go to a 2 hr block and make it more meaningful 2 hrs. There is so much time wasted in switching classes, making announcements, doing prayers and introductions again and again…clearly we could cut out an hour of our block meetings if we were more efficient.

Yeah, less quantity and more COWBELL!!!!!!! The worship services have a fever sometimes, and the only cure is more cowbell.

[img]http://biobreak.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/morecowbell.jpg[/img]

I personally would love to see a quiet time of group meditation, but that might be getting a little too Eastern religion for the comfort level of most. Or perhaps dancing and music like they did in the old days in the temple. We could clear out the furniture to the edges, bring in some drums, horns and perhaps a fiddle or two, and really get the party going.

One last request: Get rid of the US corporate, middle-management dress styles for Church.

You kind of asked what we would do different, but the title of the post was what would we keep.

Keep List:

1. The Eucharist with every congregational meeting (aka the Sacrament).

2. Keep congregational participation. I like that we preach to each other, but add in one of the speakers being more “pro.”

3. Family noise and cheerios in the chapel during the meeting, don’t ship all the kids to some daycare while the “adults” worship

4. Fast and testimony meeting, but maybe once a quarter and seriously give members better training and guidance.

Great Question!! I like the 2 hour idea. This 3 hour business is really getting old. I would keep the sacrament and I would keep the young men performing their priesthood duties. I know it can be embarrassing when a mistake is made but the learning they receive from doing it far outweights any con. (My oldest is 14 and I have been so impressed by his desire to fulfill his priesthood responsibilities. It is so good for him, I’d hate to see them remove that.) I would keep all the music and add more. I would like to see more musical numbers as well. My ward has 2 professional violinists and 4 very accomplished pianists as well as a number of guitarists and vocalists. But, we are always singing a congregational hymn. What a waste. As a musician myself, I’m a bit bored with the hymnal, especially because we are not allowed to use other spiritual music in our meetings. There are only so many arrangements we can perform. I would also love to see more classical music by the greats like Bach and Handel. I realize that there are people who will stretch the idea of appropriate but man I would love to see a trumpet here and there or a guitar. Why are flutes and violins more holy than those other instruments? Strange how these decisions are made. I’d like to see how having the Bishop speak every week would go. I think I would like that, but only if the Bishop wasn’t feeling pressure from the top to get better numbers and he felt the need to preach each week on how we’re not doing enough. I would also keep one member speaker because the variety would be nice. I’d keep the youth speaker. What a fantastic opportunity for young people to have the experience of public speaking in a relatively safe environment. I would do away with High Council monthly visits and make them quarterly perhaps. One hour of Primary would be plenty for my 7 and 9 year old boys. And of course more meat in the 2nd hour classes.

Wow, it seems I like a bunch of stuff about our Sunday Worship. Who knew? LOL

I can think of many things to eliminate or change, but what would I keep? Maybe the sacrament and a closing prayer. Everything else could be altered to make a much more enriching experience.

Great thoughts above. Here are some repeats and a few new ones:

Keep: Member participation/involvement

Ditch: Practice of husband as default concluding speaker when husband-wife teams speak

Keep: Cheerios in the pews (families worship together)

Ditch: Toddlers and junior primary bear their testimonies in Sacrament Meeting (Primary will do until baptism: but not as a hard and fast rule)

Keep: Testimony meeting

Ditch: Prevalent notion that tears indicate sincerity, and therefore, truth (better training as mentioned above is sorely needed)

Ditch: Last minute invitations to speak, and the speaker prefacing his/her comments with this disclaimer (bad form all-the-way-around)

Keep: Current Hymn Book

Ditch (Add): Other Hymn Books

Ditch (Add): Twice-a-year instruction (preferably in Sacrament Meeting, but SS would also work) on reading/singing music

Ditch (Add): Electric guitars and kazoos (okay–maybe not–see cowbell above) but at least additional instruments

I’ll add more later . . .

I am certainly in favor of a 2-Hour Block. I would eliminate Sunday School and move that teaching into Priesthood, Relief Society, Young Women and Young men. Primary could have a singing time, and class instruction.

From a purely economic stand point, cutting church to 2 hours would make building utilization much more efficient. Where there was a demand for additional buildings, more wards could be housed in ONE building, where there are large wards sharing a building, cutting the block would make the change over much easier since one ward would be in classes while the next ward is in the Chapel. And in some high-membership areas cutting to 2 hours would reduce the need for more buildings by one third.

I would cut Sacrament meeting to just one hour. Two 10-12 minute speakers, including a rest hymn between speakers. I would purchase an electronic metronome for each chorister and organist and explain to them that not every hymn is supposed to sound like a funeral dirge. I would also encourage another go-round with the Hymnal from the “Music Committee” I would transpose as many hymns as possible to the key of C so that they could be played by less accomplished musicians, and I would include chords above each staff so that those who play corded instruments suck as the guitar could also play the hymns. I would take out the old, slow, and difficult hymns and insert some new and more modern hymns. Especially some of the old standards from the Bible Based Baptists.

I would offer Scouting as a separate program to those young men who are interested. I would also take out the intense “Mormonism” from the scouting program so that male friends from school would be welcomed and not feel like it was a disguise to get them baptized. The NEW scouting program would be focused on the Scouting principles and encourage advancement and fraternity among the young men in the area. (Not just the priesthood holders) It would be a true SCOUT program. If there is something similar for young women, I would offer that also. Young members who don’t want to participate in scouting would not be forced to do so, and could come to the ward to play basketball and have some kind of youth activity.

I am not sure I would go with the recorded sacrament prayer, but I certainly would take some time teaching about the sacrament and encouraging young men to memorize the prayer. Perhaps some dramatic arts teaching so it doesn’t sound like my old BYU professor reading from the American History Text.

Finally, I would stick with the lay ministry, but I would require new bishops to attend some simple training in counseling, and interviewing and dealing with member problems. Giving a new Bishop the Keys, and telling them to rely on the spirit when dealing with broken marriages on the brink of divorce, or the grief of an accidental death of a child, or the loss of a partner after a lifetime of togetherness just isn’t adequate in my humble opinion.

Brilliant feedback! Keep it coming.

Ray, although I share your opinion about the importance of guarding against being overly critical/cynical, I should point out (as Brian did above), that my thread title introduces one side of the question and the end of my post the other. I was intentionally trying to keep it balanced. You’re point, however, is valid.

Nathan