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1) The talks were about the Atonement, and the man who spoke mentioned that today is Palm Sunday – “for all of you with a non-Mormon background who loved to celebrate the Holy Week”. 2) The sister who was asked to speak was called out of town unexpectedly on Friday, so she gave her prepared talk to another woman in the ward and asked her to give it for her. (Obviously, it was written prior to Friday. YEAH!!) The program listed the speaker as, “___________, given by __________”. It was a fabulous talk, and I just loved everything about the scenario – including the way the program was worded.
3) One of the High Priests in the ward (who doesn’t like some of the comments I make in Sunday School and High Priests Group) was passing the sacrament when a two-year-old-ish girl “escaped” from her sister and started walking down the aisle. This good man smiled at the girl, picked her up and carried her in his left arm while passing the sacrament with his right arm (smiling and playing with her quietly while he waited for the tray to make its way down the row) – until they got to her family’s row, where he handed her back to her sister without fanfare or judgment of any kind. That picture will stay with me for a LONG time, and, since we were in the cultural hall seating, most of the members of my ward completely missed it.
He and I disagree about LOTS of things doctrinally, and I aggravate him quite often with my perspective, but he’s a good man doing the best he can – and he was a wonderful example to me today.
4) The Sunday School lesson was John 7-8. We talked about the woman taken in adultery at the end of the lesson, and one of the High Priests in the ward (a former military chaplain) mentioned “Les Miserables”. He said that his own favorite character is Fontaine – the woman who does everything possible to give her daughter the kind of life Fontaine herself never had – who is faced by misfortune after misfortune but continues to endure for her daughter. He mentioned that she finally is forced to turn to prostitution as the only means left to her of supporting her daughter and then said:
Quote:That prostitute surely will be admitted to heaven ahead of perhaps all of us in this room. It’s important to realize that when we are tempted to judge someone else.
5) The Priesthood lesson was on tithing, and it had its moments for me that were hard to take (like the term “fire insurance” – AARRGGHH!!), but the consensus in the end was that each of us has to decide what tithing means to us individually – and that HOW we decide to calculate our tithing is between us and the Lord. Period. There were at least four former Bishops in the room, one of whom is a former Stake President and current Patriarch, and they all agreed with that conclusion.
I’m NOT saying this is typical of all units in the Church, and I know it doesn’t help anyone directly in dealing with the crap that happens in their own unit, but it is a pretty good example of what happens in FAR more units than those who struggle in their own often realize – and it’s a good example of what exists in the Gospel AND in the Church, albeit not the entire Church.
Very nice. It sounds like it was a very uplifting day. That was lovely to read Ray. Thanks for sharing. I had 2 good moments at church today. The talks in Sacrament meeting were on service and the first speaker told about a little game they play as a family at the dinner table called “Apples and Onions”. The game asks each person to tell about the apples of their day (happy, joyful events) and the onions (sad, hurtful things) that happened. The speaker said that the game gave the family members ample opportunities to serve their family members because they became aware of their needs. Good idea I thought. The second moment came at the end of the second speakers talk. He had been quoting Henry B Erying a bunch and a lot of his quotes really bothered me because they emphasized not letting a feeling of being overwhelmed stop us from serving in the church but that aside he ended the talk with a story from his youth. He was a farm hand and on one particular day of harvesting his employer’s son was killed in a car accident and they asked him to go and identify the body. The body was really beat up from the accident and it was a very difficult thing for him to do. After this he went back to his work, driving the combine and harvesting the grain. The day seemed to drag on and it was after midnight when the darkness was really getting to him and the events of the day were weighing heavily on his mind but he knew he had to finish the field. He decided to say a prayer and within minutes he saw bright lights begin to come across the field. He was disoriented at first but realized that he was seeing 6 combines coming to help him finish the harvesting. The neighboring farmers were coming to the rescue and he felt extremely grateful and loved. I choked up during that story. I think I actually felt the spirit of love, compassion, and kindness as he told that story. That was delightful. I love the story about the high priest grabbing the little girl and passing the sacrament. Priceless and so Christlike. And yes Fontaine….. we can learn so much from that story.
CG
Our sacrament meeting was on obedience. The middle speaker was putting on his best GA imitation. Reading quotes about blind obedience, etc. My husband who often finds those irritating said, “Yeah then he’ll go sit in the foyer the next two meetings.” We both laughed at that because he was right. Relief Society was tithing and we too got into the details of what you pay. A couple of weeks ago I’d inputted alot on the Word of Wisdom, so I held back on commenting until another sister who owns a business was describing her tithing instructions, which set me up to be able to support her using D&C 119 and the words interest and surplus. I backed those up with Joseph Smith Translation about how Abraham paid on his spoils, after all his needs were met. I saw a few people bristle, but a couple of heads nodded in agreement including the gospel doctrine teacher.
I also had some wonderful time praying and talking to Heavenly Father. From them I gained courage, peace, and joy. I do it daily. Today was sunny and it just made heaven seem closer.
Loved reading your post, Ray! We had a beautiful lesson in RS, followed by the same lesson you had (John 7-
in SS – it went wonderfully and was very much focused on giving up our right to judge in favor of extending mercy. Then we had sacrament meeting talks on the atonement which were well presented and touching, each in their own way.Very good day here, too.
Old-Timer wrote:5) The Priesthood lesson was on tithing, and it had its moments for me that were hard to take (like the term “fire insurance” – AARRGGHH!!), but the consensus in the end was that each of us has to decide what tithing means to us individually – and that HOW we decide to calculate our tithing is between us and the Lord. Period. There were at least four former Bishops in the room, one of whom is a former Stake President and current Patriarch, and they all agreed with that conclusion.
I really like the Church’s position on tithing, that it is between us and the Lord. I wish it took the same stance with respect to the Word of Wisdom.
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