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I think the title says it all….my kids, and myself, all suffer from intense boredom during Sacrament meeting. I find taking the sacrament worthwhile as I get to reflect on two goals I’m pursuing, but beyond that, after 27 years of it, I’m bored to tears. So, if you’re bored in the speaker portion of Sacrament meeting, does this simply mean you’re not spiritual enough? Quote:So, if you’re bored in the speaker portion of Sacrament meeting, does this simply mean you’re not spiritual enough?
Nope. It often, if not usually, means that the meetings aren’t spiritual enough – or that you aren’t prepared enough for the boring times (like not bringing a book to read or a lesson to plan or not writing your own talk on the assigned topic while the speaker presents theirs or something similar).
Having said that, if you are bored during a sincere attempt by a non-professional congregant to share his or her heart in a talk that was prepared with fear and trembling and simply suffers from anxiety, lack of experience and/or poor public speaking skills – I’d say, maybe, you aren’t charitable enough.
In practice, it usually is a two-way street.
One of the “pitfalls” of a lay clergy is that you don’t have professional speakers and, sometimes, ill-prepared speakers. My current bishopric is made up of three very good-natured, caring and concerned men…and each week the announcements are incomplete (on one occasion, the bishop had to get three times during the meeting to correct an announcement he’d made at the beginning of the meeting) and introductions get fumbled (one Sunday the second counselor announced the prayer and mispronounced the name of the lady giving it. That wouldn’t be so bad except that the lady offering the prayer was his wife ). Yet, I find it charming in a way. It’s a constant reminder that this is how wards are run…by imperfect men and women doing their best. As Ray suggested, I try to exercise charity especially when I know that on some future occasion I may be the one up at the pulpit boring the congregation to sleep. Being bored in sacrament meeting just means sacrament meeting is boring. So often in the church we attempt to make grandeur out of nothing. We hear a talk by a child and say how inspiring it was when it may have been cute and brings a smile to our face but was rather inane. We try to make important that which is trivial or of little practical value. So when you do not fit into this mold of exaggerating simple things you see things for what they really are and hence your get tired of them quickly. Along those same lines, the reason this is even an issue here is that it can’t be discussed openly anywhere else. You have pronounced the ineffable: church is sometimes boring. No! The “Lord’s Church” boring? How can that be? There must be something wrong with you because “the church” is perfect, and by extension everything associated with it is as well, including the format and content of each and every one of its meetings. There must have been some inspiring nugget hidden away in there just for you and you just didn’t look hard enough to find it. Or maybe you weren’t prepared. Or maybe, just maybe, you were unworthy. Shame on you. Same goes for general conference. I didn’t hear it this last time, but for a while it was the custom to pronounce each GC the “best” ever. Why? Because we say so, and therefore it couldn’t be otherwise. Of course, this robs the words ‘good’, ‘better’, and ‘best’ of any meaning whatsoever because now they are simply tokens in this strange game that we play.
Sorry, I got a little carried away.
Yeah, Doug, there is that cultural baggage. 
Now, tell us how you really feel.
Old-Timer wrote:Yeah, Doug, there is that cultural baggage.
Now, tell us how you really feel.
Sunday is coming, and I’m beginning to feel the pressure building.
SD, the title of your post made me smile. I have always struggled with sacrament meeting. Most of the time it just bores the crap out of me. From the perspective of sitting on the stand for years as a clerk and observing the congregation, I think half of the congregation is at about the same place. However, it’s just not talked about. I like what Cadence said… “Being bored in sacrament meeting just means sacrament meeting is boring.”
Brothers and Sisters, I want to testify to you here today that I know with every fiber of my being and without a shadow of doubt that… sacrament meeting is why Steve Jobs and Apple created the Ipad.
It is so much easier to make it through the meeting when I remember to have it and my hotspot charged… unlike this past Sunday. I turned on the hotspot and it flashed red. I was bummed. My 14 yr old son just laughed. He thought it was really funny. At least the Ipad still had a good charge on it. What I do on it varies: sometimes reading the lesson, Ensign, sometimes I play Super Breakout or Dots. It kind of annoys my wife when I do that though (gotta remember to turn the volume off). When I was a kid, my dad would go out to the car and take a nap during SM… I think he was on to something.
I’m just not one who really cares to be there every week. My idea of a perfect Sunday worship service is… SM: sing a hymn (something upbeat and not one of the “please kill me now” obscure hymns that no one knows, say a prayer, announcements, partake of the sacrament, closing hymn and prayer. No Sunday School, go straight to PH/RS. Afterwards, mingle and have donuts, juice, milk, hot chocolate. Go home.
That is why I am not the Bishop.
ATVJunkie for Bishop!!! I would love it if you could implement your version of Sunday!! I once let is slip that I found sacr meeting boring. My kids heard it. Then came a torrent of complaints about how boring Sunday is from my kids. I felt crushed that I was responsible for perhaps blockign their road to at least a Stage 3 belief system. Then, we started talking about why we go to Church on Sunday even though Sacrament meeting “can” be boring at times.
Interesting, my son, who is probably the most aspiritual in our family said “We go because we can learn about Jesus Christ there”. So, my approach with my family is to acknowledge that it is can be boring at times. And to talk about why we go anyway.
I think this makes for a stronger group of kids than acting as if it’s all roses and goodies, when it isn’t.
I am reading a book called,The Amish Way, they hold one 3 hour Sacrament Type meeting every 2 weeks. From the reading I gather even we would find ours more fun, inspiring, uplifting than theirs. Every one in the family attends. Small children learn the discipline of sitting quietly. There is no Sunday School session or other break out time. They sing very long German hymns – slowly. No piano or organ to accompany them. Their prayers are also long and often deep recitations of prayers they’ve been trained on. The sermons are on the bible, and given extemporaneously, then the other elders each get up and support or correct the speaker. Yet they love their worship services.
I don’t struggle with our services as much as others, but when I read about the Amish I took a look at myself and why I worship or what I expect to gain from it. Tomorrow will be the first day I get to try living my chosen reason for Sabbath Day Worship. I am hoping it makes the day more glorified toward God as it should be.
What amazed me at times was when my husband and I would listen to a talk in Sacrament meeting and afterwards tell each other how that was the most boring, lack luster talk we had heard in a long time and then hear a couple of people close by say, “That was the most inspiring talk they have heard in a long time.” My sister in law would tell me how I was not very spiritually minded if I did not get something out of a conference talk. Sometimes, it feels like the story of “The emperor has no clothes.” People in the church just say things that they think they are supposed to say. Then when the 7 year old yells out, “that was the most boring talk ever” people burst out laughing and so glad that someone spoke the truth. On the other hand, attitude is important. One of the mission statements of the church is for “the perfecting of the saints” which means everyone gets opportunities to grow through callings and giving talks. I still remember my very first talk in Sacrament meeting in front of the whole congregation. I was about 12 and scared to death to give this 2 and a half minute talk, My eye twiched, my legs shook, and I think I said it so fast that no one understood me. Yet that opportunity forced me to face scary situations and eventually become a really good speaker. I also remember people coming up to me afterwards and telling me what a good talk I gave which I did not believe. But, my dad would tell me that this was a great opportunity for me to grow and learn and he was proud of me for preparing good information and getting through it. I do think it is important to be honest and postive at the same time. So, on one hand, our attitude can make a big difference. (btw, this attitude is what I would prepare my investigators with before inviting them to church). On the other hand, I think they should mix it up and have really great speakers talk inbetween the bad ones.
bridget_night wrote:On the other hand, attitude is important. One of the mission statements of the church is for “the perfecting of the saints” which means everyone gets opportunities to grow through callings and giving talks.
This is true, but what gets me is the utter lack of resources given to people so they can learn to do it well. The same applies to teaching. 90% of what we do on Sunday involves teaching or speaking, yet there is not formal system for improving that aspect of the experience. We did have a teacher improvement coordinator at one time (I did that calling) but that position disappeared. Plus I found few people were interested in getting feedback. Only the really good teachers were interested in improving.
I would like to see an online course with videos on LDS.org on how to do it, or perhaps ongoing lessons sponsored by the Stake that people can just sign up for and attend that teach them how to speak better.
Now, I recognize my attitude has an impact on how much I enjoy the meeting….I find that when I’ve been away for a few weeks it gets better…sometimes you just need time away to appreciate it.
Perhaps SM is best approached as a form of meditation? The resources are there. They aren’t used. That’s a failure of local leadership. So, I’m sitting on the couch in my family room this morning with my 8 yr. old son. My wife is getting ready for church and comes into the room. My son asks her where she is going and she replies that it is Stake Conference this morning. He asks what that is. She replies, “It’s kinda like sacrament meeting, only twice as long and you’re welcome to come with me if you like.” He immediately says, “Sacrament meeting is borrrringg! No way, I’m staying home with dad.” At this point, I am practically on the floor laughing because of his immediate and uncoached response and thinking of this topic posting. My wife just rolls her eyes. Stake Conference (broadcast from SL this time) = Week off. (To my wife’s credit, she doesn’t give me crap about this and never has.)
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